WATCH VIDEO OF McCAIN AND PALIN INVOLVED IN "TROOPERFATE" COVER-UP

Keith Olbmerman of MSNBC's "Countdown" exposes GOP veep candidate Sarah Palin who is involved in a cover-up of what has become known as "Troopergate."

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

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

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

IRAQ DOCTORS WILL CARRY GUNS FOR SELF DEFENSE

Iraq doctors ‘will carry’ guns for self-defence

Government grants weapons permit to doctors for self-defence, pledges not to detain them during security operations.

Source: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28100

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government on Monday said it will allow doctors to carry guns in self-defence, pledging that they will not be detained during security operations.

The cabinet agreed to grant weapons permits to doctors in the light of the killing by insurgents of a large number of professional people since the 2003 US-led invasion.

"The cabinet decided to allow each doctor to carry one weapon to defend himself," the statement said. Doctors will not be detained during security operations unless the health ministry has been informed.

In a move seen as an attempt to prevent the emigration of skilled people, the government is also offering better housing for doctors and a review of taxes imposed on professionals, the statement said.

McCAIN SAYS WE ARE WINNING IN IRAQ: EXPLOSION LEAVES 10 CASULATIES IN BAGHDAD TUESDAY

John McCain continues to say "we are winning in Iraq" totally ignoring events like what happened in Baghdad today.

Explosion leaves 10 casualties in central Baghdad

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 30 /09 /2008 Time 10:52:01

http://tinyurl.com/43n3cc

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: At least three civilians were killed and seven others were wounded on Tuesday in a car bomb explosion near the national theatre in central Baghdad, a police source said.
“A car rigged with explosives went off on Tuesday afternoon in front of a bakery near the national theatre in central Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring seven, including four women,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.He gave no more details.Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and Baghdad province. With a municipal population estimated at 7,000,000, it is the largest city in Iraq. It is the second largest city in the Arab world (after Cairo) and the second largest city in southwest Asia (after Tehran).Located on the Tigris River, the city dates back to at least the 8th century, and probably to pre-Islamic times.Once the center of Dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam), Baghdad has been a center of violent conflict since 2003 because of the ongoing Iraq war.Baghdad's population is a mix of Sunnis and Shiites. It is mainly divided into two sides: the west (al-Karkh) and the east (al-Rasafa).

WHY DOESN'T THE MEDIA REPORT ON IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ANYMORE? DEATH AND VIOLENCE SWEEP ACROSS BOTH WAR ZONES

Just because John McCain says "we are winning in Iraq" doesn't make it so. The truth is there growing violence and death in both war zones where we have close to 200,000 young Americans hunkered down and trying to keep from having their heads blown off.

Here is just a partial list of what is happening in both Iraq and Afghanistan which the mainstream media doesn't consider "news" anymore.

September 30, 2008
Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

War News for Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of three U.S.-led coalition soldiers in an IED attack in a southern Province in Afghanistan on Monday, September 29th. As always no other details were released.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier at a Coalition force’s Combat Support Hospital after a small-arms fire attack in a northern neighborhood Baghdad on Tuesday, September 30th.

Iran Sends 160 Fuel Trucks to Iraq Everyday:Fighting Between Pakistani Troops, Militants Displaces Thousands: Pakistani officials put the number of displaced Bajur people at 500,000, most of whom sought shelter from their relatives across northwestern Pakistan, and 100,000 taking refuge in government camps.Taliban chief vows 'safe retreat' for foreign troops: statement: (a joke?)Reported

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: Monday Police found one dead body in Saidiyah in Karkh bank (south Baghdad) today.

#2: Monday Mortars hit Hurriyah neighborhood (northwest Baghdad). Five people were injured with one house was damaged.

#3: Monday Mortars hit Ghazaliyah neighborhood (northwest Baghdad) near Um Al-Qura mosque. Three people were injured with some houses nearby were damaged.

#4: Monday Mortars hit Abu Ghraib (west of Baghdad). One person was injured with two houses were damaged.

#5: Iraqi police say a parked car bomb in Baghdad has killed three civilians and injured eight others. Police say the victims were having lunch at a kebab restaurant in Baghdad's mainly Shiite Karradah neighborhood when the explosion occurred around 3 p.m. Tuesday.

#6: The Iraqi army killed two militants, including a Syrian fighter, and arrested two other foreign fighters, from Syria and Yemen, in Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, a security source said.

#7: Iraqi explosive experts detonated under control a bomb in Amil neighborhood in west Baghdad around 12:00 p.m.

#8: Police found two unidentified bodies in Baghdad. The first body was found in Talbiyah neighborhood and the second body was found in Amil neighborhoodDiyala Prv:

Jalawla:#1: A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Tuesday was wounded in a blast that ripped through Diala's Jalawlaa district, a police source said. "Today, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) in al-Jamaheer neighborhood, northern Jalawlaa, went off while a vehicle carrying Jamal al-Sayyid Khaleely, a KDP member, was passing the location, seriously wounding him and causing damage to the vehicle," the source told Aswat al-Iraq.

Mosul:#1: Monday Around 5:30 pm a car bomb detonated in Nabi Yunis neighborhood in Mosul before the Iraqi army experts defuse it. Nine people were injured including 5 Peshmerga members of the

PDK.#2: Gunmen stormed a coffee shop and killed an employee on Monday in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: A body of a woman was found with gunshot wounds to her head on Monday in eastern Mosul, police said.

#4: Around 7:30 p.m. gunmen attacked al Baladiyat police station in downtown Mosul city injuring tow policemen.

Afghanistan:#1: Afghanistan's ambassador-designate, who was kidnapped last week in Pakistan's northwest region, has been freed, sources told Pakistan's News International.

#2: A British soldier shot dead a civilian who failed to stop his motorbike as it approached a patrol in southern Afghanistan. The man did not react to warning shots in Sangin district, Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said, leading to fears that he was a suicide bomber.

#3: Pakistani troops backed by gunship helicopters killed 13 Taliban militants in fresh clashes in the troubled tribal district of Bajaur on the Afghan border, officials said Tuesday. Four Islamist insurgents were killed Tuesday and two were wounded in the shelling of a suspected vehicle in the town of Mamoond, a security official said on condition of anonymity. Troops killed another five extremists after a group of militants launched an attack on a military checkpost in the same town, sparking a gunbattle that lasted nearly one hour, the official said. A further four militants were killed overnight when jets pounded suspected hideouts in the area, security officials said.

WATCH VIDEO OF JOHN MCCAIN DEFENDING SARAH PALIN WITH KATIE COURIC ON HER REMARKS ABOUT PAKISTAN

Sarah Palin was asked by a voter what she thought about invading Pakistan and in this interview with Katie Couric Palin is helped along by John McCain, riding shotgun, who called the question "gotcha journalism" when the question to Palin came from a voter and not the media.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/FMNHgJH2680&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

WATCH SARAH PALIN IN SWIMSUIT COMPETITION FOR MISS ALASKA

One of the most viewed YouTube videos is this rare footage of GOP Vice President nominee Sarah Palin appearing in in a swimsuit in the 1984 "Miss Alaska" beauty pageant.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

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

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

McCAIN SAYS HE WOULD "CONSIDER" A DRAFT. WATCH VIDEO HERE

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 is elected President and pursues war with IRAN (which McCain's good friend Sen. Joe Lieberman wants to do) 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

McCAIN LEAVES FOX NEWS SPEECHLESS. WATCH VIDEO

Here are a collection of snippets from speeches John McCain has given during the primary season which indicates McCain is NOT the most scintillating orator to ever come down the political pike.

In fact, McCain leaves the "kids" at FOX NEWS grasping for words to try to explain McCain's monotone delivery.

And remember: this is before the electrifying speaker and screech owl Sarah Palin was added to the McCain ticket.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/3aMDJP4VxY4&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

CNN REPORTS: 34 KILLED IN BAGHDAD

Is this what John McCain means when he says we are "winning" in Iraq?

Dozens killed in Baghdad's deadliest day this Ramadan

Story Highlights
NEW: Thirty-four deaths by bombs are the most in one day in Baghdad this Ramadan
NEW: Four others killed in Diyala province
Fifteen killed in attacks involving suicide bomber, car bomb in commercial area
Car bomb near market in separate area kills at least 12

From Jomana KaradshehCNN
http://tinyurl.com/3j43cw


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Several bombings across Baghdad killed 34 people Sunday -- the bloodiest day in the capital during this holy month of Ramadan, an Interior Ministry official said.
Also Sunday, in Iraq's Diyala province, at least four people were killed and 17 others wounded in several attacks, a security official in the province said.
The attacks came as Iraqis prepared for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan with feasts and celebrations. The holiday in Iraq begins Tuesday.

In Baghdad's central Karrada district, a suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest detonated minutes after a bomb in a parked car exploded, the Interior Ministry's head of Explosives and Ordnance Disposal unit said, speaking on state-run al-Iraqia television.

Twenty people were killed and 72 wounded in those attacks, which occurred in a busy commercial area in Karrada. Three women and four policemen were among the dead, and the wounded included seven policemen and women and children, the Interior Ministry said.

Initially, the Interior Ministry reported a roadside bomb followed the car bomb. But Iraqi Gen. Jihad al-Jabiri of the Interior Ministry later said that as people gathered about 328 feet (100 meters) from where the car had exploded, the suicide bomber detonated amid the crowd, causing most of the casualties.

Earlier Sunday, a bomb detonated in a car parked near a southwestern Baghdad market and mosque, killing at least a dozen people and wounding 35 others, the official said. The attack, which occurred shortly before Iftar -- the evening meal at which Muslims break their fast during Ramadan -- took place in a predominantly Shiite area.

Around the same time, a bomb attached to a car detonated on a bridge in southwestern Baghdad, killing the driver and wounding a civilian bystander, the official said. It was believed the bomb was attached to the car without the driver's knowledge, the official said.

Earlier Sunday, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol close to a restaurant in western Baghdad's al-Mansour district, killing one soldier and wounding three others.

In Diyala province, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi Army patrol in Balad Ruz Sunday morning, killing at least two soldiers and wounding 10 others, a security official in the province said. Balad Ruz is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the provincial capital of Baquba.

In Diyala's Khan Bani Saad, near Baquba, gunmen opened fire on civilians Sunday and killed at least two people, the official said.

And in central al-Saadiya -- a predominantly Kurdish town northeast of Baquba -- a roadside bomb struck the convoy of Ahmed al-Zarqoushi, the town's mayor. The attack wounded al-Zarqoushi and seven others, including five members of his security detail and two civilian bystanders.

SARAH PALIN IS FOR CENSORSHIP: WATCH THIS EYE-OPENING VIDEO

This video about Republican Vice President candidate Sarah Palin is based on an article that recently appeared in the New York Times.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/eUZgYqGtEy8&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO


Palin FIRED a librarian for refusing to remove books from the library she found morally or socially objectionable. Palin never offered specifics of which books she wanted banned. There is no list.

Palin moved to fire the librarian for simply refusing to go along with her plan. According to the article Palin DID fire the librarian. She was only rehired after the town protested.

Palin FIRED city officials that appeared in a commercial for the incumbent mayor. Even the head of the Wasilla Museum!?

Palin BLOCKED all city officials from speaking to the press without her permission.

Sound like anyone we know? BUSH?

And this was for a town of less than 10,000 people.

Imagine what she will do if she were vice president! President!!!

ARE YOU A PUPPET? WATCH AS JON STEWART SLICES AND DICES PALIN, ROVE, O'REILLY, HANNITY AND FOX NEWS

FOX NEWS has never been held to any kind of journalistic standards. FOX NEWS is a propaganda branch or mouthpiece for the BUSH White House, the GOP and now the McCAIN/PALIN ticket.

In this video, Comedy Central's JON STEWART, host of the "Daily Show," splices together clips from various FOX NEWS anchors and commentators to show how they live by double-speak and are shameless in the way they lie to their audience of sheep.

One of many FOX NEWS' slogans is: "We Report. You Decide."

A better slogan for FOX NEWS would be: "We Distort. You've Been Had."

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

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

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

WATCH THE EERIE COMPARISON BETWEEN SARAH PALIN AND MISS SOUTH CAROLINA AND MUCH MORE

This video takes excerpts from the three interviews Republican vice president candidate Sarah Palin has conducted and mixes it with a rambling statement from "Miss South Carolina" to show the similarities between Palin and "Miss South Carolina."

But there is much, much more with some of the leading journalists in America voicing their opinions about Sarah Palin and how she is NOT ready to be a heartbeat away from sitting in the Oval Office if she and 72-year old John McCain are elected.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ntEE9Zy-qQQ&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

McCAIN'S YOUTUBE PROBLEMS JUST BECAME A NIGHTMARE

John McCain says he doesn't know how to send an email. Apparently McCain also doesn't know anything about the modern-day internet and YouTube who caught him in these LIES.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/GEtZlR3zp4c&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

McCAIN LIED ABOUT HIS SUPPORT OF VETERANS AND TROOPS IN DEBATE

John McCain flat out LIED to the American public when he rattled off all he is done for veterans during the first Presidential debate with Barack Obama.

Too bad Obama didn't have THESE facts to toss right back at McCain and see how the LIAR would have answered them:

McCain Lied about his Support of Veterans and Troops

by: Brian McGough

Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 00:05:21 AM EDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1957


In Friday's debate John McCain said "I know the veterans, I know them well, and I know that they know that I'll take care of them, and I have been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans, and I love them, and I'll take care of them, and they know that I'll take care of them."

Truth be told, this is not the case. McCain has a lackluster voting record when it comes to veterans' issues, and America's veterans know it. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have given McCain a grade of "D" when it comes to voting in their interest. The Disabled American Veterans have given McCain a 20 percent rating when it comes to voting in the interest of disabled veterans.

McCain has voted 29 times against veterans' medical benefits. In April 2006, McCain joined only 13 other senators in voting against an amendment that would increase funding for the VA to provide outpatient care and treatment. Earlier that year, McCain voted against increasing funding for military and veterans' hospitals. This was money that could have been used to fix the problems at Walter Reed before it became a national disgrace.

McCain was a staunch opponent of the bipartisan Webb/Hagel GI Bill. This bill would have provided better educational opportunities to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. McCain called this bill "too generous" and tried to introduce his own watered down bill. McCain didn't even bother to show up to vote for the bill. After it passed the two staunchest opponents of the GI Bill, President Bush and John McCain, tried to take credit for its passage.

McCain has an equally bad record when it comes to supporting our active duty soldiers. McCain opposed the Webb/Hagel Dwell time amendment. This amendment would have ensured that for every day troops were deployed, they would spend one day at home.

This time would have allowed troops to decompress from combat stress and to focus on maintaining the equipment necessary to fight a war. Our troops and equipment are now dangerously overstretched.

McCain opposed the Bayh amendment that would have provided $360 million for the procurement of up-armored humvees at a time when roadside bombs were killing American troops.

McCain voted to kill the Reed Amendment. This amendment would have begun to increase the size of the active army in 2003 and focused on stability operations.

McCain voted against the Dodd amendment that would provide an additional $320 million in protective gear for our troops in harms way.

McCain also voted against a Landrieu amendment that would have given our National Guard and Reserve troops the equipment they needed to survive on the battlefield.

There is a distinct pattern in these votes, and that pattern shows that John McCain is no friend to veterans on Capitol Hill. He may say all he wants that he is, but that doesn't change the fact that he votes time and time again against the needs of veterans and active duty soldiers.

OBAMA IS RIGHT: McCAIN IS WRONG ON IRAQ WAR: WATCH VIDEO

The best exchange of the presidential debate Friday night was when Barack Obama nailed John McCain on the IRAQ WAR.

This video chronicles all the times in the past what McCain said about the IRAQ WAR and shows how wrong McCain was in the past over what he said about the IRAQ WAR.

This video snapshot dissects McCain's past remarks about the IRAQ WAR and shows how Obama was able to pin McCain to the wall over what he has said in the past.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/xG1aOORf8Pc&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

U.S. INVASION DESTROYS THE PREMIERE HOSPITALS IN BAGHDAD

IRAQ: The Biggest Hospitals Become Sick

Inter Press Service

By Arkan Hamed and Dahr Jamail

BAGHDAD, Sep 25 (IPS) - Not even the elevators work now at Baghdad Medical City, built once as the centre for some of the best medical care.One of the ten elevators still does, and the priority for this is patients who have lost their legs -- and there are many of them.

