THE TRUE STORY ON HOW PALIN VOTED ON "THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE"

BRIDGE TO SOMEWHERE.... The good news is, the McCain campaign is now starting to tell the public about Sarah Palin's accomplishments in Alaska. The bad news is, the principal example of Palin's strength as a leader is a blatant falsehood.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

On a couple of the Sunday morning shows, John McCain and his chief surrogates touted Palin's opposition to the now-infamous "bridge to nowhere," a $398 million bridge to connect the town of Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents.

To McCain and his supporters, Palin's firm stand against the congressional earmark is compelling evidence of her courage and conviction.

But what McCain and his cohorts are claiming is simply untrue. Palin supported the funding for the project, and kept the federal funds after the bridge deal fell through. Indeed, she ran for governor on a "build-the-bridge platform," and ended up directing federal funds to other wasteful pork projects, for fear of having to return unused tax dollars funds to the federal government.

This isn't an example the McCain campaign should be bragging about; it's an example the campaign should find embarrassing.

It does, however, lead to another question. McCain and other Republicans are boasting that Palin opposed the bridge. They're wrong. So, is the McCain campaign a) completely ignorant about Palin's actual record on this key issue; or b) simply trying to con the public?

Under the circumstances, it may be either. Making matters worse, I suppose it could be both.
If the single best example of Palin's leadership in office is bogus, what, pray tell, is the McCain campaign's Plan B?

HOW THE VA ABANDONS OUR VETS

The Veterans Administration is supposed to help wounded veterans not make them prove their wounds are combat related.

By Joshua Kors
This article appeared in the September 15, 2008 edition of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/kors/print

Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq are increasingly being wrongly diagnosed by the military, which prevents them from collecting benefits. What Jimenez didn't realize is that before he could receive benefits for his wounds, he'd have to prove that those wounds came from war. Three and a half years later, the sergeant is still making his case. The Department of Veterans Affairs isn't convinced. And it won't give him his benefits until it is.

The VA requires all veterans to prove their wounds are "service-connected" before it writes them a check. Jimenez thought that hurdle was merely a formality. The Army sergeant had been struck by two roadside bombs. The first sliced into his arms; six months later, a second bomb sprayed scrap metal into his face, knocking him unconscious and leaving him brain damaged. He began having seizures and suffering from memory loss. The blast left a persistent ringing in his right ear. The stress sparked nightmares, flashbacks and acid-reflux disease.
"I'm a different person now," Jimenez says glumly. "I come home; I lock myself in my room. I don't really talk to anyone. I used to be fun." Now, he says, he can't even have a bowl of cereal. It gives him heartburn for days. "That second bomb, it killed me--it just left my body." Sick, suicidal, the sergeant sought help from the VA.

The VA's diagnosis: too much caffeine. "They said I was drinking too much Red Bull. That's what was causing my problems."

Jimenez got mad. At that point, he did something few veterans even consider: he sued the VA.

The sergeant is a member of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), one of the most prominent veterans' groups in the country. In July 2007, executive director Paul Sullivan filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jimenez and the thousands of veterans in his organization who were wounded in Iraq and, he says, were rebuffed by the VA when they sought disability and medical benefits.

"The VA needs more than a few minor changes at the margins. It needs a massive overhaul," says Sullivan. His organization's lawsuit asked Judge Samuel Conti to do exactly that: radically restructure the VA and the way it processes veterans' claims. The VA moved immediately to get the case dismissed, asserting that Sullivan's organization didn't represent the nation's wounded vets and had no standing to demand an overhaul of a $94 billion government organization.
Judge Conti disagreed.

The 86-year-old World War II veteran scheduled the trial for the end of April, and he demanded VA's top officials appear and take the stand. Over seven days VCS's lawyers would press them to explain internal e-mails and studies, statistics and videos, all suggesting that high-ranking officials purposely deceived Congress and the public, twisted data to cloak the VA's poor care of the ill and injured, and fired a prominent doctor who decided to expose the problems.

Click here to read full story: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/kors/print

CNN REPORTS: IRAQ SIGNS $3 BILLION OIL DEAL WITH CHINA

The United States has lost 4,133 troops in the Iraq War and another 34,000 wounded, and China has not lost a single soldier in the Iraq war yet China is the recipient of a $3 BILLION oil deal with Iraq.

Iraq signs $3 billion oil deal with Chinese national oil company

Deal is first major contract with foreign company since fall of Saddam Hussein
China National Petroleum Corporation to develop oil field in southern Wasit province
Oil field expected to produce 125,000 barrels a day within three years

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/30/iraq.china.oil.deal/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.

Iraq's oil fields currently produce about 2.5 million barrels a day.

It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.

The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said.

Iraq's Cabinet must still approve the contract, but Jihad said that would happen soon and work could start within a few months.

The Chinese company will provide technical advisers, oil workers and equipment to develop al-Ahdab oil field, providing fuel for al-Zubaidiya power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad, bordering Iran, Jihad said.

Once development begins, the field is expected to start producing a preliminary amount of 25,000 barrels of oil a day and an estimated constant daily amount of 125,000 barrels after three years, he said.

Iraq currently produces about 2.5 million barrels a day, 2 million of which are exported daily, Jihad said. That is close to its status before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam in 2003, but below its levels prior to the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Click here to read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/30/iraq.china.oil.deal/index.html

VIDEO: JOHN McCAIN HAS ALZHEIMERS?

There are just too many indications that John McCain may be in the early stages of Alzheimers and they are all shown here in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/NZu7kioXqyY&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

FANTASTIC VIDEO: THE REAL THREAT OUR TROOPS FACE IN IRAQ--A FILM BY CASEY J. PORTER

The Iraqi insurgents keep coming up with new ways to kill Americans in Iraq. The lob bomb is one of the newest devices used by insurgents. This film by Casey J. Porter, "Area of Operations," gives viewers an inside look at what it is like on a daily basis in Iraq and how our troops view the Iraq war.

John McCain says we have won the Iraq war. Nothing could be further from the truth.

http://www.youtube.com/v/UCWnBlozjmM&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

VIDEO: THE IRAQ WAR: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

The United States still has 160,000 troops in Iraq and not a day goes by there isn't a firefight somewhere in Iraq. The media doesn't cover it anymore and there are some people who say they are sick of the Iraq war. Who isn't?

But now is NOT the time to forget our brave young warriors in Iraq and this video shows why.

http://www.youtube.com/v/JGjf5QH4sIU&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

VIDEO U.S. MARINE FOOT PATROL AMBUSHED BY IRAQI INSURGENTS

This video is raw and graphic and shows what it is like when a U.S. Marine foot patrol is ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.

http://www.youtube.com/v/v7f1-cDSZWk&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

IRAQ IS A TOTAL MESS AND NOBODY CARES

The Iraq War has been a horrible failure and the proof is in what happened in Iraq today.

Friday, August 29, 2008

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

News of the Day for Friday, August 29, 2008
Shi'ite people march during an anti-U.S. military rally after attending Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City August 29, 2008. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ) Note: Al Sadr announced yesterday that he is extending the cease fire, but his movement continues to oppose the occupation by peaceful means. -- CReported Security IncidentsAs is typical of Fridays, there was comparatively little political violence reported today. I do want to note that the deaths of U.S. soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday, which Whisker noted yesterday, have gone largely unreported in U.S. corporate media, as did the other substantial violence which occurred yesterday.

BaghdadRoadside bomb explodes in Yarmouk. No casualties reported.Tal AfarPolice foil an attempted suicide attack on a mosque, kill the attacker.

Tikrit"Coalition" (probably meaning U.S.) troops kill a "wanted man" in an operation targeting an "al Qaeda" leader. Implication seems to be that the "wanted man" was not the target of the operation.Other News of the Day

Contrary to earlier reports, it appears a deal on the continued presence of U.S. forces is not imminent after all. The Bush administration is balking over the Iraqis' demand for withdrawal by 2011. VoI report:
Most of the items in the long-term security agreement with Washington are still pending negotiations and not settled yet, an Iraqi legislator said on Friday, ruling out the parliament would vote over the deal."Differences revolve around a schedule of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as well as their powers and the description of these troops," Abdelkareem al-Samarraie, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Security & Defense Committee, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). A declaration of principles had been signed by U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was planned to be ratified on July 31, 2008, to be effective as of January 1, 2009.The agreement should govern the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq after the year 2008. This presence is currently depending on a mandate by the UN, renewed annually upon the request of the Iraqi government. The deal should not be effective before a 275-member Iraqi parliament approves it. Samarraie, who belongs to the (Sunni) Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the third largest in parliament with 38 out of a total 275 seats, pointed out that the Iraqi political leaders hope the year 2011 would be a final date for the end of foreign presence in Iraq."Although the Iraqi delegation has insisted on that date, the Americans have some reservations over it," he added.

U.S. forces arrest a senior member of the "de-Baathification Committee chaired by their old friend Ahmad Chalabi. Chalabi defends him. Reuters report:
U.S. forces arrested the deputy head of a committee that purged Iraq's government of members of Saddam Hussein's party, an ally said, but the U.S. military said he was a wanted militia leader behind a deadly Baghdad bombing. U.S. troops detained Ali al-Lami, general manager of a committee established in 2003 and 2004 by then U.S. governor Paul Bremer to remove members of Saddam's Baath party from the government, on Wednesday, the committee's head said on Thursday.A U.S. military statement said its troops seized a man at the airport suspected of planning a bomb attack in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum in June that killed 10 people, including two U.S soldiers and two U.S. civilian contractors. "He was captured at the airport. He had just returned from Lebanon with his family," Ahmed al-Chelabi, director of the deBaathification Committee, said in a statement. "We strongly condemn this operation against one of the highest officials of the ... committee, who had done good work."The U.S. military said the man they picked up at the airport, whom they could not name, was a senior "special groups criminal", jargon for Shi'ite militia cells it says are backed by Iran. Iran denies backing Iraqi militants."Coalition forces captured a man suspected of working within the highest echelons of the special groups criminals," spokesman for the U.S. military, Major John Hall, said.

AP's Robert Reid channels the U.S. spin that al-Lami was working for Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Reading between the lines, however, it seems more accurate to portray this as a further attempt to walk back the pro-Shiite tilt of the first years of the occupation. The reaction to the arrest splits along sectarian lines. -- C Excerpt:

BAGHDAD — A senior official in Nouri al-Maliki's government was in custody Thursday suspected of ties to Iranian-backed Shiite militias and plotting a June bombing that killed 10 people, including four Americans, Iraqi authorities said.The arrest of Ali al-Lami — taken Wednesday as he left a plane arriving from Lebanon — reinforced suspicions about Tehran's influence within the Shiite-led Iraqi government and could open wider probes into Shiite networks, including possible links to Lebanon's Hezbollah.Al-Lami heads a commission responsible for keeping Saddam Hussein loyalists out of government posts and has been a target of criticism from Sunni leaders who claim the government wants to limit the overall Sunni voice in political and security issues.He was arrested by U.S. and Iraqi troops at Baghdad's airport as he returned with his family from medical treatment in Beirut, said a member of his committee, Qaiser Watout.U.S. and Iraqi troops were waiting for al-Lami as the plane's doors opened, Watout said."We condemn this act," Watout said. "Al-Lami was a moderate official and we are surprised by his arrest."U.S. military officials would not confirm the arrest of al-Lami, who has been involved in government affairs since shortly after Saddam's fall in 2003.But the U.S. command said a "suspected senior" leader of Iranian-backed "Special Groups" militias was detained at the airport for allegedly planning the June 24 bombing of a municipal building in the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City. Two American soldiers and two State Department employees died in the blast along with six Iraqis.

ARMY'S SUICIDE RATE HITS NEW HIGH--DENVER POST

The Army's suicide rate is at a high, and kin say that multiple deployments are to blame. Some troops with mental illnesses are cleared to serve in Iraq.

Read full story here:

By David Olinger and Erin Emery The Denver Post

MUST SEE VIDEO: DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE DEBRA DUPED BY McCAIN CAMPAIGN IN TV AD

The young girl, Debra Bartoshevich, in this McCain TV ad is a Democrat who was a Wisconsin Hillary Clinton delegate and now claims she is going to vote for John McCain for President.

A reporter asked her if she knew McCain was ANTI-ABORTION and she said she had been told McCain was PRO-CHOICE.

Ooops! Too late now, Debra. You are all over TV saying you are a Democrat who is going to vote for McCain.

Watch McCain ad featuring Debra here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/QrcPDyZK2S8&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

WHAT McCAIN VICTORY COULD MEAN: NO MONEY FOR HEALTH CARE AND END OF VOLUNTEER ARMY

In judging the shape of a future John McCain presidency, there are already plenty of dots that are easy to connect. They reveal an image of a war-like Empire so full of hubris that it could take the world into a cascade of crises, while extinguishing what is left of the noble American Republic.

By Robert Parry, Consortium NewsPosted on August 28, 2008, Printed on August 28, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/96687/

McCain has made clear he would continue and even escalate George W. Bush's open-ended global war on Islamic radicals. McCain buys into the neoconservative vision of expending U.S. treasure and troops to kill as many Muslim militants as possible.

McCain's tough talk -- for instance, his joking about "bomb, bomb Iran" and his vow to pursue Osama bin Laden "to the gates of hell" -- is indistinguishable from Bush's "bring 'em on," "smoke 'em out," "dead or alive" rhetoric.

Beyond the words, McCain's global war strategy is as hawkish, if not more so, than Bush's. In late 2001 and early 2002, McCain took the lead in pushing the neocon plan of a rapid pivot from the invasion of Afghanistan toward the prospective invasion of Iraq.

Even before the Taliban had been thoroughly defeated -- and as the Bush administration was failing to chase bin Laden to the gates of Tora Bora or to the gates of northwest Pakistan -- McCain was advocating a diversion of U.S. intelligence and military assets toward Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11.

That premature pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq may go down as one of the worst national security blunders in the history of the United States. It has bogged the U.S. military down in two indefinite wars while fueling anti-Americanism around the world and especially among the billion-plus Muslims.

Yet, McCain and his neocon allies have never acknowledged this serious error of judgment, nor has the mainstream U.S. news media demanded that McCain accept responsibility for this catastrophic mistake.

McCain instead gets away with boasting about the supposed success of the recent U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq. (Meanwhile, Big Media stars -- many of whom backed the Iraq invasion in 2003 -- hammer Barack Obama for refusing to accept the conventional wisdom about the "successful surge," as Obama tries to offer a more nuanced analysis.)
So, as the U.S. press corps again gives cover to the Iraq War, the larger failure of U.S. policy goes substantially unaddressed.

Read full article here: http://www.alternet.org/story/96687/

VIOLENCE RIPS THROUGH IRAQ

While the focus of attention in the United States is on Democratic Convention, there has been an uptick in violence all across Iraq.

Here is just a sampling of what has been taking place in Iraq that has not been covered by the mainstream media in the United States.

Kirkuk market blast kills, wounds 8

Kirkuk - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 28 /08 /2008 Time 12:22:47


KIRKUK, Aug. 28 (VOI) – Eight civilians were killed or wounded in an explosive charge attack that ripped through a popular market in southern Kirkuk city, a police source said on Thursday.

Baghdad:#1: A bomb in a parked car killed one person and wounded seven others in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad, police said."Another explosive device exploded in al-Kamaliya neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring seven," he also said.

#2: Three suspected militants died and six more were detained in U.S. operations in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.

#3: Anti-bomb squad defused five bombs in two separate regions of Baghdad, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. "Anti-bomb squad defused three explosive charges in Zaiyouna region near al-Rubaei-al-Malaab intersection in eastern Baghdad and found ammunitions and a mortar shell in the same area," the ministry said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#4: A roadside bomb was detonated near the national theatre in al-Karada region in central Baghdad, targeting a police vehicle patrol, injuring three civilian and three policemen and damaging a number of stores and two civilian cars," he added.

#5: "A car rigged with explosives went off in Baghdad al-Jadieda region in southeastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring seven more, in addition to damaging a number of nearby vehicles," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#6: Around 8:00 a.m. an IED exploded targeting a US patrol on Mohammed al Qasim highway in east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

#7: Tuesday Police patrols found unknown body in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said on Wednesday."Policemen found the decayed corpse late Tuesday in al-Madaen district in southeastern Baghdad," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#8: A civilian was injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to his BMW car. The incident took place in Mansour neighborhood in west Baghdad around 6:00 p.m.

#9: Iraqi police found two unidentified bodies in Sinak area in downtown Baghdad.Diyala Prv:#1: Two suicide bombers were among three terrorists killed Wednesday in a clash with US forces northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the US military said. One of the bombers was shot dead and the other detonated his explosives as the troops approached, killing himself but causing no other casualties, the military said.

Kut:#1: The body of a woman was found a street near al-Kut, a town southeast of the capital, the news agency Aswat al-Iraq reported.Iraqi police found the body of a woman in the town of Numaniya, 120 km (72 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:#1: Gunmen shot dead a civilian in a shop in the al-Nur area of eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles), north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: 14 civilians were injured by a suicide car bomb that detonated before reaching a checkpoint in Talafar city west Mosul.A suicide car bomber wounded 22 people in Tal Afar, some 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, according to Sabih Hussein, chief physician at the Tal Afar government hospital. A police source in nearby Mosul said that only two people had been wounded.

#3: Five civilians were injured by a suicide car bomb that targeted an American patrol in downtown Mosul city on Wednesday afternoon.

#4: A suicide car bomb detonated in eats Mosul on Wednesday afternoon. No news were reported about casualties.

At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 47 were wounded in the latest incidents.

Baghdad was the scene of a spate of bombings, while tribal warfare in Hay left a small number of casualties.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bombing yesterday in Baghdad. Three U.S. Marines and several Sunni leaders were killed in the blast. The security situation in Anbar has improved overall, but an increase in attacks has occurred recently.

As many as22 people were wounded during a suicide car bombing in Tal Afar. An earlier bombing wounded two people and may be the source of conflicting reports from the city.

