The vast majority of those participating in the November 25th Mercer for Obama meet-up had participated actively in the 2008 campaign for change, many having worked in multiple states. After 90 minutes of discussion, in both sub-groups and plenary, about whether and how to continue this citizens’ movement, the following principles drew broad and often unanimous agreement:
1. The Mercer for Obama network should continue in active existence, to press for change in the spirit of the “post-partisan” campaign this year that has catapulted Barack Obama into the White House. The largest number of active volunteers in this movement surely identify themselves as Democrats, but many see themselves as nonpartisan and some adhere to a venerable tradition of the Republican Party. The Mercer for Obama network will continue, therefore, as a separate and distinct entity, not as an affiliate or arm of the Democratic Party organization.
For what ever reason today, I turned on Fox news... yes Sunday Fox news.... and what did I see.... I saw John Gibson sit there straight face and report how we are going into Ohio.... bringing out of staters into Ohio to register and vote for Obama...... Being related to a lot of Republicans myself... I did a search.... He had people email him from Pa.. asking WHY the other stations were not reporting this.... and his answer was.... THEY WANT OBAMA ELECTED AND THAT IS WHY THEY ARE NOT TELLING YOU THE TRUTH.....
I did an internet search.. and found NOTHING... relating to the 2008 election saying anything like this... I did find a lot a sites tlaking about past elections... and the election being stolen by the Gop.... but nothing that could even resemble this story he is passing off as the truth...
This is the twilight zone news... but we must remember that there are those out there... who watch this crap... and believe this crap... as real news...
I am a total OBAMA supporter... my car is the OBAMA mobil..... with anything that will stick to it... my clothes are OBAMA shirts.... my pocketbook is filled with OBAMA pins that I give out to any one who shows an interest... my sign in front yard sits there for all to see... magnet Obama sign on my door along with my American Flag... I am listening to Fox news now... on How Obama and Ayers have been friends for years... (this is despite all other news stations reporting that they are not personal friends..)... so they look at me thinking I am crazy Obama supporter... and I look at them... that they are crazy Untruth tellers... and that is as polite as I can be on thsi matter...
I HAVE BEEN working on the Obama CAMPAIGN FOR Little WHILE NOW… I made UP MY mind not to just sit around and hope for the best but to see what I could do…
Well people let me tell you there is a God….. I got a call late last night from my aunt in Charlottesville Va. and my baby cousin, Cynthia Viejo a local real estate agent and Business woman in that area was chosen to meet Michele Obama along with Jill Biden at the University there… they are meeting with women in the afternoon at a Women for Obama rally in Charlottesville. Okay, so it is not me… but it is the next best thing… My baby cousin Cynthia.. who will have the pleasure.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-jones/the-power-of-no_b_125782.html
On CNN, Mark Halperin, TIME magazine's principled and thoughtful political analyst, shook his head in dismay as the network's Anderson Cooper prodded him to dissect the "lipstick" imbroglio. Halperin wouldn't go there."Stop the madness!" Halperin fumed in exasperation, adding that the moment marked "one of the low days of our collective coverage of this campaign."
With the nation in economic meltdown and multi-front wars, Halperin summoned the Power of No. He declined to engage what he considered a stupid and distracting "issue" in the final weeks of one of the most important presidential campaigns in our nation's history.
The "issue" was the McCain campaign's shrill complaints that Barak Obama owed Sarah Palin an apology for saying of John McCain's economic policy, "You can put lipstick on a pig: it's still a pig." The apology was owed, the Republicans thundered, because Sarah Palin had said during the Repubilcan convention that the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom was "lipstick."
This had been the relentless story line for the past several days, sucking up hours of airtime and he said/she said back-and-forth barbs from the two campaigns. And the press -- especially cable television -- has lapped it up.
He showed the video clip of Obama making the lipstick comment, then turned to his commentators, CNN senior political analyst David Gergen and Halperin. Gergen dismissed the dust-up as "silliness."
But with Halperin, something seemed to snap. He was disgusted even to be asked about something that was, to his mind, a clear campaign maneuver and manipulation in which the so-called serious press was the shill.
And he had had enough.
Would that the rest of the news media had that gag reflex and collectively decided, "Enough!"
Though Halperin did not say so, there is something sinister about the press's complicity in allowing campaign coverage to feed hungrily on meaningless charges and counter-charges. It is not unlike the McCarthy period in which Senator Joseph McCarthy's allegations about communists in the State Department were considered legitimate news simply because he said it.
The truth or legitimacy of what he said was not seriously questioned. Today, in the echo chamber of the fast-moving web and cable news environment, the truth of something is almost immaterial as long as the charge can be repeated and repeated and repeated again.