The rest, the doctors, patients and students at the four specialised teaching hospitals within the building complex, just take the stairs, sometimes to the 18th floor.

This is in a city that had been given dreams of great development five years back, around the time of the U.S.-led invasion. And much of the corporate-led media in the U.S. and Europe still insists that the situation in Baghdad has "improved".

The improvement that such media sees, no one in Iraq does.

As with Baghdad Medical City, so with Baghdad, and so with Iraq.

The elevators are just another reminder of a country that's not working."It's so bad here that patients who are moderate cases don't come for treatment at all," says Abdul Razak, an elevator serviceman at the complex. "They just send a family member to describe their condition and collect medicine."It's a hard day's work for Razak when he is operating the elevator. "The smell of my sweat mixes with the smell of at least 20 other people who crowd into the lift." It gets less sweaty to the extent there are more wheelchairs.Razak has been doing his job for the last ten years, the first five of them quite happy ones. "We used to have a special elevator just for doctors and professors," he says. "But by now most have left, and some have been killed. I know three doctors who have been killed."Past the elevators and up the stairs, it gets worse.

"There is no air-conditioning in the building, when temperatures can be 48C, almost no qualified staff to serve patients, no antibiotics, and sometimes not even basic material for intravenous treatment," says Dr. Samir Abdul Zahra, who treats patients while also doing his medical studies.There are no senior doctors around. "Most of them left because of the situation in the city, the lack of security," Dr. Zahra says. And that affects teaching as much as treatment. "We are educating ourselves now.

This means also that young doctors are taking on complex cases they are simply not qualified to deal with."This dilemma is particularly acute at Baghdad Medical City because it is the largest medical complex in Iraq, and the most serious cases are usually taken to this hospital.At this complex now, it is not even safe to drink tap water any more. Sometimes doctors cannot find water even to wash their hands. Equipment is often not sterilised.And the prescriptions they write can mean little. "Most of the medicines we have here are out of date, and we lack almost all basic antibiotics," says Dr. Saad Abu Al-Noor, a pharmacist at the supply warehouse at Baghdad Medical City. "We cannot get medicines from the stores because of lack of security, and because there is just too much corruption all over."

Patients in need or their family members are sent out to the shops to buy catheters, disposable syringes and essential medicines, Dr. Noor said. "If the patient is lucky, he can find the items on the black market. And then the question is if they can afford these things. The price is ten to 20 times higher than it should be."And finally, when all is at hand for the very few, and a doctor of some kind is available, electricity is often lacking for serious treatment.

The hospital gets about two hours of electricity a day. It has some generators, but these have to be cut out frequently.The Medical City, located in central Baghdad, includes the Baghdad University College of Medicine.

The largest hospital in the complex is the Surgical Specialties Hospital built in 1980. The second largest is the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, built in the early 1970s, which contains the out patient clinics and the emergency department. The complex has over a thousand beds for patients.

WATCH AS SARAH PALIN TELLS KATIE COURIC ABOUT ALASKA AND ITS RUSSIAN NEIGHBOR

In Pt. 2 of CBS' Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin, Couric asks the GOP vice president candidate whether she ever has had meetings with Alaska's neighbor Russia.

You won't believe how Palin answers Couric's question.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ezxqgDDND6Q&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

CASUALTY REPORT FROM IRAQ---THE FORGOTTEN WAR

For the past several months, and in particular the past week, the war in IRAQ has been totally forgotten and the American public hasn't got a clue what is happening in IRAQ because NOBODY in the media reports on the IRAQ WAR anymore.

The IRAQ WAR has become "THE FORGOTTEN WAR II." (The Korean War was the first "FORGOTTEN WAR.")

Below is an updated report on two US. soldiers wounded in AFHANISTAN and IRAQ and a series of bombings and killings in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.

Click on any name or topic in "BLUE" to obtain more information:

Casualty Reports:staff sergeant Chuck Isaacson, 29, was paralyzed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. For Isaacson, a flight engineer on a Chinook helicopter, Feb. 18, 2007, was a regular day transporting service members from one spot to another in southern Afghanistan. But the aircraft suffered a mechanical failure during a snowstorm and the Chinook crashed, killing eight of the 22 people aboard. Isaacson woke up hanging outside the wreckage by his harness and realized he couldn't move his legs. Lying in 10 inches of snow, he waited several hours for help to arrive. He was the only flight crew member to survive. Isaacson's lungs collapsed, and his injuries included a broken leg, broken ribs, broken neck and three fractures in his back. Doctors fused his spine from near the top of his neck to his lower back. Months of rehabilitation followed. Now Isaacson, who is paralyzed from the waist down.

Cpl Joshua Hoffman, USMC 1st BN 24th Marine Regiment-Michigan was hit by sniper fire in Iraq in 2007 on his 3rd tour of duty. The sniper’s bullet severed his spinal cord at the base of his neck and left him a quadriplegic. After over a year in the hospital Josh still faces months, if not years, of physical rehabilitation and therapy as he strives to regain movement in his upper body and develop his language skills.

Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb wounded six people, including one soldier, in the Zaafaraniya district of southeast Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen killed a civil servant in a drive-by shooting in southeast Baghdad, police said.Gunmen shot an employee in the Ministry of Municipalities and Works on the main road of al-Rashid Camp at 8 a.m. Thursday.

#3: A roadside bomb near a police patrol wounded at least three civilians in eastern Baghdad, police said.A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near al-Shaab Stadium in east Baghdad wounding three civilians.

#4: The U.S. army in Iraq denied on Thursday that its forces wounded Iraqi civilians by random fire in eastern Baghdad. “The U.S. forces did not randomly shoot any civilians in al-Fadieliya region in eastern Baghdad,” Abdellatif Rayan, the U.S. army's media adviser, told Aswat al-Iraq, describing such news as bare of truth. A police source had said yesterday that seven civilians were wounded by U.S. random fire when an explosive charge went off targeting the forces in eastern Baghdad.

#5: An IED placed in a dumpster near Maysaloon Square, east Baghdad exploded at noon Thursday wounding three civilians.

#6: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in al-Rabae Street the thoroughfare in al-Jamia neighbourhood, western Baghdad injuring four people including one policeman.

#7: A roadside bomb targeted civilians near al-Samarrai Mosque in Amil, southeast Baghdad at six p.m. Thursday killing two, including one child, injuring five, also including one child.

#8: Three unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad today by Iraqi Police; one in Karrada, one in Palestine Street and one in Doura.

Diyala Prv:Baquba:#1: update Iraqi police on Thursday raised the death toll in an ambush against Iraqi forces raiding a Sunni village northeast of Baghdad to 35, most of whom were police commandos sent to the area as part of a U.S.-backed military crackdown. A police officer in the provincial military operation center said 27 policemen were killed, raising the total to 35. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity.

#2: A roadside bomb targeted civilians in al-Kharab village, 4 km to the south of Baquba at 5.30 p.m. killing three people including one female, all from one family

.Kut:#1: Policemen found unknown civilian body in the wee small hours of Thursday morning in northern Wassit, a security source said. “A police force found the body in al-Dabouni district in north of Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.“The blind-folded body bore signs of torture and was sent to the forensic medicine department in al-Zahraa hospital in Kut,” he added.

Sinjar:#1: The Iraqi army killed three gunmen in the district of Sinjar on Thursday, 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Brigadier-General Khalid Abdul Sattar, the spokesman for Iraqi military operations in Nineveh province said.

Mosul:#1: One civilian was killed and three others wounded when gunmen attacked a police patrol with rocket-propelled grenades in western Mosul 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Four civilians were killed or wounded in a missile attack in western Mosul city, a security source said on Thursday. "An RPG attack launched by gunmen from alleys in Bab Sinjar area, western Mosul, on a police patrol vehicle left one civilian killed and three others wounded, who were close to the scene," the source told Aswat al-Iraq. "None of the patrolmen was injured," the source noted, adding that one of the civilians was seriously wounded and another had his leg cut off.

#2: Three insurgents from the al Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq killed themselves when police raided their house in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said. They included an Iraqi man, Malik Mohammed al-Jabouri, who Askari said was a senior commander of the group in Mosul. They died when a Saudi Arabian fighter amongst the three detonated his suicide vest.

Afghanistan:#1: Helicopter gunships Thursday pounded militant positions in northwest Pakistan along the Afghan border, leaving 14 Taliban rebels dead. “According to preliminary reports, at least 14 miscreants were killed and numerous injured in today’s shelling,” a security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, using the term Pakistani officials employ to refer to militants.

#2: On Wednesday, intense fighting in Bajaur resulted in the death of seven troops and 25 militants, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. Dozens of fighters attacked the troops stationed at a government school building in the Rashakai area. The two sides exchanged rocket and mortar fire during the hours-long fighting, after which military helicopters and jets bombarded the militants.

#3: In one attack, a remote-controlled bomb blew up a police vehicle near the southern border town of Spin Boldak late Wednesday, killing two border policemen, Kandahar province police chief Mutiullah Khan told AFP.

#4: Another remote-controlled bomb blew up early Thursday in the nearby city of Kandahar and killed a civilian man who was crossing a road, a policeman at the scene said. The explosives, fixed to a bicycle, were detonated as a minibus carrying police trainers to work was passing, said the policeman, Gul Mohammad. The vehicle was only slightly damaged.

#5: NATO says Pakistani troops fired at their helicopters patrolling eastern Afghanistan, but no damage is reported. In a statement, NATO says its helicopters did not cross into Pakistan's airspace when they came under fire near Tanai district of Khost province.

BREAKING NEWS: 1 US SOLDIER, 43 IRAQIS KILLED, 35 IRAQIS WOUNDED

If the Presidential debate is held Friday, Sen. Barack Obama will have plenty to talk about in respect to the situation in Iraq. Here is what happened on Wednesday in Iraq.


Wednesday: 1 US Soldier, 43 Iraqis Killed: 35 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 11:31 p.m. EDT, Sept. 24, 2008

http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=13500

At least 43 Iraqis were killed and another 34 were wounded in the latest violence. Among them were 35 security personnel who were killed in a bold attack in Diyala province. Also, the Department of Defense reported that a U.S. soldier died from an non-combat illness.

A contentious debate over a provincial elections law ended today when Parliament unanimously passed the law. The main stumbling block had been indecision over a power-sharing scheme for multi-ethnic Kirkuk. Elections there will be postponed until those specific issues are resolved, but lawmakers hope that polls will open elsewhere before the end of January.

Gunmen ambushed a number of security personnel in Dulaimiyat, killing 35 of them. The bulk of the dead were policemen and Awakening Council members.

In Uthmaniya, gunmen attacked a checkpoint killing three policeman and wounding five others.
In Baghdad, a bomb planted on a car killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded six others in Shabb.

In Fudhailiyah, seven Iraqis were injured during an attack on an American patrol. Gunmen wounded four people, including a brigadier general in the Interior ministry during an attack on their vehicle. A body was found in Ur. Also, 26 suspects were detained.

A bomb blasted a convoy carrying the security commander in Samarra. Six bodyguards were injured.

One policeman was killed and another was wounded during a raid in Khan Bani Saad.
Gunmen killed a school guard in Abara.

A roadside bomb wounded three policemen in Saidiya.

In Mosul, a roadside bomb wounded two Iraqi soldiers. Police arrested two men who threw a hand grenade at a checkpoint; no casualties were reported. Four suspects were detained.
A weapons cache was found in Basra.

A man was killed while trying to plant a bomb in Kirkuk.

Also, an Iranian news agency reported that about 200 Shi'ite websites have been suffered cyber attacks

U.S. IS GOING TO HIDE THE RISING DEATH COUNT IN AFGHANISTAN

'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US
US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.

PALINTOLOGY: WATCH AS SARAH PALIN IS CLEANSED OF WITCHES BY HER 'WITCH HUNTER' PASTOR

Shocking Footage of Palin Praying With 'Witch Hunter'

By Max Blumenthal, MaxBlumenthal.com
Posted on September 24, 2008, Printed on September 25, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/100149/shocking_footage_of_palin_praying_with_%27witch_hunter%27/

Wasilla, Alaska

On September 20 and 21, I attended services at the church Sarah Palin belonged to since she was an adolescent, the Wasilla Assembly of God. Though Palin officially left the church in 2002, she is listed on its website as "a friend," and spoke there as recently as June 8 of this year.

I went specifically to see a pastor visiting from Kiambu, Kenya named Thomas Muthee. Muthee gained fame within Pentecostal circles by claiming that he defeated a local witch, Mama Jane, in a great spiritual battle, thus liberating his town from sin and opening its people to the spirit of Jesus.

Muthee's mounting stardom took him to Wasilla Assembly of God in May, 2005, where he prayed over Palin and called upon Jesus to propel her into the governor's mansion -- and beyond. Muthee also implored Jesus to protect Palin from "the spirit of witchcraft." The video archive of that startling sermon was scrubbed from Wasilla Assembly of God's website, but now it has reappeared.

WATCH VIDEO OF SARAH PALIN AS SHE IS CLEANSED OF WITCHES BY ALASKA WITCHCRAFT PASTOR:


http://www.youtube.com/v/kj-on3kfWuE&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

Read more here: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/100149/shocking_footage_of_palin_praying_with_%27witch_hunter%27/

BULLETIN: MARTIAL LAW EFFECTIVE OCT. 1. WATCH VIDEO

Amy Goodman of the Democratic Underground http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x197567 reports the 3rd Infantry Division is being brought back to the U.S. for crowd control beginning Oct. 1 as the U.S. enters a state of martial law.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/OvVAKx8E_r4&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

MESSAGE TO SENATOR McCAIN CONCERNING DEBATES: BRING 'EM ON!

Message to Senator McCain concerning debates: Bring em on!

By Mary MacElveen
http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/25/3899993.html

In these past two weeks since the stock market crashed two times within one week, it was Senator John McCain who said, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong” only for President Bush to say Wednesday night, “The economy is in danger” For the first time in these eight long years, it was President Bush’s words that I believed and that is not saying much since I have consistently written of his failed administration. By the way where was Bush when the first crash happened?

Being a heart patient and witnessing McCain’s erratic behavior during this crisis, my heart palpitated. It was only hearing Senator Barack Obama calmly state in a news briefing certain key points that must be included in this $700 billion dollar bailout did I feel the palpitations lessen. Such as oversight and taxpayers being treated like investors.

For McCain to dictate how the both of them should react to this crisis is a tone that only a dictator would use and we have had eight long years of Bush who once said, “I am the decider” It took guts for Obama to stand up to McCain and not blink concerning McCain’s call for a postponement of the debates and say, "This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama also stated, "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once." In fact he has been in constant contact with Hank Paulson and others in congress to be kept up to speed.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee even chimed in saying, that, “Obama’s and McCain’s help was not needed.”

Bush even stated during his speech to the nation on Wednesday night which counters McCain, “We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive action.” So, Senator McCain, let the debates go on or as Bush once said in the early days of the Iraq War while painting a target on our soldier’s back, “Bring em on.”

There were many other key words contained within Bush's speech that I feel will send some Americans into panic mode such as danger, collapse, and “some serious negative consequences" While the fault lies with an unbridled free-market system with little regulations which is the Republican philosophy when it comes to doing business, at least he was coming clean in how this will affect Americans. Unlike McCain who switched gears day-to-day last week and who became confused as to who the Prime Minister of Spain was.

If he thought it was imperative to go to Washington to become part of these proceedings, then why did he parade his running mate Sarah Palin around at the United Nations for photo-ops and a course in foreign policy 101? If he felt it urgent then he should have flown back then and suspended his campaign then. You do not do so two days prior to the debates. That could have been done early last week when the crash first occurred. I agree with Obama that Americans need to hear from who will be their next president since there will be a transition after the November elections.

In our own thoughts hearing them answer certain key and vital questions, we need to take them out for a test drive in our mind. In both their temperament and tone, Americans must witness how they will handle future critical moments as we go forward.