In Baghdad, a car bomb killed one person and wounded seven others in Jadida. Six people were wounded during a bombing in Karrada. Five people were wounded by a blast in Kamaliya. A bomb planted on a car injured its owner. Two bodies were dumped downtown. A bomb targeting a U.S. patrol on the Qasim Highway failed to harm anyone. Also, five bombs were found and defused.

A tribal conflict left four dead and one wounded in Hay.

In Mosul, a civilian was shot dead in the al-Nur neighborhood. In Maliya, five Iraqis were wounded when a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol blasted them instead.

A woman's body was discovered in Numaniya.

Police in Madaen were alerted to a decomposed corpse

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES BARRED FROM VETS HOMES

"Private nursing homes conduct registration drives," noted Paul Sullivan of the group Veterans for Common Sense, but "we are not aware of any efforts VA has taken to assist veterans with registering and voting."

"The goal of President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and VA Secretary James Peake is to run out the clock so that no voter assistance is provided to our hundreds of thousands of hospitalized and homeless veterans," Sullivan argued. "If President Bush and Karl Rove run out the clock, then our veterans and our democracy lose. Shame on Bush, Rove, and Peake for undermining the voting rights of our disabled veterans during a time of war."

Voter Registration Drives Barred from Vets Homes

Aaron Glantz, OneWorld USTue Aug 26, 1:56 PM ET
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2008/08/military-draft-on-its-way-selective.html

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 26 (OneWorld) - As citizens across the United States gear up for a historic and highly competitive set of national, state, and local elections this November, a federal government policy is keeping voter registration groups away from thousands of elderly and disabled military veterans.

When Silicon Valley labor organizer Steve Preminger went over his precinct maps in 2004, he couldn't believe what he saw. Of the 400 veterans who lived at the nearby Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Menlo Park nursing home, only one had voted in the year 2000. So Preminger, who also heads a local chapter of the Democratic Party, gathered together a stack of voter registration cards, and he and a friend began walking the halls looking for veterans who were interested in registering to vote.

"We thought registering people to vote is as American as apple pie," he said. "Who better to reach out to than those who have sacrificed so much for this country?"

Almost immediately, VA officials threw him out. "We got summarily evicted by a supervisor who was re-enforced by security."

The VA has since explained that its decision to evict Preminger was part of a Bush Administration policy that bars outside groups from registering voters who live in VA nursing homes, hospitals, and transitional housing for homeless veterans.

In an e-mailed response to questions for this story, VA press secretary Alison Aikele said that "designating a VA hospital as a voter registration site" would make it harder for the government to care for wounded veterans. It "would be disruptive to the quality care we provide our veterans," she said.

Veterans groups have expressed outrage over the policy, which they say is disenfranchising as many as 400,000 veterans who often do not know they need to re-register to vote when they move into a VA facility and it becomes their official, state-sanctioned address. The VA has even barred local elections officials from carrying out voter registration drives.

In June, the VA barred Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal from entering its West Haven facility to help register voters.

Preminger has gone to court to get the policy overturned and has been joined in his complaint by elections officials in 22 states. "During visiting hours anyone can come into a VA facility and talk to veterans about the weather or sports," attorney Scott Rafferty said. "We should be able to come in and talk to these same Americans and ask them if they want to register to vote and who they want to vote for."

But the wheels of American justice can be slow, and with another presidential election just two months away, Preminger's case is still working its way through the courts.

Meanwhile, the VA has refused to soften its position. On May 5, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a new rule, VHA DIRECTIVE 2008-025, which states succinctly: "to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted."

Veterans' advocates are now looking toward Congress to overrule the VA policy. They're hoping the House and Senate will speed through the "Veteran Voting Support Act" as soon as lawmakers return from major party political conventions in September. They say the bill, which would overturn the VA's policy and allow voter registration drives, must be passed immediately if veteran voters are to be reached -- and in many cases re-enfranchised -- ahead of November's election.

In the meantime, non-partisan veterans organizations wait for the chance to register their fellow veterans to vote.

45 DEAD, 79 WOUNDED IN WAVE OF IRAQ VIOLENCE

You would never know it by watching MSNBC, CNN or FOX NEWS but a wave of violence has swept across IRAQ.

The IRAQ WAR and the 160,000 young AMERICANS deployed to IRAQ are not even on the radar screens of MSNBC, CNN and FOX NEWS.

The media---which mirrors the attitude of the American public---couldn't care less about the 160,000 young AMERICANS "stranded" in IRAQ.

Comments by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

45 Dead, 79 Wounded in Wave of Violence

Bombing in Jalawla' Raises Tensions with Baghdad

Source: http://juancole.com/

Why Iraq still matters to the presidential campaign,according to Mark Brunswick of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Violence erupted throughout central, eastern and northern Iraq on Tuesday, leaving at least 45 dead and some 79 wounded. The major single attack was a suicide bombing that struck at a police recruiting center in the mostly Kurdish town of Jalaula' northeast of Baquba in troubled Diyala Province. The attack raised suspicions among Kurds because it comes in the wake of disputes between the Kurds of Diyala and the government of Nuri al-Maliki, who has sent Iraqi government troops into Diyala. When the troops entered Khanaqin, a potentially oil-rich city near the Iranian border that is largely Kurdish, there were tensions with the local population and with the Peshmerga Kurdish paramilitary.

On Tuesday, residents of Khanaqin staged a demonstration against the presence in their city of government troops. Jalawla' is near Khanaqin. Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that when Iraqi troops first went into the northern, Kurdish areas of Diyala, they gave the local Peshmerga 24 hours to get out of the region. The Diyala governing council resisted this ultimatum, creating tension with the central government. The Kurdistan Regional Government also disputed the decree, eliciting charges from Baghdad that the KRG was attempting to extend its authority into provinces not in its purview (Diyala is not part of the KRG). Al-Hayat says that the Peshmerga had just returned to Khanaqin and Jalawla' after the withdrawal of federal troops.Shawn Brimley and Colin Kahl argue against al-Maliki's crackdown on the Sunni Arab Awakening Councils.Kurdish journalists are in danger in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Al-Hayat reports a new poll that shows that half of KRG residents feel that they have little freedom of speech.

FOX NEWS CALLS "SURGE" A SUCCESS EVEN AS 34 PEOPLE KILLED IN IRAQ BY CAR BOMBS

FOX NEWS continues to carry the water for the Bush White House and the Pentagon and LIE to the American public about the success of "the surge."

But FOX NEWS isn't alone in praising the success of "the surge." RUSH LIMBAUGH, SEAN HANNITY AND MICHAEL SAVAGE, all right-wing "hate" radio talkshow hosts, also continue to LIE to their listeners about how well things are going in IRAQ.

Here is a story which points out what filthy liars FOX NEWS, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SEAN HANNITY AND MICHAEL SAVAGE are in their ongoing effort to mislead their audiences the the real truth about IRAQ.

BAGHDAD - Three blasts killed at least 34 Iraqis on Tuesday, most of them in a suicide car bombing that struck a group of police recruits, officials said. It was one of the highest daily casualty tolls in recent months.

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403249/

Two of the bombs went off in Diyala province, which has been the site of much of the recent violence and a stronghold of Sunni insurgents.

In the provincial town of Jalula, an assailant drove a car toward a building where new police recruits had assembled, said Col. Ahmed Mahmoud Khalifa, the local police chief.

The car approached the building but was stopped by guards. The driver then detonated the explosives, the chief said. He said 25 people were killed and 40 wounded.

Local police have been forming an emergency response force in the region, with each tribal sheik allowed to send a certain number of recruits. Monday was the last day of recruitment, and applicants came to the police center on Tuesday to check whether they had been accepted, Khalifa said.

After the blast, security forces imposed a curfew on Jalula, about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Children killed on way to shrineElsewhere in Diyala, a roadside bomb struck a van carrying a Sunni family near the town of Mandali along the Iranian border, said Col. Sarchal Abdul-Karim, a spokesman of Iraqi border guards in the area.

Five members of the family were killed, including two women and two children, the spokesman said. The family was on the way to a religious shrine, the colonel added.

Also Tuesday, a bomb planted in a parked car killed four people and wounded six, including three policemen, in the city of Tikrit north of Baghdad.

The explosion went off during morning rush hour in a central street used by local government officials to go to work, said a police official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

More here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26403249/

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ: SECTARIAN CLASHES FLARE UP AGAIN

IRAQ: Sectarian Clashes Flare Up Again

By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail
BAQUBA, Aug 26 (IPS)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43671

A military operation said to target al-Qaeda has ended up targeting Sunni Muslims instead, creating new sectarian tensions.

A U.S.-backed security operation launched last month has only targeted cities with majority Sunni populations such as Buhriz, Tahreer, Qatoon, Mafraq, and Hay in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

The operation has drawn more than 50,000 Iraqi soldiers.

The deputy governor of Diyala, Awf Rahoomi, has demanded in a public speech in Baquba that "the new security plan should also include Shia cities like Hwaider, Khirnabat and Abara."

These Shia districts are strongholds of the Mehdi militia of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and of the Badr organisation (the militia of the ruling Shia party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.)

"The forces of the new security plan took all our weapons to the extent that we cannot fight al-Qaeda any more; we are impotent," Mullah Shihab al-Safi, commander of the Popular Committees Fighters (the Sunni leadership of the U.S.-backed Awakening Group militias), said at a meeting of the Commitment Council established by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Safi said four members of the council who are leaders of the Awakening Group were among those arrested by government security forces. Leaders of Awakening Councils from Qatoon district spoke of a similar crackdown by Iraqi forces. The Awakening groups are totally a 90,000 strong mostly Sunni militia whose members each receive 300 dollars a month from the U.S. military.

Continue reading here: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43671

CNN REPORTS: U.S. SOLDIER KILLED: IRAQI'S WANT A "SPECIFIC" TIMELINE FOR TROOP PULLOUT

Iraqi PM demands 'specific' U.S. pullout timeline

Story Highlights
NEW: U.S. soldier dies after being shot during patrol in Baghdad
Iraqi leader says U.S. withdrawal plan cannot be "open-ended"
Negotiators agree there would be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011, al-Maliki says
White House spokesman says agreement has not been finalized

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Monday there will be no agreement on a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq unless it includes a "specific" timeline and is not "open-ended."
http://tinyurl.com/5ql84e

Speaking with tribal leaders, sheikhs and other prominent figures, al-Maliki said U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed that there would be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011 but that some "outstanding issues" remain, according to a statement released by his office.

One issue the two sides have been working on involves the U.S. effort to keep U.S. troops in Iraq immune from Iraqi laws.

Meanwhile, a Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier died Monday after being shot during a patrol in northern Baghdad.

This brings the number of U.S. service member deaths in the Iraq war to 4,147.

Violence in Iraq on Sunday took at least 30 lives, officials said.

Click here for full story: http://tinyurl.com/5ql84e

IRAQIS DESPERATE FOR WATER

Although the United States has spent $2.4 billion on Iraq’s water and sanitation sector since 2003, the United Nations “estimates that less than half of Iraqis get drinking water piped into their homes in rural areas. In the capital, people set their alarm clocks to wake them in the middle of the night so they can fill storage tanks when water pressure is under less strain.” Additionally, a billion liters of raw sewage is dumped into Baghdad’s waterways each day. The World Bank estimates that at least $14 billion is needed to refurbish Iraq’s water system.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/23/iraqis-desperate-for-water/

MARINES IN ACTION: WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: "GIVE IT UP SON, I'M DOING THIS MY WAY"

Watch as the United States Marines take on the enemy during a firefight in Iraq. The music is terrific and images are very graphic.

http://www.youtube.com/v/MkNtOoENmik&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

VERY GRAPHIC AND BRUTAL VIDEO: U.S. MARINE COMBAT FIGHT IN IRAQ

I doubt if you will ever see a video like this. Everything is shown on this video of U.S. Marines in action in Iraq from the killing of insurgents to tanks rolling over insurgents.

http://www.youtube.com/v/c4jakQBEVLE&hl=en&fs=1

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SCENES NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

CAPTURED ENEMY COMBAT FOOTAGE FROM IRAQ WAR---VERY GRAPHIC

This is a first look at enemy combat footage from the IRAQ WAR.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tJOpaRU9aW0&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

Psst!-2. COMBAT FOOTAGE FROM AFGHANISTAN: .50 CAL AND AT4

We know only too well the mainstream press in the United States has taken a powder when it comes to covering the wars in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.

However, we refuse to do so because there are a combined almost 200,000 YOUNG AMERICANS deployed to both war zones and the most unpatriotic thing anyone could do is to ignore their heroism.

THIS NEWS VIDEO SHOWS A FIREFIGHT IN AFGHANISTAN WHICH HAS BECOME THE NEWEST HOTBED IN THE MIDDLE EAST WAR ZONES

http://www.youtube.com/v/-L1kdptD30k&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

Psst! NEW VIDEO: THERE IS STILL A WAR GOING ON IN AFGHANISTAN

You wouldn't know it by watching CNN, MSNBC or FOX NEWS but there is still a war going on in AFGHANISTAN as well as IRAQ.

This VIDEO shows our troops caught in a hail of crossfire in a battle in AFGHANISTAN.

See VIDEO here: http://www.youtube.com/v/Emr1tFK5wBc&hl=en&fs=1

WARNING: SALTY LANGUAGE

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

VA REFUSES TO ALLOW WOUNDED VETS TO REGISTER TO VOTE

The Bush/McCain administration obviously knows MOST veterans will vote for Obama/Biden and that is why they are telling the VA to make it impossible for wounded vets to register to vote.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) refuses to allow non-partisan voter registration at VA hospitals and nursing homes for our wounded, injured, ill, and disabled veterans. VCS believes VA is wrong, and the policy must change immediately. Pick up the phone today and urge your Senators and Representative to pass S 3308 and HR 6625, the "Veteran Voting Support Act," and restore our veterans' voting rights.

www.VeteransForCommonSense.org

BUSH AND MEDIA LIE ABOUT SECURITY IN IRAQ AND STATUS OF PULLOUT OF U.S. TROOPS

The Bush administration and the mainstream media in the United States continue to LIE to the American public about how "the surge" has calmed violence in Iraq, as well as the status of the talks between the U.S. and the Iraqi government on U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq by 2011.

HERE IS THE REAL TRUTH AND NOT BUSH, FOX NEWS AND MAINTREAM MEDIA BS.

Source: http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/index.tpl

5 Iraqi soldiers killed, 7 wounded in Diala blast

Diala - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39


DIALA, Aug. 24 (VOI) – Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven others wounded on Sunday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their army vehicle in southwestern Baaquba city, a security source in Diala province said.


5 Iraqi soldiers killed, 7 wounded in Diala blast

Diala - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39


DIALA, Aug. 24 (VOI) – Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven others wounded on Sunday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their army vehicle in southwestern Baaquba city, a security source in Diala province said.


Long way ahead on U.S-Iraq security deal-MP

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39


BAGHDAD, Aug.24 (VOI) - A lawmaker from the main Shiite bloc on Sunday ruled out signing the long-term security agreement with the U.S in the upcoming two months.

DOUBLE BOMBING ROCKS BAGHDAD SUNDAY

There has been a double bombing in Baghdad that has left nearly two dozen dead or wounded and the otherwise quiet city of Baquba has also seen the silence shattered with bombings.

Sen. John McCain keeps telling the American public that "we have won the war in Iraq" and nothing could be further from the truth.

Of course, McCain has his propaganda mouthpiece FOX NEWS spreading the same garbage to their viewers in their never-ending attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of Americans.

Five killed, 19 wounded in Iraq violence

Double bombing rocks Baghdad while shootout erupts in Iraq’s restive city of Baquba.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=27550

BAGHDAD - A double bombing in Baghdad and a shootout in the restive city of Baquba claimed the lives of at least five people and wounded 19 others on Sunday, security sources said.

Up to three people were killed and eight wounded, including five policemen, when a bomb targeting a patrol exploded on a through-road leading to Iraq's interior ministry, security sources at the ministry said.

As police ran to help a second bomb went off, wounding another five officers, they said.
Meanwhile, in Baquba, two policeman were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout, the defence ministry said.

Earlier this month Iraqi forces backed by US troops launched a massive assault against insurgents in Diyala, one of Iraq's most dangerous areas where fighters regularly carry out attacks.

SHOCKING VIDEO: SEXUAL ABUSE AND RAPE BRING SHARP RISE IN SUICIDE WITH AFGHAN WOMEN

There has been an alarming rise in suicides and suicide attempts by Afghan women after they were sexually abused or raped.

The Afghan women were hoping the ouster of the Taliban by U.S. and NATO forces would bring about change, but the women are still waiting for that happen.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS VERY GRAPHIC:

http://www.youtube.com/v/du_ELteelew&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

78 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED BY U.S. AND AFGHAN TROOPS

Afghanistan has exploded with violence and a Marine General is calling for a "surge" to try and stop the Taliban who have emerged as a threat to U.S. and NATO forces in the country.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government is complaining that U.S. and Afghan soldiers KILLED 78 civilians.

Karzai condemns civilian killings
Afghan human rights group claims at least 78 killed in operation in west
The Associated Press
updated 5:14 p.m. CT, Sat., Aug. 23, 2008

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26353890/

KABUL, Afghanistan - Scores of Afghan civilians who had gathered in a small village for the memorial ceremony of a militia commander were killed when U.S. and Afghan soldiers launched an attack in the middle of the night, officials and villagers said Saturday.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the early Friday operation in western Afghanistan and said most of the dead were civilians. The U.S. coalition, however, said it believed only five civilians were among those killed and said that it would investigate the Afghan claims.

An Afghan human rights group that visited the site of the operation said Saturday that at least 78 people were killed. The Ministry of Interior has said 76 civilians died, including 50 children under the age of 15, though the Ministry of Defense said 25 militants and five civilians were killed.