The news media's passive willingness to be used by campaigns is bad enough. But add to that the effort to stifle serious questioning of such things as Sarah Palin's political history -- a journalistic inquiry that is central to the role of a responsible press. The public's broad contempt for press coverage of the stupid stuff creates fertile ground for silencing legitimate, tough reporting. For instance, the McCain campaign canceled John McCain's appearance on CNN's Larry King show when CNN reporter Campbell Brown had the audacity to ask some probing questions. It was a move right out of the Bush Administration's playbook for punishing pesky reporters.
It is time for news organizations to stop being shills and for serious political reporters to stop being hacks. Mark Halperin and Campbell Brown have showed the way. Don't play the campaign game. Don't scramble after the next shiny object the campaigns throw your way. Take yourself and your work seriously. If the subject is stupid, say so. And say no.
The Press and Media alway give McCain a pass on his disrespect for women.. .. any of you remember what he said about Hillary and Bill's daugher?????
this was made June 1998 by mc Cain.....
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.” Isn't this who you would like to be President representing yOU????" HOW SEN. JOHN McCAIN'S TASTELESS TWO-LINER ABOUT CHELSEA CLINTON AND JANET RENO WAS CENSORED OUT OF THE NATION'S LEADING NEWSPAPERS. - - - - - - - - - - - - BY DAVID CORN
"
John McCain's choice as VP Palin is another example of how much McCain disrespects women and their intelligence.
He and the GOP believe they can captue the Hillary supporters by picking this Sarah Palin. They must believe that all the PTA and PTO presidents and memebers will flock to the GOP ticket.. since that is one of her duties on her resume. I myself laughed myself into a caughing fit where my dogs became alarmed.
Just think, you can go from PTA to mayor of 8,000 people to the Presidency... fast move, swift slick move.... and it works well if you believe in RIGHT TO LIFE, WITHOUT BONDING... OF A MENTALLY CHALANGED INFANT.... Is that the GOP party...????? How sad... when we the right to choose party believe in bonding.. with helping the challenged..
I, the mother of five, 5..... believe in the right to choose, believes in bonding and loving and caring of one's infant. Maybe if I were a Moose burger lover I would understnad where this woman comes from..
What I do know is she is not Hillary and is no substute for Hillary and respent McCain and the GOP believing they can take credit for Hillary has done for women. Anyone with a 1/4 inch of deepth could always see... Hillary, Bill, Barack, Michelle, Joe and his wife PUT FAMILY FIRST... KNOWING THEY WERE EXAMPLES OF AMERICA..
This Lame thing that McCain says Country first... well we all know his family did not comes first... Carol, nor Cindy nor his family came first... it was country recognition.. that came first.... Carol went though her rehab alone as Cindy went through her rehab along... from drugs and then afterwards her strock..... Family was not firts.
I am proud to say that now some nearly 40 years later alot has changed and that neither my sister nor my brother faced the same challenges when they chose to marry outside of their race...my brother marrying a wonderful young woman from Omagh in Northern Ireland and my sister marrying a fabulous young Jewish man from New York City.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=787959
McCain on Birth Control http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7acdvJegOY
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/e-joyce-moore/mccain-supportive-of-wome_b_113503.htmlhttp://www.nypost.com/seven/11152007/news/nationalnews/mccain_getting_bitch_slapped_805355.htm
Did I miss something or is the media again giving the McCain's a Pass.... john mccain, yes I know small letters has just sent his wife to look things over in Georgia... (not the state Georgia but the country that was just fighting with Russia) Was he Elected already? is Cindy McCain now Sec. of State????
Guess what... media is not even covering this ..... AGAIN....
Tonight, hearing you speak, watching you take stage has continued to inspire me to work on a compaign to get your husband into office, to lead us in a new directions, to bring us respect that we once held in the world.
thank you for sharing him
I found this information by doing a search as to why all this started. Listening to Larry King Live last night and hear past Russian leaders say that Georgia started this and knowing the GOP like to run on war fear campaigns...Last week Yannie who does not really listen to american news too much also had said Georgia and the US had started this all.
I found that backed by the US Government Georgia felt free to attack another country.... while all along acting as the vicitium Any thing that comes from Bush i can not trust and that is why I took the time to look it. McCain is running for a third term war president trying to provoke Russia... I did not get this information from one site but from several.
08.08.2008 | 00:00 UTC
Georgia attacks South Ossetia
Heavy fighting has broken out between Georgia and its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Georgia's Interior Minister has reportedly told the Agence France Presse news agency that his country has launched an attack and that clashes are taking place near the Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. The Associated Press is reporting that Tskhinvali has come under heavy fire. Hours earlier, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire following a week of mounting clashes. They were scheduled to hold Russian mediated talks later on Friday. The United States has expressed great concern over the situation and urged an immediate end to all violence. South Ossetia broke from Georgian control during a war in the early 1990s, the rebel government enjoys support from Moscow.
The Genocide in South Ossetia
Posted by: Steve LeVine on August 15
The death toll is in for South Ossetia, where Russia accused Georgia of genocide, citing the murder of more than 1,500 civilians for a humanitarian invasion of Georgia.
The figure appears to be about four dozen. Quoting a hospital where virtually all the dead appear to have been taken, since the morgue was without electricity, The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Osborn puts the figure at 45; and Human Rights Watch says it was about 44. There may have been an additional few victims whose bodies did not reach the hospital.
O and G readers from the State Department and elsewhere have written me privately that they regard Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as reckless, irrational, and megalomaniacal. They and others I trust regard Saakashvili with opprobrium for bringing on Russia’s wrath.
That Russia would defend South Ossetia was certain. But increasing evidence makes the attack look well pre-planned, not spontaneous. And the authentic death toll makes the justification appear to be a pretext for that attack.
I had a Skype call from Tbilisi tonight from Lawrence Sheets, with whom I reported from the Caucasus from 1992 through 2003. He was then with Reuters; now he’s the regional representative for the International Crisis Group.
Sheets says that he’s pored over the events leading up to the fighting, and says that Saakashvili was left with a choice on August 7th — allow a devastating South Ossetian attack on Georgian villages adjacent to the regional capital of Tskhinvali, or stop it. And Saakashvili decided to stop it. Sheets doesn’t regard that as reckless.
The course of events make it appear that the West may countenance both effective Russian annexation of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, under the guise of a form of independence, and occupation of swaths of Georgia proper. The best scenario seems to be only temporary occupation before a permanent imposition of the former — the annexation part.
We got a picture of what that occupation could look like, at least for now, in the Georgian city of Gori today. Under the watchful eyes of Russian soldiers sitting on tanks, a paramilitary soldier stole two new SUVs belonging to United Nations officials, then dispersed them and journalists by firing into the air. As described by Yaroslav Trofimov, my former Wall Street Journal colleague, three of the U.N. officials escaped by jumping into his car, which then sped away.
End of the line: the final portion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline at the Ceyhan crude oil terminal in Turkey (taken on July 13 2006).
By using force to bring back the breakaway region of South Ossetia under central control, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has inadvertently gifted the Kremlin a chance to retrieve the influence it had lost in the Caucasus to the United States. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has watched with growing alarm how the successive US administrations have violated the promise made by President George HW Bush to respect the status quo existing at the time of the end of the cold war in 1990. The eastward expansion of Nato, which started during the Bill Clinton presidency, has covered not only the Baltic states, but also all of the east European members of the now-defunct Moscow-led Warsaw Pact. As if this were not enough, plans are being made to expand Nato to admit Ukraine, a former European constituent of the Soviet Union, and Georgia, a former Caucasian constituent of the Soviet Union. Already, the Pentagon had established its presence in Georgia and Azerbaijan. It posted its officers to these Caucasian republics to train Georgian and Azeri forces to guard the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline – connecting Baku, the source of oil, with the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, in Turkey. Moreover, under guise of waging "war on terror", the Azeri government allowed the Pentagon to upgrade the Nasosnaya military airfield north of Baku. As I have discussed in my book Blood of the Earth, that gave the US greater flexibility in transporting troops and deploying its air power in the region. The Pentagon's continuing intrusion into Russia's backyard has been worrisome to the military leaders in Moscow. They see it as part of Washington's overarching policy of encircling Russia. Now, Saakashvili's ill-conceived move has provided them with a rationale to flex their muscles and claw back some of the influence the Kremlin has been wont to exercise in the Caucasus over the past two centuries. On the American side, intent on monopolising the exploitation of the hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian Basin, the Clinton administration resolved to exclude Russian and Iranian oil companies from exploration and extraction. It succeeded. Yet, there was the task of delivering the crude oil to where it was needed – Europe. With their already-established pipelines leading to maritime terminals, Russia and Iran were well-placed to provide the transit facilities. To exclude Russia and Iran even from this phase, Washington favoured the construction of the 1,090-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, even though it was twice as long as the alternative route of Baku-Tbilisi-Suspa, the Russian port on the Black Sea, and passes through a highly seismic landscape. The US government went on to grant $823m to Turkey for this project, amounting to more than a fifth of the total cost. Although the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkey signed (under pressure from Washington) a document in 1998 favouring the BTC pipeline, it was not until 2006 that it was built. During the present conflict, the Russian air force has tried to hit this pipeline – so far without success. By attempting to do so, the Kremlin is sending a message to Nato member states: the BTC pipeline, built at great cost in order to circumvent Russia, is now vulnerable.Of course, any damage to the pipeline can be repaired. And the events of the past few days will enable Washington to convince its allies that, despite the odds, it had pursued the right policy of excluding Russia from the ventures of the western oil corporations in the Caspian Basin.
On the other hand, with Europe importing 25% of its natural gas needs from Russia, there is no prospect of it ensuring its energy security by excluding the Russian behemoth, Gazprom, from its list of hydrocarbon suppliers. All that western capitals can now hope is that the popular backlash in Georgia, which is bound to follow Saakashvili's blunder, does not lead to his overthrow and replacement by a leader who is not as determinedly anti-Russian as he is.
Diana
