Wednesday, July 02, 2008

THIS JUST IN! BARACK GIVES UP THE MAKE UP!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

 

THERE ARE REAL PROBLEMS IN SENATOR BARACK OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN THAT CANNOT BE . . . POWERED AWAY.

 

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CUTIE!" CRIED ONE SUPPORTER.

 

WHAT HAPPENED WAS THAT, PRESUMABLY UP AGAINST JOHN MCCAIN NOW, THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN HAS DECIDED TO STOP USING THE LIP GLOSS THAT MADE BARACK SUCH A PRETTY, LITTLE HEAD TURNER DURING THE PRIMARIES.

 

"IT WAS STRAWBERRY SMACKERS," EXPLAINS BARACK.  "I JUST THOUGHT, 'UH-HUH, YEAH, THAT'S ME.'  I PICKED IT OUT MYSELF.  I THOUGHT I LOOKED REAL PRETTY WITH IT." 

 

BUT THOSE DAYS ARE OVER NOW AND INSTEAD OF THOSE PRETTY, PINK, SHINY

LIPS, BARACK ALMOST HAS LIPS TODAY LIKE ANY OTHER MAN.

 

"I POWDER THEM TO TAKE DOWN ON THE SHINE," HE SAYS.  "DAVID AXELROD TOLD ME JOHN WAYNE WOULD DO THAT ALL THE TIME BACK IN THE DAY."

 

BUT LAYING OFF THE MAKE UP -- WHICH DID INCLUDE FOUNDATION -- MEANS THE LINES AROUND HIS MOUTH ARE NOW VISIBLE.

 

"D.S.L.?  YEAH, I'VE HEARD THAT BEFORE.  I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHAT IT MEANS," BARACK CONFESSED.

 

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

 

 

Starting with war resistance.  As Canada gears up for actions to demonstrate support for US war resisters, a new poll is released.  The Angus Reid Poll finds: "A majority of Canadians would agree with the decision to let American military deserters stay in Canada as permanent residents, a new Angus Reid Strategies survey reveals. . . In the online survey of a representative national sample, three-in-five Canadians (64%) say they would agree to give these U.S. soldiers the opportunity to remain in Canada as permanent residents.  Quebec (70%) houses the highest proportion of respondents who agree with the motion, while Alberta (52%) has the fewest supporters.  A gender breakdown reveals that while both males and females would agree to let U.S. military deserters remain in Canada, females are much more sympathetic (69% versus 57%)."  The findings come as Canada is on the verge of deporting the first US Iraq War resister.  May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported. Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. Douglas Glynn (The Barrie Examiner) quotes Corey stating, "The motion is not legally binding, though the majority of Parliament voted for it. I realized innocent people were being killed. I tried to quit the military while in Iraq," he said, "but my commander told me I was just stressed out and needed some R and R (rest and relaxation), because I was doing a job I was not trained to do. I went home on leave and said I was not coming back." So that's where it stands currently.

 

Canada's War Resister Support Campaign is calling for a "NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION, Wednesday July 2nd:"

 

STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER COREY GLASS

On July 2nd… 
CALL MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION DIANE FINLEY! 

DetailsU.S. Iraq War resister Corey Glass is still facing deportation on July 10th, despite the Parliament of Canada having voted in favour of a motion to let Corey and other U.S. war resisters stay.  

The federal government and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must respect the will of Parliament and implement the motion which calls on the government to "immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions … against such individuals."

On July 2nd, the War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on all supporters to call Minister Diane Finley and ask her to: 
• STOP deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and all U.S. Iraq war resisters; and
• IMPLEMENT the motion adopted by Canada's Parliament to allow U.S. Iraq war resisters to apply for permanent resident status.

Here are the numbers to call:
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley
613.996.4974

MP Diane Finley's constituency office (Simcoe):
519.426.3400

Or email her at: 
minister@cic.gc.ca 
or
finled1@parl.gc.ca 

 

In the US, Courage to Resist is planning "July 9th actions at Canadian Consulates nationwide:"

Join a vigil and delegation to a Canadian consulate near you on Wednesday, July 9th to support war resisters! On the eve of Corey Glass' possible deportation, we will demand, "Dear Canada: Abide by the June 3rd resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!" More details and cities to be confirmed soon!

Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA
San Francisco - Noon to 1pm - 580 California St (map). Sponsored by Courage to Resist. Info: 510-488-3559; courage(at)riseup.net
Seattle - Time TBA - 1501 4th Ave (map). Sponsored by Project Safe Haven. Info: 206-499-1220; projectsafehaven(at)hotmail.com
Dallas - Time TBA - 750 North St Paul St (map). Sponsored by North Texas for Justice and Peace. Info: 214-718-6362; hftomlinson(at)riseup.net
New York City - Noon to 1pm - 1251 Avenue of the Americas (map). Sponsored by War Resisters' League. Info: 212-228-0450; wrl(at)warresisters.org
Philadelphia - Time TBA - 1650 Market St (map). Sponsored by Payday Network. Info: 215-848-1120; payday(at)paydaynet.org
Minneapolis - Time TBA - 701 Fourth Ave S (map). Info: TBA
Los Angeles - Noon to 1pm - 550 South Hope St (map). Sponsored by Progressive Democrats LA. Info: pdlavote(at)aol.com
Help organize a vigil at one of these other Canadian Consulates: Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Anchorage, Houston, Raleigh, Phoenix, or San Diego. Please contact Courage to Resist at 510-488-3559.
Veterans for Peace issued a joint call with Courage to Resist and Project Safe Haven for July 9th vigils at Canadian Consulates: "Dear Canada: Do Not Deport U.S. War Resisters!" Contact us if you can help organize a vigil, or can otherwise get involved. Locations of the 22 Canadian Consulates in the United States.
Recently on June 3rd the Canadian Parliament passed an historic motion to officially welcome war resisters! It now appears, however, that the Conservative government may disregard the motion.
Iraq combat veteran turned courageous war resister, 25-year-old Sgt. Corey Glass of the Indiana National Guard is still scheduled to be deported July 10th.
We will ask that the Canadian government respect the democratic decision of Parliament, the demonstrated opinion of the Canadian citizenry, the view of the United Nations, and millions of Americans by immediately implementing the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other current and future war resisters.
Join Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven at Canadian Consulates across the United States (Washington DC, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles confirmed--more to be announced).
We mailed and delivered over 10,000 of the original letters to Canadian officials. Please sign the new letter, "Dear Canada: Abide by resolution - Let U.S. war resisters stay!"
http://www.couragetoresist.org/canada 


Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign will hold a "Rally to Stop the Deportation of Parkdale Resident Corey Glass" July 3rd, begins at 7:00 p.m. (with doors opening at six p.m.) at the May Robinson Building, 20 West Lodge, Toronto: "In 2002, Corey joined the Indiana National Guard. He was told he would not have to fight on foreign shores. But in 2005 he was sent to Iraq. What he saw there caused him to become a conscientious objector and he came to Canada. On May 21, 2008, he got his final order to leave Canada by July 10, 2008. Then on June 3 Parliament passed a motion for all the war resisters to stay in Canada. However the Harper government says it will ignore this motion."  They are also asking for a July 2nd call-in.  Diane Finley is the Immigration and Citizenship Minister and her phone numbers are (613) 996-4974 and (519) 426-3400 -- they also provide her e-mail addresses minister@cic.gc.ca ("minister" at "cic.gc.ca") and finled1@parl.gc.ca ("finled1" at "parl.gc.ca"). 

 
To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca").  Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote.  Now they've started a new letter you can use online hereThe War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here.
 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, 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 the US race for president.  Alexander Mooney (CNN) reports on the latest CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll which finds Ralph Nader with 6% of the vote, Bob Barr with 3% (Adam Kokesh is supporting Bob Barr), John McCain with 43% and Barack Obama with 46% -- the poll does not include Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's presumed nominee.  PBS' NewsHour has today added profiles of presidential candidates Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.
 
"We do need a more fundamental strategy here on giant corporate power," Ralph Nader declared in October of last year at the DC Green Festival.  That is the central political issue of our time. It's corporate power and the takeover of our government and the spread of commercial values into every nook and cranny of our culture including the commercialization of childhood, the commercialization of universities, the commercialization of almost everything these large companies touch. . . . The other day there was a report saying that TORT lawyers were having trouble suing nursing home chains for severe mistreatment of elderly people and neglect.  And the reason why is because these nursing home chains are owned by tiers of corporations -- some of them offshore.  And the most immediate tier have very few assets so they can't be responsible for paying the verdicts.  And so the TORT lawyers say, 'Well we just can't handle it.'  And so more and more people can be mistreated or neglected in these nursing homes with impunity."
 