Meanwhile, a school principal and police official said Afghan soldiers tried to hand out food and clothes Saturday in Azizabad — the village in Herat province where the operation took place. But villagers started throwing stones at the soldiers, who then fired on the villagers and wounded up to eight people.

15 houses destroyedAn Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission researcher visited Azizabad in Herat province and found that 15 houses had been destroyed and others were damaged, said Ahmad Nader Nadery, the group's commissioner.

Nadery said the information was preliminary and the group would publish a final report. He did not provide a breakdown of how many were civilians or militants, and said 20 women were among the dead and that children also were killed.

Nadery confirmed reports from villagers that a memorial ceremony was being held for a deputy militia commander allied with the Afghan police named Timor Shah, who had died in a personal dispute several months ago. Because of the memorial, relatives and friends from outside Azizabad were staying overnight in village homes, he said.

Click on link to read the full story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26353890/

NEW VIDEO: FOX NEWS' DICK MORRIS CLAIMS WE DIDN'T INVADE IRAQ

Dick Morris, who used to work for President Bill Clinton, made a total fool of himself on FOX NEWS' "Hannity and Colmes" when he said the United States DIDN'T INVADE IRAQ, but was invited into IRAQ by the IRAQI government.

Morris, who never did have any credibility, has now gone off the deep end and is just another pathetic fool appearing on FOX NEWS.

Watch the VIDEO here: http://www.youtube.com/v/8QhK2lA6NKs&hl=en&fs=1

Click on the diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to see Dick Morris grilled by "Hannity and Colmes" co-host, ALAN COLMES.

KISS YOUR KIDS GOOD-BYE: JOHN McCAIN FEELS A DRAFT

John McCain, War Games And The Draft

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-hansen/john-mccain-war-games-and_b_120659.html

My friends, John McCain feels a draft.

And I'm with you all the way, good buddy.

We Southerners are famous for firing the first shot when we're in a snit. I'm with you when you say the new draft should not be like the old one. You did not, of course, offer us any idea as to how you would amend the Selective Service. So, liberal or not, I'm going to do my patriotic duty.

If we're going to fight the good fight for the next hundred years, we need some damn rules.

We need a draft again.

A shiny new one. The old Selective Service was just that -- selective.

There were easy deferments for those who had the money to stay in college. Lots of Vietnam-era privileged guys got a sudden yen for graduate degrees. And others, like George W. and Dan Quayle, could avoid the draft altogether because daddy had money, had power, had influence. Daddy just pulled a few strings and got you bumped ahead of every other poor guy on the National Guard waiting list, or got you into grad school even when your academic record put you so low on the list of applicants you left skid marks.

Nope. We can't have that. We're going to play fair this time. No matter whose keester winds up in a sling.

Look to games to define the rules of fair play for games. Let's do it like, say, the NBA. You know, first round draft picks, second round, third round and so on. And no deferments. None. Here's how it goes:

First Round: The kids, nieces, nephews and/or grandchildren of every member of the executive branch who supports the war. The president and vice-president are the first Americans to send all of their family's kids off to war. Every last one of them.

Second Round: Legislative branch kids. Legislators who vote to authorize war send their own children. Along with executive branch kids, they are the first wave to the front lines.

Third Round: DOD, Pentagon and war-mongering think tank policy makers/writers. All their young'uns are gone.

Fourth Round: Hit up corporate America. Kids of defense contractors, oil company execs and the like.

If you love the notion of a war, if you promote it, vote for it or stand to make a profit from it -- then you are certainly happy to do your patriotic duty. You'll want to share, to the fullest extent, the power and glory of your righteous war. You've earned the privilege.

John McCain has it on good authority (George W.) that The Hundred Years' War is more than a boring chapter in European history. It's Chapter One in the Bush/Cheney foreign policy crisis handbook, War Games: The Pre-emptive Punch Power Play.

The Bush/McCain doctrine is clear: It is imperative to strike the first blow when we have a notion someone out there means to hurt America. Or even piss us off. Especially if they've got oil. Or a pipeline. We hit first and we hit hard. Any perceived enemy is fair game. No verifiable evidence of evil intent required.

These Grand Ole Pugilists know evil when they see it. Dubya has sixth sense enough to look into the eyes of another power player and see right into the guy's soul (a skill, one can hope, he will share with McCain should November bring us a GOP victory).

Bellicose, saber-rattlin' War Games. That's what Bush/McCain foreign policy is all about. America is not alarmed.

Our role, as defined by the current administration, is to go to the mall. We are the Shop-for-Freedom Fighters. The vast majority of us are non-military families. And it's just fine to play the War Game when the "pieces" -- the toy soldiers -- belong to somebody else.

But what do you do when the troops are worn slap out?

GUNMEN USE PISTOLS WITH SILENCERS TO KILL TOP IRAQI OFFICIAL

There is still a war going on in Iraq and our troops are still in dangerous situations all across Iraq including provinces supposedly rid of violence by "the surge."

Here is a brief report on what took place in Iraq on Friday.

War News for Friday, August 22, 2008

Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

Baghdad:#1: Gunmen using pistols with silencers shot Major General Ahmed Rasheed Majeed, the director of the government office that issues identification cards near the national theater in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 7:30 p.m. Majeed was injured seriously.

#2: A civilian was killed and another one was injured when a member of a security company opened fire in Bab al Sharji neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 8:00 p.m., Iraqi police said. The US military had no immediate comment.

#3: Three civilians were wounded by a sound bomb in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 9:00 p.m.

#4: Thursday Police found two unidentified bodies throughout Baghdad. One body was found in Zayuna and another in Shoala.

#5: A colonel in the former Iraqi Army suspected a bunch of strangers standing next to his parked car in Amil where he was shopping, of wrong doing and reported this to the police. The police found that an adhesive bomb had been stuck to his car which they were able to defuse without casualties at 9 a.m. Friday.

#6: A mortar round targeted the Green Zone at 9 a.m. It fell near the Ministry of Planning. No casualties were reported.

#7: A man who works as a guard in one of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's offices was killed during raids conducted by the Iraqi army in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City, a source in Sadr's office said. Another man was also killed, police said.

Diyala Prv:Bahraz:#1: An Iraqi soldier was killed and eight others were wounded on Friday in a roadside bomb blast in south of Baaquba, a police source said. "An improvised explosive device went off targeting an Iraqi army vehicle patrol on the main road in south of Bahraz district, south of Baaquba, killing a soldier and injuring eight,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Samarra:#1: A member of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol in central Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, wounded fellow guards when he opened fire on them, police said.

Hawija:#1: Three civilians were killed on Friday by unknown copter fire in southwest of Kirkuk, the local police chief said. "Unknown helicopter opened fire today against a civilian car on the road between al-Huwaiyja and Kirkuk, southwest of Kirkuk, killed three civilians onboard,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Mosul:#1: A policeman with the Iraqi Police was found dead with a bullet wound in his head in Jamia neighbourhood, central Mosul on Thursday 21 August.

#2: A policeman was killed by light arms fire at a checkpoint near al-Maash market yesterday.

HARDBALL VIDEO: WILL CLINTON SUPPORTERS VOTE FOR OBAMA?

One of the founders of "Just Say No Deal," a blog devoted to defeating Barack Obama by Democrats and a journalist were guests on Chris Matthews' MSNBC "Hardball" show on Thursday night discussing how Democrats will not vote for Barack Obama.

The VIDEO from MSNBC is very revealing on several levels. The founder of "Just Say No Deal" says she is a Democrat, but I suspect she is Republican because near the end of the interview she says McCain would "loose me if he picks a pro-choice candidate for Vice President."

Watch VIDEO here. Sorry about the short ad at the beginning:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26338084#26338084

PICTURE OF OBAMA'S ONE HOME AND VIDEO OF McCAIN'S SIX MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR HOMES

The hottest topic on TV is the gaff John McCain made when he was asked how many homes he owned and he said he didn't know and would have to check with his staff.

It turns out John McCain owns SIX multi-million dollar homes and Barack Obama owns ONE home in Chicago estimated to cost one million dollars.

VIDEO OF McCAIN'S SIX MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR HOMES:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ek3jAkx9m10&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

HERE IS A PICTURE OF THE ONLY HOME BARACK OBAMA OWNS IN CHICAGO: ESTIMATED PRICE: ONE MILLION DOLLARS:

http://tinyurl.com/5jbddp

Compiled by BILL CORCORAN, Editor: CORKSPHERE: url: http://corksphere.blogspot.com/

MILITARY DRAFT ON ITS WAY---SELECTIVE SERVICE RUNS DRAFT TEST

The government has been secretely working on a plan to re-instate the military draft.

This CNN video gives details of what the plan might look like.

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/nKLlpNlwKfI&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

NEW VIDEO: McCAIN 'I MIGHT CONSIDER A DRAFT'

This blogger has been saying it for months and now the words are coming out of Republican Presidential candidate John McCain's own mouth. In this video you will hear McCain tell a group of people he "might consider a draft."

If McCain pursues war with IRAN there will have to be a draft.

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/7t76K8fymsY&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

CNN: NATO: RUSSIA NOT HONORING CEASE-FIRE TERMS

The United States is between Iraq and a hard place when it comes with how to deal with Russia.

Russia is refusing to honor the cease-fire and are actually digging in for what looks like it will be a long stay in Georgia.

NATO: Russia not honoring cease-fire terms

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO has accused Russia of failing to honor the full terms of the cease-fire agreement brokered by the European Union last week aimed at ending the fighting in Georgia.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/19/georgia.russia.war/index.html

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday that Russian forces were still inside Georgia despite the agreement to withdraw -- and despite Moscow saying they had begun pulling out Monday.

"We do not see signals of this happening," Scheffer said. "There can be no business as usual with Russia under the present circumstances."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO's accusations were "biased."
Lavrov said NATO was taking the side of Georgia, whose forces he said had failed to withdraw to their barracks.

"They blame us as if there were no requirements for the Georgian side in the six points" of the cease-fire agreement, he said. "I mean the requirements to bring back their troops to the places where they are on a permanent basis."

Speaking later in Tbilisi with British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called the NATO statement encouraging, saying Russians "are not and have never been after just small pieces of Georgian territory."

"They want to demoralize my people and put them into panic," he said. "They want to not only get rid of the Georgian government but get rid of all idea of Georgia's independence and freedom."

Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, said Tuesday that some troops remained in place to protect South Ossetia's borders.

"Every day that goes by after the deadline ... is a day that the world can see that Russia is not living up to its word," Milliband said. "With every commitment and every failure to live up to the commitment, international pressure will grow."

NATO plans to set up a NATO-Georgian Commission to oversee Georgia's relationship with the international alliance, supervise its bid to join the alliance and assist Tbilisi with support in the wake of the Russian invasion, Scheffer said.

A team of 50 NATO staff members will to go to Georgia to help assess the needs of the Georgian military, help with the resumption of air traffic and assist in the investigation of cyberattacks on the former Soviet republic's computer networks.

The conflict began when Georgia launched a large-scale attack on South Ossetia on August 7 after a week of what it said were separatist attacks on Georgian villages that border the enclave. Russian troops responded in force the next day, pouring across the international border with hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles and driving into Georgia from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another Russian-backed separatist territory.

The fighting has devastated parts of Georgia and South Ossetia, with many casualties reported. The U.N. refugee agency said that more than 158,000 people had been displaced by fighting in Georgia, mostly from districts outside the breakaway territories where the fighting began.

Watch residents of Georgian villages flee »

Both Russia and Georgia accuse the other of ethnic cleansing during the conflict.

VETERANS SAY THEY NEED HELP...BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. 300,000 TROOPS SUFFER PTSD SYMPTOMS

This story from Veterans for Common Sense http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10958 should infuriate you.


Washington, DC - About 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffer symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to a Rand Corporation study.

Veterans say a lack of mental health services needs immediate attention, but the Department of Veterans Affairs says it's providing veterans with the care they need.

Nick Morgan is a 24-year-old Iraq War veteran who came home in Feb. 2005. He was treated for PTSD at a veterans' clinic in Morgantown, Penn. When the treatment failed, he took matters into his own hands.

Morgan says his condition has improved, but he still needs help.

After filing a claim with the V.A. for healthcare two months ago, Morgan says he still has not heard anything.Dr. Antonette Zeiss is Deputy Chief Consultant of mental health services at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

She says V.A. policy requires all veterans who request care to get a call back within 24 hours.

Since 2004, V.A. funding and its number of mental health staff have increased significantly. Zeiss says the V.A. is prepared to help all veterans who need it.

Source: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10958

FORMER POW WITH McCAIN SAYS McCAIN'S FINGER SHOULD NOT BE NEAR 'RED BUTTON'

I Spent Years as a POW with John McCain, and His Finger Should Not Be Near the Red Button

By Phillip Butler, Military.com http://www.military.com/

Posted on August 21, 2008, Printed on August 21,
2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/95825/

John McCain is a long-time acquaintance of mine that goes way back to our time together at the U.S. Naval Academy and as Prisoners of War in Vietnam. He is a man I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States.

Doctor Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals. After his repatriation in 1973 he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at San Diego and became a Navy Organizational Effectiveness consultant. He completed his Navy career in 1981 as a professor of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is now a peace and justice activist with Veterans for Peace.

Read full story from Military.com here: http://www.alternet.org/story/95825/

ANN COULTER,RUSH LIMBAUGH AND SEAN HANNITY SMEAR OBAMA WITH FALSE CLAIM ABOUT ABORTION

Coulter, Limbaugh and Sean Hannity smeared Obama with false claim that he "believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion"

Summary: Rush Limbaugh stated that Sen. Barack Obama "believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion" and Ann Coulter said that Obama "wants the doctors ... chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed." They based their claims on Obama's opposition to an Illinois bill that he and other opponents said posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary. Indeed, the Illinois Department of Public Health reportedly said that conduct alleged by proponents of the bill, if it had occurred, would have violated then-existing law.

SOURCE: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808200007?f=h_latest CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE VIDEO OF ANN COULTER AND SEAN HANNITY DISCUSSING TOPIC OF ABORTION.


Radio host Rush Limbaugh and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter each echoed a false claim on August 18 when they asserted, respectively, that Sen. Barack Obama "believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion" and that he "wants the doctors ... chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed." The conservative commentators made their claims based on Obama's opposition as an Illinois state senator to a bill amending the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, which, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Obama and other opponents said posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary because, they said, Illinois law already prohibited the conduct being addressed by the bill.

Indeed, as Media Matters noted, when tasked by the Illinois attorney general's office with investigating allegations that fetuses born alive at an Illinois hospital were abandoned without treatment, the Illinois Department of Public Health reportedly said that it was unable to substantiate the allegations but said that if the allegations had proved true, the conduct alleged would have been a violation of then-existing Illinois law. Obama himself has cited specific provisions of the Illinois Compiled Statutes in stating that the "born alive principle was already the law in Illinois."

On Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity said to Coulter: "The Born Alive Infant Protection Acts. They induce these abortions," adding, "Barack Obama was the only senator to speak out against a bill that would have protected babies in that situation. ... Is that infanticide?" Coulter responded: "[O]f course it's infanticide," later adding, "I mean, this is a child that is not bothering the woman anymore, is not going to make her depressed or affect her health. It's out of the woman's body. They tried to kill it, but somehow the baby made it out alive. Sometimes missing an arm, but alive. And Barack Obama wants the doctors, you know, chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed."

On his nationally syndicated radio program, Limbaugh asserted: "We know that Barack Obama believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion."

From the August 18 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Ann Coulter, I'll start with you. The Born Alive Infant Protection Acts. They induce these abortions. I --
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: I interviewed Jill Stanek. She's a nurse. Illinois.
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: Testified before Obama's committee. A baby with Down syndrome aborted, thrown in a soiled utility room. She cradles this baby that's breathing for 45 minutes, and Barack Obama was the only senator to speak out against a bill that would have protected babies in that situation. Is that the --
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: Is that infanticide?
COULTER: It's shocking.
HANNITY: It is.
COULTER: It's -- of course it's infanticide. Yeah, he's for a woman's right to choose through the fourth trimester. And even Barbara Boxer, whom until now was the most staunchly pro-abortion senator, even she spoke in favor of this bill. I mean, this is a child that is not bothering the woman anymore, is not going to make her depressed or affect her health. It's out of the woman's body. They tried to kill it, but somehow the baby made it out alive.
HANNITY: Yeah.
COULTER: Sometimes missing an arm, but alive. And Barack Obama wants the doctors, you know, chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed. And moreover, you know, his remark about -- the glib remark about, "Oh, when life begins, it's above my pay grade." What kind of moral principle says, "I don't know when life begins, so kill it"? No, if you don't know when life begins, you err on the side of life, at least if you're a decent human being.

Read more here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808200007?f=h_latest

Pt.2 OF BREATHTAKING VIDEO ON PNAC--THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU THE IRAQ WAR

This is the second part of a two-part video series on how we got into the war with IRAQ. PNAC, an evil cabal of neocons inside the BUSH White House lied to the American public to get us into the war.

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/zQi9lXyj0HM&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

BREATHTAKING VIDEO: FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU THE IRAQ WAR---PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICA CENTURY Pt.1

Few people know the history of how we got into the war with Iraq, but this video shows the neocons in the Bush administration---known as the Project for the New America Century---or PNAC, and how they had one goal....world domination.

The VIDEO traces the rise of PNAC which includes Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and other neocons inside the BUSH administration who lied to the American public..

Watch VIDEO here: http://www.youtube.com/v/VgdPY_U6lqg&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video.

UPDATE ON NAMES, HOMETOWNS, CAUSE OF DEATH AND PLACE OF DEATH FOR US TROOPS IN IRAQ

This is not easy to do, but the mainstream media doesn't care anymore about how many US troops die in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The following is a list of 18 American GIs killed in the war. Click on the names in BLUE and obtain more information.

