General Discussion

Uncounted's David Earnhardt on Voice of the Voters

* Wednesday, May 14, 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT, Voice of the Voters

By Dave Lindorff

Before the West Virginia primary vote on Tuesday, it was a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton would sweep the state, perhaps by over 70 percent. In the event, she came close to that, with 68 percent of the vote. Now that the vote has happened, Clinton and a corporate media anxious to spin out the ratings-boosting contest as long as possible, are arguing that Obama is in trouble.

It is true that twenty percent of those voting for Clinton in this almost lily-white, low-income, low-education state said they voted for her on the basis of race, which is to say they wouldn't vote for a black man. Theirs was a vote Clinton has actively pursued. Forty percent of her backers said they would not vote for Obama in the general election if he were the Democratic candidate.

Part 2

By Dave Lindorff

I want to be clear here from the start: there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Stupidity is a lack of intelligence. But even here, there are subsets. Some ignorance results from a lack of access to knowledge, while some is the result of a laziness or unwillingness to learn. Some stupidity is the result of some genetic or nutritional deficiency or perhaps of some abuse or lack of care or attention during early childhood, while some is the result of mental laziness or a willful desire not to think.

The motto of the state of Maine is "I lead" or "I direct." Will Chicago's City Council follow the lead of Harpswell, Maine, in voting opposition to war with Iran?

This article below ran the same day as the town of Harpswell, Maine voted overwhelmingly "to call for peace with Iran by submittng a resolution to Maine Representatives in Congress to:

1. Prohibit the us of funds to cary out any military actions against Iran without explicit Congressional authorization.
2. Ensure US relations with Iran are consistent with international law.
3. Encourage talks without preconditions between the US and Iran n nuclear issues and the ending of violence in Iraq."

Hopefully Chicago and Harpswell will inspire people in other municipalities to push for similar expressions of opposition to the administration's drumbeat for a widened and vastly more disastrous war in the Middle East. When the people lead, the politicians will follow.

A panel discussion at the Harvard Law School to examine how to restore America after the Bush presidency will be held this Friday, May 16, 2008, from 1-5 PM in the Ames Courtroom at Austin Hall, Harvard Law School, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138. Map.

• Andy Bacevich, Professor of History and International Relations, Boston University
• Louis Fisher, Specialist in constitutional law at the Law Library of the Library of Congress
• Charles Fried, Beneficial Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
• Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
• Fritz A. O. Schwarz, Jr., Senior Counsel,Brennan Center for Justice, New York University Law School
• Detlev F. Vagts, Bemis Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Harvard Law School
• Sheldon Whitehouse, US Senate, D-RI, Select Committee on Intelligence and Judiciary Committee

Quest 1 for conference

AP IMPACT: Number of disabled veterans rising
By JENNIFER C. KERR | JS Online

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Increasing numbers of U.S. troops have left the military with damaged bodies and minds, an ever-larger pool of disabled veterans that will cost the nation billions for decades to come - even as the total population of America's vets shrinks.

Despite the decline in total vets - as soldiers from World War II and Korea die - the government expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today's $29 billion, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And the Veterans Affairs Department concedes the bill could be much higher.

Why?

By Dave Lindorff

The results in Tuesday’s twin primaries—Barack Obama by 14 percent in North Carolina and Hillary Clinton by 2 percent in Indiana—confirmed that Clinton is finished as a contender. Barack Obama will be the Democratic candidate for president this fall.

Clinton, the private-schooled, Wellesley and Yale-educated millionaire lawyer from Chicago, who first tried to present herself as a White House veteran, and then, in recent weeks, as a NASCAR mom on Food Stamps, and who in Pennsylvania resorted to cheap race-baiting and red-baiting in an effort to derail her opponent, has failed. Barack Obama, another private-schooled Harvard and Yale-educated lawyer, but one who actually did have to work his way up the economic ladder, won decisively in North Carolina, even drawing a significant number of working-class white voters in a state where white voters have not traditionally voted for candidates with dark skin.

It took nearly three years, and it came from a Presidential wannabe rather than President Bush, but Cindy Sheehan finally got an answer to her question: “What is the noble cause?” It’s oil.

Senator McCain, speaking at a campaign stop, said, “I will have an energy policy …which will eliminate our dependency on oil from the Middle East that will then prevent us… from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.” The Senator subsequently attempted to cover up his Freudian slip (or “senior moment”) by claiming that he was referring to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, not the current conflict. Sorry, Senator, but that cat’s just not going back.

By Dave Lindorff

Back in late 2006, it was widely reported in the Latin American media that President Bush, or perhaps his old man, had bought a 100,000-acre farm in a remote area of Paraguay.