Ralph Nader's running mate is Matt Gonzalez and the Nader-Gonzalez ticket is on the ballot in Illinois and  The Hartford Courant notes: "Campaign volunteer Peter Ellmer was able to solicit several pledges on Sunday from people who are willing to collect signatures to get Nader on the Connecticut ballot."  Nader is working to be on the ballot and Team Nader notes that Monday saw $12,761.69 donated to the Nader-Gonzalez campaign.  We'll close with Nader in a moment, but first, the Dems. Paul Bedard (US News & World Reports) notes that Barack's campaign is still suffering problems from Wesley Clark's remarks [see yesterday's snapshot or Deilah Boyd's (A Scriveners Lament) post here] and now also from Barack's efforts to distance himself from Clark and includes these observations by Suzi Parker, "Obama can kiss Arkansas goodbye.  A lot of Dems are mad that Obama threw Clark under the bus and denounced his comments about McCain.  If anything, they think the Obama should have just let the comments lie.  A lot of Dems I am talking to are Clintonites but also supported Clark in 2004 [when he ran for president].  Also hearing from Clark supporters who were in the draft movement that the Obama folks must have forgotten Clark has a massive database of supporters that has only gotten bigger since 2004 because Clark has been out campaigning for Dems since then."   Susan (Random Thoughts from Reno) blogs, "Now convince me, Obama supporters, your candidate is something other than a ringer for the GOP.  This guy is NOT, repeat NOT, a Democrat.  Now he wants to expand 'faight-based' programs . . . Yeah, give these outfits federal money and allow them to discriminate.  That's REAL progress."  Also noting the new support for 'faith-based' programs is Vasleftt (Corrente) who terms it part of "Obama's bottomless pit of capitulation" and withdraws the previous endorsement of Barack.  This is on the heels of his cave-in on illegal spying, his broken promise over public financing and, as Klaus Marre (The Hill) points out, Barack's 'big speech' yesterday was a slap-down to MoveOn. If there is a spine in there, presumably, it is collapsible.  Finally, Team Nader notes:
 

We're having a party! 

A Nader/Gonzalez House Party!

And we're inviting you to be one of 100 Nader/Gonzalez supporters to host a House Party on Saturday night July 26, 2008. Sign up now.

With the help of modern technology, you can have Ralph Nader right there with you in your living room. 

If you choose to be one of the 100 to host a house party, we will send you a remarkable documentary DVD about Ralph Nader - An Unreasonable Man and the Awake from Your Slumber DVD starring Ralph Nader and Patti Smith - both autographed by Ralph Nader.

Plus, we'll throw in a special collector's edition Nader/Gonzalez button.

The purpose of the National Nader/Gonzalez House Party Day?

Raise $100,000 to help put Nader/Gonzalez on at least 45 state ballots.

To reach our goal, we are asking that each house party host bring together 20 or more friends, family, and other party goers to donate $50 each. 
But you can organize your house party any way you want. If you want to bring together 40 people at $25 a pop, that's great. Or four people at $250 a pop, that's good too.

Now, of course, you won't be doing this alone.

Ralph is really excited about our house party project. (Check out our House Party video here.

He'll be available that night - either by phone or through the wonders of the Internet - to talk with you and answer your questions.

So, if you want to host a house party - click here. Our house party staff will answer any and all questions you may have.

If you can't host a house party, please donate now to help fund our ballot access drive - remember, you can give Nader/Gonzalez up to the legal limit of $4,600. And if you choose, your name will appear on our home page

So, if you can, join with us on July 26.

While McCain and Obama continue to flip-flop toward November, Ralph Nader remains steadfast - standing firm on a platform to shift the power away from the corporations and back to the people. 

On Sunday, Ralph told ABC's George Stephanapolous that we intend to get on at least 45 states. 

And we can't let Ralph down. 

Stand by the candidacy that will stand by you.  

 

RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Other Items"
"NYT renews interest in Iraq"
"ron jacobs, illegal wars"
"Third, McCain"
"Kevin Zeese, Ralph Nader"
"Gay Pride celebrations"
"Magazine writing"
"Iraq, Third"
"Barack's America!"
"THIS JUST IN! BARACK THE SMUT PEDDLER!"