Again if there was a sense of urgency coming from McCain to return to Washington, this article reported, “McCain said he would return to Washington on Thursday after an address to former President Clinton's Global Initiative session.”

I think that on Wednesday, Americans got a taste of the matrix where one takes either the red or blue pill. In the movie ‘The Matrix’ the difference between the red and blue pill is as follows, “When Morpheus and Neo meet, Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will answer the question "what is the Matrix?" (by removing him from it) and the blue pill simply for life to carry on as before. As Neo reaches for the red pill Morpheus warns Neo "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." I do think that this was the moment in time where Americans needed to hear the truth for once. Like it or not, most of us have taken that red pill and we do not like what we see.

The late president, John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” and this is directed at those Hillary Clinton supporters as well as the eighteen percent that was reported today who are undecided, it would be irresponsible to elect John McCain as the next president.

There was a clear disconnect between Bush and McCain which was apparent on Wednesday night. Also from what was reported today the Republicans were in disarray when it came to this bailout. We cannot have four more years of Republican’s controlling the White House. We need clarity and not confusion.

The article that reported that eighteen percent of voters are up for grabs, this one passage stuck out, "A large chunk of these voters say they are hurting on a personal level from the country's economic woes, and, like everyone else, they say the economy is the top issue. Most haven't decided who would best solve their problems as president; neither candidate has an advantage on handling the economy."

While the article expresses that, one only has to remember the Keating Five scandal which John McCain was embroiled in and where the senate ethics committee stated he “showed poor judgment” We must also remember that McCain’s economic advisor Phil Gramm wrote most of the deregulation laws that got us to this point.

In a complete 360 from last week, McCain stated of this bailout, "I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time," The same sense of urgency came when it came to voting for the authorization for Bush to invade Iraq and we all know how that turned out. This time, congress has to be sure for the American people that this time they get it right. I think in that statement, it showed a McCain in panic mode and we cannot have a president who sends the American people into panic.

Those that are still on the fence need to hear from these two candidates come Friday night. In fact we as Americans need to hear from Senators Obama and McCain as to who can lead us rationally into the future. Let the debates go on.

You may contact the author at this email address, xmjmac@optonline.net

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Message-to-Senator-McCain-by-Mary-MacElveen-080925-104.html

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/25/3899993.html

WATCH AS KATIE COURIC ASKS SARAH PALIN THE SAME QUESTION THREE TIMES----AND SHE STILL CAN'T ANSWER IT

GOP vice president candidate Sarah Palin was interviewed by CBS' Katie Couric and in this video you will see Couric ask the same question three times and she still can't get a plausible answer.

It is worth watching the video just to see Palin's final answer.

WATCH VIDEO HERE AFTER BRIEF COMMERCIAL:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n

NEW YORK TIMES: McCAIN'S TOP CAMPAIGN ADVISER PAID $15 THOUSAND A MONTH BY FREDDIE MAC THROUGH AUGUST

If the debate this Friday night is cancelled, one of the primary reasons could be because John McCain would be asked why his top campaign adviser, Rick Davis, was on the payroll of Freddie Mac to tune of $15,000 a month right up until the end of August.

McCain helped put the United States in this financial mess by following the lead of former President Ronald Reagan who deregulated all the agencies that were put in place after the Great Depression to safeguard a meltdown like we are seeing now.

McCain just last month said nobody on his campaign staff were involved with lobbying for any of the financial companies caught up in the financial mess.

McCAIN LIED.

McCain Aide’s Firm Was Paid by Freddie Mac

By JACKIE CALMES and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/politics/24davis.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222286698-CsaSoA+fIfdwg7ZOsEqcbg

WASHINGTON — One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement.

The disclosure undercuts a remark by Mr. McCain on Sunday night that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.

Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the two people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than to speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections.

They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of his close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.

Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis Manafort for the presidential campaign, but as an equity holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said.

A Freddie Mac spokeswoman said the company would not comment.

Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, did not dispute the payments to Mr. Davis’s firm. But she said that Mr. Davis had stopped taking a salary from the firm by the end of 2006 and that his work did not affect Mr. McCain.

“Senator McCain’s positions on policy matters are based upon what he believes to be in the public interest,” Ms. Hazelbaker said in a written statement.

The disclosure comes at a time when Mr. McCain and his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, are sparring over ties to lobbyists and special interests, seeking political advantage in a campaign being reshaped by the financial crisis and the plan to bail out investment firms.

Mr. McCain’s campaign has been attacking Mr. Obama for ties to former officials of the mortgage giants, both of which have a long history of cultivating Democratic and Republican allies alike to fend off efforts to restrict their activities. Mr. McCain has been running a television advertisement suggesting that Mr. Obama takes advice on housing issues from Franklin D. Raines, former chief executive of Fannie Mae, a contention denied by Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign.

Freddie Mac’s payments of roughly $500,000 to Davis Manafort, the people familiar with the arrangement said, began in late 2005, immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Mr. Davis to run.

From 2000 to the end of 2005, Mr. Davis received nearly $2 million as president of the coalition, the Homeownership Alliance, which the companies created to help them oppose new regulations and protect their status as federally chartered companies with implicit government backing.

That status let them borrow cheaply, helping to fuel rapid growth but also their increased purchases of the risky mortgage securities that proved to be their downfall.

The payments that Mr. Davis received for leading the Homeownership Alliance were reported in Monday’s issue of The New York Times. On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and The Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about that tie between Mr. Davis and the two mortgage companies by saying that he “has had nothing to do with it since, and I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/politics/24davis.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222286698-CsaSoA+fIfdwg7ZOsEqcbg

BULLETIN: McCAIN WANTS TO CANCEL FRIDAY DEBATE WITH OBAMA

MSNBC News just announced that John McCain wants to cancel his debate with Barack Obama this Friday and concentrate on the financial mess in our country.

My reaction:

Where was this SOB for the past 23 years when he voted to deregulate every safeguard there was to keep this financial crisis from happening?

It should be noted, President Ronald Reagan started this financial mess when he deregulaed all the watchdog agencies that were put in place after the Great Depression to keep anything like we are seeing now from EVER happening again.

McCain also wanted to privatize social security which would have put people in the horrible position of paying for their own medical needs and putting their money into the stock market.

McCain has also voted against any more funding for the Veterans Administration.

Meanwhile, McCain's veep pick, "Puss 'n Boots," Sarah Palin, has been running around the UN and spending 20 seconds or 30 seconds with various world leaders.

Palin's "in depth" meeting with Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai was about his new baby.

WASHINGTON POST: YOUR TAX DOLLARS: $13 BILLION WASTED OR STOLEN ON IRAQ PROJECTS

$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says

By Dana HedgpethWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, September 23, 2008; A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202053.html

A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes.

Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that an Iraqi auditing bureau "could not properly account for" the money.

While many of the projects audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone."

He said a report that went to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials was never published because "nobody cares" about investigating such cases. Many investigators, he said, feared for their safety because 32 of his co-workers have been murdered.

Adhoob said he reported the abuses to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an agency charged by Congress with helping to root out cases of waste, fraud and abuse in the nearly $50 billion U.S. reconstruction effort. SIGIR spokeswoman Kristine Belisle said her agency continues to "actively follow up" on Adhoob's information, but she would not discuss ongoing investigations.

Read more http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202053.html

EXCLUSIVE: MALIKI SUGGESTS BUSH PUSHED TO EXTEND U.S. PRESENCE IN IRAQ TO HELP McCAIN

Last July, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said U.S. troops should be out of Iraq “as soon as possible” and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) withdrawal plan. Obama “talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,” Maliki told Der Spiegel magazine.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/23/maliki-bush-mccain-iraq/

Days later, as Obama wrapped up meetings with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh reiterated his government’s stance, saying “the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal.”

Negotiating the post-UN mandate security agreement with Iraq, Bush argued for more time and both sides ultimately agreed that all U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, not 2010, even though Bush has said previously that “if they were to say, leave, we would leave.”

Why did Bush go back on his word? A source tells ThinkProgress that White House communications staff were concerned that Maliki’s endorsement of the 2010 time line would damage Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign. Indeed, during an interview with Iraqi television last week (according to an Open Source Center translation), Maliki suggested that the U.S. presidential elections played a role:

Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the [U.S] domestic situation so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date.

In fact, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said that as part of the security agreement, Bush wanted U.S. troops to stay in Iraq even longer. “It was a U.S. proposal for the date which is 2015, and an Iraqi one which is 2010, then we agreed to make it 2011,” Talabani said.

But by endorsing Obama’s time line, Maliki indirectly slighted McCain, who has consistently and strenuously argued against setting a withdrawal date and has even said he wouldn’t mind having U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years. But Maliki’s new position has left McCain scrambling, first saying its “a pretty good timetable,” but then denying he used “the word timetable” and later settling on “anything is good.”

Despite Bush’s constant refrain that commanders, not politics, will decide the course in Iraq, it seems that trying to help his party retain the White House is more important.

COMMENTARY: IF YOU CANNOT VOTE FOR OBAMA BASED ON RACE, YOU ARE NOT A PATRIOT, BUT A COWARD

For those who would not vote for Barack Obama based entirely on the color of his skin, you must not believe in America. You must not believe in the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ and I invite you to read it in its entirety.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible…With Liberty and Justice for all."

by Mary MacElveen on Tue 23 Sep 2008 10:56 AM EDT
http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/23/3897328.html

COMMENT: Mary MacElveen is one of the bright new op/ed writers who contributes articles to the media and this blogger. BILL CORCORAN, editor, CORKSPHERE

What part of that pledge do you not get? We are one nation, who are supposed to be a united people, who cherish our liberties and most of all justice for all. A little piece of history for you; it was George W. Bush, John McCain and many within the Republican Party who tried to separate us as a people during these past eight years.

Not to vote for a candidate based solely upon the color of their skin; you are anything but patriotic. In fact anyone who would not cast their vote for either Barack Obama or other candidates because they are black or a part of any other minority group, you do not deserve to pledge allegiance to our flag since it is obvious you do not believe in it.

If you are a part of this group who cannot vote for Barack Obama because he is black and if you do wear a flag pin, kindly take it off. You dishonor it by wearing it.

Many of our soldiers who came home dead from this immoral Iraq War, were African-Americans and the blood they spilt was colored red, white and blue. On the battle field of this war and in wars past, they served and died as one along side with soldiers of other races.

In not voting for a candidate because of the color of his skin, you are failing to honor these brave soldiers who stepped up to the plate and gave their life for God and country. They not you knew what true patriotism was all about.

Black men who die on any battle field do so to protect your freedoms and one of them is the right to vote. How dare you dishonor them and discredit their contributions to this country. They paid the ultimate price as you revel in your hate and cowardice.

I have to wonder if this race-card would even be reported had the Republicans picked former Secretary of State Colin Powell as their candidate. Think about it. Is it because Senator Barack Obama is a Democrat that we are seeing this reported in the news?

If Colin Powell became a Democrat and ran for president: Would these same people not vote for him because of the color of his skin? I would remind these people that Colin Powell did serve in the military protecting your freedoms. Even the freedom to be a racist.

If Colin Powell ran as a Democrat, would Ron Fournier of the AP who has had close ties to the McCain campaign and Karl Rove even have written that article? Would he have even written that AP article that started this fire-storm of hate had Powell ran against McCain?

To me, Senator Barack Obama encapsulates what it means to be a true American because he grew up believing that anyone can serve as the president of this country. As a father, he is showing his two little girls exactly what it means to be an American. Maybe one of his girls will someday become the first African-American woman to go on to win the presidency.

What must his little girls think of folks who would not vote for their father because of his race? I do not know if Barack Obama or Michelle Obama have told them some cannot vote for their father because he is black. Most likely they have not shared this with them, but I do suspect they know of it. How horrible it must be for them if they do know of this. Are they thinking these racist people also hate them? If so, what a thing to do to a child. Those adorable little girls deserve a country united and not divided by racists as all children do.

In growing up in the sixties, I saw as a child the racial tensions beamed into my living room each night on the news and was deeply horrified. I never looked upon my friends who were black as being lesser people, but just friends. Together we played and got in trouble equally if we misbehaved. I always dreamed of a better future and when I first heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. give his, “I Have a Dream” speech his words filled me with immense hope for the future and it angers me that racism still exists today.

I am so proud as an American that one of the presidential debates will take place in Hempstead, NY which was my home town while growing up. In fact one of the most productive mayors it has ever had is a Republican and his name is James Garner who too is an African-American. Garner was the first African-American to be elected as mayor on Long Island. I hope there is some cosmic connection to this debate being held in my home town. In governing all of us, Garner never saw us as being white, black, Hispanic, Republicans or Democrats, but citizens he was charged by oath to govern equally. Garner lived and breathed Hempstead as its mayor. He once told me at my uncle’s funeral while I did move away, I will always be a Hempstead girl.

I do see a connection between both Garner and Obama. I do not look upon them as African-Americans, but a patriotic Americans. As an American, I was proud to have voted for James Garner and I am equally proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama on November 4th.

I look upon Barack Obama with reverence because he is at least connecting with me emotionally and reminding me what true patriotism is all about. In the midst of so much despair this nation has felt in its short history, at least he is giving me some hope for a better future. I crave that future of hope and not of one filled with more wars as McCain promises us. To lead us into more senseless wars is anything but patriotic since it weakens us as a nation. Should John McCain call upon you who are racists to send your sons and daughters into these wars: Will you sacrifice them?

The night that he gave his acceptance speech at the DNC, was a night filled with hope. When I saw those fireworks going off at Mile High Stadium, our ‘Star Spangled Banner’ came to mind and specifically these words:

“And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air…Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there….O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave…O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave”

As a gift to you to help drown out this hate coming from others, please click on this link to hear our nation’s song sung by Whitney Houston. Did you happen to black soldier in uniform saluting our flag? The thing is, he only sees himself as an American serving our country proudly.

Are any of you who choose not to vote for Barack Obama clearly showing we are the home of the brave? Or will you allow the cowardice of your racism to seize the day? Are we a free people when racists will further imprison us as a nation?

If this report of Americans refusing to vote for Barack Obama based on race disturbs you as much as me, then it is up to all of us to get to the polls to outnumber them. Through that action we are telling them, their message of racism has no place in this country. We must be the ones to stand up to them and say, it is we who believe in these United States of America.

To those who would cast their vote based on race, and if John McCain goes onto win the presidency, your collection of votes could have stopped four more years of failed Republican leadership. You could have said to all Americans we choose another direction. If God forbid McCain wins all I will say is: Don’t blame me, I voted for Barack Obama and it is you who have sentenced us all to another four more years of misery. How un-patriotic of you.

You may contact the author at, xmjmac@optonline.net

BUSH CAN'T SHUT UP. HE TICKS OFF SYRIA AND IRAN IN FINAL SPEECH TO UN

President George W. Bush just can't keep his yap shut.

In his final appearance before the UN on Tuesday, Bush lashed out at Syria and Iran as countries that harbor terrorists.

Bush will NOT be happy until he has the ENTIRE world hating America.

Don't be surprised if Bush and Cheney try some underhanded way to go to war with either Iran or Syria before they leave office.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

Bush lashes Syria, Iran as ‘terrorism’ sponsors

US President says terrorism ‘has no place in the modern world’ during his farewell speech to UN.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28017

NEW YORK - US President George W. Bush accused Syria and Iran Tuesday of sponsoring terrorism and said that such violence "has no place in the modern world" in his farewell speech to the UN General Assembly.

"A few nations -- regimes like Syria and Iran -- continue to sponsor terror, yet their numbers are growing fewer and they're growing more isolated from the world," he said.

"Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has no place in the modern world," said Bush.
Bush told the UN General Assembly that it must enforce sanctions against North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs.

Bush said UN members must uphold resolutions "enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran" and stressed "we must not relent until our people our safe from this threat to civilization."

WASHINGTON POST: PALIN, McCAIN DISAGREE ON CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

No one, including Gov. Sarah Palin, questions that Alaska's climate is changing more rapidly than any other state's. But her skepticism about the causes and what needs to be done to address the consequences stands in sharp contrast to the views of her running mate, Sen. John McCain, and place her to the right of the Bush administration and several other Republican governors.