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=4-2008


Date
Total
Name
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death
19-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Amarah - Maysan
Hostile - hostile fire - Rocket fire
17-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Lance Corporal Travis M. Stottlemyer
Manama - NA
Non-hostile
14-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private Janelle F. King
Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Private 1st Class Daniel A. C. McGuire
Falluja - Anbar
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
13-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Corporal James M. Hale
Baghdad (northwestern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
10-Aug-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Michael H. Ferschke Jr.
Tikrit (southwest of) - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

US
Sergeant Kenneth B. Gibson
Tarmiya - Salah Ad Din
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
09-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Jose E. Ulloa
Baghdad (Sadr City)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
07-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Main Sergeant Danny E. Maybin
Camp Arifjan - NA
Non-hostile

US
Corporal Stewart S. Trejo
Karma - Anbar
Non-hostile

US
Corporal Adam T. McKiski
Karma - Anbar
Non-hostile
04-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private Timothy J. Hutton
Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Specialist Jonathan D. Menke
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED

US
Sergeant Gary M Henry
Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED
03-Aug-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Ronald Andrew Schmidt
Baghdad
Non-hostile - vehicle accident
02-Aug-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Brian K. Miller
Abd Allah - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - vehicle accident

US
Private 1st Class Jennifer L. Cole
Baiji - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile - gunshot wound

US
Specialist Kevin R. Dickson
Balad - Salah Ad Din
Non-hostile
Total
18
US: 18 UK: 0 Other: 0

ARMY TIMES: WHY WE COULD NEVER GO TO WAR WITH RUSSIA

Overhaul of Guard training to cost over $128M - Army News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Army Times or click on this link to read ARMY TIMES story:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_guard_training_081908/

There is no way in hell the United States could ever go to war with Russia, or anybody else for that matter.

The story above from the ARMY TIMES is a perfect example of how broken and stretched the ARMY is and how the National Guard is now thinking of all kinds of ways to keep troops happy by letting them live at home during training and hold down the rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan.

John McCain is blowing smoke up the ass of Americans with his bravado speeches about how the U.S. will kick Russia's ass if they don't fall into line.

The media is as much to blame as McCain because the mopes in the media don't know, or don't want to believe, the United States Army is broken.

As this story from the ARMY TIMES points out, the Army is doing everything they can to try and keep troops happy and entice more people to join the Army or the National Guard.

It will not work.

The ONLY thing that will work is a DRAFT and nobody wants to touch the thought of a DRAFT because it is the third-rail of politics right up there with Social Security.

TODAY Russia thumbed their nose at the United States and NATO and took dozens of Georgia troops hostage and stole six HUMVEES from a dock in Georgia. Russia has seen what has happened to the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan and they know the United States is now a paper tiger.

Russia, like anyone with half a brain and IQ over 75, knows "the surge" was a farce and it was the Sunni Awakening who calmed things down in Iraq and NOT the U.S. military.

BTW: You won't see the above story from the ARMY TIMES getting much press coverage because that would send a signal to Americans that the U.S. is not the super-power we pretend to be, and McCain was wrong.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

NEW VIDEO: WORLD WAR 3 IS UPON US. "OPERATION BRIMSTONE" US FLEET STEAMS TOWARD IRAN

President Bush and Vice President Cheney have been itching to get into another war before the election and this NEW VIDEO shows how preparations are being made with a component of the U.S. Navy within striking distance of IRAN. Late news developments indicate John McCain could pick Joe Lieberman as his running mate and Lieberman has been wanting the U.S. to go to war with IRAN to save ISRAEL from a nuclear strike by IRAN.

Watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/biCXQHexflY&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video.

VIOLENT, GUT-WRENCHING VIDEO ABOUT IRAQ WAR: DECONSTRUCTED--COURTESY MICHAEL MOORE WEB SITE

I doubt if you will ever see a war video like this one. It will make you angry and make you cry at the same time. The video captures US soldiers in Iraq talking about the "mission" and what a waste of time and blood the war has been and how "the surge" is a joke.

Watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/4iWGYWLv7-Y&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video: WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC

AUGUST ALREADY TOPS JULY IN US DEATHS IN IRAQ: 2 MORE GIS COMMIT SUICIDE

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq for August Already Tops July -- As Two More Soldier Suicides Reported

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/us-death-toll-in-iraq-for_b_119396.html

When the U.S. military death toll in Iraq dropped to 13 last month it received wide attention. But now, midway through August, the toll this month has already topped the July rate. Meanwhile, two more Iraq vets have killed themselves here at home.

A U.S. marine killed by gunmen in Fallujah west of Baghdad on Thursday became the 15th American to die in August. A troubling seven had died in noncombat incidents. The 15 tally tops July by two.

And the war at home? Each week -- some time each day -- brings the report of another Iraq vet suicide. One of today's stories appears in the Mansfield News Journal in Ohio., and concerns Derrick Hendon who was buried in Rittman after suffering from severe 'behavioral problems," according to those who knew him.

He died at home in Akron, three years after leaving the fighting. But he was one of the war's casualties. ''I think our whole family was a casualty of war,'' ex-wife Maya Hendon said in an e-mail from Israel, where she now lives. Derrick Hendon, 25, was found in the early morning of July 31, hanging by an extension cord in the garage of his North Akron home. ''I'm just tired,'' the Ohio Army National Guardsman wrote in a suicide note.

Both Maya Hendon, who moved to Israel in 2007 with the couple's two children, and Tina Evans, the soldier's sister, say Hendon was changed by the war. They believe all returning servicemen and women should be required to get psychological counseling.

''I think he died in Iraq,'' Evans said.

Then there's this:
Hendon opposed war. Maya Hendon said her ex-husband got an early discharge from the National Guard because he opposed the fighting, even though he had great love for America and initially supported the war. From the moment he was sent to Iraq, she said, ''he was trying to get out. I know he went through some traumatic experiences, but he didn't really want to talk about it.''

She said after he returned home, Hendon, whom she had met in an Akron clothing store in 2001, never sought help. ''Derrick was the love of my life,'' Maya Hendon said.

Also, the Leaf Chronicle in Clarksville, Tenn., reports the suicide of Spc. Carl B. McCoy, 23, a likely PTSD victim who had problems with alcohol. His wife, Sgt. Maggie McCoy, said he didn't get adequate help from the military after two deployments to Iraq. He saw friends lose limbs and die next to him during the recapture of Fallujah.

"He saw a lot of things that he didn't care to go into detail about," Maggie McCoy said. "He couldn't hear the fireworks go off at the Fourth of July. ... He'd have nightmares about this and that."

VIDEO PEEK OF McCAIN'S $12,000,000 PALACE

The house is up for sale now, but for many years Cindy and John McCain lived in what only be called a palace in Phoenix, Arizona. The house...errr mansion....is on the selling block for a mere $12,000,000.

Any takers from the Democrats?

Get a tour of the McCain palace in this VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/v/cB_rEeO3Ccs&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

STARTLING VIDEO: McCAIN'S SEVEN MANSIONS, $520 SHOES AND WIFE CINDY'S PRIVATE JET

Republican hopeful Sen. John McCain likes to make it sound like he is living on a shoestring, but nothing could be further from the truth as this VIDEO shows. Thanks to his wife Cindy's multi-million dollar inheritance from a beer distributorship her father owned, McCain lives in the lap of luxury with SEVEN multi-million dollar mansions, $520 a pair shoes, and a far cry from the way Sen. Barack Obama grew up living off food stamps and in small apartments with his mother and grandparents.

McCain dumped his first wife after she was in a car accident and took up with Cindy who he would soon marry leaving his ex-wife just over $1,200 a month to live on and raise his daughter.

Watch the VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ek3jAkx9m10&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

MARY MATALIN AND JEROME CORSI TEAM-UP FOR OLD-FASHIONED SWIFT-BOATING OF OBAMA

Jerome Corsi and Mary Matalin team up for an old-fashioned swift boating

Submitted by meg on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 2:51pm. Analysis

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSISby Meg White
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/358

One of the favorite adages of journalists was once, "If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out." Now it seems that we've shifted to "I read it in a best-selling non-fiction book; it must be true... oh, it's not? Well, who cares."

Jerome Corsi's new, widely discredited book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality sustained its number one spot on The New York Times bestseller list yet again this week. And for some reason, I find myself thinking of the waves of untruths that have passed through the hands of editors of late.

In 2006, James Frey's A Million Little Pieces sat atop the bestseller list for 15 weeks and was a selection for Oprah's Book Club. Thanks to revelations from The Smoking Gun, the book was shown to be a lie. Since Frey didn't have the passion of a political campaign backing him, his book is now printed with author's and publisher's notes. Random House even agreed to compensate some readers for the lies.

There's been a serious rash of discredited memoirs much like Frey's over the last few years. Writers and editors have paid hefty prices, including monetary ones and jail time, for lying in print. In response to the rash of memoirs that have been uncovered lately, I jokingly invented the word "semoir" to refer to the new genre. I haven't heard anything back from William Safire yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

But what we really need is a word for books filled with lies that are known by editors and publishers to be falsehoods, but are never retracted. The historical prevalence and modern popularity of deceptive nonfiction closely mirrors that of the "semoir." However, the shame and punishment don't exist. And that's because they are written, edited, and published by people who don't care about journalistic integrity. They are out to do two things: make money and win elections.

Enter Mary Matalin. She's been a pundit for years, after starting out in Washington serving first the RNC and then President George H.W. Bush. She has served as an aide to both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Now she is the editor-in-chief at Simon & Schuster's Threshold Books. Matalin publicly took up the mantle for The Obama Nation, the newest offering from Threshold.

Corsi is perhaps best known for co-authoring the attack book, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, which was part of the campaign credited for defeating Kerry in his presidential bid in 2004.

While Unfit for Command was culturally successful (heck, we might not even have the phrase "swift boating" to rely upon were it not for Corsi's libel), the book was widely denounced as fabricated. Still, it worked. And the larger body of evidence shows that Corsi and others are bent upon "swift boating" Obama with this new book.

The Obama Nation has also been largely discredited in the media. Media Matters, a Web site run by one-time right-wing columnist David Brock, deemed the book "unfit to publish" listing pages of lies and misrepresentations as support. Still, there are no plans to print retractions or corrections. Just keep that printer crackin' 'em out as is, says Matalin.

The fact is, the book is marketed as a political attack job. Jerome "I apologized for saying that racist stuff so long ago oh and be sure to catch me on white supremacist radio" Corsi admits that he was inspired by the election. He told The New York Times that he wrote the book for a very specific reason:

"'The goal is to defeat Obama,' Mr. Corsi said in a telephone interview. 'I don't want Obama to be in office.'"

Just today, the political action committee Save Our Republic sent out an e-mail supposedly written by Corsi soliciting contributions to pay for political ads that will "stop Barack Obama and the radicalism he represents from creating an America where the values and philosophies that made America great become just a distant memory to some or dead history to others." Oh, and the postscript of the e-mail notes that anyone who donates $125 or more to the PAC will get a free copy of The Obama Nation.

In addition, the book's cover boasts that, "The Obama Nation is the definitive source for information on why and how Barack Obama must be defeated."

This stands directly in conflict with what editor Mary Matalin told The New York Times about the book:

"Ms. Matalin said in an interview that the book 'was not designed to be, and does not set out to be, a political book,' calling it, rather, 'a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that.' She said she was unaware of efforts to link it to any anti-Obama advertising."

But maybe she never read it. Timothy Noah wrote a piece on Slate.com about Matalin and her contribution to the conservative publishing world. He said he received a response from Matalin that explained that "editor" doesn't really mean "editor" anymore:

"I do not deal with any mechanics (like print runs, reprints, financial relationship with authors), or for that matter, editing of the Threshold books. I am more akin to a consultant relative to the issue of potential interest among political readers."

Matalin's very own Web site bio says she "runs" Threshold. How she can do that as a consultant is beyond me (not that I'm the only one to wonder). I guess when you run a business dedicated to peddling lies, it's a lot easier to lie about your job. Those years working for the current administration couldn't have hurt, either.

But, as Noah noted, "conservative imprints aren't required to adhere to the same standards of truth as the grown-up divisions." Noah criticizes the book, but then lets both the writer and the editor off the hook because they are part of a tradition of lies.

Well, what can be done? Not much, I suppose. Those who read such books are much more likely to rely upon FOX News than BuzzFlash, Slate.com, or Media Matters. Readers of Corsi's books might believe every last lie in them, and there's little anyone can do.

But this election year, I would, at the very least, like to see the same amount of outrage that is currently devoted to PACs, lying campaign ads, and 527s be spread out to cover the right-wing lie publishing empire. Just because the people willing to believe these lies probably live in red states anyway doesn't mean we shouldn't care. Obama is slowly learning from John Kerry's grand mistake in ignoring these liars.

So should the rest of us.

THIS ISN'T GOOD: TALIBAN LAUNCHES MASSIVE ATTACK ON US BASES IN AFGHANISTAN

Taliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults

by: RockRichard
Tue Aug 19, 2008 at 13:56:13 PM EDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B7C9DFB4315A9BCFE27EBA51E74A5860?diaryId=1788

This isn't good:

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting, one a complex attack with multiple suicide bombers on an American military base on Monday night, and another by some 100 insurgents on French forces in a district east of the capital, killing 10 French soldiers and wounding 21 others, military officials said Tuesday. ...

The attack on Camp Salerno in Khost Province was one of the most complex attacks seen so far in Afghanistan with multiple suicide bombers and a backup fighting force that tried to breach defenses on to the airport at the base. It followed a suicide car bombing at the outer entrance to the same base on Monday morning, which killed 12 Afghan workers lining up to enter the base, and another attempted bombing that was thwarted shortly after.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for all three attacks in Khost. Their spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said that 15 suicide bombers, equipped with machine guns and vests packed with explosives, with 30 militants backing them up, attacked the base, one of the largest foreign military bases in Afghanistan. He claimed that some of the bombers had gotten inside the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by General Azimi of the Afghan military.

The article goes on to describe in detail the eight hour Taliban attack and the coalition/Afghan National Army response. Basically, the Taliban attackers were very precise, very coordinated, and very large in numbers.

This isn't an attack on a remote firebase.

Forward Operating Base Salerno is home to one of two U.S. combat brigades in Afghanistan. Along with the headquarters, there are significant numbers of support, aviation and field artillery assets. I can't locate exact numbers (probably unavailable for OPSEC reasons), but I'd estimate it is the second largest U.S. commanded installation in the country, behind only Bagram Airfield. A footprint this size comes with a proportional security operation. What the Taliban have demonstrated with this incident is that they are able to conduct large scale, coordinated attacks on significant coalition military bases, and that is unacceptable for a group we should have defeated several years ago.

Click on link to read more: http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B7C9DFB4315A9BCFE27EBA51E74A5860?diaryId=1788

MUST SEE VIDEO: BILL O'REILLY DEFENDS FOX NEWS AND THEIR RACIST ATTACKS ON OBAMA

BARACK OBAMA has been the victim of a less than subtle racist attack by FOX NEWS and in this video from YOU TUBE FOX NEWS' BILL O'REILLY comes to the defense of FOX NEWS and claims they have been "fair and balanced" in their reporting on OBAMA.

Commentary: You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see how the FOX NEWS reports on BARACK OBAMA are a subliminal form of racism.

Watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/fO0vX7YvZ7g&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

SHOCKING VIDEO: VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST JOHN "SONGBIRD" McCAIN

This YOU TUBE video shows Republicans and Democrats from Congress attacking John McCain over the documents that have been buried about McCain's time in the Hanoi Hilton after he was captured and how McCain is not telling the whole truth about what really took place during the time he was a POW.

Watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/9MUY9S6iCvk&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

OBAMA HITS BACK AT McCAIN OVER IRAQ WAR: ACCUSES McCAIN OF QUESTIONING HIS PATRIOTISM

Obama hits back at McCain over Iraq war
Obama tells military veterans that McCain is wrong to question his character and patriotism

BETH FOUHYAP News
Aug 19, 2008 09:37 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=304398

Democrat Barack Obama challenged his Republican opponent John McCain on Tuesday to stop questioning his "character and patriotism."

Addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Obama reaffirmed his early opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and said the so-called "surge" strategy of sending 30,000 additional troops to Iraq last year had not produced the political reconciliation necessary to achieve lasting peace in the country. McCain supported the Iraq invasion and was an early champion of the surge.

"These are the judgments I've made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election," Obama said. "One of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can't disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.

I have never suggested that Sen. McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

"Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country," Obama said to applause.

McCAIN TAKES CREDIT FOR VETERANS BILL HE FOUGHT AGAINST

In still another brazen display of lying to not only the American public but to veterans as well, GOP Presidential hopeful John McCain took credit for a veterans education bill he never voted for and actually opposed the bill.

Meanwhile, Demorcatic hopeful Barack Obama joined 96 other Senators in voting FOR the bill.


McCain takes credit for a bill he fought against (again)

Posted August 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16597.html

In late June, the Senate approved a war supplemental spending bill, which included the Webb/Hagel GI Bill, expanding educational benefits for veterans. It passed 92 to 6, with John McCain failing to show up to vote. (Barack Obama was there, and he voted with the majority.)

The next day, McCain bragged to an audience in Ohio that “we … agreed to an increase in educational benefits for our veterans.”

Ali at TP noted that McCain made a related boast this morning.

Speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) once again tried to steal credit for the 21st Century G.I. Bill, which McCain had vigorously opposed, even submitting his own proposal to undermine the chances of success for the main bill. Today, McCain told the audience of veterans that he “sought a better bill” and declared the final passage of the GI bill “the result” of his efforts:

“As a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what I considered flawed legislation. But the people of Arizona, and of all America, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead I sought a better bill. I’m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country.”

OK, let’s unpack this a bit. First, McCain not only opposed the GI Bill expansion, he actively fought against it. Indeed, he bragged that his opposition to the bill was evidence of his character. McCain not only opposed the bill, he did so for all the wrong reasons. He even went so far as to say the GI Bill expansion would literally “hurt the military.”

And yet, he’s gone from characterizing himself as a supporter to arguing that he personally made the bill even better.Second, McCain’s argument flatly contradicts what the VFW knows to be true.

VFW’s deputy director for legislative affairs Eric Hilleman: The Graham-Burr-McCain plan is “very partisan and is seen as a way to convolute the GI bill, or to slow the Webb-Hagel proposal down.”

VFW National Commander George Lisicki: “People are leaving after their first enlistment because they are tired of being shot at, and their families are tired of the frequent deployments… Whether they stay in four years or 20, we owe this newest, greatest generation the gift of education.”

In context, McCain was admittedly in a tough spot. The VFW championed the Webb/Hagel bill and made it one of the group’s top legislative priorities of this Congress, while McCain fought against the VFW every step of the way. McCain couldn’t exactly be honest, and address the organization today with an explanation on why he tried to deny veterans better educational benefits.

So, McCain chose Door #2 — he lied to them, and hoped the veterans in the audience wouldn’t know the difference. The result is a situation in which McCain adds insult to injury — he fought against better benefits for veterans, then he misled veterans about his own efforts.

It’s pretty much the opposite of “support the troops.”

As long as we’re on the subject, McCain also used his speech to the VFW to:
* attack Obama’s judgment on Iraq, just one day after the NYT highlighted how spectacularly wrong McCain’s judgment on Iraq was after 9/11;
* tout his plan for a “Veterans Care Access Card,” which by all appearances, veterans completely oppose;

* repeat the claim that Obama is effectively committing treason, insisting that Obama wants the U.S. to fail in Iraq because of his personal “ambition.”

Something digby recently said continues to ring true: “I am really starting to hate this unctuous, double-talking creep.”

CNN REPORTS: WHEELCHAIR BOMBER KILLS 3 IN IRAQ

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man in a wheelchair blew himself up Monday in a northern Iraqi police station, killing three National Police officers, including a commander, police said.
The attack also wounded nine officers on the police force, which the Iraqi Interior Ministry operates.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/25/iraq.main/index.html

The bombing in Samarra raises concern about the recent tactics employed by insurgents in Iraq. Bombs have been placed inside dead animals and hidden in carts. And in recent days, vagrants have been involved in bombings.

"As a sign of desperation, some of those terrorists resorted to some new methods and techniques," said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security plan.

One of the tactics is the use of remote-controlled "sticky" bombs, small enough to tape under vehicles.

A high-ranking Samarra police official said the disabled man came to meet with Brig. Gen. Abdul Jabbar Rabei Muttar, deputy commander of security, at the security operations building in Samarra. The pair met last week as well.

The man was searched when he entered the building, but police didn't look under his wheelchair seat, where the explosives had been placed. The man, who police say was cogent, detonated the explosives when Muttar approached him.

Also Monday, a roadside bomb exploded in the middle of a crowd of Shiite Muslims in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 15, an Interior Ministry official said.

The strike, in southeastern Baghdad's Zafaraniya district, is the latest attack against pilgrims trekking to Karbala for al-Arbaeen, one of the holiest days of the Shiite religious calendar. It falls on Wednesday.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber in Iskandariya killed at least 45 people and wounded 68 others, and armed militants attacked pilgrims in southern Baghdad, killing three and wounding more than 30 others.

SHOCKING DISCOVERY: MOLDY BARRACKS FOR WOUNDED VETERANS

Fail: More Moldy Barracks for Wounded Soldiers

by: Brandon Friedman
Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 12:55:05 PM EDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1780

More problems with shitty barracks for wounded soldiers:

LAWTON, Okla. - Mold infests the barracks that were set up here a year ago for wounded soldiers after poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center triggered a systemwide overhaul, soldiers say.

Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA TODAY early last week, said their complaints about mold and other problems went unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.

Officers at the Army base last week ordered that ventilation ducts in two barracks be replaced and soldiers be surveyed, anonymously if they wished, about any concerns. Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, the commanding officer, said it was "inappropriate" for soldiers to be ordered not to talk about the mold.

Is it really that hard to square away barracks for the wounded? Given this latest eruption of maintenance incompetence and failure in leadership, I'd just like to direct everyone's attention back to a statement made in April by Brigadier General Dennis Rogers--Director of Operations and Facilities for Installation Management Command--in regard to the Fort Bragg barracks situation:

"I'll tell you right now before we even start: I assume responsibility for the shortfalls in barracks maintenance which were referenced in the video by Mr. Frawley. We let our soldiers down.

And I note that a number of you are veterans, or most of you are veterans, and you served. So you know that there is no excuse for that. We let our soldiers down."

Of course, this statement was made after the much-hyped "nationwide walk-through."
So what's the deal now?

Can we meet the standard, or what? This is pathetic. What incentive do you give people to enlist when this is what you offer them?

WAR NEWS TODAY: MASSIVE INCREASE IN VIOLENCE IN IRAQ AND AFGHNISTAN

There has been a massive increase in violence in both IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN according to the reliable source WAR NEWS TODAY http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

The shame of it all is the mainstream media keeps LYING to the AMERICAN public about conditions on the ground in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.

The are a total of nearly 200,000 AMERICAN troops stranded, yes, stranded, in both countries and the prospect of either war ending soon is slim and none.

As YOU go through this list of what is happening in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN click on the part in BLUE and you will be able to read more on each topic.

Anyone reading the following list of violence in both IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN and claiming "the surge" has been a success is not only DUMB but BLIND.

COMMENT by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Monday, August 18, 2008

War News for Monday, August 18, 2008
NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an eastern province of Afghanistan on Saturday, August 16th. No other details were released. We assume this to be an American soldier.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from non-combat related injuries in an eastern province of Afghanistan on Sunday, August 17th. No other details were released. We assume this to be an American soldier.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED attack in the region of Forward Operating Base Attal, in the Gereshk area of Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Monday, August 18th. One other British soldier and an Afghan National Army soldier and the patrol interpreter were wounded in the attack. Here's the NATO statement.

Pakistan's Musharraf announces resignation:

Iran tests rocket for future launch of satellite:

Ex-Marine decries prosecution in civilian court:

Renewed violence grips Tal Afar:

Philippines drives rebels out; 34 people killed:

Record number of US contractors in Iraq:As of early 2008, at least 190,000 private personnel were working on US-funded projects in the Iraq theater, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) survey found.

Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb wounded five people, including three policemen, when it exploded in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded nine people, including three policemen, when it exploded near a U.S. military patrol in the Yarmouk district of western Baghdad, police said.In a separate incident, a roadside bomb detonated near a U.S. patrol while approaching an Iraqi police checkpoint in the al-Yarmouk neighborhood in western Baghdad, injuring three Iraqi policemen and six civilians, the source said. It was unclear whether the U.S. patrol sustained any casualty as the troops immediately cordoned off the area, he said.

#3: Gunmen killed one man and wounded his wife when they opened fire on the couple's car in Zaafaraniya district of southeastern Baghdad, police said.Faris Jabir Thahir, a Shiite cleric, was killed by unknown gunmen while he was driving his car with his mother and wife in Baghdad southeastern neighborhood of Zaafaraniyah," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Thahir's mother and wife were wounded by the attack and transported to a nearby hospital, the source said.

#4: A suicide bomber killed 15 people Sunday night, including at least six U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters, near a crowded outdoor market in east Baghdad, security officials and local leaders said. At least 30 people were wounded in the attack near the historic Abu Hanifa Mosque in the Sunni district of Adhamiya. Women and children were among the dead, said Abu Abed, the head of the U.S.-funded Sons of Iraq neighborhood security group there. The commander at the checkpoint, Farouq abu Omar, and four of his men were slain, he said.Also Monday, mourners in Baghdad's Azamiyah district fired guns in the air to show their grief during the funeral of Farooq al-Obeidi, deputy head of a group of U.S.-allied Sunni fighters who was killed by a suicide bomber. Nine other people were killed and at least 20 were wounded in Sunday night's blast, Iraqi officials said. They declined to be identified because they weren't authorized to release the information. The U.S. military put the toll at eight killed, including six U.S.-allied fighters, and 12 wounded.

#5: Another explosive device wounded two policemen and an Iraqi civilian in the central district of Karrada.Three police officers and a civilian were wounded in roadside bomb that exploded in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

#6: Sunday Police found 1 dead body today in Saidiyah neighborhood(south Baghdad).

#7: Iraqi forces killed three militants and arrested 33 others during last the 24 hours in different areas in Iraq, Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Diyala Prv:Khanaqin:#1: One civilian man was injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted the house of an Iraqi army officer northeast of Baaquba city on Monday, a security source in Diala said ."The IED went off inside the house of an Iraqi officer in the rank of captain in the village of Taja, Qarat Tabba district, Khanaqin, (155 km) northeast of Baaquba, wounding one civilian man near the house," the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Basra:#1: Masked gunmen ambushed a bus carrying electoral officials in southern Iraq on Monday, killing two and seriously wounding a third, officials said. The attackers opened fire from a passing car in the Abu al-Khasib area south of Basra, which saw bitter infighting among Shiite factions before a U.S.-backed Iraqi military operation curbed violence earlier this year. Two top members of a local committee preparing for provincial elections were killed, according to police and the head of Basra's elections panel, Hazim al-Rubaie.

Dawr:#1: A US military helicopter has reportedly crashed in Iraq's northern Salahuddin province 150 km north of the capital Baghdad. "We have received information that a US helicopter crashed in the Shwikhat area near the town of Dawr,” an anonymous source from Salahuddin's Joint Coordination Center (JCC) told Xinhua on Monday. "The helicopter crashed maybe due to technical failure because we did not see or heard any anti-aircraft fire before the incident," said the source, citing eyewitness reports. He added that US troops had closed off the crash site immediately following the incident. The US military has not yet confirmed the report.A media advisor for the U.S. army denied on Monday that a helicopter crashed in the al-Dor district, Salah al-Din province.

Mosul:#1: Gunmen killed a religious leader on Sunday outside a mosque in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: An explosive device on Monday detonated near a U.S. patrol vehicle in eastern Mosul city, an official Iraqi source said."Today, an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a U.S. patrol in Mosul's eastern al-Nuaimi Street, but casualties have not been reported thus far," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq­- Voices of Iraq­. Speaking to VOI, a media advisor for the U.S. army denied the news, saying "None of our patrols has been hit by an explosion in Mosul city."

#3: Meanwhile, an official source from Ninewa police told VOI that an Iraqi lawyer, Faris Sadeeq, was seriously wounded on Sunday night when unknown gunmen driving a civilian vehicle attacked him in front of his house in Falasteen neighborhood, southeastern Mosul, and was taken to a nearby hospital.

#4: A member of the Kurdish security forces was wounded in an explosive charge attack that targeted his patrol in eastern Mosul, the second blast to hit the city on Monday, an official source said. "Today, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near a Zirfani forces patrol in al-Faisaliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul, wounding a patrolman," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq­- Voices of Iraq.

#5: A roadside bomb wounded three prison guards in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan:#1: Nine Afghan civilians have been killed in a bomb explosion outside a US military base in the eastern province of Khost bordering Pakistan. A bomber detonated an explosive-laden car near the gates of the Salerno camp in Khost on Monday, killing 9 civilians and wounding 13 others, Afghan and US military officials said.

#2: Several militants were also killed Sunday when a group of insurgents attacked US-led forces during a search operation in the Tag Aab district of the north-eastern province of Kapisa province, a US military statement said. The troops responded to the insurgents’ attack with small-arms fire and airstrikes and recovered weapons and ammunition, it said.

#3: A helicopter of U.S.-led coalition forces made an emergency landing on Monday in Nangarhar province in the east, the U.S. military said, adding there was no report of injuries. It did not say why the aircraft made an emergency landing.

#4: The Interior Ministry said nine Afghan guards protecting a convoy of supplies for foreign forces were killed in a Taliban ambush on Sunday in Zabul province in the south.

#5: Several insurgents were killed during a clash with U.S.-led coalition forces in Kapisa province, near Kabul, on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

#6: Several militants were killed during a clash with Afghan and coalition troops in southeastern Paktika province on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

AP REPORT: RUSSIA MOVED MISSILES INTO GEORGIA

Report: Russia moved missiles into Georgia
Moscow claims it will pull back Monday, but may not remove all forces

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26248480/

GORI, Georgia - The Russian military moved missile launchers into a breakaway Georgian province ahead of a pledged pullout, The New York Times reported, citing U.S. officials.
Russia's president promised to start withdrawing forces from positions in Georgia on Monday, but suggested they could stay in South Ossetia, the region at the heart of the fighting that has reignited Cold War tensions.

The Times, citing anonymous U.S. officials who were familiar with intelligence reports, reported that the Russian military moved missile launchers into the region on Friday.

U.S. officials told the Times that Russia deployed several SS-21 missile launchers to positions north of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital. That would put the missiles within range of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, the Times reported on its Web site.

The European Union-backed cease-fire agreement calls for Georgian and Russian troops to withdraw to the positions they held before fighting broke out Aug. 7.

In Washington, top American officials said Washington would rethink its relationship with Moscow after its military drive deep into its much smaller neighbor and called for a swift Russian withdrawal.

Read more http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26248480/

McCAIN'S CROSS IN THE SAND STORY---PLAGIARIZED

Long story short.

In 1973, a russian author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, wrote about his time in in the book "The Gulag Archipelago" and relayed exactly the same story.From the book:"As he waited, head down, he felt a presence. Slowly he looked up and saw a skinny old prisoner squat down beside him.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/17/122230/161/...

The man said nothing. Instead, he used a stick to trace in the dirt the sign of the Cross.

The man then got back up and returned to his work.As Solzhenitsyn stared at the Cross drawn in the dirt his entire perspective changed. He knew he was only one man against the all-powerful Soviet empire. Yet he knew there was something greater than the evil he saw in the prison camp, something greater than the Soviet Union. He knew that hope for all people was represented by that simple Cross.

Through the power of the Cross, anything was possible."And here is a nice long excerpt from John McCain's book "Hard Call: The Art of Great Decisions " released in 2005, reprinted in the NY Sun, about what a big fan he is of Alexander Solzhenitsyn writings...http://www.nysun.com/opinion/solzhenitsyn-at-work/83117 /

Edited to add, apparently in 1973 he wrote a very detailed 12,000 word account of his time in Vietnam that was published in US News and world reports and wouldnt you know it, no mention of the cross in the sand...http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/17/15300/5629/...

WOW!!

McCAIN'S FORMER POW SPEAKS OUT: WHY I WILL NOT VOTE FOR JOHN McCAIN

As some of you might know, John McCain is a long-time acquaintance of mine, says Phillip Burtler, that goes way back to our time together at the U.S. Naval Academy and as Prisoners of War in Vietnam.

He is a man I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States.People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always "No - John McCain was a POW with me."

The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW.

John's treatment as a POW: 1) Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care.

Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years. President Ho Chi Minh died on September 9, 1969, and the new regime that replaced him and his policies was more pragmatic. They realized we were worth a lot as bargaining chips if we were alive. And they were right because eventually Americans gave up on the war and agreed to trade our POW's for their country. A damn good trade in my opinion! But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals. 3)

John was offered, and refused, "early release." Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW's were released, with the sick and wounded going first.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate. Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60's and 70's. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost.

So I believe John's age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button. I'm disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican.

http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859_1,00.htm...

CNN REPORTS: BAGHDAD SUICIDE BLAST KILLS 15, WOUNDS 30

You NEVER hear or read about it anymore, but there is STILL a war going on in IRAQ and a suicide bomber killed 15 in Baghdad and wounded another 30 in the most recent act of violence in the capitol city.

Baghdad suicide blast kills 15
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/17/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bombing killed 15 people, including a leader of a U.S.-backed militia, and wounded nearly 30 others Sunday in a Sunni Arab district of Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said.

Faruq al-Obaidi, the deputy leader of the Awakening Council in Adamiya, was among the dead, and two of his sons were among the 29 wounded in the blast, an Interior Ministry official told CNN.

The bombing took place about 8 p.m. outside a coffee shop in Adamiya, a Sunni stronghold in northeastern Baghdad. The bomber parked his bicycle near the shop and approached al-Obaidi, who was in a car at the time, the official said.

"While I was shopping just across the street, I heard a huge explosion," said Omar Qassim, a member of al-Obaidi's group, told The Associated Press. "Body parts were flying through the air. I immediately realized that Farooq's party was targeted and he was probably dead."

The attacker was a woman or a man who wore a black abaya robe to conceal the explosives, Iraqi officials told AP.

The Awakening Councils have been recruited by the U.S. military to fight against Islamic jihadists loyal to al Qaeda in Iraq and other militias. U.S. commanders credit the movement for much of the sharp reduction in violence there over the past year, but the jihadists have denounced its leaders as traitors and have frequently targeted them.

An al-Obaidi aide told AP, however, that a rival in the Awakening Council may be behind the attack.

"We had received information that we would be targeted by groups within Azamiyah and within the awakening movement itself," Khalil Ibrahim told AP.

A police official also told AP there was suspicion the attack was part of an Awakening Council power struggle.

POLITICO: OBAMA SLAMS THOMAS; McCAIN SLIP MAY HAUNT HIM

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Given the sharp words exchanged between their campaigns in recent weeks, John McCain and Barack Obama put on a good show of civility Saturday at their first joint appearance of the all but officially begun general election race. Midway through the forum at Saddleback Church, McCain joined Obama on stage.

By: Carrie Budoff Brown August 17, 2008 01:30 PM EST
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12583.html

The rivals, who have spent the summer quarreling as much over the definition of “celebrity” as the details of their policy proposals, exchanged a man hug, a handshake followed by a one-armed embrace. Smiling and tieless, they took their place on either side of the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical preacher who brought them together.For one night, at least, Warren may have achieved his desired goal of comity.

Neither candidate spoke critically of the other. And perhaps most tellingly, their campaign’s rapid response teams fell silent for the night.

It may well prove a brief respite before a critical three-week stretch in which McCain and Obama will announce their vice presidential picks and accept their party’s nomination. Obama mentioned a potential vice presidential nominee, former Sen. Sam Nunn, when asked by Warren to name three people he considers wise and would rely on for counsel as president. Nunn was listed after Obama's wife and his 85-year-old grandmother.McCain threw in a vice presidential possibility, as well: former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman, whom he described as someone he valued in economically difficult times. He also mentioned Gen. David Patraeus and, surprisingly, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).

Warren sought introspection over confrontation, pressing the candidates in separate one-hour interviews to reflect on their most gut-wrenching decision, their biggest moral failing and their faith. Warren often asked blunt questions and, at one point, playfully warned Obama: “Don’t give me your stump speech on these.” Obama appeared at ease in the southern California megachurch, a setting that played to his comfort level with openly discussing his faith. He quoted a Biblical proverb and spoke at length about his faith as a “source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis.” “I know that I don’t walk alone, and I know that if I can get myself out of the way, that I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends,” Obama said. The audience of several hundred inside the auditorium offered polite and occasionally enthusiastic applause throughout the forum. Yet Obama had trouble with the crowd when Warren asked, “At what point does a baby get human rights?” “Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade,” Obama said in a response that elicited a low murmur from the audience. He went on to acknowledge that he supported abortion rights, a position that has proved an obstacle to Obama in increasing his share of evangelical voters.A few minutes later, however, the audience members thundered applause when Obama said he believes marriage is the union of a man and a woman. But the crowd also clapped when he said he would not support a constitutional amendment codifying that definition.As the candidate who often appears less at ease discussing his faith, McCain appeared comfortable as he wove bits of his religious views into his answers. He joked more often than Obama and told stories about the adoption of his 17-year-old daughter from Bangladesh and his captivity in Vietnam. Asked what his faith meant to him, McCain said it “means I’m saved and forgiven.” He referenced the works of his Southern Baptist church in Phoenix, and his reliance on prayer during his captivity in Vietnam.

McCain said his greatest personal moral failing was the “failure of my first marriage.”There was speculation as to whether Warren would press McCain on his divorce, which McCain addressed before Warren, who was critical of former Sen. John Edward’s ability to lead after he admitted he had an affair, had a chance to ask.

Obama cited his youthful experimentation with drugs as his greatest personal failure. “What I traced this to is a certain selfishness on my part,” Obama said. “I was so obsessed with me, and you know the reasons that I might be dissatisfied that I couldn’t focus on other people.”

The forum was an unusual setting for a first joint appearance, marking the first time that two general election candidates appeared together in a megachurch. But the event served the interests of both campaigns in their pursuit of evangelical Protestant voters, who overwhelmingly favor McCain, according to a June survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. That poll showed 61 percent of evangelical voters supporting the Republican senator, with 25 percent preferring Obama, figures that align roughly with June 2004, when 69 percent backed Bush and 26 percent Kerry. (Bush ultimately took 78 percent of this vote, up 10 percentage points from 2000.) The difference is that more than 11 percent of evangelicals are undecided this year, twice as many as in 2004, the survey found. Saddleback hosted 5,000 attendees Saturday on their sprawling college-like campus, with an amphitheater, cafés and beach volleyball nets. The auditorium looked more like a soundstage than a hall of worship. The audience in the auditorium, which accommodated only a small slice of the people who made the trip here, sat quietly through the commercial breaks, although at one point someone shouted an approval — “We love you, John” — of the sort more often heard at Obama events (and, McCain might add, teenybopper concerts).

Asked which justice he wouldn’t have nominated to the Supreme Court, Barack named Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s only African-American.“I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time, for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the constitution,” Obama said.McCain said he wouldn’t have nominated the four most liberal justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. "This nomination should be based on the criteria of [a] proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution of the United States of America, and not legislating from the bench," McCain said. “Some of the worst damage has been done by legislating from the bench.” Warren asked Obama to define rich: “Give me a number.”Obama drew laughter when he briefly hesitated, then quipped: “You know, if you’ve got book sales of 25 million ...”Turning serious toward the end, Obama said: “I want people to know me well,” and added that if they do, “they’re going to make a good decision and we’re going to be able to solve the big problems that we face.”Asked his definition of "rich," McCain tossed off “$5 million,” then seemed to recognize this could join the list of comments he has tossed off in the past that have come back to him in attack ads.”I'm sure that comment will be distorted," McCain said. "The point is we want to keep people's taxes low. ... I don't want to raise anybody's taxes." Mike Allen contributed to this story.

ONE EXPLANATION FOR WHY OBAMA'S LEAD ISN'T BIGGER

The handwringing over Barack Obama’s modest lead in the polls is already rather tiresome — “Why isn’t Obama up by double digits?” the political world demands to know — and there’s no shortage of competing rationales to explain it. But the NYT’s Frank Rich offers one of the more compelling explanations I’ve seen: “[T]he public doesn’t know who on earth John McCain is.”
What is widely known is the skin-deep, out-of-date McCain image…. With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.

Posted August 17th, 2008 at 10:30 am
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16585.html


McCain never called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired and didn’t start criticizing the war plan until late August 2003, nearly four months after “Mission Accomplished.”

By then the growing insurgency was undeniable.

On the day Hurricane Katrina hit, McCain laughed it up with the oblivious president at a birthday photo-op in Arizona. McCain didn’t get to New Orleans for another six months and didn’t sharply express public criticism of the Bush response to the calamity until this April, when he traveled to the Gulf Coast in desperate search of election-year pageantry surrounding him with black extras.

McCain long ago embraced the right’s agents of intolerance, even spending months courting the Rev. John Hagee, whose fringe views about Roman Catholics and the Holocaust were known to anyone who can use the Internet. (Once the McCain campaign discovered YouTube, it ditched Hagee.) On Monday McCain is scheduled to appear at an Atlanta fund-raiser being promoted by Ralph Reed, who is not only the former aide de camp to one of the agents of intolerance McCain once vilified (Pat Robertson) but is also the former Abramoff acolyte showcased in McCain’s own Senate investigation of Indian casino lobbying.

Though the McCain campaign announced a new no-lobbyists policy three months after The Washington Post’s February report that lobbyists were “essentially running” the whole operation, the fact remains that McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from Fannie Mae to Blackwater to Ahmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia. No sooner does McCain flip-flop on oil drilling than a bevy of Hess Oil family members and executives, not to mention a lowly Hess office manager and his wife, each give a maximum $28,500 to the Republican Party. […]

Most Americans still don’t know, as [TPM’s Josh] Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.”

Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.

There’s a very good reason Republicans have worked so aggressively to make this election a referendum on Obama — because if the campaign is about McCain, the Republicans will lose. Badly.

GRAPHIC IRAQ WAR VIDEO: 10 SECONDS TO IMPACT: WARNING: ROUGH LANGUAGE

This Live Leak video is from the Iraq War and portrays how an Army combat platoon reacts to a 500 pound bomb being dropped on a house in Iraq. WARNING: The language may not be suitable for young children.

Watch video here: http://www.liveleak.com/e/876_1197364501

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video

REUTERS: ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG COMBAT VETERANS SHOWS SHARP INCREASE

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A significant number of U.S. veterans back from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin abusing alcohol after returning, perhaps to cope with traumatic memories of combat, military researchers said on Tuesday. Younger servicemen and women, those who were previously heavy drinkers, and call-ups from the National Guard and Reserves were the most likely to increase their drinking and to develop alcohol-related problems, according to the study. "Increased alcohol outcomes among...

Continue reading Reuters story here: http://article.wn.com/view/2008/08/13/Alcohol_abuse_rises_among_combat_veterans_study_b/

BREAKING NEWS: CNN'S MICHAEL WARE REPORTS RUSSIANS BREAK CEASE-FIRE

CNN's Michael Ware, who is on the ground in Gori, Georgia, reported early Saturday morning the Russians have already broken the cease-fire and have destroyed a main railway bridge and are digging in for a long stay in Georgia instead of retreating.

Developing story....

STICKY IED USED IN BAGHDAD CAR BLAST

Baghdad blast resulted from sticky IED inside vehicle

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 16 /08 /2008 Time 5:36:39
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=89601&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

BAGHDAD, Aug. 16 (VOI) – Saturday's blast in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Ur was the result of a sticky improvised explosive device emplaced inside a civilian vehicle, the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said.

"Today's blast in Ur neighborhood resulted from a sticky IED inside a civilian vehicle," BOC official spokesman, Maj. General Qassem Atta, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq –

(VOI).Earlier on Saturday, the Iraqi authorities said seventeen civilians were killed or wounded in a car bomb attack that ripped through the neighborhood of Ur."Today, a roadside car rigged with explosives detonated in an Ur street, northeastern Baghdad, killing six civilians and wounding 11 others," a police source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told VOI.

CNN: THIRD DAY CAR BOMB EXPLODES IN BAGHDAD KILLING SIX

Why doesn't the Bush administration and their mouthpiece, FOX NOISE, tell us more about how well "the surge" is going in Iraq?

For the third day in a row a car bomb has gone off in Baghdad killing Iraqi civilians.

Car bomb explodes in Iraq; 6 dead

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/16/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims killed six people and wounded 10 others Saturday morning, an Iraqi interior ministry official said.
The attack happened in northeastern Baghdad's Shaab district, which is mostly Shiite, the official said.
The pilgrims were heading to the city of Karbala to take part in the Shaabaniya religious festival, the official

JEROME CORSI, AUTHOR OF ANTI-OBAMA BOOK,"THE OBAMA NATION," APPEARS ON PRO-WHITE RADIO SHOW

Corsi's previous appearance on "pro-White" radio show was streamed live on "White Nationalist" Stormfront.org

Summary: Jerome Corsi's appearance on the July 20 edition of The Political Cesspool Radio Show -- during which he promoted The Obama Nation and criticized Sen. Barack Obama -- was streamed "Live" on the self-described "White Nationalist" and "White Pride" website Stormfront.org. Prior to Corsi's appearance on the July 20 broadcast, host James Edwards claimed that "most Jews ... regard[] Jews and whites as two different races," and co-host Winston Smith repeatedly referred to Obama as a "mulatto."

As Media Matters for America and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch blog have noted, Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi is reportedly scheduled to appear on the August 17 edition of The Political Cesspool Radio Show. Corsi's previous appearance on the July 20 edition of The Political Cesspool -- during which he promoted The Obama Nation and criticized Sen. Barack Obama -- was streamed "Live" on the self-described "White Nationalist" and "White Pride" website Stormfront.org.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808150009?lid=524616&rid=12713599

Additionally, at several points during the July 20 broadcast prior to Corsi's appearance, host James Edwards and co-host Winston Smith expounded on their views on race. Edwards claimed that "most Jews ... regard[] Jews and whites as two different races," and Smith repeatedly referred to Obama as a "mulatto." According to its "Statement of Principles," The Political Cesspool Radio Show "represent[s] a philosophy that is pro-White."

According to a Google cache snapshot of Stormfront.org "as it appeared on Jul 21, 2008 00:01:06 GMT," text under the headline "Stormfront Broadcast Radio" stated: "Live NOW: Political Cesspool BACK ON AIR! - Special two-hour show starting for Internet listeners! - James Edwards, Winston Smith, Eddie 'The Bombardier' Miller! Our featured guest is author and columnist Dr. Jerome Corsi."

Read more http://mediamatters.org/items/200808150009?lid=524616&rid=12713599

WASHINGTON POST'S EUGENE ROBINSON: HERE COMES THE OBAMA SMEAR MACHINE

Obama Faces The Smear Machine

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, August 15, 2008; A21
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403057.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Here come the goons, right on schedule.

The "author," and I use the term loosely, whose vicious lies damaged John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign has crawled back out from under his rock to spew vicious lies about Barack Obama. Right-wing radio talk-show hosts are dutifully transmitting this concocted venom. This presidential campaign has officially gotten ugly.

(Comment: Obama campaign issues rebuttal to book's claims: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080814/ap_on_el_pr/anti_obama_book;_ylt=AnGMTzaclA7Rz41PAUJrk9qs0NUE)

The "author" I'm talking about is a man named Jerome Corsi. In a book published last year, "The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada," Corsi claimed that George W. Bush was at the heart of a secret conspiracy to subsume the United States into a post-national, one-worldish North American Union. Corsi's writings on far-right blogs have been even more paranoid and delusional. He has written that pedophilia, for which he used a more graphic term, "is OK with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press." He has referred to Muslims as "ragheads."

Corsi would be known as just another visitor from the outer fringe if he had not been the co-author of "Unfit for Command," the book that slimed Kerry's exemplary record as a Swift boat commander in Vietnam. The allegations in that book were discredited, but not before they had been amplified by the right-wing echo chamber to the point where they raised questions in some voters' minds -- perhaps enough to swing the election.

It was an abominable trick, but quite remarkable. Kerry's opponent, George W. Bush, had avoided Vietnam by taking refuge in the Texas Air National Guard. Kerry was a decorated war hero, yet somehow his valor and sense of duty were turned into a political negative and used against him.

Now Corsi, in what he acknowledges is an attempt "to keep Obama from getting elected," has come out with a book that similarly tries to turn one of Obama's strengths -- his compelling life story -- into a liability.

Corsi's new volume of vitriol, "The Obama Nation," seeks to smear Obama as a "leftist" and add fuel to the false and discredited rumor that he is secretly a radical Muslim, or at least has "extensive connections to Islam." The liberal Web site Media Matters has already demonstrated that the book is riddled with factual errors -- for example, Corsi repeats the charge, thoroughly disproved, that Obama was in church for one of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most incendiary sermons.

But the point isn't to tell the truth. The point is to repeat the lie and thus give it new life.

Corsi's dirty work is more difficult this time because Obama has already written his life story in the autobiographical "Dreams From My Father." Since he can't reveal anything about Obama's past, Corsi is reduced to reinterpretation -- or, at times, invention.

It sounds like the kind of book that should quickly be consigned to the remainder bin, but -- unsurprisingly -- it is already a bestseller. The Post and other news organizations have noted that this and similar anti-Obama books win the imprimatur of best-seller status by being "pushed by conservative book clubs that buy in bulk to drive up sales."

This time, though, somebody is pushing back: John Kerry, whose political action committee has launched a new Web site, called Truth Fights Back, to "fight against the right-wing smear machine." The site weighs in vigorously on behalf of several Democrats who are being hit with unfair attacks, but its most urgent campaign is "making sure Jerome Corsi doesn't get away with his lies unchallenged."

The Obama campaign faces a classic dilemma. If smear attacks are left unanswered, voters can get the impression that the lies are true. But there's no way to respond without giving the falsehoods wider circulation.

Read the rest of the Eugene Robinson column here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403057.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

MARINE CORPS TIMES REPORTS: TROOPS CONTRIBUTE MORE TO OBAMA CAMPAIGN

Military personnel are contributing more to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois than to his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, according to a nonpartisan group tracking donations to candidates.

By Rick Maze - Staff writers
Posted : Thursday Aug 14, 2008 14:23:40 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/08/military_campaigncontributions_obama_081408w/


The Center for Responsible Politics says that in terms of total contributions during the 2008 election cycle, 859 service members have contributed a combined $335,536 to Obama as of June 31, an average of about $391 a person.

In comparison, 558 service members have contributed a combined $280,513 to Sen. John McCain, an average of $503 a person.

Running a close third in the contributions is Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who has suspended his run for the Republican presidential nomination but has not formally dropped out of the race. He has received $232,411 in contributions from 537 military members, an average of $433 a person.

Looking just at contributions from service members with overseas addresses, McCain trails far behind Obama and Paul.

Obama got $60,642 in contributions from 134 military personnel, an average of $453 a person. Paul got $45,512 from 99 military personnel, an average of $460 a person, while McCain received $10,665 from 26 people, an average of $410 a person.

Continue reading: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/08/military_campaigncontributions_obama_081408w/

ARMY TIMES: GREEN BERET KILLS AFGHAN AND KEEPS HIS EAR

Green Beret: Team waited to report killing

By Estes Thompson - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 14, 2008 15:43:30 EDT
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_newell_hearing_081308/

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Green Berets believed a fellow soldier had killed a civilian and kept his ear but didn’t report him because they wanted their team intact for a mission to a remote Afghan village, a team member testified Wednesday.

Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Greathead testified Wednesday that team members expected gunfire during the mission and so agreed to wait several days before telling commanders about the fatal shooting. He said they didn’t want Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell immediately expelled from the team because they wanted “all the guns on the ground.”

Greathead denied suggestions from Newell’s attorney that team members conspired against Newell because he was too aggressive and his tactics could endanger members of the team.

He said team members held meetings without Newell only to discuss how and when they would report the March 5 killing.

Newell is accused of dumping the Afghan civilian’s body in the desert and keeping his ear as a souvenir.

Read more here: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_newell_hearing_081308/

CNN BREAKING NEWS: 18 SHIITE PILGRIMS KILLED IN BAGHDAD BLAST

You won't be reading or hearing about this in your local newspaper or on TV, but here is more proof the success of "the surge" is a myth.

18 SHIITE PILGRIMS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN BAGHAD BLAST

NEW: Coalition troops killed militant suspect during raid
Two suicide bombers kill 18 in attack on Shiite pilgrims, official says
Pilgrims en route to festival in Karbala south of Baghdad
Iraqi Interior Ministry official says 75 others wounded

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/14/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber attacked Shiite pilgrims Thursday evening as they traveled to a festival, killing 18 people and wounding 75, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The woman's attack took place in the Iskandariya district south of Baghdad.

The pilgrims were traveling to Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of the Iraqi capital.
Earlier Thursday, coalition troops in Baghdad killed a man during a raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq, the U.S. military said.

Don't Miss
Navy guards accused of abusing detainees in Iraq
The incident occurred during an operation that led to the capture of an al Qaeda suspect "believed to conduct financial transactions for AQI and its car-bombing networks," the U.S. military said.

