Like many Americans I work for a corporation. I am lucky because I belong to a Union that helps give employees some say in the decisions our employer makes that govern our working lives. Being part of a union has improved my standard of living significantly.

This has not come without having to fight for it. We had to strike in 2005, in 2002, in 1995, and in 1989. Our employer keeps trying to give workers the shit end of the stick, and we have to keep clobbering Management with the blunt interment of a strike to remind the corporate elite that they don't constitute the whole company.

This year the company seems to want another strike. The company's contract proposal if full of putrid take away provisions, like the ones that would eliminate pensions, and retiree health care for new workers.

So now I am saving my money for a strike that is looking more and more likely. This strike could go on for weeks or it could go on for months, like the Strike in 1995 did, when we had enough backbone to reject the company's paltry fall back offer after being out for more than 2 months (after that second rejection the company caved).

A very disturbing report by NPR revealed a side of Israel Americans are rarely allowed to see by our MSM. A side of Israel that uses Jerusalem’s racist municipal bureaucracy to put pressure on the Arab residents of occupied East Jerusalem to leave the city by squeezing the housing supply available to Arabs.

 Dispute Over East Jerusalem Imperils Peace Talks

Israeli officials say they destroyed the home because of a zoning violation. They call it a legal demolition of an illegally expanded building. The owner, Majid Abu Eesha, sees it as an attempt to expel Arabs from the east side of the city that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

"This is a message to all East Jerusalemites," Eesha says. "They don't want any Arabs here. They want a pure Zionist Jerusalem."

The perception that the demolition of houses amounts to a Zionist land grab is widespread among Arab East Jerusalemites. Palestinians complain bitterly that Israel unfairly denies them building permits while encouraging Jews to build here.

Since the 1967 when East Jerusalem was first occupied, Israeli authorities have allowed almost no new construction by the Arab residents of the city.

On June 19, 2004 Candidate George Bush took some time during a campaign swing to the West Coast to visit Madigan Army Medical Center and make a speech to troops at Fort Lewis Washington along with Senator John McCain.

Photo of McCain and Bush at Ft. Lewis

Not only was the Press in tow taking PHOTOS and VIDEOS of Candidate Bush with the Troops on a military base during an election year, but Bush made American taxpayes pick up the tab for his campaign trip to the West Coast.

Here is the Washington Post's story on the 2004 Bush appearance with McCain at Fort Lewis:
 

Bush, McCain Look Beyond Differences
In Appearance at Washington Army Base, Republicans Rally Veterans' Support

FORT LEWIS, Wash., June 18 -- President Bush and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) put aside their animosity Friday and hugged onstage at a rally for 6,000 soldiers,...  

Here is the N.Y. Times coverage of the same 2004 Bush speech at Fort Lewis:

McCain's AMUF Speech is a Window into his NeoCon Soul.

On October 10th 2002 John McCain made a long speech to justify his vote for war in Iraq.

This speech is a telling indicator on how he views America's role in the world, and what approach he as the American President would be likely to take toward Iran.

McCain starts off with a jingoistic call to arms, with some scary talk thrown in as a hook.

It will reveal whether we are brave,
and wise or reluctant self-doubting,
and in retreat from a world that still,
in its cruelest corners, possesses a mer-
ciless hostility to our values and inter-
ests.

Then McCain describes the white man's burden to show brown Islamic men the error of their ways, with some more scary talk. This is a classic NeoCon update of Imperialism.

It will help determine whether the
greater Middle East will progress
toward possession of the values
Americans hold to be universal, or
whether the Arab and Islamic worlds
will be further influenced by a tyrant
whose intent is to breed his own viru-
lent anti-Americanism in all who fall
under his influence, and use that influ-
ence to hurt us gravely.

Bush wants Congress to lift the ban on developing Oil Shale on federal lands on the Green River Plateau in Colorado and Utah.

That brought an immediate response from Colorado's Democratic Governor Bill Ritter:

GOV. RITTER CRITICIZES FEDS OVER OIL SHALE REGULATIONS

"Someday the technology may exist that will allow us to responsibly extract oil from Colorado shale. But that day is years away. That day will only come when crucial questions about impacts to water, air quality, wildlife and our local communities -- are fully understood and answered. That day is not today. This was a premature and unnecessary act by the federal government that is not supported by science or technology.

Extracting oil from shale rock is an extremely dirty, insanely carbon intensive process, that will dump huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere because the shale rock has to be heated to 700 degrees to get the oil out.

The Editor of the The Austin American-Statesman has apologized for the Front Page Story  that upset me and many other attendees of Netroots Nation 2008 at how we were portrayed, and especially upset the American-Statesman's readers in Austin.

