Monday, June 02, 2008

THIS JUST IN! NOW HE'S THROWING SUPPORTERS UNDER THE BUS!

 
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
 
 
SO SHE SHOULD BE SITTING PRETTY WITH THE BARACK OBAMA CAMPAIGN, RIGHT?
 
THINK AGAIN. 
 
HAVING THROWN GAYS, LESBIANS, WHITE WORKING CLASS VOTERS, THE ELDERLY, WOMEN, LATINOS AND EVEN HIS OWN GRANDMOTHER WHO RAISED HIM UNDER THE BUS, BARACK'S RUNNING OUT OF PEOPLE TO RUN DOWN.
 
TARGET ROY LAVERNE.
 
THIS WEEKEND, THE BAMBI CAMPAIGN SPREADED SOME OF THAT STUFF THEY CALL 'HOPE' BUT REALLY STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.
 
THEY CALLED ROY LAVERNE AND NOT TO THANK HER FOR ENDORSING BARACK.
 
SHE IS RUNNING TO BECOME THE STATE DEMOCRATIC CHAIR IN TEXAS.
 
DID THEY CALL TO WISH HER GOOD LUCK?
 
NO.
 
THEY CALLED TO THREATEN HER.
 
THEY TOLD HER, DROP OUT OF THE RACE OR WE WILL PULL YOUR SUPER DELEGATE STATUS.
 
SHE NOTES THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT.
 
BUT THEY TRIED TO BULLY HER.  APPARENTLY WOMEN AREN'T SUPPOSED TO RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE AND HASN'T THAT BEEN THE REAL MESSAGE OF THE HOPE DOPE BARACK?
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  May 21st US war resister and Iraq War veteran Corey Glass was informed by the Canadian government that he had until June 12th (ten days from now) to leave the country or he would be deported.  Trashy filth Amy Goodman still hasn't 'informed' her declining audience about that development.  But then, Goody's never mentioned Corey Glass.  In fact, she'll soon be hitting the two year mark since she last sat down with a war resister.  But let's all pretend Goodman has something to offer.  (And, while we're at it, we can pretend that latest 'book' is actually selling.)  Saturday John Hagan (Globe & Mail) pointed out, "The Liberals' Bob Rae recently joined the NDP's Olivia Chow and others in urging Parliament to pass a motion allowing American Iraq war resisters, such as Corey Glass, to stay in Canada. Last week, Mr. Glass was refused refugee status and became the first Iraq war resister to be scheduled for deportation." That is important but what Hagan did next was as well.  Over and over, the lie is repeated that, during Vietnam, Canada welcomed "draft dodgers" and, even 'helpers' sometimes add, 'we don't have a draft today.'  Hagan walks the idiots through slowly explaining "draft dodgers" and "deserters" and how both were welcome in Canada and, most importantly, "References to 'dodgers' and 'deserters' had no legal meaning in Canada.  The Immigration Act made no reference of any kind to military service as grounds for prohibiting entry to Canada."  Michele Mandel (Edmonton Sun) reports that "the estimated 200 Iraq war resisters who have sought haven here will be watching a historic Parliamentary vote that could be their last hope.  The motion, with the support of all three opposition parties, asks the government of Candad to stop removal orders and allow conscientious objectors 'who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations' to apply for permanent resident status." Mandel reports that US war resister and Iraq War resister Phil McDowell will be present to see how the vote goes and he explains, "I was a good soldier, I was promoted quickly.  It was just a moral decision.  It was a tough thing to do, to stand up and say I disagreed with the war."  Andrea Woo (Vancouver's Metro News) quotes Ann Wright on the impending vote, "The vote in the Canadian parliament about whether or not war resisters can stay is really monumental.  It's important not just for the individuals who will be affected by it, but also on another level for the conscience of Canada."  Wright is a retired US Army Col and also a US diplomat retired from the US State Dept.  She was in Canada to speak at a rally Sunday for female war resisters.  Chantal Eustace (Vancouver Sun) notes that Wright entered the country with no problems.  Previously Canada had turned Wright away due to the US government putting her on a 'watch list' due to civil disobedience. 
 
You can utilize the following e-mails to show your support: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration.  In addition Jack Layton, NDP leader, has a contact form and they would like to hear from people as well. A few more addresses can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.  Lahey quotes NDP's Oliva Chow, who steered the motion, explaining, "If (Liberal leader) Stephane Dion were to say tomorrow that he supports this motion . . . we will then debate it.  So we need people to call Mr. Dion . . . 'whose side you on Mr. Dion'?"  The number to call is (613) 996-5789.       
 
In the US Friday, war resister Ryan Jackson faced a court-martial.  At Courage to Resist, his attorney James Branum explains:
 
At the hearing, we argued that Ryan's actions were an act of civil disobedience that stemmed from his belief that all war is wrong and Ryan himself gave a moving statement in which he expressed his own views on the immorality of war and the necessity of breaking the law for the sake of conscience.           
At today's court-martial hearing at Ft. Gordon, GA, Conscientious Objector Ryan Jackson was given a sentence of 100 days in prison. With time already served, he has only 29 days remaining!           
Ryan was also sentenced to a Bad Conduct Discharge, demotion to E-1 (private), and reduction to 2/3 pay for multiple specifications of being AWOL (as well as minor count of having postive drug test for marijuana).                    
You can find pictures taken after his court-martial, pictures from a vigil/protest held in Ryan's behalf by local Augusta residents, and the text of a statement that Ryan wrote while in prison for his supporters here.
 
 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
 
[. . .]
 
Turning to US political races.  And we'll start with a quote that really comments on the non-stop sexism in this primary campaign season and on this ridiculous notion that it can be ignored as well as how many male 'lefties' have stabbed women in the back -- yet again.
 
A genuine alliance with male radicals will not be possible until sexism sickens them as much as racism.  This will not be accomplished through persuasion, conciliation, or love, but through independence and solidarity; radical men will stop oppressing us and make our fight their own when they can't get us to join them on any other terms.
 
You may be thinking, "Well that says it all."  It pretty much does.  But it said it all in 1969 as well.  That's the late, great Ellen Willis ("Up from Radicalism: A Feminist Journal").  Not only have we seen it all before but some of the same sexists from that period (Tom Hayden, Robert Scheer . . . it's a long, long list) have really done their part from day one to make sure this campaign season was the most sexist campaign ever.  They've lied about Hillary, they've smeared her, they've invented 'soul communications' they had with her from a plane of (mis)understanding far, far away.  They've hidden behing women to make the attacks and, of course, Queen Bees have been happy to participate in the attack.  Nothing says "Love me, I won't challenge you!" as much as kicking another women in the gut while a man looks on.  Not all men are sexists and one of the accomplishments of the feminist movement has been to raise awareness for men and women.  But there are sexist males and Queen Bees still out there -- a lot of them and, as Ava and I noted Sunday reviewing Grit TV, they're never so 'funny' as when they pretend to be 'enlightened.'  Bob Somerby (Daily Howler) catches some pigs in action today: "One such crawler is creepy Roy Sekoff, Arianna's unseemly boy toy. Last Thursday night, Sekoff appeared on MSNBC's Verdict with Dan Abrams. Discussions of pundit misogyny/sexism had been in the air for weeks. And Sekoff wanted to vote with his mouth, which gave us a window to his soul. But then, to judge from the transcript–we didn't see the program--Jonathan Alter didn't exactly bathe himself with glory here either."  And certainly they were out in full force Saturday at the DNC 'rules' committee meeting where they decided the best way to award delegates to someone who refused to have their name on a state's ballot (Barack Obama) was to give him more delegates than the winner of the state (Hillary Clinton) should have received.  Nothing says 'fair' and 'orderly' -- apparently -- as much as rewarding Barack's tantrum by giving him not just the delegates they think he, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and John Edwards might have won from those voting "Uncommitted" in the Michigan primary (of course some of those might vote "Uncommitted" today or might vote for Hillary), they had to give him more.  More than Hillary who received over 50% of the vote.  Apparently Barack would have cried real hard and might have wet his undies if the 'rules' couldn't be bent and then broken in his favor.  Delilah Boyd (A Scrivener's Lament) shares her thoughts: "Bye bye, Howard.  Bye bye, Ms. Brazile. (I like your girlfriend more than I've ever liked you, anyway; for the record, I'll even try to be civil to you when I run into you at Frager's Hardware Store... I'm just done with you, Donna.)  Bye bye, DNC. You've made it perfectly clear that don't need me.... or the 17+ million others just like me."
 
Barack made public that he had left the Trinity Church over the weekend.  This followed one clip of Michael Pfleger 'preaching' hate and sexism at Trinity.  As Andrew S. Ross (San Francisco Chronicle) wondered, "Apart from the appallingly racist nature of Father Michael Pfleger's remarks about Hillary Clinton, what is one to make of the congregation who seemed to lap it all up?"  Turns out Pfleger was saying more than the one clip showed.  Last night, Jake Tapper (ABC News) reported on another clip of that same 'sermon' (now two Sundays ago) where Pfleger declared "America is the greatest sin against God" and Tapper observed: "But Obama's relationship with Pfleger -- who is the priest at a different, Catholic, church -- spans decades.  In September, the Obama campaign brought Pfleger to Iowa to host one of several interfaith forums for the campaign. Pfleger has given money to Obama's campaigns and Obama as a state legislator directed at least $225,000 towards social programs at St. Sabina's, according to the Chicago Tribune. Pfleger appears to have been scrubbed from the Obama campaign's page that features the testimony of faith leaders, but you can see the cached version HERE." 
 
Hillary is the winner of the popular vote but some want to force her out of the primary -- what does it matter if voters are voting for you?  Just because you have the most votes doesn't mean you are a winner!  Didn't we all learn that in 2000 when Al Gore had more votes and didn't become president!  Yes, the DNC appears perfectly willing to trash democracy.  Howard Wolfson (HillaryClinton.com) points out: "According to Real Clear Politics, Hillary's popular vote lead over Sen. Obama has grown with her Puerto victory last night. She has won 17,916,763 votes compared to 17,723,200 for Sen. Obama when every state that has already voted is included in the tally. Read more."
Strangely Barack leaving the nutty church required Amy Filth Goodman to do a long quote from Barack on what she tries to trick people into believing is a 'news' program (it's not even a public affairs program -- today's 'big' story? Scahill's book is coming out in paperback!) but she reduced Hillary to two sentences.  Hillary Wins Puerto Rico on Sunday and Goody reduces it to two lines.  Hillary won 68% of the vote to Barack's 32% in Puerto Rico yesterday in another blowout for the Clinton campaign.  But again, what do voters matter?  Not much to the DNC apparently.
 
June is Gay  Pride Month. And here's Hillary's statement:

As we begin Gay Pride Month, I join the LGBT community in celebrating an historic year in which our country continues to make progress towards the fair and equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Still, we have so much work to do. I look forward to working with the LGBT community to make sure that all Americans in committed relationships have equal benefits and that nothing stands in the way of loving couples who want to adopt children in need. We need to expand our federal hate crimes legislation and pass a fully-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And finally, we need to put an end to the failed policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Courage, honor, patriotism and sacrifice -- the traits that define our men and women in uniform -- have nothing to do with sexual orientation.
To each and every LGBT American, I say this: You have done so much to help this country understand your lives by simply being open and honest about who you are and living your lives with dignity. Thank you for your courage. It is time that we recognize your hard work. I know that this country is ready for changes in the law that reflect the evolution in our hearts. You deserve a government that treats you with the respect you deserve.       
America deserves a President who appeals to the best in each of us, not the worst; a President who values and respects all Americans and treats all Americans equally no matter who they are or who they love. That is truly the promise of America.
 
I did check Barack's campaign.  We all know he used homophobia in South Carolina but maybe he wanted to make some weak ass statement?  Nope.  He threw the LGBT community under the bus a long time ago and apparently these days just wants to put the bus in reverse to now back over them.
 
 
 

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