By Juliet EilperinWashington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 23, 2008; Page A04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202894.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Click on link above to continue reading.

LIMBAUGH REPEATS BASELESS OBAMA SMEAR: "HE'S ARAB...NOT AFRICAN-AMERICAN"

Rush Limbaugh, who along with FOX NEWS and many others in the media who are out-and-out RACISTS, continues to bash Barack Obama with lies and smears.

MEDIA MATTERS reports on what Limbaugh said here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200809220015?lid=617760&rid=14896938

WATCH LIMBAUGH ON VIDEO MAKING RACIST ATTACK ON OBAMA BY CLICKING ON MEDIA MATTERS LINK ABOVE.

Limbaugh repeats baseless Obama smear: "He's Arab. ... [H]e's not African-American"
Summary: Rush Limbaugh baselessly asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

Media Matters for America has previously documented that a similar claim was forwarded by Fox News contributor Monica Crowley when she guest-hosted the June 23 broadcast of The Laura Ingraham Show. A caller to the show claimed that Obama is "not really African- American. He's Arab." In response, Crowley said that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African."

In a February 14 blog entry, "journalist, op-ed columnist, radio news-interview program host" Kenneth E. Lamb claimed -- without producing any evidence -- that "Sen. Obama is actually Arab-American" and that "Mr. Obama is not legally African-American." Lamb did not cite to any research or government documents, but invited readers seeking "proof" of his claims to "[r]esearch the Kenyan records for yourself," adding: "You will find that his father was officially classified as 'Arab African' by the Kenyan government."

From the September 22 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won't vote for Obama because he's black, and -- but he's not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn't have any African -- that's why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he's down for the struggle. He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. He's not -- his father was -- he's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American. I guess that's splitting hairs, I don't -- it's just all these little things, everything seems upside-down today in this country.

REAL IRAQ WAR FOOTAGE: GRAPHIC: GREAT MUSIC

This is another in a series of videos showing what our brave young Americans are doing in IRAQ.

Unfortunately, the media in the United States doesn't EVER report on the IRAQ WAR anymore.

But we do.

WATCH VIDEO HERE: TURN UP SOUND FOR GREAT MUSIC.

http://www.youtube.com/v/aRQf1WDRJhU&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

WAR IN IRAQ. VIOLENT, GRAPHIC.VIDEO, MUSIC BY BLACK SABBATH

We continue to bring to viewers of this blog images from Iraq war no longer shown on American TV because NOBODY in the media gives damn anymore about our troops in Iraq.

WATCH THIS GRAPHIC VIDEO HERE WITH MUSIC BY BLACK SABBATH:

http://www.youtube.com/v/DoMtjJXL6e8&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

FOOTAGE FROM THE IRAQ WAR: SOME DISTURBING IMAGES. GREAT MUSIC

This video is presented to remind everyone there is STILL a war going on in IRAQ and we still have 160,000 brave young Americans risking their lives every single day in this ill-planned war.

The are all indications the war in IRAQ is going to get a lot "hotter" in the weeks and months to come as differences in the fledgling IRAQI government become more and more apparent.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8TH6AThWunA&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

BREAKING NEWS: VIOLENCE AND DEATHS ERUPTS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

The mainstream media in the United States is totally focused on the election, but in Iraq and Afghanistan the war is heating up and there are reports of more and more casulaties including US troops.

The war in Iraq is still costing $12 BILLION a month with no end in sight

There are still 160,000 US troops in Iraq and 30,000 in Afghanistan and they could be there for years to come if the Republicans keep control of the White House.

Here is what happend on MONDAY in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Monday, September 22, 2008
Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

War News for Monday, September 22, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a a small-arms fire attack in a neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, September 21st. No other details were released.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from natural causes in a western province of Afghanistan on Sunday, September 21st. No other details were released. We assume this to be an American soldier.

CJTF is reporting the death of a U.S. - led coalition soldier in an IED attack in a southern province of Afghanistan on Sunday, September 21st. Two Afghani civilians were also killed in the attack.

Two U.S. military personnel killed in the Islamabad hotel bombing:US marines were the target of a massive suicide attack that left Islamabad's pride Marriott Hotel in flames, according to a senior intelligence official. (this article is worth reading)Reported

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: A car bomb killed at least two people and wounded five others in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

#2: A mortar bomb killed one person and wounded four others in western Baghdad, police said."A mortar round landed on a main road near Adan Square in Baghdad northern neighborhood of Kadhmiya, killing a civilian and wounding four others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity

.#3: A car bomb wounded two people when it exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in Jamiaa district in western Baghdad, police said.Separately, two more civilians were injured when a car bomb parked near the Nafaq-al-Shurta intersection in western Baghdad detonated as an Iraqi army patrol was passing by, he said.Four civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) stuck inside a civilian vehicle went off in western Baghdad city, according to the Iraqi police."An IED emplaced by unidentified men inside a civilian vehicle went off on the main road near Nafaq al-Shurta area, western Baghdad, wounding four civilian passengers," the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#5: Another mortar round struck a house in Karrada neighborhood in central Baghdad, wounding four people and setting fire in the house, the source added.

#6: Sunday Police found three dead bodies in Baghdad neighborhoods today: two were found in Karkh bank; one in Dora and the other was in Amil. While the third one was found in Fudhailiyah on Risafa bank.

#7: The Iraqi army killed two gunmen and arrested 81 others in the last 24 hours in different parts of the country, the Defence Ministry said.

Diyala Prv:Khani Beni Saad:#1: The Iraqi government said on Monday its forces have uncovered dozens of bodies buried in three mass graves in the restive province of Diyala. The graves were found in the village of Khani Beni Saad, near the provincial capital of Baquba, after an "arrested terrorist gave information," a government statement said. A security official from the region said the bodies were being dug out from the graves but did not specify how many corpses were there.

Suwayra:#1: Police recovered a body showing signs of torture from the Tigris River in Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:#1: Gunmen killed two brothers and wounded a third when they opened fire in a market in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police said.

#2: At least two policemen were killed and more than 40 people wounded in a suicide truck bomb attack on a police commando base in the city of Mosul on Sunday afternoon, a provincial police source said. "A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into the entrance of a police commando base in southwestern Mosul and blew it up at about 5:15 p.m. (1415 GMT)," Brigadier Khalid Abdul Sattar, spokesman of operations office in Nineveh province, told Xinhua.

#3: A morgue in the city of Mosul received two bodies with gunshot wounds, police said.Al Anbar Prv:Fallujah:#1: A policeman was killed and another one was injured on Monday by U.S. troops near the city of Falluja, a police source said."A policeman was killed and another one was injured when U.S. forces opened fire at them in al-Halabsa region in northwest of Falluja," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq on condition of anonymity. "U.S. forces were trying to set up an ambush for gunmen in the region, when they suspected the two cops who were wearing civilian clothes," he added. No word was immediately available from the U.S. army on the incident.

Afghanistan:#1: Afghan Consul General Abdul Khaliq Farahi was kidnapped on Monday after his vehicle was ambushed by unknown gunmen, killing his driver here on Ring Road. The Afghan diplomat was on his way home after duty hours when some armed men intercepted his car just close to Hayatabad Township, an official of Afghan Consulate told APP. According to SSP Operations Peshawar Kashif Alam, the driver of the Peshawar based Consul General of Afghan Consulate Abdul Khaliq Farahi was killed in the shootout. The car of the Consul General was hit by volley of bullets as soon as it entered Phase-IV from Phase-III in Hayatabad. Meanwhile the kidnappers overpowered the Consul General and threw him in a car and fled from the scene.

#2: Pakistani officials say their troops opened fire twice to repel two US helicopter gunships which violated their airspace in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The incidents happened on Sunday evening in the North Waziristan district, where Pakistani forces are battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military or the US-led coalition in Kabul.

#3: A roadside bomb ripped through a civilian vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing six Afghans and wounding four others, the NATO-led force said. The military alliance said the blast occurred in Tirin Kot, the capital of the southern Uruzgan province. It said a child was among those killed.

#4: Meanwhile, in southwestern Nimroz province Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint Sunday, sparking a clash in which nine militants were killed and three police were wounded, said provincial Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad.

#5: Taliban insurgents have abducted more than 140 laborers from a construction firm in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, the provincial governor said on Monday. The laborers were civilians and were involved in building an army base in the province where the Taliban and criminal gangs are active. They were seized by militants on Sunday while traveling in three buses on a road in Bala Boluk district of Farah, Rohul Amin told Reuters.

#6: The ISAF vehicle was driving from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kabul. In Aybak, a group of people unloaded a market wagon, when suddenly some people stepped onto the street. The driver of the military car could not avoid the group and hit some of the people. One person was killed and another injured. The injured civilian was taken to the local hospital in Aybak. The soldiers stayed at the scene to provide assistance until the Afghan National Police arrived.

ONCE ELECTED, PALIN HIRED OLD CLASSMATES AND PALS AND LASHED OUT AT FOES

WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

Palin has a voice like a Screech Owl, and she can be just as mean and vindictive.

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

By JO BECKER, PETER S. GOODMAN and MICHAEL POWELL

http://tinyurl.com/3tf4dh

THE NEW YORK TIMES

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship.

A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

Ms. Palin walks the national stage as a small-town foe of “good old boy” politics and a champion of ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything.
But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Read more http://tinyurl.com/3tf4dh

McCAIN'S 13 CARS---2 ARE FOREIGN MADE

Dems seize on McCain's 13 cars
Posted: 08:50 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

http://tinyurl.com/4pvnl9

Democrats are seizing on a report the McCains own at least 13 cars.

(CNN) — Democrats eager to portray John McCain as out of touch with average Americans and as a flip-flopper seized on a report Sunday the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, own more than a dozen cars — including several foreign-made automobiles.

A Newsweek article published on the magazine's Web Site Sunday said registration records show the McCains currently own 13 cars — two of which are foreign-made: a Honda and a Volkswagen. That appears to contradict the Republican presidential nominee's past statements he only buys cars made in America. (Cindy McCain also drives a Lexus and daughter Meghan owns a Toyota Prius, but neither are registered to the McCains.)

Newsweek also reported Barack Obama owns one car: a Ford Escape Hybrid.

In a quickly-arranged conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee, United Auto Worker Union President Ron Gettelfinger — an Obama supporter — said the registration records show McCain is not being truthful with Americans and undermining autoworkers.

"The last thing we need is a presidential candidate who undermines autoworkers, and these days it seems that John McCain is doing just exactly that," he said. "When he's in the Midwest, he tells voters he supports the industry, when he is in other states he brags about buying a foreign car, as he did with the Prius." (It is not clear if McCain or his daughter bought the Prius)
Gettelfinger also pointed to comments McCain made in an interview with Detroit TV station WXYZ, saying, "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud."

"That's really a nice campaign line," Gettelfinger said of the comments. "But it turns out that John McCain wasn't being straight with the people of Detroit, or the state of Michigan, or our country as a matter of effect," adding later, "The American auto industry and the American voters deserve a president who will be straight with them.”

For the record, Honda has four major automobile and engine plants in the United States employing more than 25,000 Americans, according to its Web site. Volkswagen is scheduled to open a plant in Tennessee in 2011 that is expected to employ 2,000 people, the AP reported in July.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain, said "Barack Obama is more interested in childish political attacks than confronting the reality that his plans to raise taxes and close off trade will kill our American auto industry and the jobs of hardworking folks in Michigan and all around our nation."

Rogers also said McCain was referring to his own car in the WXYZ interview: "He drives a Cadillac today and has always driven American cars," Rogers said.

Newsweek's report comes a month after McCain now-infamously could not name how many houses he owned in an interview with Politico. The publication later reported he owns at least eight properties.

VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST McCAIN: SHOCKING VIDEO REVELATIONS

There are many, many people who either served with John McCain or were in the military at the time McCain was captured and spent 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton who have now come out to tell their side of the McCain story and his time as a POW.

This VIDEO is remarkable because so many of the men and women on the VIDEO are Republicans who have come forward to tell their side of the McCain POW story.

Watch the VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/vFM1xqqTX_g&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF SOCIALISM: CNN REPORT

President Ronald Reagan started this financial mess when he deregulated many of the watchdog agencies who were supposed to watch over abuses by the financial institutions on Wall Street.

Reagan wanted to help his fat cat Republican friends make even more money by taking away all safeguards against financial corruption.

Senator John McCain voted over and over again for deregulation and now is trying to say it is the fault of the Democrats when Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 and a Congress which was in the hands of the Republicans for almost 30 years continued to look the other way and allow the financial crisis to develop.

The plan now is use taxpayer money to bail out the big financial institutions and anyway you cut it that is SOCIALISM.

As the American public learns more and more about the bailout, they are madder than hell and they are expressing their feelings as witnessed by this CNN report.

Mad as hell - taxpayers lash out

We asked you what you had to say about the bailout, and we heard you loud and clear: 'No way!'
reader from Anchorage, Alaska.

http://tinyurl.com/4lbs89


"This is robbery pure and simple," Anna from Denver posted on CNNMoney.com's TalkBack blog this weekend.

"It's our money! Let these companies die," added Claudio from Plainville, Conn.

After President Bush petitioned Congress Saturday for the authority to spend up to $700 billion to to bail out a financial industry on the verge of collapse, he said the high price tag was not only justified, but essential.

"It is a big package because it's a big problem," Bush told reporters at a news conference. "The risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package."

But when asked what they thought of the government's proposal, most readers gave an overwhelming thumbs down.

"I'm tired of rewarding institutions and people for the bad decisions they have made," said Dean from Madison, Wis. "Sure, it will hurt tax payers if/when some of these institutions fail, but perhaps we need to let that happen. We do not need more big government involved in our lives. Enough is enough."

Don't hand me the tab
Readers focused most of their indignation on having to foot the bill for irresponsible lenders and borrowers.

"Companies, like individuals, should be held responsible for their decisions," wrote Jorge from El Paso, Texas. "This buyout does not address the other problems in the pipeline such as personal credit default and market slowdowns in most industries. No new jobs will be created."

Paul from Portsmouth, N.H., said banks are getting the soft treatment when taxpayers are suffering.
"It is time for the financial institutions of this country to be called to the mat. We should be expecting and demanding responsible and ethical business practice, not rewarding it at the expense of taxpayers."

And John from Springfield, Va., said the government action actually hurts the people it is intended to help.
"The government does not have $700 billion dollars. WE have $700 billion, and it is being taken from us. If this is passed then the next administration and the next will be extracting this one from the people who are supposedly being protected by this bailout."

Where's my bailout?
Other readers wanted to know why the government didn't spend the $700 billion investment on the majority of responsible Americans who are suffering because of the bad bets of the few.
"Why not take the billions and ... make funds available to home owners stuck in the loans these idiots created, marketed and sold," asked Don from Coarsegold, Calif. "It will put the money where it should be with the little guy who made a mistake, instead of the big guy who created the problem."

Jordan from Charlestown, Ind., asked why different rules applied to big banks and ordinary investors.
"Once I invested in something and lost money. Maybe I could just change the rules of investing so that my loss turns into a gain? Oh, I forgot only banks can do that!"

Vote these jerks out
Some readers said it was time for the politicians who support the bailout to get the heave-ho come November.
"I will be watching to see which of our representatives vote for this bailout," said R. Kidd in Troy, N.C. "Let the American people see how many we can fire come election time."
And many readers, including Danny from Texas said we should stop typing and start dialing the lawmakers who are prepared to give the OK to the bailout.
"Call your Congressman. Stop blogging, posting comments, and call your congressman. This is the patriotic thing to do. Let them hear your opinion, show them this is still America and that you will not stand for this!!

Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/4lbs89

THE REAL MASH HOSPITAL IN IRAQ. REAL FOOTAGE FROM INSIDE LARGEST FIELD HOSPITAL IN IRAQ

The video takes viewers through a day in what takes place inside of the largest MASH unit hospital in Iraq.