What struck people at the time was the choice of country. Paraguay, of course, has gained a certain Club Med status among the world's villains and criminal elements as the place to go when the law's on your tail. The country, ruled for six decades by the dictatorial and fascist Colorado Party of Gen. Alfredo Stroesser, an almost cartoon charicature of a Latin American dictator, has no extradition treaty with any nation.

by Linda Milazzo

I don't like to speculate - but the reported suicide of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the "DC Madam," is difficult for me to fathom. The suspicion I hold that the "suicide" of this 52 year old seemingly vibrant woman, who could reveal the identities of the powerful Washingtonians who used her "escort" services, may not have been a suicide at all, causes me sadness - over the tragic death of Palfrey herself, and over my distrust of the powerful who have proven time and again that they will do anything to protect their fortunes and their "good" names.

According to the HuffingtonPost, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/01/dc-madam-dead-in-apparent_n_996...), Palfrey had spoken out on suicide in the past when she reflected on the death of one of her former escorts, University of Maryland Professor, Brandy Britton. Palfrey said of Britton's suicide:

By Dave Lindorff

In the last few days, both the Israeli military and the US military have fired missiles into homes, in an effort to target what they said were terrorists, in the process killing many innocent civilians.

But what a contrast we see in both the reporting on these events, and in the response within the two countries!

Veterans For Peace:

‘Mission Accomplished!’ Who does Bush think he’s kidding,” ask vets?

On the fifth anniversary of President Bush announcing “Mission Accomplished,” a national veterans’ organization today blasted the administration’s treatment of soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Citing recently-revealed snafus where civilian airlines have stranded troops in the Mideast for more than a week beyond their scheduled return dates, and dangerous housing conditions on at least one stateside Army base, the two top officers of Veterans For Peace said such treatment makes a mockery of the Bush administration’s “support the troops” rhetoric.

“‘Mission Accomplished!’ Who does Bush think he’s kidding?” VFP President Elliott Adams asked angrily. “Five years after he commandeered an aircraft carrier for a stunt announcing the end of combat operations in Iraq, our troops are still getting killed and apparently we can’t even fly them back home on schedule or house them properly when they do get home.”

David Earnhardt travels to Chicago tomorrow night to present, along with the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project and Progressive Democrats of America, a special one night only screening of UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections. Sponsored by WCPT 820AM - Chicago's Progressive Talk Radio also feature a post-film Q&A with David and Tribune Media columnist, Bob Koehler.

Uncounted in Chicago
Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 7:00 PM
Landmark's Century Centre Cinema (Map)
2828 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL
$10.00 General Admission

By Dave Lindorff

Is America at the mercy of an invasion of the pumpheads?

The bizarre behavior of Bill Clinton during this campaign season, which has seen this once smooth-talking and politically uber-sophisticated campaigner repeatedly stick a foot in his mouth and undermine his wife’s struggling campaign, raises the issue of whether he is suffering from postperfusion syndrome—a now recognized cognitive impairment common in patients who have undergone heart bypass surgery.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Have we no shame?

Please call and demand that our heroes be treated with the common decency, dignity, honor and respect that they have earned.

By Dave Lindorff

I admit to feeling a little like the weatherman who keeps saying it's going to rain, and who eventually is proven correct. I feel certain that the Bush/Cheney regime is going to launch a disastrous attack on Iran, but have made several calls, which have been proved wrong, beginning back in October 2006, when I wrote that it looked like several aircraft carrier battle groups were being put in position for the assault, but then it was called off.

Now it looks like the attack is coming soon.

Pelosi HEARTS Bush! by Linda Milazzo (crossposted from opednews, smirkingchimp)

Thank you, Larry King. When you bring it, YOU BRING IT! And last night, YOU BROUGHT IT!! Thanks to the few simple questions you asked Speaker Pelosi, viewers got a clearer insight into who Speaker Pelosi is, and how Speaker Pelosi feels - about President Bush, her self-described "day job," and her Congressional opponent, Cindy Sheehan.

So how does Speaker Pelosi feel about President Bush? She likes him! She genuinely likes him. According to Pelosi, there's nothing "personal" for her in the decisions and policies of George W. Bush. Why should it be personal? Nothing the President has done regarding the war has personally affected Mrs. Pelosi or her family. No Pelosis have been killed in Iraq, lost limbs, suffered traumatic brain injury, or committed suicide after returning home. And since Mrs. Pelosi dislikes the war, or so she proclaims, no young Pelosi will be prompted to fight it. So for Speaker Pelosi, the Iraq war, with its non-Pelosi casualties, will remain non-personal – and her relationship with its creator, George W. Bush, won't be soured by her pain.