THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S 'ISSUES'!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   EXCLUSION 2008 CONTINUED TONIGHT AS JOHN MCCAIN AND BARACK OBAMA MADE IT ON STAGE FOR THE THIRD TIME AS ALL OTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WERE SHUT OUT.   IN ONE EXCHANGE, BARACK REFUSED TO APOLOGIZE FOR ANY OF HIS CULT MEMBERS.   McCain: Let me just say categorically I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies. Whenever you get a large rally of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people, you're going to have some fringe peoples. You know that. And I've -- and we've always said that that's not appropriate. But to somehow say that group of young women who said "Military wives for McCain" are somehow saying anything derogatory about you, but anything -- and those veterans that wear those hats that say "World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq," I'm not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they're great citizens. And I'm not going to stand for somebody saying that because someone yelled something at a rally -- there's a lot of things that have been yelled at your rallies, Sen. Obama, that I'm not happy about either. In fact, some T-shirts that are very... Obama: John, I... McCain: ... unacceptable. So the point is -- the point is that I have repudiated every time someone's been out of line, whether they've been part of my campaign or not, and I will continue to do that. But the fact is that we need to absolutely not stand for the kind of things that have been going on. I haven't. Obama: Well, look, Bob, as I said... Schieffer: I mean, do you take issue with that? Obama: You know, here's what I would say. I mean, we can have a debate back and forth about the merits of each other's campaigns. I suspect we won't agree here tonight.   THE INFAMOUS "SARAH PALIN IS A C**T" T-SHIRT WHICH SPELLS THE WORD OUT AND BARACK COULDN'T APOLOGIZE.   HE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT ISSUES, HE INSISTED.  WHAT ISSUE COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN CHILDREN?  EVEN BARACK AGREED WITH THAT DURING THE DEBATE BUT APPARENTLY GIRLS DON'T MATTER FOR OUR MYTHICAL PETER PAN.  OFFERED THE CHANCE TO REPUDIATE THE T-SHIRTS HIS SUPPORTERS HAVE BEEN WEARING, BARACK CHOSE TO IGNORE IT AND THEN RUB SALT IN THE WOUND BY DECLARING IT WASN'T A REAL ISSUE.   REACHED FOR COMMENT, SENATOR SWEETIE SAID, "I LOVE THOSE T-SHIRTS.  I WEAR ONE MYSELF."  THAT DID EXPLAIN HIS NON-STOP USE OF SEXISM AGAINST HILLARY.   FROM THE TCI WIRE:     As noted already Ralph Nader was on The NewsHour yesterday.  Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate. Today, Ralph Nader will speak at Cooper Union (NYC) at six p.m. and the following day the independent presidential candidate at noon "Ralph will take to the street in front of the NYSE to protest the bailout at Federal Hall, 26 Wall St. NYC."  Ray Suarez asked Ralph about the bail-out last night.   RAY SUAREZ: Well, we've just come through these remarkable weeks, where the Treasury, the Fed, and Congress have been working to cobble together a plan. The presidential candidates, the Republican and Democrat in the race, say they reluctantly went along with these bailout packages because of the urgency of the situation. What did you make of the bailout plans? RALPH NADER: The right word is "cobble." It's the wrong kind of plan, and they have to readjust now with injections into the banks. But what they should have done, because Washington had Wall Street over the barrel, Wall Street wanted a $700 billion bailout. And what Congress should have done is add to Bush's blank check with comprehensive regulation to prevent this; criminal prosecution resources for the culprits on Wall Street; more power to the shareholders to control their company and restrain their bosses' excesses, real taxpayer equity, with good conditions and, finally, making them pay for it. If you make the speculators pay for their own bailout, then there's a relief throughout America that there's some fairness coming out of Washington. A 0.1 percent tax on security derivative transactions in one year -- it's going to be $500 trillion of transactions in one year -- is $500 billion. So that alone would make a sense of equity. And you wouldn't put it on the backs of the taxpayer. England has that kind of tax, by the way, for years. FDR had it. We helped finance the Civil War with it. But after World War II, it was scrapped. So people go into a store in all your areas where your show shows, and they buy necessities of life, and they pay 6 percent or 7 percent sales tax. Tomorrow, someone in Wall Street can buy a billion dollars of Exxon derivatives, pay no sales tax. That's where the fairness has to go.   John McCain is the Republican presidential candidate and Sarah Palin is his running mate.  McCain-Palin '08 announces:   ARLINGTON, VA -- Tuesday in the Oval Office, U.S. Senator John Warner was privileged to join with other members of Congress, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the president signed the annual $542 billion dollar defense bill into law. The National Defense Authorization Bill annually fulfills the constitutional responsibility to provide for our nation's armed forces. This was the 30th consecutive defense bill Senator Warner has worked on with other senators. Subsequently, in response to press inquiries, Senator Warner praised John McCain's leadership on defense issues and stressed the importance of his contributions, as the committee's ranking member, in structuring this bill. "Having worked with John McCain for more than 20 years on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I know that, as President of the United States and commander in chief, he will continue working with Congress to ensure that the annual defense bills will adequately provide for our men and women in uniform the best equipment and training in order to protect America's freedom around the world." Senator Warner also pointed out the importance of this bill to Virginia's overall economy. Virginia is home to 31 military installations, approximately 130,000 active-duty personnel and some 80,000 Department of Defense civilian employees. (Source: Department of Defense) The Department of Defense Authorization Bill signed today invests more than $50 billion in direct defense spending in Virginia, which translates into jobs, added research and development, procurement and acquisition of new equipment, and maintenance and upgrading of military installations. Of particular interest is the continuation of a strong naval shipbuilding and repair program. (Source: Department of Defense) Senator Warner continued, "As a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I know how critical defense spending is for Virginia's economy. "Virginia is proud to be home to 814,000 veterans, whose past service helped build the foundation for today's U.S. military serving in Virginia and worldwide. There are provisions in this bill which continue to recognize military retirees' service to country, particularly in the field of health care. "As I retire after 30 years in the Senate, I am absolutely confident that John McCain, as our next president, will continue his leadership and dedication to the needs of today's men and women in uniform, and to those of future generations."   And they note that the New Hampshire Union Leader has just endorsed John McCain for president with an editorial which opens, "In this time of great uncertainty, America needs an experienced, decisive leader with clear vision and a steady hand to guide us through.  That man is Sen. John McCain."   Tonight, McCain debates Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.  No other presidential candidates will be allowed on the stage because democracy is just too gosh darn important to actually practice it.  It's like good china.  You hide it away for very special occasions. Otherwise, someone might break it!   (You can, however, watch The New Adventures of Old Christine every Wednesday night on CBS' first half-hour of prime time.)  Team Nader notes:     Donate $10 to Nader/Gonzalez now.   Why?  Well, Ralph Nader appeared on the PBS NewsHour last night for ten minutes.         Which was better than nothing.      Nothing is what Ralph got from PBS this year up until now.  No Jim Lehrer.  No Diane Rehm.  No Terry Gross.    But thanks to thousands of your phone calls and e-mails, the NewsHour relented.  And Ralph was given a chance last night.  To make the argument -- Jail Time for Corporate Crime.  Of course, when Americans think of crime, they think first of street crime.  Gangsters.  The mob.  But that's a bit unfair, don't you think? Given the wave of corporate crime that has swamped Wall Street and tanked the economy?  So, today we launch a new fundraising widget. And to open up the fundraising drive, we're making this offer to you -- our loyal supporters. If you donate $100 now to Nader/Gonazalez, we will ship to you our corporate crime package -- two great books on how big business is robbing you blind -- plus a DVD featuring tomorrow's Nader/Gonzalez Rally on Wall Street.   First we have the 260 page book -- Gangster Capitalism by Michael Woodiwiss.  Woodiwiss makes the argument that the lethal tenets of organized crime have worked their way into the operating models of corporations and governments.  And that the politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats are actually beating the wise guys at their own game -- shifting the rules to broaden and legitimize criminal behavior in a far more dangerous and sinister manner.  The other book is the 302-page hardcover classic The Cheating of America by Charles Lewis, Bill Allison and the Center for Public Integrity. This book is about how corporations and the super-rich don't pay their fair share of taxes.  So, donate $100 now, and we'll ship you these two eye-opening books -- Gangster Capitalism and The Cheating of America -- plus the Wall Street Rally DVD.  (This offer ends October 24, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.)  Understand Gangster Capitalism.  Then organize to control it. By the way, in the event you missed Ralph's appearance on the PBS NewsHour last night, check it out here.  Onward to November     RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Nouri al-Maliki declares Kirkuk "belongs to the federal government"" "Ralph Nader explains the basics of peace" "The Mosul assault continues" "women don't work (he said it)" "Why the 'one' will not get my vote" "The failure of 'feminist' 'leadership'" "New Adventures of Old Christine and politics" "Brief" "Tuesday and before I type another word . . . ..." "Barack's imitation-rock concert" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S SHLOCK ROCK!"