The scenes are graphic and can be jarring, but war is not supposed to be a sanitized video game.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/U_ZG0-FncOQ&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

U.S. MARINES IN IRAQ: VIDEO IN IRAQ WITH REAL FOOTAGE: WARNING VERY GRAPHIC

The U.S. Marine Corps continues to take out Iraqis even though the American people and the American media no longer reports on events in Iraq.

This video is a prime example of how the U.S. Marines are taking it to the Iraqis.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/C_LTvGSHHh4&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

MARINES BLOWUP IRAQIS IN REAL GUNFIGHT: REAL FOOTAGE: NO EDITING

The language is rough, but war is rough and not a video game. This video shows a group of Marines blowing up Iraqis as they try to escape from their car. Yeah! Bring it on!.

Watch video here:

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

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

HANNITY SPOONFEEDS PALIN "GOP TALKING POINTS"

This is NOT an interview and don't let anyone ever tell you the "meeting" between FOX NEWS' Sean Hannity and GOP Vice President candidate Sarah Palin was an "interview."

In this video snippet, you see Hannity reading GOP "talking points" to Palin and then just as she has been coached and rehearsed Palin parrots back what Hannity supposedly was asking her.

It is beyond pathetic and should be sent to every journalism school in the nation as an example of what is NOT an interview.

Sean Hannity NEVER took a journalism course in his life and has never worked in the real news business at a newspaper. He came to FOX NEWS from his job as a chattering disc jockey with just a big mouth and a sarcastic way of dealing with Democrats.

Is there anyone with an IQ over 75 who doesn't know the reason why the McCain campaign picked Sean Hannity to do an "interview" with Palin?

The GOP and the McCain people knew it would be a softball "meeting" but to insure it still didn't get off track they wanted a list of questions and topics Hannity was going to talk about with Palin so they could coach her on what to say.

GOD HELP AMERICA. FOX NEWS is now the 21st Century version of Hitler's Third Reich propaganda machine under Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels.

HERE IS THE VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/v/lidkG9JX2XU&hl=en&fs=1

HAVE PLENTY OF PEPTO BISMOL NEARBY AND THEN CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE THE VIDEO.

VIOLENT, VIOLENT VIDEO: US TROOPS IN COMBAT IN IRAQ (VERY ROUGH LANGUAGE)

There is still a war going on in Iraq and this violent, violent video shows a US combat team in action in Iraq.

With a the military stretched to the breaking point, a vote for McCain/Palin will most certainly be a one-way ticket to reinstating the military draft.

In the heat of the race for the White House, we wonder just how many Republicans and some Democrats who plan to vote for McCain and Palin and have draft age children or grandchildren realize their loved ones will soon be fighting in either Iraq, Afghanistan or possibly even Iran.

HERE IN THIS VIDEO IS WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE CAN EXPECT TO FACE SHOULD McCAIN AND PALIN WIN THIS ELECTION:

http://www.youtube.com/v/kwVQInOL9fI&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

8 FAMILY MEMBERS KILLED BY US CHOPPERS IN IRAQ

SALAH EL-Din, Sept. 19 (VOI)- Eight members of one family were killed on Friday when U.S. helicopters shelled their house in south of Tikrit, a police source said.
“U.S. choppers shelled a house in al-Dour district in south of Tikrit, killing eight members of the same family, in addition to destroying the house,” the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Source: http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=93748&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

WATCH AS SARAH PALIN FAILS TO ANSWER SEAN HANNITY'S QUESTION ON "THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE."

Toward the end of Sean Hannity's interview with Sarah Palin, he asks her if she first supported "the bridge to nowhere." Instead of answering the question, Palin goes off on a tangent talking about building a ferry between the two islands. Hannity NEVER pinned her down and on why she didn't answer his original question: "Did you originally support "the bridge to nowhere?"

This is NOT reporting, but a glaring example of what happens when a former disc jockey like Sean Hannity attempts to play reporter without the credentials.

The whole one hour interview with Sarah Palin by FOX NEWS' Sean Hannity was scripted with Hannity using RNC "talking points" and Palin allowed to know what questions she was going to be asked in advance of the so-called "interview."

In short, the Sean Hannity interview with Sarah Palin wasn't an interview but a gabfest.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Dx2703PtoGU&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

VINTAGE VIDEOS: IF WE DON'T REMEMBER HISTORY, WE ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT

There is a frightening similarity between the way the GOP and RNC are going about trying to win the 2008 election and what took place in Nazi, Germany in the 1930s.

Here are a few vintage videos that should be seen as a reminder of what can happen when power mad people try to seize a country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDQgQTyhFMo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ku8VsX-zM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX0REDzfZds&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc2d_MwnR_Q&feature=related

And how it all ended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YcFDgHIGCU

Sinclair Lewis posited that “when fascism comes to the America, it will be led by a cross and wrapped in the flag.”

2,000 DOCTORS CALL ON McCAIN TO RELEASE HIS MEDICAL RECORDS

LOS ANGELES -- Over 2,000 MDs and other degreed medical professionals have signed an open letter calling for a "full, public disclosure" of John McCain's medical records. Brave New Films will release the complete list of names to reporters this Thursday. The text of the letter is viewable here.

By Staff, Brave New FilmsPosted on September 17, 2008, Printed on September 19, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://bravenewfilms.org/99224/

Editor's note: The following is a press release from our friends at Brave New Films:2,000 Doctors Call on McCain to Release his Medical Records

The state of McCain's health has become an increasingly important issue in the general election. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos last Sunday, Senator Claire McCaskill pointed to McCain's advanced age and history of melanoma as "a reality here that we have to face."

Responding to a question about McCain's cancer, Senator Harry Reid told blogger Matt Stoller last month, "Health issues are extremely important. . .There should be total transparency when a person is running for President of the United States." Senator Chuck Schumer told Stoller, "When you're running for president, everything should be public including your full medical records." Video of the remarks by Schumer and Reid is available here.

In May, the McCain campaign allowed a small group of reporters to review over 1,000 pages of McCain's medical records from 2000 to 2008 in just three hours and under strict prohibitions.

In an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, Lawrence Altman, M.D., medical correspondent for The New York Times, described the event as such: ". . .to have a slew of reporters and give each individual reporter three hours to go through what was said to be approximately a thousand pages - that's 333 pages per hour, and I don't think speed readers can read that much that fast. . .[the time limit] doesn't allow anyone, in my mind, to make a thorough analysis and recording, which is what you'd want."

Click on link above for more....

NEW VIDEO: SEAN HANNITY SOFTBALLS SARAH PALIN

The second installment of the Sean Hannity interview with Sarah Palin was so pathetic it doesn't
warrant running the whole fawning episode from the September 18 "Hannity and Colmes" FOX NEWS show.

However, here are brief snippets from the so-called "interview."

NOTICE HOW FOX NEWS KEEPS RUNNING "BREAKING NEWS" UNDER THE VIDEO OF HANNITY INTERVIEWING PALIN.

In one segment of Pt. 2 of the hyped Sarah Palin interview, Hannity asks Palin about how she first supported the "Bridge to Nowhere," but then voted against it after it was already determined it was not going through Congress.

Instead of answering Hannity's question, Palin goes off and starts talking about building a ferry between the Alaska islands and Hannity NEVER asked her why she did not answer his initial question.

This segment is not available now, but we will be posting it shortly because it clearly shows what a pathetic interviewer Sean Hannity is and how he is not a reporter but a mouthpiece for the McCain/Palin campaign.

WATCH PORTIONS OF PT. 2 OF THE SARAH PALIN INTERVIEW HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ul6U3J2OiQI&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

SOLDIER IN IRAQ KILLS SQUAD LEADER AND TEAM LEADER

Soldier in Iraq Kills Squad Leader and Fellow Team Leader
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 10:47 PM CDT
Source: http://www.vetvoice.com/

When the two deaths in Iraq were announced late Sunday, something didn't sound right. It wasn't combat, there was no mention of a vehicle accident, and with two dead, it clearly wasn't a suicide. Now we know why:
A U.S. soldier was detained in Iraq after he allegedly opened fire on a superior and another unit member, killing them both, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.
The soldier was subdued by other troops, and medics tried unsuccessfully to save the wounded soldiers, said Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commanding general at Fort Stewart in southern Georgia, where the soldiers' unit is based.
An Army spokesman said the shooting happened Sunday in Tunnis, Iraq. The alleged shooter's name was not released.
The Army identified the slain soldiers as Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson, 24, and Sgt. Wesley R. Durbin, 26.
The soldier--a team leader whose name hasn't been released yet--had apparently been in a meeting with his squad leader and the other team leader about his performance.
When the AP says the shooter was then "subdued by other troops," my hope is that this included multiple buttstrokes.

Chinook Goes Down in Iraq
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 10:19 PM CDT
Bad news:
BAGHDAD - An American Chinook helicopter crashed early Thursday in southern Iraq, killing at least five U.S. soldiers and leaving two others missing, the military said.
A U.S. statement said the CH-47 Chinook was landing after midnight about 60 miles west of Basra when the incident occurred.
A spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq confirmed to The Associated Press that the helicopter had crashed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to provide details.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, or if hostile fire was involved.
UPDATE: The AP is now reporting the two missing soldiers as having been killed, bringing the total to seven. Also, hostile fire is "not suspected."

New CBS/NYT Polls Asks about Iraq
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 06:36 PM CDT
Among other things, the new CBS/New York Times survey found the following:
Still, most Americans continue to think the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq in the first place, and 53 percent now say the war in Iraq is not a part of the war on terrorism -- more than ever before.
I guess these things become clearer when the casualty rate in Afghanistan skyrockets while Pakistan falls apart. Go figure.

EXCLUSIVE: THE PASTOR WHO CLASHED WITH PALIN

The pastor who clashed with PalinBaptist minister Howard Bess, who wrote a book Palin wanted banned and who fought her on abortion and gay rights, says the country should fear her election.

By David Talbot
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html

Sep. 16, 2008 The Wasilla Assembly of God, the evangelical church where Sarah Palin came of age, was still charged with excitement on Sunday over Palin's sudden ascendance.

Pastor Ed Kalnins warned his congregation not to talk with any journalists who might have been lurking in the pews -- and directly warned this reporter not to interview any of his flock. But Kalnins and other speakers at the service reveled in Palin's rise to global stardom.

It confirmed, they said, that God was making use of Wasilla. "She will take our message to the world!" rejoiced an Assembly of God youth ministry leader, as the church band rocked the high-vaulted wooden building with its electric gospel.

That is what scares the Rev. Howard Bess. A retired American Baptist minister who pastors a small congregation in nearby Palmer, Wasilla's twin town in Alaska's Matanuska Valley, Bess has been tangling with Palin and her fellow evangelical activists ever since she was a Wasilla City Council member in the 1990s.

Recently, Bess again found himself in the spotlight with Palin, when it was reported that his 1995 book, "Pastor, I Am Gay," was among those Palin tried to have removed from the Wasilla Public Library when she was mayor.

"She scares me," said Bess. "She's Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.

"At this point, people in this country don't grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology."

Bess -- a fit-looking, 80-year-old man in a gray University of Illinois sweatshirt and blue jeans – spoke with me over coffee at the Vagabond Blues, a cafe in Palmer with a stunning view of the nearby snow-capped Chugach Mountains. The retired minister moved to the Mat-Su Valley with his wife, Darlene, in 1987, after his outspoken defense of gay rights at Baptist churches in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area and Anchorage landed him in trouble with church officials. In the Mat-Su Valley, Bess plunged into community activism, helping launch an assortment of projects, from an arts council to a shelter for the mentally disabled.

Continue reading http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html

Inevitably, his work brought him into conflict with Palin and other highly politicized Christian fundamentalists in the valley. "Things got very intense around here in the '90s -- the culture war was very hot here," Bess said. "The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to."

SARAH PALIN'S PERSONAL EMAILS---LOOK AT THEM

Here they are. Sarah Palin's personal emails.

http://gawker.com/5051193/sarah-palins-personal-email-account-hacked

VIDEO: ALASKA WOMEN REJECT SARAH PALIN IN ANCHORAGE

Not everyone in Alaska is crazy about Sarah Palin. In fact, the more people are finding out the real truth about Sarah Palin the more the bloom has come off the "Alaska Rose." or the "Caribou Barbie Doll."

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/yGvKy-5yFz8&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

BUSH ADMIN TO VETO PAY RAISE FOR TROOPS

The following is from the VetVoice newsletter http://www.vetvoice.com/and is a potpourri of events that impact the lives of veterans and active duty personnel.

Click on the part in BLUE for addtional information:

Source: http://www.vetvoice.com/

Veto Threat over 0.5% Military Pay Increase
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 09:02 AM CDT
Right now the administration is threatening to veto the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009.
Want to know one of the reasons why?
The Administration strongly opposes section 601 of the bill, which provides an additional 0.5 percent increase in 2009 above the President's 3.4 percent across-the-board pay increase.
The cost?
The cost of increasing the FY 2009 military pay raise by an additional 0.5 percent is $293 million in FY 2009 and $2.5 billion from FY 2009 to FY 2014.
Compared to all the bailouts of the last week, $293 million is frankly, nothing.
Would someone turn this into a televised advertisement?

Losing our Way in Afghanistan
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 10:21 AM CDT
Spencer Ackerman--who is currently embedded with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan--has a great piece in today's Washington Independent about the way in which Afghan corruption is killing our ability to make progress. Key quote:
As Robertson said earlier that day, the police and the army are the only long-term strategy for securing Afghanistan. The U.S. troops have two missions: to hunt down the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements, and to prepare the Afghan security forces to take over security duties. Today, the second mission appeared to imperil the first.
You can read the entire article here.

Pakistan Orders Troops To Fire On US Soldiers
Posted: 17 Sep 2008 09:01 AM CDT
So, just to review, Pakistan is harboring Al-Qaeda terrorists, has WMD (including nuclear), and has a horrible human rights record. Now, they are even showing open hostility against US forces.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday.
The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. commandos, are certain to heighten tensions between Washington and a key ally against terrorism. Although the ground attack was rare, there have been repeated reports of U.S. drone aircraft striking militant targets, most recently on Sept. 12.
Pakistani officials warn that stepped-up cross-border raids will accomplish little while fueling violent religious extremism in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Some complain that the country is a scapegoat for the failure to stabilize Afghanistan.

How is it that Pakistan is considered our "ally"? And why is it that we need to attack Iran?

WOMEN SAY NO TO PALIN

They are getting more and more organized. These are just a few of the sites that have popped up aimed at Sarah Palin:

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/2008/09/women-say-no-part-8.html

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-81143

http://snoringkatz.vox.com/library/post/how-to-say-what-you-need-to-say---women-say-no-to-palin.html

http://impeccablypiquant.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/women-say-no-to-sarah-palin/

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/70e7e/women_say_no_to_sarah_palin_with_fury_and_dread/

http://www.notmytribe.com/2008/just-say-no-sarah-palin-84556.html

http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/women-say-%E2%80%9Cno-sarah-palin%E2%80%9D-speak-out/

http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?showtopic=9426

And if ALL THIS isn't enough, you can use the google search engine to find many, many more sites. Click here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=women+say+no+to+palin&btnG=Google+Search

Bill Corcoran, EDITOR: CORKSPHERE: http://corksphere.blogspot.com, a blog devoted to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Presidential race.

WASHINGTON POST: FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE LATEST WAR TACTIC

The war in Iraq is far from over, and indeed may even be on the verge of exploding according to a Washington Post story on Wednesday.

The Republicans, and especially John McCain and his wing men, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham, have been LYING to the American public about how well things are going in Iraq.

The "surge" is about to have the reverse effect on Iraq and there are indications more and more violence will be seen in Iraq in the days and weeks to come and it will all be directed at U.S. troops in Iraq.

One of the methods the insurgents are going to use to inflict death on U.S. troops is female suicide bombers. They have been trained and they are eager to carry out the mission of killing Americans.