Editor's note: Netroots Nation story

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Readers expect front-page stories to speak directly and clearly about events and issues. Eliminating the possibility of misunderstanding from our work is a critical part of our daily newsroom routine. When we communicate in a way that could be misinterpreted, we fail to meet our standards.

Our front-page story Sunday about the Netroots Nation convention included doses of irony and exaggeration. It made assertions (that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might find herself at home politically in Beijing, for example) and characterizations ("marauding liberals" was one) meant to amuse. For many readers, we failed.

Former Prime Minister Airel Sharon faced a dilemma: he wanted more land in the occupied West Bank for the Israeli settlement expansion the radical zionist settlers had been clamoring for, but he wanted to find a way to exclude the present inhabitants of that land. Sharon's solution was to to build an Apartheid Wall to separate the land from the Palestinian villages, where most Palestinian farmers who work surrounding land reside. Of course Sharon used improving security as a blanket pretext to justify building the Apartheid Wall.

Sharon's successor as Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has gone forward with Sharon's plans for the Apartheid Wall.

On Thursday a new U.N. Report was very critical of Israel's Apartheid Wall.

UN criticises West Bank barrier

The West Bank barrier Israel is building will be devastating for Palestinians if completed along its proposed route, the UN says.

In a report, the UN said thousands of Palestinians had already been cut off from their jobs, land or key services.

The report blamed Israel's decision to build the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the agreed border.

This may well be the most important event to occur this month.

            This is HUGE:

 MIT team increases efficiency of solar panels

"The question is, can you make a better solar panel that you can put on somebody’s roof?" said Jonathan Mapel, an author of the study and MIT graduate student who has co-founded a startup called Covalent Solar to turn the idea into a product. "The two things that matter are: you want more power output and you want to pay less for it."

The work at MIT could potentially do both, using a simple trick that makes more efficient use of the full spectrum of sunlight.

I think the dynamic this new poll points to will clinch it for Obama in November:

Poll: McCain's age more of an issue than Obama's race

CNN) — John McCain may be hindered more by his age than Barack Obama will be by his race as the two men vie for the White House, a new USA Today/Gallup poll suggests.

According to the new poll, 23 percent of Americans say McCain's age — he'll turn 72 next month — is likely to make him a less effective president were he to win the White House. That compares to only 8 percent who said Obama's race would make him a less effective president.

Overall, more than 8 in 10 Americans said Obama's race would make no difference in his effectiveness in the White House while 65 percent said the same about McCain's age.

Being 54, I can remember the Reagan years. I can remember having a doddering old fool for our president. The whole country was witness to the beginnings of Reagan's decent into Dementia. Look at Figure #1 in this PDF File. Scary stats. Americans have good reason to worry about McCain's age.

We all remember when Tom Buffenbarger, the head of my Union (The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) from when he launched into this memorable rant that ended up on national TV:

Channeling Howard Beale from the movie "Network," he yelled into the microphone, "Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter."
MSNBC

Well Buffenbarger is at it again. This comes from an on-line letter to IAM members explaining why the Machinists Vote 'Present' in AFL-CIO Endorsement of Obama.

In the Machinists Union, a predominantly blue-collar union, the impression continues to grow that Senator Barack Obama could care less about folks like us.

PDF File

John McCain drank deeply from the NoeCon's KoolAid in 2002 as his speech in favor of the Iraq War Resolution shows:

It will answer the fundamental question about America's purpose in the world, whether we perceive our beliefs to be uniquely American principles or universal values, for if they are so dear to us that we believe all people have the right to enjoy them, we should be willing to stand up for them, wherever they are threatened.

It will reveal whether we are brave, and wise or reluctant self-doubting,
and in retreat from a world that still, in its cruelest corners, possesses a merciless hostility to our values and interests. It will test us, as did September 11, except that we can choose to engage the enemy on our terms rather than wait for the battle to be brought to us.

PDF file

McCain completely buys into the NeoCon's bizarre theory to democratize the region through force of arms in Iraq.

Ralph Nader got much of the blame for the 2000 judicial coup d'etat that installed Bush as our pResident. In spite of Nader breaking his 2000 pledge not to campaign in swing states, I place the blame for installing Bush in our White House squarely on the corrupt Justices in the 5/4 majority in Bush v Gore. They should be impeached for misconduct, but that is for another day's diary

No doubt you've heard the utterly predictable news that Nader is running for President again this year. In the last couple of weeks Nader's Campaign has gotten a big financial boost from disappointed Hillary supporters turned big Nader donors.