Troops killed the man when he "refused to comply with their instructions and made threatening movements toward them." Two other people were detained.

On Wednesday, a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were killed when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in northwest Baghdad, military officials said in a statement.
The incident occurred about 10:10 a.m. (3:10 a.m. ET), the statement said.

The soldier was assigned to Multi-National Division -- Baghdad. The soldier's name was withheld pending notification of relatives, officials said.

The death brings to 4,141 the number of U.S. service members killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

CNN REPORTS: U.S. CONTRACTORS RAKING IN BILLIONS ON RECONSTRUCTION JOBS IN IRAQ

Report: U.S. using contractors in Iraq at unprecedented rate

Report says U.S. on track to spend $100 billion on contractors by end of 2008
Figures reflect reliance on contractors to fill jobs typically held by military personnel
Use of contractors for security criticized for lack of oversight, political favoritism
Donald Rumsfeld said contractors freed up personnel for combat roles

From Mike Mount
CNN Pentagon Producer
http://tinyurl.com/6gfljp

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States spent $85 billion on contracts in Iraq and other countries in the first four years of the war and is relying on contract employees at a greater rate than in any other war, according to a government report released Tuesday.

A report by the Congressional Budget Office says that a fifth of spending on the Iraq war has gone to contractors. Between 2003 and 2007, 70 percent of $85 billion in contracts were for work inside Iraq. The remaining 30 percent went to contracts in surrounding countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the report said.

The Government Accountability Office says the United States has spent $435 billion on operations in Iraq.

Based on war contract spending patterns since 2004, the United States could spend more than $100 billion on contractor operations in Iraq by the end of 2008, according to the report.

The U.S. military has used contractors in all of its recent conflicts, from the Gulf War to the Balkans. But military leaders are using contractors to a greater extent in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the report, reflecting a reliance on contractors to fill jobs held by military personnel in past conflicts.

Contractors in and around Iraq help serve food, clean and provide security for the U.S. and Iraqi governments, according to the report. Most of the contracts were for logistics support, gas and diesel fuel, and food.

Read more here http://tinyurl.com/6gfljp

WASHINGTON POST: AFTER WARNINGS TO MOSCOW, US HAS FEW OPTIONS

The Washington Post is reiterating what this blogger said in a commentary on Wednesday when it comes to U.S. options regarding the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

The U.S. doesn't have the resources or the will to take on Russia and so whatever is coming out of the Bush White House is just more smoke and mirrors.

Someday some enterprising reporter from the mainstream media will level with the American public and spell out just how depleted the U.S. military is after seven years in Afghanistan and five years in Iraq.

There is absolutely no way the U.S. could take on Russia with our military begging for more recruits and in dire need of new equipment.

The Washington Post story below spells out what few options the U.S. has when it comes to Russia and Georgia:

After Warnings to Moscow, U.S. Has Few Options

By Dan Eggen and Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 14, 2008; A11
http://tinyurl.com/6cqbql

The Bush administration mixed strong rhetoric with modest action yesterday in response to Russia's continued military incursion in Georgia, warning that Moscow's international aspirations are threatened if it does not honor a negotiated cease-fire in the conflict.

President Bush announced the start of a humanitarian aid program for Georgia using U.S. military airplanes and ships, although officials said the effort so far includes only two scheduled flights. One shipment arrived later yesterday and another is to land today. He also dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a diplomatic trip that will take her to Paris and then to Georgia's capital of Tbilisi to show "America's unwavering support."

"The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia," Bush said during an appearance at the White House. "We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."

Yet Bush's statement, along with the moderate measures that came with it, served to underscore the limited options available to the United States, which has neither the wherewithal nor the willingness to enter into a military conflict with Russia on its territorial border.

Read on http://tinyurl.com/6cqbql

WHO ARE BUSH AND CONDI KIDDING? COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN

No wonder Russia is paying no attention to President Bush and Sec. of State Rice on their paper tiger threats about what the U.S. will do if Russia doesn't pullback on their invasion of Georgia.

The United States doesn't have a military that can do a damn thing about what Russia is doing.

The U .S. military is stretched way beyond their capabilities now and military commanders are crying for more troops for Afghanistan, but the U.S. doesn't have more troops.

Russia can and will tell the U.S. to go take a flying you-know-what at the moon because Russia knows the U.S. is now a PAPER TIGER.

The U.S. has 160,000 troops tied up in Iraq and 30,000 troops bogged down in Afghanistan and nothing in the military recruitment pipeline to take on Russia in Georgia.

I just saw Wendell Goler, the FOX NEWS White House Correspondent, say Russia does not want to take on the United States.

What the hell is Goler smoking?

The United States military couldn't take on a Boy Scout troop let alone the massive Russian military.

The mainstream media has to tell the truth about how the military is stretched to the breaking point, or U.S. cities will see Russian tanks rolling through them in a heartbeat.

The ONLY reporter I've seen so far tell the truth about the Russia/Georgia conflict is Shepherd Smith of FOX NEWS. He keeps asking meatheads from the right wing how the U.S. is going to take on the Russians and he gets nothing but BS from all the neocons FOX NEWS puts on the air.

If the U.S. peacekeepers and humanitarian helpers start getting their ass kicked by the Russians, the U.S. military's hand are tied because we just don't have the troops to do a damn thing about the situation and Russia knows it.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

IRAQI STUDENTS ARE FAILING EXAMS IN RECORD NUMBERS

The fallout of invading and occupying Iraq continues way beyond what is being reported by the mainstream media.

The latest victims of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq are Iraq students who are failing exams and have resorted to cheating just to try and pass courses.

IRAQ: Students Fail, Like So Much Else

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43491

BAGHDAD, Aug 8 (IPS) - Living from one crisis to another, without electricity or freedom to move under a collapse of security, massive numbers of Iraqi students are failing their exams."It is a natural result of what is going on in Iraq under this U.S. occupation that so many Iraqi students failed the high school exams," Mahmood Jassim, a teacher in Baghdad told IPS. "How can a student pass such difficult exams feeling terrified, exhausted in the heat, in darkness without electricity, having to work in the absence of a dead or detained father, and all the problems of the world over his head." Jassim says about 75 percent of his students are failing their exams. "I am ashamed of the results my school achieved this year," a school headmaster in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "I cannot tell you what percentage we achieved because that will reveal me and my school. You do not really believe we are living in a democratic country, do you?"

Two headmasters, who also spoke on condition of anonymity given the prevailing atmosphere of fear, said school results showed sectarian divisions – and not for the best of reasons. Shia schools, they alleged, ran a loose invigilation system that allowed students to cheat. Some teachers believe most students who passed their exams did so by cheating. "Those who cheated have passed while the honest failed," Ghanim Jamil, a teacher in Baghdad told IPS.

"If a student is the son of a senior government official or of a member of an armed group, how can we stop them from cheating? We would be killed."

Click on link to read full story: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43491

CNN REPORTS: TROOPS CHARGED BAGGAGE FEES ON WAY TO WAR ZONES

Story Highlights
Commercial airlines charge troops fees for military kits
VFW asks industry to enact across-the-board waiver for military personnel
American Airlines says troops are allowed heavier, bigger bags
Reimbursement available, but can require forms filled out in war zones

From Deborah Feyerick CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/13/troops.baggage/index.html

(CNN) -- Some airlines are charging U.S. soldiers extra baggage fees to take their military kits with them as they set off for war.

Military personnel carry large, heavy kit bags containing boots, clothing and gear. In the past few months, airlines have instituted fees for all travelers ranging from $15 for one bag to $250 for a third bag.

"What we want to do is nip this in the bud by exempting the military personnel who are traveling under orders from having to pay a fee on their third bag," said Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis.

The VFW sent a letter to the Air Transport Association of America, the aviation industry's umbrella group, asking that U.S. troops be exempt from any extra baggage fees.

Watch how troops are getting hit with fees »

"If you have a family at home and you stand at that airline counter and you have three bags in your hand, and they say you can't get on board unless you pay $100 up front right now, what are you going to do?" Davis said.

American Airlines, and others reached by CNN, say troops are allowed heavier and bigger bags and can check two for free, unlike commercial travelers.

Troops are allowed 190 pounds each free of charge, American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said, adding: "If they pay, they get reimbursed, so at the end, they don't pay a dime."

That's not a good answer, the VFW's Davis said.

"These young troops are going to war," he said. "There's a lot more on their mind than to have to worry or try to remember to get a hundred dollars reimbursed to them when they get into a war zone."

The military usually issues vouchers authorizing extra baggage before a flight, but troops must pay up front if they don't have one.

And though reimbursement is likely, pending approval, as with any business expense, it is not guaranteed.

The Air Transport Association says it supports the troops, but baggage policies are "made independently by the individual airlines."

85 BILLION OF TAXPAYER MONEY GOING TO CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ

The Iraq War has cost U.S. taxpayers $85 BILLION in payoffs to contractors to rebuild the Iraq the U.S. military destroyed.

U.S. spending on contractors in Iraq reported to reach $85 billion

By James Risen
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/12/america/contractor.php

WASHINGTON: The United States has reached the $85 billion mark in spending on contractors in Iraq since the invasion in 2003, according to a new government report released Tuesday, a milestone that reflects the Bush administration's unprecedented level of dependence on private companies for help in the war.

The report by the Congressional Budget Office says that about one out of every five dollars spent on the war in Iraq has gone to contractors for the U.S. military and other government agencies. Employees of private contractors now outnumber U.S. troops in the war zone.
The numbers in the report provide the first official price tag on contracting in Iraq and raise troubling questions about the degree to which the war has been privatized, several outside experts on contracting said.

The Pentagon's reliance on outside contractors in Iraq is proportionately far larger than in any previous conflict, and it has fueled charges that this outsourcing has led to overbilling, fraud and shoddy and unsafe work that has endangered and even killed U.S. troops. The role of armed security contractors has also raised new legal and political questions about whether the United States has become too dependent on private armed forces on the 21st-century battlefield.

Contractors now employ at least 180,000 people in Iraq, forming what amounts to a private army, larger than the U.S. military force, whose roles and missions and even casualties have largely been hidden from public view.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/12/america/contractor.php

VIOLENCE SWEEPS ACROSS IRAQ INCLUDING PROVINCES SUPPOSEDLY PEACEFUL FROM "THE SURGE"

There isn't much on cable TV these days about Iraq, but when the media does breakdown and decide to carry some news out of Iraq it is couched in words about how successful "the surge" has been and violence is down in IRAQ.

THIS IS NOT ONLY A LIE, BUT A BLATANT LIE AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES ARE NOW PART OF THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN IRAQ.

Here is the REAL TRUTH about IRAQ sans WHITE HOUSE and FOX NEWS spin.

Reported Security incidents in IRAQ on Tuesday.

Baghdad:
http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

#1: The bodies of two people were found with gunshot wounds in different areas of Baghdad on Monday, police said

.#2: Iraqi security forces arrested 22 people and one man was killed during security operations launched in different areas of Baghdad in the past 24 hours, Baghdad's operations command said on Tuesday. an Iraqi security soldier was killed and three were injured during the operations.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near Khullani Square, central Baghdad at 3 p.m. Tuesday injuring three people including one policeman.

#4: An IED was detonated under control in Karrada, central Baghdad at 3.20 p.m.

#5: A car bomb was detonated under control near Wathiq Square, Karrada at 3.30 p.m.

#6: Two Katyusha rockets were detonated under control by U.S. forces in Zafaraniyah, southeastern Baghdad, Tuesday.

#7: Police found one dead body throughout Baghdad in Khilani area.Diyala Prv:

Baquba:#1: Ra'ad al-Mulla Jawad, governor of Iraq's Diyala province on Tuesday escaped unhurt a suicide vest bombing in the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a local police source said. The incident occurred shortly before midday when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest struck the convoy of Jawad in central Baquba, damaging two vehicles of his convoy and a nearby civilian car, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Three civilians were killed and three others wounded by the powerful blast, the source said, adding the Iraqi security forces immediately cordoned off the scene, allowing ambulances to evacuate the casualties.The U.S. military says two Iraqis have been killed and at least six others wounded when a female suicide bomber struck a convoy carrying senior Iraqi officials in Baqouba. The U.S. military in northern Iraq says the woman was targeting a convoy carrying the Iraqi commander of ground forces in the surrounding Diyala province on Tuesday. It says she detonated her explosives relatively far from Gen. Ali Ghaidan because Iraqi soldiers guarding the convoy noticed she was acting suspiciously. Provincial council chief Ibrahim Majilan says the convoy was also carrying the Diyala province governor.

Mahaweel:#1: Gunmen killed one woman and wounded another in a drive-by shooting near a market in Mahaweel, 60 km (35 miles) south of Baghdad, on Monday, police said.Mosul:#1: "Three mortar shells were fired on the area of al-Daydan, central Mosul, wounding one civilian man," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#2: "In another incident in northern Mosul, policemen found an improvised explosive device (IED) and while defusing it one policeman was wounded," the source added.

#3: Meanwhile, a police source said the body of a gunman killed earlier by a policeman was found in the neighborhood of Adan, eastern

Mosul.#4: Two civilians were wounded in a bomb explosion. An explosive charge went off in al-Zinjli region in western Mosul, wounding two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq

#5: unknown gunmen kidnapped two truck drivers in two separate incidents in western Mosul, a police source said. Meanwhile, the same source said that unknown gunmen kidnap two truck drivers in al-Yabesat region in western Mosul. “The gunmen blocked the way of the two trucks loading with wheat and took with their drivers to an unknown place,” he also said.Al Anbar Prv:

Ramadi:#1: Six members of the same family, including one woman and three children, were found shot dead in an open area east of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said Colonel Salih Mahdi, a police official in Ramadi.

BRUTAL VIDEO: US MARINES RAPE A 14-YEAR OLD AND KILL HER IRAQI FAMILY

This video is a report of what happened back in March in Iraq when US Marines allegedly raped a 14-year old Iraqi girl and killed her family.

Watch VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/yc83o17Uqhw&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

VIOLENT VIDEO: MARINES AMBUSHED: SCREAMING AND FIGHTING

This is a night vision video but it brings the feeling what war is like in the dark of night in Iraq for a platoon of Marines.

The screams are real. The shouts are real, and the language is not for children.


Watch VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/tDYsGq7x1ok&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

SHOCKING VIDEO: IRAQ WAR VETS TALK ABOUT RANDOM KILLING OF CIVILIANS

War is not a video game like the new Army recruiting video paints it, but instead war is what these Iraq War vets say it is when it comes to killing Iraqi civilians.

The VIDEO is both enlightening and shocking.

Watch the VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/H-WyV7eItcM&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video

NEW VIDEO: TO DRILL OR NOT TO DRILL: JON STEWART'S "DAILY SHOW"

Leave it to Jon Stewart of the "Daily Show" to spear not only John McCain on the oil drilling debate, but also pokes fun at President George Herbert Walker Bush and best of all a shot at Fox News anchors who kept reducing the time it will take to get oil out of the ground and into gas tanks. And then there is a short bit on "Miss Buffalo Chips" contest that Sen. McCain volunteered his wife for without apparently knowing how the girls dress, or more accurately---undress.

Watch the video here:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=178663&title=indecision-2008-to-drill-or-not

INDECISION 08: INFLATE YOUR TIRES: DAILY SHOW WRITERS

Here is a special segment taken from the Jon Stewart Comedy Central "Daily Show" writers.

I hope you will get a good laugh out of this:

Comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

August 10th at 2:00PM
From the Writers of The Daily Show: Inflate Your Tires!

POSTED BY: TheInDecider
http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/08/10/from-the-writers-of-the-daily-show-inflate-your-tires/

This week, Barack Obama publicly suggested making sure tires are properly inflated as one way of dealing with the rising price of gas. At the Sturgis motorcycle rally, McCain mocked his opponent's recommendation, exclaiming, "Barack Obama wants you to inflate your tires!" He added...

* "We should be able to inflate our tires with oil! And then burn them to heat our homes. Even in summer! Which would then require us to run the air conditioning!"

* "This is America! I inflate my tires with oil! I charcoal-grill everything! I don't need you coming around with your fancy, 'use the off switches on your appliances' talk! If I don't keep my refrigerator door open, how'm I going to be able to see what's in there from across the room?

What'm I supposed to do? Take my constantly-idling ride-on lawnmower over there?"

* "I should be able to use my dishwasher to wash one dish at a time! I don't want my forks mingling with my spoons! I should be able to brush my teeth by running my dishwasher! And I should be able to keep my refrigerator door open -- that way, my dog can fetch me a beer!"

* "While I'm at it, I want to fill my windshield wiper fluid with Strawberry Quik!"

* "We should be able to plug our A/C unit into the cigarette adapter! Fuck it -- put a boat motor in there 'with' the motor, have 'em both running! Take that car, keep it running to power the air conditioning in the motor home that I'm also towing, and put all on the back of a bigger truck that's driving to the oil-burning FESTIVAL!"

VETVOICE REPORTS: DISABLED VETS SHUN McCAIN IN LAS VEGAS

The more combat veterans learn about John McCain and his plans, the less they like him. The Las Vegas Sun reports:

Sen. John McCain, speaking to disabled veterans Saturday in Las Vegas, attacked his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, for his foreign policy record, while also proposing a program that would allow veterans to acquire health care at private hospitals and not just through the Veterans Affairs Department.

by: Brandon Friedman
Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 15:30:30 PM EDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1743

The veterans, at Bally's for their national convention, gave him a tepid reception, especially considering McCain's life story. The Arizona senator was a Navy pilot shot down over Vietnam, tortured and held as a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years.

Just one of 14 veterans interviewed by the Sun after his speech said he is a certain McCain voter, and the nonpartisan group's legislative director expressed concerns about McCain's proposed "Veterans' Care Access Card."