FOX NEWS and John McCain and his sidekicks continue to LIE to the American public about conditions in Iraq even after outgoing General David Petraeus told the press he would NEVER USE THE WORD VICTORY in describing the conditions in Iraq.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Female Suicide Bombers Are Latest War Tactic

By Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Foreign ServiceWednesday, September 17, 2008; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603697.html

BAQUBAH, Iraq -- Shortly after the Muslim sunset prayer, the beggar approached Naeem Jabbar as he stepped out of his car. She was no more than 19 years old. He was a leader of the Awakening, a U.S.-backed force that has helped improve security in Iraq. For the past four months, Jabbar had given the young woman food and money, enabling her to survive until the next day.

WATCH VIDEO OF SUSPECTED FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER

"He trusted her," said Jabbar's brother, Muntasar. "We never searched her."
On this evening in July, hidden under her black garments, she wore a vest filled with explosives, nails and ball bearings. As her benefactor greeted her, she triggered the bomb, killing him, four others and herself.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say Sunni insurgent groups, especially al-Qaeda in Iraq, are using religion, money and empty promises to persuade sometimes vulnerable women to conduct suicide attacks, highlighting the movement's desperation at a time when its influence and ranks have declined. Efforts by the U.S. military and Iraq's neighbors have limited the number of Arab fighters reaching Iraq, a flow that was once the major source of recruits willing to commit suicide.

But extremists say the women are acting on their own motives, including ideology and revenge, and describe the female bombers as the latest tactic in a slow-burning war.

Since the 2003 invasion, 53 Iraqi women have either carried out suicide attacks or were apprehended before they could do so, according to the U.S. military. The attacks have killed more than 370 people and injured 650. This year, there have been 31 female bombers, including 17 in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The youngest bomber was 13, according to U.S. military statistics.

Two weeks ago, police in Baqubah, Diyala's capital, captured a woman with reddish-brown hair wearing what appeared to be an explosives-laden vest. She said that her name was Rania and that she was born in 1993. In an interrogation captured on a police video obtained by The Washington Post, she said a woman had wrapped the vest on her body and told her to take it off at home.

"Why did you come to blow yourself up?" asked Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the chief spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry, who was in Baqubah to help oversee an offensive against insurgents.

"I swear to Allah, they did not tell me to explode myself," Rania replied.

WAR VIDEO: US MARINES GET AMBUSHED ON A ROOFTOP IN IRAQ

The war in Iraq is far from over despite what the Republicans are saying. Before General David Petraeus turned over his command of the multi-national forces in Iraq, he was quoted as saying he would never use the word "victory" to describe what is taking place in Iraq.

President Bush's token removal of 8,000 troops from Iraq is a drop in the bucket because there are still 160,000 young Americans in Iraq and will be there for years to come.

This video shows a US. Marine platoon caught in an ambush. The language is rough and the footage is graphic.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/CNlnIXu0ww8&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

VIOLENT WAR VIDEO: WHAT REPUBLICAN KIDS CAN EXPECT IF McCAIN/PALIN ARE ELECTED: SPECIAL FORCES DOING WHAT THEY DO---HOORAH!

The polls are shifting and it looks more and more like John McCain and Sarah Palin are going to win in November. Both of them are warhawks and have vowed to assist Israel in a war with Iran, or go to war with Russia if Russia attacks a NATO country.

The United States military is stretched to the breaking point and the ONLY way the U.S. could engage in another war is to ramp up the MILITARY DRAFT.

That means every Republican who votes for McCain and Palin can expect their little darlings to be drafted and possibly sent to IRAN or RUSSIA to end up in a fight like is shown here in this graphic and brutal VIDEO.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/xrELhu0cRDU&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: THE PALIN DOCTRINE. WHY NEOCONS ARE SO EXCITED--LIKEABLE ON THE OUTSIDE, BLANK SLATE ON THE INSIDE

She's perfect for the neocons: likeable on the outside, a blank slate on the inside.

To borrow from an old cliché, if Sarah Palin didn't exist, the neocons would have had to invent her.

In fact, this is how one former White House aide describes her: "She's bright and she's a blank page. She's going places and it's worth going there with her."

Arianna Huffington
Posted September 15, 2008 12:47 PM (EST)
The Palin Doctrine: Why the Neocons Are So Excited
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-palin-doctrine-why-th_b_126511.html

Sarah Palin may not have known what the Bush Doctrine was, but we're getting a pretty good idea of what the Palin Doctrine is. Or will be -- because it's still currently under construction.

And what is it going to look like? Let's just say, it's going to seem familiar.

According to London's Daily Telegraph, the architects of the Palin Doctrine are a group of people who have been singularly wrong about virtually everything in the last decade -- the neocons, who have been briefing Palin for weeks.

As predicted, the fact that she didn't know anything wasn't a bug, it was a feature.

She's perfect for the neocons: likeable on the outside, a blank slate on the inside. To borrow from an old cliché, if Sarah Palin didn't exist, the neocons would have had to invent her.

In fact, this is how one former White House aide describes her: "She's bright and she's a blank page. She's going places and it's worth going there with her."

Of course, the place her neocon mentors hope she's going is the White House. Given their dismal track record, they're smart enough to figure that the American public wouldn't be too keen on letting them in the front door again, so they are trying to sneak in hidden behind Palin's skirt.
The Trojan Moose approaches.

The Daily Telegraph details how the neocon talent scouts spotted their political Eliza Doolittle back in the summer of '07. The love connection began, appropriately enough, on a love boat:
"Sources in the McCain camp, the Republican Party and Washington think tanks say Mrs. Palin was identified as a potential future leader of the neoconservative cause in June 2007. That was when the annual summer cruise organised by the right-of-centre Weekly Standard magazine docked in Juneau, the Alaskan state capital, and the pundits on board took tea with Governor Palin."

So nice to meet you, Governor. And don't forget, cucumber sandwiches and preemptive invasions on the Lido Deck at four!

Not surprisingly, Palin's biggest fan is Bill Kristol, who describes her as the "specter of a young, attractive, unapologetic conservatism" that "is haunting the liberal elites."

Among her other Henry Higginses is neo-neocon Joe Lieberman, who is reportedly helping prep Palin for the big ball -- her debate with Joe Biden.

She's already passed her first test with flying colors: being willing to link 9/11 with Iraq, something not even the president is still willing to do. Last week, she told a group of Iraq-bound soldiers that they were going to "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."

By George (Bush), I think she's got it! Congratulations, Professor Kristol, your student is coming along just fine.

Of course, the neocons know they already have an ally at the top of the GOP ticket. McCain may have been a reformer on campaign finance, but when it comes to foreign policy, he has always been solidly in the neocon club. He loves to burnish his foreign policy bona fides by talking about how he wanted to fire Donald Rumsfeld months before Bush did. But he doesn't talk a lot about how, in the days immediately after 9/11, he was part of the neocon crowd itching to get into Iraq.

Just a few days after the attack, McCain was already talking about "some other countries" that helped Bin Laden. Countries like Syria, Iran, and...Iraq. And a few weeks later, during an October 18, 2001 appearance on David Letterman, McCain answered a question about how the war in Afghanistan was going by announcing that the invasion of Iraq would be "the second phase" of the war on terror (how prescient of him to know that Saddam wouldn't give up those nonexistent WMD).

What's more, he tried to buttress the case for attacking Iraq by claiming that the recent spate of anthrax attacks "may have come from Iraq." Or Fort Detrick.

Six years later, demonstrating how little he's learned from the debacle in Iraq, McCain hired Randy Scheunemann, a neocon darling who helped form The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq in 2002, as his campaign's chief foreign policy advisor.

As TPMMuckraker noted in July, "Of all the hawkish Washington foreign-policy types pushing both before and after 9/11 for war with Iraq -- a war that an overwhelming majority of Americans now considers a mistake -- Scheunemann, though not a marquee name, was among the most energetic and influential. And in the invasion's aftermath, he consistently opposed steps that might have helped stabilize the country."

And now, according to the Daily Telegraph, Scheunemann is briefing Sarah Palin.

McCain's selection of Palin may have been reckless, but it was anything but random. The neocons' view of the world may be disastrous, dangerous, discredited, and deadly -- but it's far from dead.

Their patron saint, Dick Cheney, the scowling embodiment of the Neocon Doctrine, had way too much baggage -- and way too low approval ratings -- to mount a run for the White House.

That's why the Palin pick was so brilliant.

On the outside, she's exponentially more likable and talented at connecting with people than Cheney ever was. But on the inside, once she graduates from the neocon finishing school, she'll be a complete and total Dick. Cheney. With lipstick.

Sarah Palin may not have known what the Bush Doctrine was, but we're getting a pretty good idea of what the Palin Doctrine is. Or will be -- because it's still currently under construction.

BLOOD THIRSTY WOMAN: THE TRUTH ABOUT SARAH PALIN

All of the stories contained in this link about SARAH PALIN have been documented and are true. This is a look at the REAL Sarah Palin, the "huntress" who likes to hunt wolves and moose and has been known to even go on a helicopter ride over Alaska terrain killing animals from the air.

http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm

VIDEO: McCAIN'S HEALTH RECORDS. WHY WON'T HE RELEASE ALL OF HIS HEALTH RECORDS?

This video takes an in depth look at the cancer John McCain has had in the past and various medical experts describe what problems John McCain could encounter because of his past bouts with cancer.

FOR ANYONE THINKING OF VOTING FOR McCAIN THEY SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO:

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/lvesa49zSIM&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE THIS VIDEO

MUST SEE VIDEO: U.S. MARINES ENGAGE ENEMY NEAR GAS STATION IN IRAQ: EXTREMELY ROUGH LANGUAGE

In the eyes of John McCain, Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham the war in IRAQ is almost over, but not for this unit of U.S. Marines who engage the enemy near a gas station in IRAQ.

WARNING: THE LANGUAGE IS VERY, VERY GRAPHIC.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/yzNxppKAH8M&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS VIDEO: HELO'S FROM HELL: POUR IT ON GUYS

This video shows the massive firepower of US helicopters during the war in IRAQ as one scene after another depicts the devastation the helos inflict on the enemy in IRAQ.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/BgAcwRLusM4&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

GRAPHIC VIDEO: 8 US TROOPS KILLED IN KIRKUK--VIDEO OF DESTROYED US VEHICLES

John McCain continues to say "victory" is within the grasp of the U.S. military in Iraq, but General David Petraeus, supreme commander of multi-national forces in Iraq, says the word "victory" is NOT a word he would ever use in describing Iraq because of the continuing violence that takes place on a daily basis in IRAQ.

This graphic video shows the remains of Humvees and other U.S. military vehicles which were destroyed killing 8 U.S. soldiers in Kirkuk, Iraq

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/mk2_cAQqsOA&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO ACTIVATE THIS VIDEO

CNN's LOU DOBBS BOUGHT RACIST "OBAMA WAFFLES" AT VALUES VOTERS SUMMIT

This has become a minor story, getting substantial coverage in the blog world.

However, the AP version of the story does not mention that the creators of Obama Waffles had a photo on their Web site of CNN's Lou Dobbs, a speaker at the Values Voters Summit, purchasing them and reported that he said "My wife will love this."

The photo and story has been removed from the site but bloggers were able to take screen shots before it was taken down.

At the Values Voters Summit in D.C. last weekend, Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss were selling boxes of "Obama Waffles" for $10 per box. The box of waffle mix features a caricature of Obama reminiscent of stereotypical racist cartoons.

Submitted by AmyW on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 3:36pm.

Alerts A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERTby Amy Weiss
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/481

The Family Research Council (FRC), the group that runs the conference, stopped the selling of the waffles and said they didn't realize before that they contained "offensive material."The AP describes the waffles:

While Obama Waffles takes aim at Obama's politics by poking fun at his public remarks and positions on issues, it also plays off the old image of the pancake-mix icon Aunt Jemima, which has been widely criticized as a demeaning stereotype. Obama is portrayed with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly.Placing Obama in Arab-like headdress recalls the false rumor that he is a follower of Islam, though he is actually a Christian.On the back of the box, Obama is depicted in stereotypical Mexican dress, including a sombrero, above a recipe for "Open Border Fiesta Waffles" that says it can serve "4 or more illegal aliens."

The recipe includes a tip: "While waiting for these zesty treats to invade your home, why not learn a foreign language?"The novelty item also takes shots at 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry, Obama's wife, Michelle, and Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.While the creators claim their product is satirical and not racist, the FRC felt strongly enough to stop sales. A black pastor and member of the FRC, Harry Jackson, wrote a column on the conservative site Town Hall about the dangers of allowing people such as Whitlock and Moss a voice in this election:


There is one thing that could torpedo McCain's efforts - a sense that McCain is playing the race card against his opponent instead of using a legitimate political strategy. If the race is determined by the content of the candidates' character and a sportsman like contest, Americans will have realized Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. Therefore, even if Senator Obama is not elected president, the nation will acknowledge this as a watershed moment for the entire country. On the other hand, if racial slurs and prejudice are used by McCain supports it could cause a backlash among undecided voters that will cause the McCain/Palin ticket to lose.

The only negative thing that came out of the Values Voter's Summit was that two men from Franklin Tennessee (Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss) sold a product called "Obama Waffles" at the event until the conference leaders shut them down on Saturday.

The Family Research Council issued a statement on behalf of all of the sponsors of the summit that we "strongly condemned the tone and content of the materials" of the product's packaging. As far as HILC is concerned, the so-called political "satire" on the boxes of waffles is racist and makes fun of all African Americans - not to mention unfairly demeaning Barak (sic) Obama.

Two hundred and six newspaper articles carried the story of the waffles this weekend. Newspapers from Jerusalem to China felt that this story was newsworthy. If this last seven weeks of the campaign becomes a referendum on race, it will hurt race relations and the McCain campaign.

AP: PETRAEUS: MORE THAN TROOPS NEEDED IN AFGHANISTAN: VICTORY IS NOT A WORD HE WOULD USE ABOUT IRAQ

General David Petraeus, the outgoing head of multi-national forces in Iraq, basically said John McCain, George Bush, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman are lying when they say "victory" is at hand in Iraq.

Over the weekend, Petraeus said he would NEVER categorize any gains in Iraq as "victory" and "victory" may NEVER be achieved in Iraq.

To begin with who signs an armistice? There are so many elements fighting in Iraq there isn't one group representing ALL of Iraq so the word "victory" does not apply as it has in other wars.

Petraeus is also very cautious about events in Aghanistan and had this to say about Afghanistan:

Petraeus: more than troops needed in Afghanistan

By KIM GAMEL Associated Press Writer

http://tinyurl.com/5ua7ys

BAGHDAD (AP) -- U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday that experience in Iraq shows it will take political and economic progress as well as military action to tackle increased violence in Afghanistan.

"You don't kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

His comments come as a debate over the need to redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan has become a central issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Petraeus, who is widely credited with pulling Iraq back from the brink of civil war, is taking over as chief of U.S. Central Command, the headquarters overseeing U.S. military involvement throughout the Middle East, as well as Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia.

He'll hand over the reins in Iraq to Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno Tuesday during a ceremony at the U.S. military headquarters at Camp Victory on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy has paid off in Iraq, where the number of attacks has dropped to its lowest point in more than four years. But he will face a new challenge with violence rising in Afghanistan.

It will be a delicate balancing act to tackle a resurgent Taliban enjoying refuge in the lawless border areas of Pakistan without losing ground in Iraq.

"We've got a situation in Afghanistan where clearly there have been trends headed in the wrong direction," Petraeus said. "Military action is absolutely necessary but it is not sufficient."
"Political, economic and diplomatic activity is critical to capitalize on gains in the security arena," he said.

The 55-year-old general assumed control of U.S. forces in Iraq about 19 months ago after President Bush ordered some 30,000 additional American forces to Iraq as part of a so-called surge aimed at stopping spiraling Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence.

The reason for the decline in violence is hotly debated, but the U.S. military cites the troop buildup, along with a Sunni revolt that saw former insurgents turn against al-Qaida in Iraq and a Shiite militia cease-fire ordered by a strident American foe Muqtada al-Sadr.

Petraeus also acknowledged the military's dual role, calling U.S. troops "builders and diplomats as well as guardians and warriors" in his farewell letter posted on the military's Web site.

"The progress achieved has been hard-earned," he wrote. "There have been many tough days along the way, and we have suffered tragic losses. Indeed, nothing in Iraq has been anything but hard."