Today on Democracy Now Nader said:

RALPH NADER: Well, with matching funds, we’re moving in on $2 million, but the Federal Election Commission still doesn’t have a quorum. But we hope to pick up—more and more people now are contributing. We’ve gotten some major contributions from former Hillary Clinton supporters who are turned off the process.

As an eternal optimist I try look at the bright side. At least they haven't gone off the deep end like the nutballs over at Hillaryis44 who are now backing McCain't.

Follow the Money: Who Profits?  

In the four years leading up the Iraq War Exxon averaged a yearly net profit of $11.95 Billion. In the years since George Bush, started the Iraq War Exxon has averaged a yearly net profit of $32.6 Billion, an increase of 273% over the pre Iraq War average profit.

Year     Exxon's Profit in
           Billions of Dollars
   
1999           7.9

2007          40.6                  

This is hilarious stuff. It's a frontpage article from L.G.F. titled: Islamic Terrorists Have Constitutional Rights

#7  pegcity 6/12/08 9:37:56 am

so Jury trials for terrorists?

Why not have them all in Seattle

I guess Seattle is like Kriptonite for Kangaroo Courts. Yea Seattle!

#10  Pyrocles 6/12/08 9:38:51 am

The Left sees Islamist terrorists as their footsoldiers for bringing about the "revolution"... Of course they want them made legally equal to us and free, if possible.

This one probably had to stick his tinfoil hat in the microwave for a couple of minutes to charge up it's magic, before this revelation came to him. A believer in vast islomo-leftist conspiracies.

#21  loppyd 6/12/08 9:41:02 am  

As I just heard Rush say, the MSM calls this a defeat for the Bush Administration when in reality is a defeat for the USA.

Love the enemy of thy enemy.

/MSM

This one lets HeadRush do all his hard thinking for him. A simpleton who is a political zombie at HeadRush's command.

A New York Times article reports that Bill Clinton played a big role in the Clinton Campaign adopting an aggressively negative tone, emphasizing sharp attacks on Barack Obama.

The Long Road to a Clinton Exit

Backed by Bill Clinton, Mr. Penn pushed for aggressive attacks on Mr. Obama, something other advisers resisted. At one point, Mr. Penn argued that Mrs. Clinton should find subtle ways to exploit what he called Mr. Obama’s "lack of American roots," referring to his Kenyan father and his childhood years in Indonesia and even the offshore state of Hawaii, the campaign officials said. Mr. Penn recommended that Mrs. Clinton own the word "American"

As the campaign went into the Spring Bill Clinton took a larger role in calling the shots in Hillary's Campaign.

In his speech to AIPAC Obama seemed to agree to cede Palestinian East Jerusalem to Israel, ignoring the Palestinians' aspiration to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Obama's AIPAC Speech

-but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.

Even George W. Bush was prudent enough not to give in to Israeli demands to recognize East Jerusalem as part of Israel.

The Palestinians and all Arabs reacted to Obama's AIPAC speech with shock and horror.

OBAMA'S AIPAC SPEECH RILES PALESTINIANS

Sen. Barack Obama's speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday shocked many Palestinians, who had hoped he would be a sympathetic advocate for the Palestinian cause in the White House.

I was an early Obama supporter, donating money at first to Obama's exploratory committee, then to his campaign, and doing volunteer work for the campaign in two states. I wrote my first candidate diary almost 16 months ago in Feburary of 2007:

Obama Hits a Home Run on 60 Minutes

I'm 53 years old and the only thing that I have seen in American politics that could come close to watching Barack Obama tonight was Bobby Kennedy 39 years ago (yes, I was a political wonk at 14).

This lifelong activist has never worked so long and hard for any candidate in all my life as I have for Barack Obama, and that is really saying something!

In researching Scott McCellan's press breifings from late in his tenure at the Bush White House I came up with this gem from April 10th 2006

...Q It has nothing to do with 9/11.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- the regime is gone. It is no longer sponsoring terrorism. It is no longer destabilizing the region. It is no longer undermining the credibility of the United Nations. It is no longer threatening the world.

And it's important that we succeed in Iraq, and that's where our focus is now. And I think people understand the importance of succeeding in Iraq, because look at the consequences if you fail. If we fail in Iraq it will embolden the enemy, it will give them a victory in the war on terrorism. It could lead to a safe-haven in Iraq. And that's why it's so important that we continue to work together to support the Iraqi people, who have shown that they want to chart their own future. And that's what we're going to continue to do.

Now note the similarities with McCain speaking about Iraq in February to CPAC (below the fold):