Still obsessing over the privatization of the VA for some reason, John McCain is poised to lose the veterans' vote for good. In fact, in response to his Saturday speech to the DAV, Iraq War veteran and double-amputee Tammy Duckworth had this to say about McCain's proposals:

"John McCain has said that improving veterans' health care would be his top domestic priority as President, yet he has repeatedly voted against increased funding for veterans health care. And now he offers up an plastic card option that will lead to privatization of veterans health care. No one knows how to help and heal veterans like veterans -- had I ended up in a regular hospital after returning from Iraq, I would lost my arm. McCain's plan will only hurt the VA and our veterans more than they are already hurting."

Not surprising. While vets who haven't served in the current war--and those who've never seen combat--have tended to lean toward Republicans in general (as a holdover Reagan/Clinton-era default setting among troops), it now appears that even McCain's support among older veterans is beginning to crack. Significantly.

More from the Las Vegas Sun piece:

Other veterans, such as James Jewett and Jay Johnson of Texas, expressed misgivings about McCain using the occasion to attack his opponent so fiercely.

Duke Hendershot, a double amputee retired Marine who served in Vietnam, supported McCain's run for president in 2000 but is undecided this year.

"John just isn't the same as he used to be. He's not his own man," said Hendershot, who lives in San Antonio, Texas. "A lot of that has to do with how he's wanted this job so bad for so long that he's tied himself to President Bush."

He said McCain's embrace of Bush, whom Hendershot called a "draft-dodging coward," is even more perplexing because of the rivalry between the two candidates during the 2000 campaign.
Hendershot also criticized McCain for taking swipes at Obama in his speech. "He should have been talking about veterans issues, not his opponent," he said.

By contrast, he praised Obama for keeping his remarks tightly focused on veterans.
This is pretty damning. But it goes right in line with what we're hearing from many of Tammy Duckworth's Iraq and Afghanistan peers.

When it comes to today's veterans, they're far from impressed with John McCain's infatuation with the use of force--and his disdain for VA programs.

AFGHANISTAN: US FORCES KILL 25 TALIBAN AND 8 CIVILIANS

KABUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 25 Taliban insurgents and eight civilians after an ambush in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday.

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=290665

The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies with President Hamid Karzai saying on Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency.

The Taliban launched multiple ambushes on a patrol in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The militants "then fled into a neighbouring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant," it said.

The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building.

Read on http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=290665

PHONE CARDS SHORTCHANGE TROOPS IN IRAQ

Prepaid phone cards are packed with ways to shortchange troops in Iraq

By Dan Thanh Dang - BALTIMORE SUNUpdated: 08/11/08 11:01 AM
http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/411983.html?imw=Y

For soldiers stationed overseas, phone calls are a crucial link to loved ones and the lives they left behind to serve their country.

So when Colin Sawyer’s mom in Mount Wolf, Pa., sent him an AT&T prepaid phone card, the 24-year-old Army gunner in Iraq was excited to have the precious 550 minutes to call home.

“I went to use it one night after patrol and an automated voice came on and said, ‘You have 55 minutes left for this call,’ ” said Sawyer, who was on leave recently to visit family.

“I had barely used the card so I thought that was strange. The thing is, letters can take two weeks or more through mail. Where I’m based, I don’t have Internet access or phone access every day, so I can go three weeks without any contact.

“So when I can call home, I don’t want to worry about whether my call will go through or if I have enough minutes to talk,” Sawyer said. “It’s happened on other cards she’s sent me, too. I never get the number of minutes it says I get on the card.”

Sawyer is right. What he stumbled upon is no glitch in the system or an accounting mistake. With prepaid phone cards — whether used by the military overseas or the public here in the States, whether it’s AT&T or another carrier — the gap between advertising and reality is exasperating and filled with gotchas.

Some prepaid phone cards come laden with fees, surcharges and insidious expiration dates.
Even worse, the amount of calling time a card owner receives may be nowhere near the amount of minutes advertised on the face of the cards.

“Why can’t AT&T just tell you exactly what you’re getting?” asks Kathleen Sawyer, Colin’s mom. “How is it that when you buy a 550-minute phone card, your son or daughter is not even going to get half of that when they use it?”

The angry mom said she has spent more than $1,000 purchasing 1,200-minute, 300-minute and 550-minute AT&T cards for her son and a 22-year-old daughter who was stationed on a Navy aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. It was often a mystery to both her children how many minutes they were actually able to use.

Click here to read rest of story: http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/411983.html?imw=Y

IRAQ DEMANDS TIMELINE FOR US TROOP WITHDRAWAL: BUSH AND CHENEY RESIST

President Bush and Vice President Cheney continue to insist THEY will decide when US troops are withdrawn from Iraq and not the Iraqi government.

Iraq politicians are DEMANDING a timeline for US troops to withdraw from Iraq and it is their country and you would think Iraq should have the final say so on when US troops should leave Iraq.

But not when President Bush and Vice President Cheney have taken on the duty of also ruling IRAQ and deciding what is best for Iraq.

Iraq is a sovereign nation and should be able to decide what is best for their country, but Bush and Cheney are not listening to Iraq officials and steadfastly say THEY will decide when US troops leave Iraq.

What I would like to know is what does winning mean to Bush and Cheney?

Does it mean someone from the scores of warring parties in Iraq will sign an armistice?

Are Bush and Cheney planning on sailing the battleship Missouri up the Tigris River and have a full-fledged armistice signing ceremony on the deck of the USS MISSOURI like was done at the end of World War II with the Japanese and General Douglas MacArthur?

For two people who have sent 4,144 young Americans to their death in Iraq and another 30,000 seriously wounded and perhaps disabled for life, it appears as though BUSH and CHENEY have exceeded their powers and should step back and let Iraq decide what is best for Iraq.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, Editor of CORKSPHERE

BAGHDAD - Iraq's foreign minister insisted Sunday that any security deal with the United States must contain a "very clear timeline" for the departure of U.S. troops.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26123767/

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that American and Iraqi negotiators were "very close" to reaching a long-term security agreement that will set the rules for U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

Zebari said the Iraqis were insisting that the agreement include a "very clear timeline" for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces, but he refused to talk about specific dates.

WASHINGTON POST: SOLDIERS WALK THE STREETS OF BAGHDAD HANDING OUT AMERICAN TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO IRAQIS

Money as a Weapon. A modest program to put cash in Iraqis' hands stretches its mandate with big projects.

By Dana Hedgpeth and Sarah CohenWashington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 11, 2008; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/10/AR2008081002512.html

In the five-year struggle to finish the war in Iraq, military leaders and their troops have said a particular weapon is among the most effective in their arsenal:
American cash.

Soldiers walk the streets carrying thousands of dollars to pay Iraqis for doorways battered in American raids and limbs lost during firefights. Sheiks appeal to commanders to use larger pools of money locked away in Humvees and safes at military bases for new schools, health clinics, water treatment plants and generators, knowing that the military can bypass Iraqi and U.S. bureaucratic hurdles.

Army documents show that $48,000 was spent on 6,000 pairs of children's shoes; an additional $50,000 bought 625 sheep for people described in records as "starving poor locals" in a Baghdad neighborhood. Soldiers ordered $100,000 worth of dolls and $500,000 in action figures made to look like Iraqi Security Forces. About $14,250 was spent on "I Love Iraq" T-shirts. More than $75,000 sent a delegation to a women's and civil rights conference in Cairo. And $12,800 was spent for two pools to cool bears and tigers at Zawra Park Zoo in Baghdad.

Click on link to read full Washington Post story.

RACISM AND THE RACE: "THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM"---NEW YORK TIMES OP/ED

Charles M. Blow, op/ed columnist for the New York Times, puts his finger right on the reason why Sen. Barack Obama has not moved miles ahead of Sen. John McCain in EVERY poll.

Personal friends of this blogger know I have been saying the same thing for months and months.

There can't be any other reason why Obama remains stagnant in the polls than racism.

All the other excuses pundits and anchors use to try and explain why Obama can't break away from McCain are pure. unadulterated sophistry.

There are "closet racists" and there are "latent racists," but the bottom line is racism is "the elephant in the room" that nobody seems to want to look at.

ABOVE COMMENTS BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE


August 9, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist

Racism and the Race

By CHARLES M. BLOW
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/opinion/09blow.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

This is supposed to be the Democrats’ year of destiny. Bush is hobbling out of office, the economy is in the toilet, voters are sick of the war and the party’s wunderkind candidate is raking in money hand over fist.

So why is the presidential race a statistical dead heat? The pundits have offered a host of reasons, but one in particular deserves more exploration: racism.

Barack Obama’s candidacy has shed some light on the extremes of racism in America — how much has dissipated (especially among younger people) and how much remains.

According to a July New York Times/CBS News poll, when whites were asked whether they would be willing to vote for a black candidate, 5 percent confessed that they would not. That’s not so bad, right? But wait. The pollsters then rephrased the question to get a more accurate portrait of the sentiment. They asked the same whites if most of the people they knew would vote for a black candidate. Nineteen percent said that those they knew would not. Depending on how many people they know and how well they know them, this universe of voters could be substantial. That’s bad.

Welcome to the murky world of modern racism, where most of the open animus has been replaced by a shadowy bias that is difficult to measure. As Obama gently put it in his race speech, today’s racial “resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company.” However, they can be — and possibly will be — expressed in the privacy of the voting booth.

If the percentage of white voters who cannot bring themselves to vote for a black candidate were only 15 percent, that would be more than all black voters combined. (Coincidentally, it also would be more than all voters under 24 years old.) That amounts to a racial advantage for John McCain.

And this sentiment stretched across ideological lines. Just as many white independents as Republicans said that most of the people they knew would not vote for a black candidate, and white Democrats were not far behind. Also, remember that during the Democratic primaries, up to 20 percent of white voters in some states said that the race of the candidate was important to them. Few of those people voted for the black guy.

Some might say that turnabout is fair play, citing the fact that 89 percent of blacks say they plan to vote for Obama. That level of support represents a racial advantage for him, too, right? Not necessarily. Blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic in the general election anyway. According to CNN exit polls John Kerry got 88 percent of the black vote in 2004.

Think racism isn’t a major factor in this election? Think again.

CNN: U.S. SOLDIER KILLED AS BOMBERS TARGET U.S TROOPS ACROSS IRAQ

Anyone who believes the BS put out by the BUSH WHITE HOUSE and their puppet propaganda branch, FOX NEWS, that "the surge" has calmed things down in IRAQ is living in some kind of a dream world.

Bombers have stepped up their attacks on U.S. troops all across Iraq, and one U.S. soldier was killed on Sunday.

U.S. soldier killed as bombers target troops across Iraq
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/10/iraq.main/index.html

Story Highlights
NEW: U.S. soldiers among 24 wounded in blast north of Baghdad, official says
Two people killed, 10 injured when bomb explodes outside bank in Baghdad
Suicide car bomb explodes outside Kurdish security department, killing 3
Four separate bombings target Iraqi army patrols

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S. soldier was among five people killed Sunday in a suicide attack north of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

Twenty-four people, including two U.S. soldiers, were injured in the blast, Maj. John Hall said.
A suicide bomber targeted a group in Tarmiyah, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Baghdad, killing the soldier and four Iraqis, he said.

The blast was one of several deadly explosions across the war-ravaged nation Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said.

Earlier in the day, a bomb exploded outside a bank in Kamaliya, a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 10 others, the official said.

A suicide car bomb exploded outside a Kurdish security department in Khanakin town about 62 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Baquba, killing three people and wounding 20 others, including Kurdish security officers and civilians, the Interior Ministry said.

Four separate bombings targeted Iraqi army patrols, the Interior Ministry official said:
• A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol and a minibus carrying Finance Ministry employees. The blast killed three people, including a soldier and an employee, and wounded 10 others, including four soldiers and five employees.
• A car bomb exploded at an Iraqi army patrol in al-Madaen, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) east of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding five others.
• A bomb went off over a bridge in Kadhimiya, a Shiite neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad. The blast wounded three soldiers, the official said.
• A bomb exploded in east Baghdad's Zaiyuna district, wounding two soldiers and two civilians.

POLLS SHOW CATHOLICS WILL VOTE FOR McCAIN

The Catholics this blogger knows can use any code words they want such as BARACK OBAMA is "too arrogant," "too elitist," "too skinny," "too whatever," but what it boils down to is for many, many Catholics this Catholic knows BARACK OBAMA is TOO BLACK.

PERIOD.

Comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

THE REST OF THIS BLOG REPORT COMES FROM A RIGHT WING BLOG SITE

Catholics Opting for McCain

August 9th, 2008 at 06:07am Mark Noonan
http://blogsforvictory.com/2008/08/09/catholics-opting-for-mccain/

Social issues are driving it:

The latest Associated TV/Zogby International poll reports a significant change in Catholic support for the leading presumptive presidential nominees of both major U.S. political parties. Zogby analyst Fritz Wenzel explains that the shift amongst Catholics is due to increased concern about “social values.”

In mid-July, Catholics polled by Zogby International favored Democratic Sen. Barack Obama by 11 percent. The latest poll now shows they favor Republican Sen. John McCain by a margin of 50 to 34 percent.

Zogby International said in a Tuesday press release that McCain leads Obama among all voters by 42 to 41 percent, as measured by a telephone poll of 1,011 likely voters. The poll, commissioned by Associated TV and conducted from July 31 to August 1, claims a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

On the other hand, an Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted between July 31 and August 4 finds Catholic support evenly divided between both candidates.

Fritz Wenzel, a Zogby Polling Analyst, gave CNA a statistical breakdown of the 269 Catholic respondents’ answers.

About fifty percent of the Catholics favored McCain, while 34 percent favored Obama. Twelve percent were undecided, while two and one percent favored third-party candidates Bob Barr and Ralph Nader, respectively.

“Catholics vote largely on a set of conservative values and on social values. On social values McCain has a natural advantage because of his pro-life stance, compared to Obama’s pro-choice stance,” Wenzel told CNA.

“This is a dominant issue in voting for Catholics because of the balance of the Supreme Court. The other issues are also important. When you start thinking about the conditions in the Iraq War, that was a concern for Catholics earlier. It’s becoming less so, so voters are turning to other, more domestic concerns.”

BELOW ARE NOT THE COMMENTS OF BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE, BUT COMMENTS FROM A RADICAL RIGHT-WING BLOGGER

The push is rapidly coming to a shove and I think that, in the end, a very large majority of devout Catholics will give their votes to John McCain.

There’s just too much riding on this election to think that Obama is the man for the times. While a lot of Catholics very much want large increases in social spending (heck, in a way even I do - though I don’t want to pour it into the failed, liberal programs; I have other ideas), with the Supreme Court in the balance and the Culture of Life poised for some real victories under continued Republican government, the thought of a few more billion for social spending drops in the scales of relative values. Lets first save life, then we can worry about what to do with the life once here.

There is also in Obama that very off-putting arrogance and self-centeredness. While we’re not better than anyone else, there is in Catholic attitude a demand of humility, and the higher you go the more humble we want you to be. As Obama rises, so does his ego, and Pride isn’t a deadly sin for nothing, you know?

All in all, this year is shaping up to have a lot of surpises in store, and the fact that the Catholic vote might go decisively for McCain - and perhaps hand him the White House - is just one of a dozen oddities…but it is good that my fellow Catholics are wise to the needs of the day.

WHITE HOUSE STATIONERY ORDERED FAKE 9/11 LETTER THAT LED TO IRAQ WAR: CHENEY LIKELY SUSPECT

Tape: Top CIA official confesses order to forge Iraq-9/11 letter came on White House stationery

08/08/2008 @ 8:38 pmFiled by John Byrne
http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=11877

In damning transcript, ex-CIA official says Cheney likely ordered letter linking Hussein to 9/11 attacks

A forged letter linking Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was ordered on White House stationery and probably came from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a new transcript of a conversation with the Central Intelligence Agency's former Deputy Chief of Clandestine Operations Robert Richer.

The transcript was posted Friday by author Ron Suskind of an interview conducted in June. It comes on the heels of denials by both the White House and Richer of a claim Suskind made in his new book, The Way of The World. The book was leaked to Politico's Mike Allen on Monday, and released Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the White House released a statement on Richer's behalf. In it, Richer declared, "I never received direction from George Tenet or anyone else in my chain of command to fabricate a document ... as outlined in Mr. Suskind's book."

The denial, however, directly contradicts Richer's own remarks in the transcript.
"Now this is from the Vice President's Office is how you remembered it--not from the president?" Suskind asked.

"No, no, no," Richer replied, according to the transcript. "What I remember is George [Tenet] saying, 'we got this from'--basically, from what George said was 'downtown.'"
"Which is the White House?" Suskind asked.

"Yes," Richer said. "But he did not--in my memory--never said president, vice president, or NSC. Okay? But now--he may have hinted--just by the way he said it, it would have--cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president."

"But he didn't say that specifically," Richer added. "I would naturally--I would probably stand on my, basically, my reputation and say it came from the vice president."

"But there wasn't anything in the writing that you remember saying the vice president," Suskind continued.
"Nope," Richer said.
"It just had the White House stationery."
"Exactly right."

Later, Richer added, "You know, if you've ever seen the vice president's stationery, it's on the White House letterhead. It may have said OVP (Office of the Vice President). I don't remember that, so I don't want to mislead you."

Suskind says decision to post transcript unusual
Suskind posted the transcript at his blog, saying, "This posting is contrary to my practice across 25 years as a journalist. But the issues, in this matter, are simply too important to stand as discredited in any way." It was first picked up by ThinkProgress and Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein.

Suskind's new book asserts that senior Bush officials ordered the CIA to forge a document "proving" that Saddam Hussein had been trying to manufacture nuclear weapons and was collaborating with al Qaeda. The alleged result was a faked memorandum from then chief of Saddam's intelligence service Tahir Jalil Habbush dated July 1, 2001, and written to Hussein.
The bogus memo claimed that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had received training in Baghdad but also discussed the arrival of a "shipment" from Niger, which the Administration claimed had supplied Iraq with yellowcake uranium -- based on yet another forged document whose source remains uncertain.