Petraeus stressed it was premature to discuss strategy but suggested he will carry over lessons from his playbook in Iraq - including possible outreach to try to bring hostile players into the political process.

Petraeus, however, stressed the ultimate decision to reach out to militants would be up to the Afghan government.

"We did reaffirm in Iraq the recognition that you don't kill or capture your way out of an industrial-strength insurgency," he said.

"Clearly there are so-called irreconcilables who must be killed or captured or run out of the country," he added. "But reconciliation with some of those who are currently part of the problem and making them part of the solution is something that I know is being examined as an option."

Bush announced last week that one Marine battalion and one Army brigade would be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan this fall and winter - far fewer than the 10,000 troops U.S. commanders there had requested. Meanwhile, about 8,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by February
.
George Friedman, the head of Stratfor, an independent intelligence risk assessment agency based in Austin, Texas, said Petraeus faces a more organized enemy in Afghanistan with the Taliban and must consider reaching out to them along with tribal chiefs.

"He's struggling with the question of limited forces and a political climate that's much different than Iraq," he said. "But it's impossible to imagine how the United States can create an Iraqi-style solution without the Taliban because they're getting stronger every day."

Petraeus and other military leaders have consistently warned that the security gains in Iraq are reversible and need continued U.S. attention - a point underscored by persistent bombings that bear the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents.

And while security gains have been remarkable, the Iraqi government has largely failed to take advantage of the calm to make political progress.

Petraeus said the new challenges in Iraq include stalled provincial elections that are expected to redistribute power among Iraq's deeply divided groups, growing tensions between Arabs and Kurds over disputed territory in the north and the need to provide new employment for Sunnis fighters currently on the U.S. payroll.

He also warned al-Qaida and "residual militia elements" remain a threat.

"There are still very significant challenges and there will be for the foreseeable future," he said, warning against an overly rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

"What we're wary of doing in a country that has had a surprise around every corner is unduly jeopardizing the gains for which our soldiers and our Iraqi partners have fought so hard," he said.
---

VIDEO: JON STEWART POINTS OUT DOUBLE STANDARD AT FOX NEWS

FOX NEWS is notoriious for shading the truth, or worse yet only telling ONLY one side of the story.

The sad part of it is there are millions of Americans who get their news from FOX NEWS not ever realizing FOX NEWS is NOT a news outlet, but a propaganda branch of the Bush White House, the GOP and now the McCain/Palin campaign.

In this video Jon Steward, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," cleverly shows how FOX NEWS speaks out of both sides of their mouth in a never-ending attempt to mislead the poor saps who watch FOX NEWS thinking they are actually getting "news" when ALL they are getting is right wing spin.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card

WASHINGTON POST: AS MAYOR OF WASILLA, PALIN CUT OWN DUTIES, LEFT TRAIL OF BAD BLOOD

WASILLA, Alaska -- On Sept. 24, 2001, Mayor Sarah Palin and the City Council held their first meeting after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The council condemned the attacks and approved a $5,000 gift to a disaster relief fund. Palin said she would try to obtain materials from both attack sites to include in the town's "Honor Garden."

By Alec MacGillisWashington Post Staff WriterSunday, September 14, 2008; A01
http://tinyurl.com/5vahfj

And then the council and mayor returned to their normal business: approving funds to upgrade the public well, issuing a restaurant permit and taking up a measure forbidding residents from operating bed-and-breakfasts in their homes. After a lively debate, the bed-and-breakfast measure lost, 4 to 1.

Since joining the Republican ticket, Palin has faced questions about whether she is qualified to be vice president or, if necessary, president. In response, the first-term Alaska governor and Sen. John McCain point to the executive qualifications she acquired as Wasilla mayor, a six-year stint from 1996 to 2002 that represents the bulk of her political experience.

Palin says her time as mayor taught her how to be a leader and grounded her in the real needs of voters, and her tenure revealed some of the qualities she would later display as governor: a striving ambition, a willingness to cut loose those perceived as disloyal and a populist brand of social and pro-growth conservatism.

Read more http://tinyurl.com/5vahfj

BREAKING NEWS: US-NATO AIR STRIKES ARE KILLING CIVILIANS IN AFGHANISTAN

WASHINGTON -- Ramped-up U.S. and NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan are causing an increased civilian death toll, raising concerns about the fallout from civilian deaths on the war effort against the Taliban insurgency, according to a major new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released here Monday.

Report: U.S.-NATO Airtrikes Over Afghanistan Are Killing Innocent Civilians

By Ali Gharib, IPS NewsPosted on September 12, 2008, Printed on September 14, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/98619/

The 43-page report, "Troops in Contact: Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan," warned that the cost in civilian casualties caused by the increase in bombings goes well beyond the loss of human life and could put the nearly seven-year U.S.-NATO war effort at risk.

"The harm caused by airstrikes is not limited to the immediate civilian casualties," said the report, which also cited the destruction of homes and property and the displacement of their civilian occupants caused by the bombing.

"Civilian deaths from airstrikes act as a recruiting tool for the Taliban and risk fatally undermining the international effort to provide basic security to the people of Afghanistan," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director of HRW.

BUFFALO NEWS: PALIN ACCUSED OF LYING OVER STATED VISIT TO IRAQ

Lt. Col. Dave Osborn, commander of the 3d Battalion, 207th Infantry of the Alaska National Guard, who was in charge of the 570 local troops serving in Kuwait and Iraq, said Palin did not cross into Iraq.

“You have to have permission to go into a lot of areas, and [the crossing] is where her permissions were,” Osborn told the newspaper Friday.


Palin accused of lying over stated Iraq visit

By Glen Johnson - ASSOCIATED PRESSUpdated: 09/14/08 6:58 AM
http://www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/national/story/438736.html

WASHINGTON — The question of whether Sarah Palin has ever been to Iraq pushed Obama aides Saturday to accuse the McCain campaign of outright lies, distortions and distractions to the American people.

Since Republican presidential nominee John McCain tapped the Alaska governor to be his running mate on Aug. 29, questions about her experience have been fueled by her relatively brief tenure in office, as well as a dearth of foreign travel.

Palin made a well-documented trip to Kuwait and Germany last year to visit U. S. troops, and over time, the governor and her staff have revealed she also visited Canada and Mexico.

Meanwhile, her aides clarified that a purported visit to Ireland was little more than a refueling stop during her trip to the Middle East.

On Saturday, a Palin aide told the Associated Press the governor also set foot in Iraq during her July 2007 trip to see members of the Alaska National Guard, although the campaign has not emphasized it since the visit was brief.

The aide, who demanded anonymity before answering the question, said Palin visited a “military outpost” on the Iraq side of the Kuwait/Iraq border.

That answer appears to contradict one provided to the Boston Globe, which reported Saturday that McCain-Palin aides had twice revised their description of Palin’s visit to Iraq.

The newspaper said unnamed aides initially explained that Palin had visited a “military outpost” inside Iraq. The Globe said campaign aides and members of the Alaska National Guard subsequently explained that she did not venture beyond the Iraq/Kuwait border when she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing on July 25, 2007.

VIDEO: JOHN McCAIN'S WANDERING EYES---McCAIN LEAVES NO DOUBT HE IS A BUTT MAN AS HE GAPES AT SARAH PALIN'S POSTERIOR

This video explains why so little vetting of Sarah Palin was done. All John McCain had to know about Sarah is she has a great butt. In this video, McCain can't take his eyes off Sarah Palin's posterior while McCain is seen twisting his wedding ring.

Check out Cindy McCain standing behind her husband. If looks could kill.....

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/1RN5xbWtNSU&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

IRAQ: VIOLENCE IS DOWN, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF AMERICA'S "SURGE"

If fewer US troops and Iraqis are being killed, it is only because the Shia community and Iran now dominate

By Patrick CockburnSunday, 14 September 2008

http://tinyurl.com/5tgp9d

As he leaves Iraq this week, the outgoing US commander, General David Petraeus, is sounding far less optimistic than the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, about the American situation in Iraq. General Petraeus says that it remains "fragile", recent security gains are "not irreversible" and "this is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not a war with a simple slogan."

Compare this with Sarah Palin's belief that "victory in Iraq is wholly in sight" and her criticism of Barack Obama for not using the word "victory". The Republican contenders have made these claims of success for the "surge" – the American reinforcements sent last year – although they are demonstrably contradicted by the fact that the US has to keep more troops, some 138,000, in Iraq today than beforehand. Another barometer of the true state of security in Iraq is the inability of the 4.7 million refugees, one in six of the population, who fled for their lives inside and outside Iraq, to return to their homes.

Ongoing violence is down, but Iraq is still the most dangerous country in the world. On Friday a car bomb exploded in the Shia market town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding 43 others. "The smoke filled my house and the shrapnel broke some of the windows," said Hussein al-Dujaili. "I went outside the house and saw two dead bodies at the gate which had been thrown there by the explosion. Some people were in panic and others were crying."

Playing down such killings, the Iraqi government and the US have launched a largely successful propaganda campaign to convince the world that "things are better" in Iraq and that life is returning to normal. One Iraqi journalist recorded his fury at watching newspapers around the world pick up a story that the world's largest Ferris wheel was to be built in Baghdad, a city where there is usually only two hours of electricity a day.

Continue reading: http://tinyurl.com/5tgp9d

AN IRAQ WAR VET SPEAKS OUT ABOUT SARAH PALIN: "I CAN'T STAND HER IGNORANCE."

This article comes from Brandon Friedman, an Iraq War veteran who writes for Veterans Voice http://www.vetvoice.com/and expresses what many of us who are veterans feel about Sarah Palin.


I Can't Deal with Sarah Palin's Ignorance

by: Brandon Friedman
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1883

Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 16:21:05 PM EDT

I've pretty much been stunned into silence the last couple of days with regard to Sarah Palin. I've had several people ask me to weigh in from a military perspective on her confounding lack of foreign policy knowledge, but thus far, I've literally been at a loss for words.

There's just too much material.

I wanted to blast her saber rattling over Russia--as Ilan Goldenberg did so eloquently. But when I started writing, I found that the only way to really combat such an insane suggestion would be to break out dry, straightforward facts and figures on why such talk could prove disastrous.

Saying that Sarah Palin could potentially start a nuclear war just seemed too clichéd.

I wanted to skewer her for equating 9/11 with the Iraq War--as she did yesterday while speaking to troops in Alaska. But I figured that wouldn't resonate, because--after six years--we're all so desensitized to hearing the same accusations about the Bush administration. Plus, as of last year, 41 percent of Americans believed it anyway.

I was amazed that a Vice Presidential candidate like Palin could have no idea what the Bush Doctrine was--even though it's why we went to Iraq in the first place. But I mentally deflated when I thought about the fact that most Americans probably don't know what it is, either.

To Joe or Jane America, her answer probably sounded fine.

So I'm left sputtering--like much of America, horrified by the prospect that this national nightmare of ignorance could continue for another four years unabated.

Brandon Friedman :: I Can't Deal with Sarah Palin's Ignorance

VIDEO: WATCH AS McCAIN ATTEMPTS TO DEFEND PALIN

This video is an example of how the mainstream media should be asking questions of John McCain instead of the disgusting way the mainstream press is letting Sen. John McCain off the hook.

WATCH VIDEO INTV OF JOHN McCAIN HERE:

http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?maven_playerId=immersiveplayer&maven_referralObject=850878100

WHY SOLDIERS RAPE

An alarming number of women soldiers are being sexually abused by their comrades-in-arms, both at war and at home. This fact has received a fair amount of attention lately from researchers and the press -- and deservedly so.

But the attention always focuses on the women: where they were when assaulted, their relations with the assailant, the effects on their mental health and careers, whether they are being adequately helped, and so on.

That discussion, as valuable as it is, misses a fundamental point. To understand military sexual assault, let alone know how to stop it, we must focus on the perpetrators. We need to ask:

Why do soldiers rape?

By Helen Benedict, In These TimesPosted on September 13, 2008, Printed on September 13, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/98603/

Editor's note: This article is adapted from "The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq," to be published by Beacon Press in April 2009.


Rape in civilian life is already unacceptably common. One in six women is raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime, according to the National Institute of Justice, a number so high it should be considered an epidemic.

In the military, however, the situation is even worse. Rape is almost twice as frequent as it is among civilians, especially in wartime. Soldiers are taught to regard one another as family, so military rape resembles incest. And most of the soldiers who rape are older and of higher rank than their victims, so are taking advantage of their authority to attack the very people they are supposed to protect.

Department of Defense reports show that nearly 90 percent of rape victims in the Army are junior-ranking women, whose average age is 21, while most of the assailants are non-commissioned officers or junior men, whose average age is 28.

This sexual violence persists in spite of strict laws against rape in the military and a concerted Pentagon effort in 2005 to reform procedures for reporting the crime. Unfortunately, neither the press nor the many teams of psychologists and sociologists who study veterans ever seem to ask why.

Read more here http://www.alternet.org/story/98603/

WASHINGTON POST: STRIP OF IRAQ 'ON VERGE OF EXPLODING'

Kurds Extend Role Beyond Autonomous Borders, Angering Arabs

By Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, September 13, 2008; A01

http://tinyurl.com/4j9n82

JALAWLA, Iraq -- Kurdish leaders have expanded their authority over a roughly 300-mile-long swath of territory beyond the borders of their autonomous region in northern Iraq, stationing thousands of soldiers in ethnically mixed areas in what Iraqi Arabs see as an encroachment on their homelands.

The assertion of greater Kurdish control, which has taken hold gradually since the war began and caused tens of thousands of Arabs to flee their homes, is viewed by Iraqi Arab and U.S. officials as a provocative and potentially destabilizing action.


"Quickly moving into those areas to try and change the population and flying KRG flags in areas that are specifically not under the KRG control right now -- that is counterproductive and increases tensions," said Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, referring to the Kurdistan Regional Government, which administers the autonomous region.

The long-cherished dream of many of the world's 25 million ethnic Kurds is an independent state that encompasses parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. All but Iraq adamantly oppose Kurdish autonomy, much less a Kurdish state. Iraqi Kurds continue to insist they are not seeking independence, even as they unilaterally expand the territory they control in Iraq.

VIDEO: JOHN McCAIN'S WANDERING EYES---McCAIN LEAVES NO DOUBT HE IS A BUTT MAN

This video explains why so little vetting of Sarah Palin was done. All John McCain had to know about Sarah is she has a great butt. In this video, McCain can't take his eyes off Sarah Palin's butt.

Check out Cindy McCain standing behind her husband. If looks could kill.....

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/1RN5xbWtNSU&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

PALIN USED TO CHARGE RAPE VICTIMS FOR RAPE EXAMS WHEN SHE WAS MAYOR

When Sarah Palin was mayor, Wasilla used to charge rape victims for their forensic exams. It's abhorrent, especially when you note that as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin had no problem raising money to build a sports center, but drew the line at paying for rape exams.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

But there are two points that are worth underscoring. First, this would have been bad enough if it was just a matter of being decent to women who have been raped. But it's not. Unless the police catch the guy in the act, forensic exams provide some of the best evidence against a rapist.

Not collecting this evidence means significantly lowering your chances of convicting the man who did it. That means that the people who pay for this idiotic policy are not just the rape victims whose tests are not done, but any women their rapists might go on to rape in the future.

Not collecting the evidence that would put rapists behind bars means more rape victims in the future.

You'd think that $5,000 to $14,000 a year would be a small price to pay for putting violent sex offenders behind bars. Apparently, Sarah Palin disagrees.

Second, Alaska had to ban this practice in order to qualify for funding under the Violence Against Women Act, which was, of course, sponsored by Joe Biden:

"SEC. 3262. RAPE EXAM PAYMENTS.
(a) No State or other grantee is entitled to funds under title XXXII of the Violence Against Women Act of 1993 unless the State or other grantee incurs the full cost of forensic medical exams for victims of sexual assault. A State or other grantee does not incur the full medical cost of forensic medical exams if it chooses to reimburse the victim after the fact unless the reimbursement program waives any minimum loss or deductible requirement, provides victim reimbursement within a reasonable time (90 days), permits applications for reimbursement within one year from the date of the exam, and provides information to all subjects of forensic medical exams about how to obtain reimbursement.

(b) Within 90 days after the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime shall propose regulations to implement this section, detailing qualified programs. Such regulations shall specify the type and form of information to be provided victims, including provisions for multilingual information, where appropriate."

One Vice Presidential nominee turned her back on past and future rape victims. Another was looking out for them.

Oh, and guess who voted against the Violence Against Women Act? John McCain.

I used to work in battered women's shelters. I knew women whose husbands stabbed them all over with dinner forks, women whose husbands used to asphyxiate them for fun, women whose husbands ran over them four times, backwards and forwards, with a truck, and kids who managed to find the presence of mind to run to the nearest house and call the police while their father was trying to bash their mothers' heads in on the sidewalk -- unfortunately, all real examples. So even without the part about requiring funding for rape exams, that vote makes me very, very, very angry.

LATEST U.S. CASUALTY REPORTS FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

The following is a list of the latest causualty reports from Iraq and Afghanistan. Click on the name of the GI for more information.

Casualty Reports:Army 1st Lt. Brian Brennan, 23, lost his legs to amputation and suffers from an acute brain injury. He was critically injured while on a mission in the 2nd Platoon Delta Company, 506th Infantry Division, 101st Airborne, patrolling villages in Afghanistan. According to information provided by his family, "On March 20, improvised explosive devices blew up the Humvee in which Brian was riding, splitting the vehicle in half and hurling Brian and the driver, Spc. Ryan Price of California, a distance of 40 feet in separate directions. The second explosion killed the three young men in the back of the Humvee."

Corporal Mark Sutcliffe, from Peterborough, who has served in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone lost his left leg in a terrorist attack.

Charles "Chas" Shaffer, 23, had his right leg amputated above the knee as a result of the blast that hit the armored vehicle he was driving on Aug. 31. Shaffer also suffered shrapnel injuries to his left leg as well as bruises to his lungs. After the attack, Shaffer, a combat engineer with the U.S. Army, was flown to Landstuhl, Germany, for treatment."They had to do several clean-up surgeries on his left leg, but I guess he's doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances," said Charles "Chip" Shaffer, the 23-year-old soldier's father, who is currently in Washington with his son. "The good news is that the left leg is going to be OK. He was on a ventilator until Saturday when they were finally able to take him off it. He'll be in intensive care for a couple of more days.

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

WASHINGTON POST: PALIN LINKS IRAQ TO 9/11 IN TALK TO TROOPS IN ALASKA

This is now at the stage that it is frightening.

Sarah Palin earlier on Thursday told a group of troops in Alaska that are being deployed to Iraq that Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Palin also met with ABC's Charley Gibson and said the U.S. should go to war with Russia if Russia attacks any NATO country.

We are not making this stuff up.

Palin Links Iraq to Sept. 11 In Talk to Troops in Alaska

By Anne E. KornblutWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, September 12, 2008; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103789.html

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Sept. 11 -- Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."

The idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. But it is widely agreed that militants allied with al-Qaeda have taken root in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.

"America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001," she said at the deployment ceremony, which drew hundreds of military families who walked from their homes on the sprawling post to the airstrip where the service was held.

Continue reading here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103789.html

SUICIDE ATTEMPTS FOR VETS JUMPS 500% IN FIVE YEARS, AND GOVERNMENT IGNORES IT

This year, in recognition of National Suicide Prevention Week (Sept. 7-13), the Army chose the theme "Shoulder-to-Shoulder: No Soldier Stands Alone," "to emphasize the strength of the Army Family when it works together to tackle tough problems."

By Penny Coleman, AlterNetPosted on September 11, 2008, Printed on September 11, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/98315/

It has not been a good week for the Army Family in spite of the special attention.

On Sept. 8, an altercation between a 22-year-old Fort Hood soldier and his commanding officer, a 24-year-old lieutenant, ended when the soldier first shot and killed his officer and then turned his gun on himself. Both were assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division, which had returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq in December. The division is currently in training to redeploy back to Iraq this winter for another 12 months -- which in all probability will turn out to be the as good an explanation as any for the tragedy.

Then on Sept. 9, a VA report acknowledged that suicide rates for young male Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans hit a record high in 2006, the last year for which official records are available. Last week, the Portland Tribune reported that in 2005, the last year for which complete Oregon data has been compiled, 19 Oregon soldiers died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. That same year, 153 Oregon veterans of all ages, serving in various wars, committed suicide.

After five years of war in Iraq, Marine suicides doubled between 2006 and 2007, and Army suicides are at the highest level since records were first kept in 1980. Reported suicide attempts jumped 500 percent between 2002 and 2007.

Continue reading this shocking story here: http://www.alternet.org/story/98315/

WASHINGTON POST: WHAT BUSH DIDN'T TELL AMERICANS ABOUT COALITION FORCES IN IRAQ

Most Members of Iraq Coalition Preparing to Pull Up Stakes

By Michael AbramowitzWashington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 10, 2008; A03

http://tinyurl.com/6xl4q8

The Coalition of the Willing appears to be going out of business.

President Bush tucked a little extra news yesterday into a speech largely devoted to informing the public that he plans to withdraw 8,000 more troops from Iraq: He also announced that most of the countries that have been partnering with the United States in Iraq over the past five years will be pulling their troops out as well.

"Australia has withdrawn its battle group, the Polish contingent is set to redeploy shortly, and many more coalition nations will be able to conclude their deployments to Iraq this year -- thanks to the skill of their troops and the success of their missions," Bush said in a speech to the National Defense University.

The presence of other countries in Iraq, even if the troop contribution was modest, has long been used by the Bush administration as a way of deflecting criticism that its actions in Iraq were "unilateral." Now, Bush is portraying their departure as a sign of "return on success," his policy of bringing home troops as conditions improve in Iraq.

It's also a sign that the U.N. mandate permitting foreign troops to operate in Iraq expires at the end of the year. Any country that remains will have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the Iraqi government, as the United States is now trying to do.

According to Bush, 41 countries -- and more than 140,000 foreign troops -- have participated in the Iraq conflict, but that number has been dwindling for some time. The Web site for Multi-National Force-Iraq says there are 21 countries still participating in the war effort in addition to the United States, including such contributors as Australia, Japan, Britain, Albania and Estonia.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters on background about Bush's speech, said the number of coalition members will shrink to a "handful" in the next few months. He declined to say which countries will remain, saying that decision should be up to the Iraqi government to announce. After the United States, which has 146,000 troops in Iraq now, the British have the largest remaining foreign presence, with about 4,000 troops, he said.

Australia has about 1,000 troops and Poland has 900 troops, but they will be drawing down, as Bush said. "We're going to reshape the coalition," said the senior administration official.

VIDEO; CNN'S MICHAEL WARE: "McCAIN HAS NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON IN IRAQ"

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) constantly touts his support of the “surge” of U.S. troops in Iraq, how it has “succeeded” and that “we are winning in Iraq.” Last night on CNN, Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware took issue with McCain’s concept of “winning” and said if McCain’s believes that increasing troops was the only factor in reducing violence in Iraq, “then he has no idea what is going on” there.

WATCH VIDEO HERE;

http://www.youtube.com/v/P04vq7Dz_eI&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

NEW VIDEO: WHAT HAPPENED IN SADR CITY

The Real News Network and Alive In Baghdad produced this illuminating video which tells what happened in the Sadr City neighborhood in Baghdad after U.S. forces moved into the area.

Several civilians talk about what happened and how the U.S. forces virtually destroyed their city.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2275

PENTAGON URGES CAUTION IN TROOP DRAWDOWN IN IRAQ: BUSH, McCAIN, PALIN PLAY POLITICS WITH TROOPS

The top military leaders at the Pentagon are urging caution in too quick a drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq, however President Bush and GOP candidates for President and Vice President, John McCain and Sarah Palin, are playing "politics" with our troops in Iraq and want at least 8,000 troops returned home or shipped to Afghanistan where the bulk of the war is now taking place.

Pentagon leaders to urge caution in troop cuts

Wednesday September 10, 2008 8:46 AM
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-7786950,00.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top defense leaders are telling Congress the U.S. must be cautious as the Pentagon begins to cut troops in Iraq and focus more attention on the escalating fight in Afghanistan.

In testimony Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was to note the dramatic security gains in Iraq over the past year but say that uncertainty remains and further troop reductions must be done with balance and care, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

At the same time, Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were looking ahead to a broader effort in Afghanistan to beat back a Taliban resurgence and build up the fragile Afghan central government.

Both were scheduled to testify before the House Armed Services Committee about the latest proposal by President Bush to slowly reduce troop levels in Iraq and start shifting forces to Afghanistan.

Bush announced Tuesday that he will pull about 4,000 troops out of Iraq before the end of the year, and another 4,000 in January - reducing force levels there to roughly 138,000. The 8,000-troop drawdown represents just 5 percent of the 146,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq.

Continue reading here http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-7786950,00.html

MAINSTREAM MEDIA LETS MCCAIN GET AWAY WITH CLAIMS THAT THE "SURGE" HAS WORKED

Commercial Media Let McCain Get Away with Claims that the "Surge" has Worked


By Robert Parry, Consortium NewsPosted on September 10, 2008, Printed on September 10, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/98171/

Despite strong evidence to the contrary, it has become established conventional wisdom among mainstream Washington journalists that the "surge" was the singular reason for the recent decline in Iraq's violence. It's also agreed that McCain deserves great credit for pushing the "surge" idea early.

Barack Obama has been repeatedly chastised -- even badgered -- for opposing the "surge." His attempts to refocus the debate more broadly on the wisdom of invading Iraq in the first place are rudely rejected by Big Media interviewers.

The latest example came during an ABC News "This Week" interview on Sept. 7 when George Stephanopoulos demanded of Obama: "How do you escape the logic that ... John McCain was right about the surge?"

When Obama responded that he didn't understand "why people are so focused on what has happened in the last year and a half and not on the previous five," Stephanopoulos cut him off, saying "Granted, you think you made the right decision about going in, but about the surge?"
In other words, the big-name journalists don't want a discussion about the decision to illegally invade Iraq under false pretenses in 2003 (presumably because they almost all were cheering the invasion on), but instead they want the debate to center entirely on their latest false assumption, that the "surge" has virtually won the war.

In reality, the "surge" of about 30,000 additional troops sent to Iraq appears to have been only one factor and -- according to military officials interviewed for Bob Woodward's new book, The War Within -- possibly a secondary one in explaining the drop-off in the violence that had made Iraq a living hell.

As Woodward writes, "In Washington, conventional wisdom translated these events into a simple view: The surge had worked. But the full story was more complicated. At least three other factors were as important as, or even more important than, the surge."

Woodward, whose book draws heavily from Pentagon insiders, reported that the Sunni rejection of al-Qaeda extremists in Anbar province (which preceded the surge) and the surprise decision of radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr to order a unilateral cease-fire by his militia were two important factors.

Click here to read more http://www.alternet.org/story/98171/

THIS IS WHY CHARLEY GIBSON'S INTERVIEW WITH SARAH PALIN WILL BE A "WHITE"WASH.

Charley Gibson of ABC News is scheduled to interview Sarah Palin. What a joke.

Why not have Palin sitdown with Rick Davis, campaign director, for McCain/Palin?

Charley Gibson is about the worst anchor/reporter in the history of network television. He is a right wing jerk who will throw nothing but softballs at Palin and let her hit them out of the park.

Here is how Media Matters looks at the upcoming interview between wishy-washy Charley Gibson and the Sarah Palin:

Gibson, who is scheduled to interview Palin, let several McCain falsehoods go unchallenged

Summary: ABC's Charlie Gibson posed no challenge to several false, contradictory, or dubious assertions made by Sen. John McCain during a September 3 interview. Gibson is scheduled to interview McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, later this week.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200809090020?lid=583734&rid=14142581

On the September 7 edition of Fox News Sunday, Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, asserted that Gov. Sarah Palin would not be interviewed until "at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference."

ABC News subsequently announced that World News anchor Charlie Gibson had secured the first television interview with Palin following her vice-presidential nomination, which is scheduled to air on September 11 and 12. Indeed, during a September 3 interview with McCain, Gibson posed no challenge to several of his false, contradictory, or dubious assertions.

For example, Gibson did not challenge McCain on his false claim that when Palin became governor of Alaska, she said, "No more [earmarks] for my state"; Gibson offered no rebuttal to McCain's claim that Sen. Barack Obama has never "taken on the special interests in his party on a major issue"; and did not note that McCain previously reportedly had a different view from his current one of the relevance of a governor's experience presiding over his or her state's National Guard.

Earmarks and the "bridge to nowhere"

As Media Matters for America documented, Gibson did not challenge the claim by McCain that after Palin obtained millions of dollars in earmarks as mayor of her Alaskan hometown, Wasilla, she "learned that earmarks are bad" when she became governor and said, "No more for my state." At no point did Gibson point out that as governor, Palin, by her own account, requested nearly $200 million in earmarks for Alaska just this year. Other media outlets have noted Palin's earmark requests as governor; The Seattle Times reported on September 2 that her earmark requests for 2008 amounted to "more, per person, than any other state."

Gibson also left unchallenged McCain's claim that Palin said, "We don't want the 'bridge to nowhere.' " In fact, as The Seattle Times article reported, after "appear[ing] to embrace" the "so-called 'Bridge to Nowhere' " during her run for governor, "A year later, as criticism of earmarks mounted, Palin began to speak out against earmarks" but nonetheless kept the federal money for Alaska and used the funds for other projects.

Obama "has never taken on the special interests in his party on a major issue ever"
Gibson allowed McCain to claim without challenge that Obama "has never taken on the special interests in his party on a major issue ever." Gibson did not note that Obama has refuted that claim by pointing to his work dealing with ethics reform and education, and that media, including ABC News, have reported that Obama has taken positions that were not popular with interests or politicians within his party.

ABCNews.com reported on Obama's proposal for merit pay for teachers in a November 20, 2007, analysis by Teddy Davis and Sunlen Miller headlined "Obama Bucks Party Line on Education":

Obama's willingness to boost teacher pay based on performance separates him from his Democratic rivals, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who supports school-based, rather than individual teacher-based, merit pay. The broader political significance of his unorthodox proposal is that it gives him an opportunity to buttress his argument that he is the Democrat best positioned to bring people together for purposes of challenging the status quo.
Even author David Freddoso wrote in his book, The Case Against Barack Obama, that an ethics reform bill co-sponsored by Obama, The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, was "a real accomplishment for Obama in the name of reform" and "a small victory for open government and bipartisanship" that was "approved over the objection of some of Capitol Hill's worst porkers." From Pages 93-94 of Freddoso's book:

Obama's reform record is not a complete wash. His most notable accomplishment in Washington was the bill he co-sponsored with Republican senator Tom Coburn, the conservative junior senator from Oklahoma. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 -- also known as "Google for Government" -- helped expose to the sunlight the congressional practice of "earmarking," in which members of Congress direct federal spending to parochial projects -- swimming pools, bridges to nowhere -- that often have no national importance or congressional authorization.63 Coburn and Obama's bill, approved over the objection of some of Capitol Hill's worst porkers, really was a small victory for open government and bipartisanship.
This was a real accomplishment for Obama in the name of reform -- the second such accomplishment of his career after the Illinois ethics law.

In a June 16 interview with ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper, Obama cited "ethics reform legislation" as an example of a time he "worked across the aisle in such a way that entailed a political risk." According to the Nexis database, the exchange was aired on the August 12 edition of World News, in a segment introduced and concluded by Gibson.

From the interview transcript:
TAPPER: But have you ever worked across the aisle in such a way that entailed a political risk for yourself?

OBAMA: Well, look, when I was doing ethics reform legislation, for example, that wasn't popular with Democrats or Republicans. So any time that you actually try to get something done in Washington, it entails some political risks.

Obama also cited ethics reform as an example of when he "went against party loyalty, and maybe even went against your own best interest, for the good of America" during the August 16 Saddleback Presidential Forum, moderated by pastor Rick Warren: