Alexander Solzhenitsyn Or John McCain?

Who are you going to believe?

You read. You watch. You Decide:

Here is a story about Alexander Solzhenitsyn from his times in the Soviet Gulags.

Along with other prisoners, he worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during summer and winter. His life appeared to be nothing more than backbreaking labor and slow starvation. The intense suffering reduced him to a state of despair.

On one particular day, the hopelessness of his situation became too much for him. He saw no reason to continue his struggle, no reason to keep on living. His life made no difference in the world. So he gave up.

Leaving his shovel on the ground, he slowly walked to a crude bench and sat down. He knew that at any moment a guard would order him to stand up, and when he failed to respond, the guard would beat him to death, probably with his own shovel. He had seen it happen to other prisoners.

As he waited, head down, he felt a presence. Slowly he looked up and saw a skinny old prisoner squat down beside him. The man said nothing. Instead, he used a stick to trace in the dirt the sign of the Cross. The man then got back up and returned to his work.

As Solzhenitsyn stared at the Cross drawn in the dirt his entire perspective changed. He knew he was only one man against the all-powerful Soviet empire. Yet he knew there was something greater than the evil he saw in the prison camp, something greater than the Soviet Union. He knew that hope for all people was represented by that simple Cross. Through the power of the Cross, anything was possible.

Solzhenitsyn slowly rose to his feet, picked up his shovel, and went back to work. Outwardly, nothing had changed. Inside, he had received hope.

[From Luke Veronis, "The Sign of the Cross"; Communion, issue 8, Pascha 1997.]

Now watch this John McCain ad:



Does anyone else get the feeling that McCain's old war stories that he rattled on about during the Forum on Faith, and during this campaign, are nothing more than a heaping, steaming pile of BS? Hey! it wouldn't be the only lies John McCain told in that church last night...

Further reading for your homework pleasure:

1. TomP: Cross in the Dirt, a recap of what we know
2. Calouste: No "cross in the sand" for McCain in 1973
3. Throwing Stones: McCain lies, contradicts himself on Cross story

[update] It appears that even the Freepers have known McCain's story was all a lie since way back in 2005:

And McCain had just published his latest book of embellished tales. A Freeper posted the reference to the Cross-in-the-Dirt story, and Freepers accepted it with, lets say, something less than enthusiasm.

http://www.freerepublic.com/...

Among some of the responses are:

Do I sense a run for president coming up? Sorry if I'm too cynical.

Perhaps McCain is making obvious Christian statements to gain support for 2008.
----
Perhaps??? :-)

and of course:

This guy is so full of $hit his eyes are brown. He is a sellout RINO. I would not believe a word he says.

But my jaw hit the floor when I read this:

Hmmmm. Looks like McCain has been reading Solzhenitsyn.
From The Mayor's daily posts at FR's Finest and The Canteen from the devotional "Our Daily Bread" comes Sunday's reading...

World-famous Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was sent to a Siberian prison because he criticized communism. Languishing there under intolerable conditions year after year, he decided to end his life. But suicide, he firmly believed, would be against God's will. He thought it would be better for a guard to shoot him.

So at a public assembly of the prisoners, he sat in a front row, planning to get up and walk toward an exit, compelling a guard to kill him. But to his surprise, another prisoner sat down, blocking his exit. That unknown man leaned over and, to Solzhenitsyn's astonishment, drew a cross on the dirt floor.

Here's a direct link to that response:
http://www.freerepublic.com/...

So... Both the left and the right seem to be in agreement that McCain is full of, ummm? Let's just say McCain has brown eyes, OK?

[update] I have already written another post on this topic, but in the interests of correcting the origins of the story for people, like Rinehardt947, that find this archived post:

McCain Campaign and Surrogates Attack Navy Vet

The exposure of another likely plagiarism, this time plagiarizing Solzhenitsyn, by the McCain Campaign has them and their surrogates hypocritically attacking the patriotism of a Navy Veteran:

First of all, I would like to thank the people who have sent their encouragement and kind messages to me. I have been complimented on my "good citizen journalism" and have seen people take my idea and raise it to the level such that it is being talked about in the mainstream media.

Of course, along with the good comes the bad, and I have been called a traitor, a terrorist, un-American, and someone who wants to destroy Christianity. I have been called a "pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons" player who loves to "disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement" by the McCain people. Because of these attacks, I feel that it is necessary to tell a bit about myself, and to highlight what it is that we are really up against in the candidate that is John McCain.

I served in the Navy as a Nuclear Plant Operator for over 14 years. I served onboard the USS Texas (CGN-39) in Operation Desert Storm. I served onboard the USS Arkansas (CGN-41) in support of Operation Desert Fox. I was a crewmember of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) when airplanes struck the Twin Towers on 9/11, and our ship was the first ship that was flying attack missions into Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I am a father, a husband, an active member of VoteVets, and I take personally any attack on my character or on my morality.

...snip...

They have used McCain's POW history to create a firewall to shield from all criticism, and as a universal qualifier for all things that pertain to foreign policy or to the military.

Here are some examples:

- Any question of McCain's integrity is instantly an insult to all military personnel and all veterans who have ever served.

- Any opposition to McCain's ideas must be prefaced with a disclaimer honoring his military service.

- Any McCain misstep or gaffe is instantly forgiven because he was once a Prisoner of War, and must be honored as such.

- John McCain's war hero status overrides the Ten Commandments, because according to Sean Hannity, his adultery is erased by the fact that he was imprisoned in Vietnam.

The Legend of John McCain^TM has been perpetuated by the Republican party and the Corporate Media to crush all dissent and create a teflon candidate that is beyond reproach.

.....snip.... (edit insert the original post above)

So far we have established that McCain has had different versions of the story to recount in more recent years - since about the year 2000 - for campaign purposes, a pretty clear indication that McCain can't keep the lies straight:

It's worth noting that pursuing the cross-in-the-dirt evangelical parable as it might have happened to McCain is in no way impugning anyone's war record. No one is disputing in any way what McCain did in Vietnam, his heroism, his sacrifice or any jot and tittle of his combat in arms and time in captivity. What we're curious about is how an urban legend in Christianist circles (attributed to Solzhenitsen but originating, so far as one can tell, in Chuck Colson) reshaped and altered an actual, utterly believable story of rare humanity in a prison camp. And how a campaign not only adopted the improved story but then wielded it in a campaign ad and as a critical message to evangelicals. If that ad is not actually true - and its depiction of the cross in the dirt we know is false (according to McCain, it was done with a sandal; in the ad it is done, as in Colson's account, with a stick) - it's a question of challenging a campaign's veracity, and what can only be called a cynical use of religion. Could the campaign confirm that the ad itself is visually incompatible with the Salter story? Or were they unconcerned with such detail, assuming no one would be foolish enough to question a war hero's unconfirmable anecdote - and eager merely to show the deeper (and true) point that McCain relied on God to survive the unimaginable?

And, clearly, many of the witnesses the right wing have trotted out to provide cover for the plagiarism charges in the last week claiming McCain told them before have been so contradictory in their stories it is laughable.

From May of this year:

“I don’t recall us talking specifically about our faith,” says Orson Swindle, one of McCain’s closest friends and a fellow POW. “We talked about our friends, families, our resistance posture, and that our country didn’t seem to have the will to win.”

Belief in a higher power helped them survive the routine torture and daily indignities, Swindle says. “It would help us endure what we had to endure. But we knew God wasn’t going to come down and wave a magic wand.”

Swindle's recollection today is here.

Spin reactionary right wing thugs. What a joke... His life and faith altering moment was so important that there is no recount in his earlier recounts of Christmas stories:

I just want to point out that there's a chapter specifically devoted to three Christmases of McCain's captivity in The Nightingale's Song, Robert Timberg's critically acclaimed 1995 book, which helped put McCain on the map as a political celebrity -- and the cross story does not appear. Nor does it appear anywhere else in the book.

The chapter is titled "'Tis the Season to Be Jolly." It says that on Christmas Eve 1968, a guard tried to compel McCain to attend a church service that was being staged for the benefit of visiting photographers. McCain decided "to ruin the picture," letting out a series of curses ("'Fu-u-u-u-ck you, you son of a bitch!' shouted McCain, hoisting a one-finger salute whenever a camera pointed in his direction"). There's certainly no mention of a cross in the sand in this account.

On Christmas Eve 1969, we're then told, McCain had a civil conversation with the Cat, the one guard he's said in other accounts was considerate to him a guard called the Cat (see Calouste's correction in comments) -- but again there's no mention of a cross in the sand. (Timberg tells us that McCain and the Cat discussed the Cat's tie clip and cigarette lighter, as well as McCain's decision not to accept early release.)

On Christmas 1970, Timberg writes, McCain was transferred to a cell with his friend Bud Day -- "the perfect Christmas present" because he'd just spent two and a half years in solitary. Again, no cross.

(The chapter also includes an account of the car accident in which McCain's first wife, whom he later divorced, was seriously injured. The accident took place on Christmas Eve 1969.)

Never mind that his rock solid faith was so affirmed by all of his experiences as a POW that as soon as he got home he cheated on his first wife repeatedly... Before divorcing her.

Do you really think anybody is believing a word that comes out of McCain or his campaign anymore?

Do you really think anybody is believing a word that comes out of McCain or his campaign anymore?

If McCain's lips are moving... He is lying:

The problem is that in an era where things can easily be verified, “I don’t remember” is sometimes passable and “I never said that” or “I never did that” is unacceptable and easily verifiable.

• We know that he lied about not writing letters to the FCC to benefit one of his campaign contributors;
• We know that he lied when he said that he never asked for nor received a single earmark;
• We know that he lied about privatizing Social Security;
• During the primaries, he lied about his potential running mate, Romney on more than one occasion;
• Over the past week, he lied about Obama and visiting the troops. In fact, his new ad on this is also a lie.
• He lied this week (again) about not using the word “timetable”;
• He lied about his admission that he is the damn fool when it comes to the economy;
• His campaign lied about oil spills after Hurricane Katrina;
• He lied about his voting record when questioned by a veteran about it;
• He recently lied to either a child or to conservative bloggers about immigration;
• He lied about his POW experience (i.e., Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers), and while this isn’t as big a deal to me, it should be raised if stupid petty nonsense about Obama gets raised.
• Of course his wife Cindy lied about her recipes for cookies when she stole them from Family Circle magazine. Of course, stealing is something that she knows well, as she also stole painkillers from a veteran’s charity that she was in charge of.
• He lied recently to FoxNews about a Town Hall event they were working together on;
• He lied about decreasing oil prices being because Bush lifted the offshore drilling ban;
• He has lied about Obama’s and Clinton’s health care proposals;
• He lied about his position on Bosnia and Kosovo in trying to prove his credentials;
• He lied about Clinton and Obama’s comments regarding renegotiating NAFTA;
• He lied about his opting into public financing when it was convenient for him to opt back out;
• He lied a few months back about Iran-Contra.
• He lied about his involvement (not sexual but political) with Iseman and her firm.

And that is just off the top of my head and a quick search.

So let’s start calling him what he is. A full on liar. Not only “forgetful”, not only “misinterpreted”, not only “misquoted”, not only mean-spirited and stretching the truth.

And, please remember you insane right wing nuts... That if you really want to address who started all of these plagiarism accusations in the first place: Right wingnut Freepers at the Free Republic. Yeah, that's right... YOUR OWN RIGHT WINGNUT SMEAR CAMPAIGN BUDDIES.

Can we help it if it is pretty darn clear that it is true?

[update] The long trail of this mythology/story on the conservative side of the aisle makes it pretty darned clear that any right wingnut could have cobbled this campaign lie together for McCain:

But it turns out that this episode probably never happened to Solzhenitsyn at all, and according to a Solzhenitsyn biographer it appears nowhere in his published writing. Columbia University professor Michael Scammell, the author of Solzhenitsyn: A Biography, says the episode "never happened," and didn't appear in Solzhenitsyn's book, Gulag Archipelago, either.

This only solves a piece of the mystery, but it's a key piece. It doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility that McCain or his biographer, Mark Salter, picked up the tale that this happened to Solzhenitsyn elsewhere and embellished it for their own purposes.

But it takes one well-trafficked theory off the table: That McCain, a fan of Solzhenitsyn, picked it up straight from his works. More broadly, it also skewers once and for all the cherished right-wing falsehood that this happened to Solzhenitsyn at all.

Of course, it's still possible that McCain or Salter picked this up from the sort of right-wing circles that it first originated in. After all, this tale was bandied about by Chuck Colson and many other wingnuts for years; McCain or Salter could have picked it up from such circles, as the notes from Colson's 1983 book, Loving God, explain:

"The story about Alexander Solzhenitsen and the old man who made the sign of the cross was first told by Solzhenitsyn to a group of Christian leaders and later recounted by Billy Graham in his New Year's telecast, 1977. It has been retold subsequently, most publicly by Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC)."

Those investigating this story have also pointed out that no one can find evidence that McCain referenced this episode until his 1999 book -- it didn't appear anywhere in a lengthy 1973 article McCain wrote about his captivity. It does seem odd that McCain would not have discussed such a pivotal moment until twenty-five years later.

What is becoming clear is that this is just more of the typical GOP and conservative crap that is made up and inserted into the mythology of any campaign or far right wingnut cause that wants to abuse the truth.

IOW: McCain did likely plagiarize from someone... Colson, Jeremiah Denton, Billy Graham or Helms... Who knows who else because the story is so old. The similarities to the "origins" are one thing. The inconsistencies in McCain and his own campaign's recounting of everything is simply beyond the pale.

[update] A late update on this considering right wingnuts are still using the Swindle lies to cover the McCain Campaign tracks on this long after Swindle was completely discredited while pissing and moaning that the left attacks veterans while simultaneously twisting into the hypocrisy of trying to use the notorious swiftboat liar Bud Day as their new lie to cut'nrun from the truth... Anyways, this from the Jed Report:

McCain's ghost writer Mark Salter now claims CITD wasn't a pivotal moment for McCain:

As for assertions that the "cross in the dirt" story was a "pivotal" experience in McCain's time as a POW, Salter said, "That's just plain bulls—t. His pivotal experience was his refusal of early release and the three or four days of torture he took for it, his confession, and his attempted suicide. That was his pivotal experience. He's never represented [the "cross in the dirt" story] to be that."

But on Saturday McCain said:

I'll never forget that moment.

And in October 2007, according to the Christian Science Monitor, McCain said it was the most profound experience of his time as POW (emphasis added):

For McCain, there were other moments of grace in prison. While in solitary confinement, he would be left for the night with his arms tied back in a painful position. One night, a guard walked in and loosened the ropes, then came back five hours later and tightened up the ropes again, without saying a word. Two months later, on Christmas Day, McCain was allowed to stand outside for 10 minutes in a courtyard, and that same guard came up to him. The guard stood beside him for a minute, then drew a cross in the dirt with his sandal and stood there for a minute, looking at McCain silently. A few minutes later he rubbed it out and walked away.

"My friends, I will never forget that man," McCain recounts during a town-hall meeting with voters, his voice choked with emotion. "I will never forget that moment. And I will never forget the fact that no matter where you are, no matter how difficult things are, there's always going to be someone of your faith and your belief and your devotion to your fellow man who will pick you up and help you out and bring you through."

It was, he said later, the most transcendent and uplifting experience of his imprisonment.

It's obvious that Salter is trying to minimize a story that McCain himself was hyping just two days earlier.

Keep bringing this story up you right wing fools... Even John McCain is already trying to hide from this huge lie.

The Real John McCain Story

From Mediacrashers and h/t to Blue Gal at Crooks and Liars:



This ad is proof positive that the internet can, and will, change the entire dynamic of the campaign battles while giving the failed traditional media a rightfully earned kick in the crotch for failing to do their jobs.

The John McCain campaign and the neocon smear machine are up and running saying all kinds of nasty things. In order to be "fair and balanced" I put together a negative add against McCain to help with the conversation.

This presentation combines information on his military past from The US Veteran Dispatch and other sources which are hardly Left wing organizations. I also combined it with common knowledge from his own admissions and the public record of his life and career.

Nice job Mediacrashers... The internet can and will bust the the media myth that is John McCain!
I've covered some of these issues before while looking at the hypocrisy of John neocon McCain's "Celebrity" ad:

Let us look at how McCain got in to politics, ok?

Oh yeah... McCain capitalized on his own notorious celebrity from when he came home a POW. That and his 2nd wife's money.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons

had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.

Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.

Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

Speaking of John McCain's fleeting celebrity, if McCain was certified as physically capable of flying when he was released from the Hanoi Hilton (after rehabbing), is he receiving nearly $60,000.00 per year in veteran's disability benefits because of a mental disorder such as PTSD?

"His staff responded with the classic "he was tortured for his country." Yeah, we get it. The torture card. It's to McCain what 9/11 was to Giuliani's candidacy - the never-ending name-drop. Though what McCain's staff actually said was downright, um, we're being nice to Clinton now, so I won't say Clintonian. Here's the quote:

McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was technically disabled. "Tortured for his country -- that is how he acquired his disability," Salter said.

Technically? What does that mean? Usually, it means that under the strict reading of the law, you're covered, but in fact it's kind of a nudge-nudge-wink-wink situation - that's what "technically" means. It's called parsing, which is something you do to "technically" claim something is true, when on its face it really isn't. So is McCain "technically" disabled, and taking $58,000 a year tax free from the government, or is he actually disabled? I would imagine there are other solders who are actually disabled who could use the money. And if he is actually disabled, just how disabled is he?

I think our troops should only get the best, and we've beaten up the administration a lot for leaving our injured troops and vets in the lurch. But I also remember from those articles how hard it is for our current injured troops to get the health care they need (the military is actually refusing to diagnose PTSD in order to save money on benefits!). I'm just not sure that the McCains, who own "eight or nine houses," should be getting $58k a year tax-free from the government for a "technical" disability when others who don't have families worth a gazillion dollars could use that support a lot more."

Tortured for his country? Is that a nice way of saying he is batshit loopy? This is a legitimate issue, raised in this LA Times story:

McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. After he was released in 1973, he returned home on crutches and began a painful physical rehabilitation. He later regained flight status and commanded a Navy squadron before retiring from the service in 1981.

McCain would be the oldest man to enter the White House if he is elected president, and questions have been raised about his health.

...snip...

The fact that he is legally designated with a disability pension may raise further questions.

“It is a legitimate question to ask about the commander in chief: Is he fit to serve,” said Robert Schriebman, a senior Pentagon tax advisor and tax attorney who recently retired as a judge advocate for a unit of the California National Guard.

If McCain can hike across the Grand Canyon, then why should he be getting disability payments from the government that are tax-exempt, Schriebman asked.

Medical records proving McCain's physical and mental health fitness (as well as McCain and his Sugar Momma stepping stone wife's trust fund financial records) are issues that remain to be resolved in a manner appropriate to the vetting process of a presidential candidate. And John McCain's long since passed POW celebrity status does not exempt him from addressing these very real issues. Among other issues that scare the crap out of spineless conservatives with their pitiful GOP talking points.

I also covered more of this when he was trying to distract from the unfolding Lobbyist scandal using what turned out to be a McCain campaign planted story in the media about cheating on his second wife, Cindy McCain:

Lobbying for the Truth Behind the McCain Affairs

The truth that the GOP is trying to avoid discussing... Has nothing to do with the fact that McCain cheated repeatedly on his first wife, finally leaving her when he found a suitable stepping stone spouse for his political career. I could deal with The Real McCain's family values disgraces but I'll leave that to the ostriches in the conservative echo chamber to choke on:

According to Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief, February 1, 2008, "[John McCain] used nepotism to get ahead: When he was rejected by the National War College, he used his father's contacts with the Secretary of the Navy to make them reconsider." Skousen also notes that "McCain cheated on his first wife after she had a severe accident. He then divorced her and married his multi-millionaire mistress, whose daddy bought McCain a spot in the Congress."

It has also never been explained why the son and grandson of Navy admirals would not rise to the rank of Admiral himself. (He exited the Navy as a Captain.) Was it his numerous adulterous affairs or his violent temper? Or both?

John McCain's biographer Robert Timberg chronicles McCain's numerous sexual affairs with subordinates both when he was an Executive Officer and later Squadron Commander. Obviously, such fraternization is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

They can torture themselves over McCain's hypocrisy on that issue while burying their heads in the sand from the real issue raised in the recent NY Times article. Glen Greenwald gets straight to the heart of the very real McCain issue, the issue that the GOP is avoiding like a neoconservative plague:

In issuing a very specific, point-by-point denial of the NYT story, McCain specifically denied that he ever talked to Paxson's CEO, Lowell Paxson (or any other Paxson representative) about this matter:

No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay discussed with Senator McCain the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeding. . . . No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC regarding this proceeding.

Au contraire, my fuzzy, feathery pet neocons:

But Newsweek's Mike Isikoff today obtained (or was given) the transcripts of deposition testimony which McCain himself gave under oath several years ago in litigation over the constitutionality of McCain-Feingold. In that testimony, McCain repeatedly and unequivocally stated the opposite of what he said in this week's NYT denial: namely, that he had unquestionably spoken with Paxson himself over the pending FCC matter:

"I was contacted by Mr. Paxson on this issue," McCain said in the Sept. 25, 2002, deposition obtained by NEWSWEEK. "He wanted their approval very bad for purposes of his business. I believe that Mr. Paxson had a legitimate complaint."

While McCain said "I don't recall" if he ever directly spoke to the firm's lobbyist about the issue -- an apparent reference to Iseman, though she is not named -- "I'm sure I spoke to [Paxson]."

It's hard to imagine how there could be a clearer contradiction in McCain's statements than (a) "I'm sure I spoke to [Paxson]" and (b) "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde and Fay discussed with Senator McCain the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeding."

I'll let the GOP cry over whether or not he cheated on his second wife, the lobbying mistress he left his first wife for after repeatedly cheating on her, and whether or not he married her for her money and used her to further his career ambitions... Most of the left could care less about McCain's spousal issues. It is a minor issue, and trivial to a certain degree. It is all just a shield for the right to try deflect from and avoid the lobbying allegations. Never mind the hypocrisy concerning other lobbying aspects of his dubious campaign:

Set aside the issue of the nature of his relationship with Iseman, and you have the undeniable conflict of McCain, the chest-beating reformer, being so undeniably close to lobbyists. That, many have pointed out, is the real story. The man who's absurdly proclaimed that "I’m the only one the special interests don’t give any money to" is surrounded by lobbyists.

And The Washington Post, a day after it ran its own Iseman story on page one, goes with that story on today's front page under the concise headline, "The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists."

I'm not playing into John McCain's supporters hands and deflecting from the real issues of lying about unethical lobbyist connections because...

I'm Not Your Stepping Stone!

Certainly not when all John McCain has to offer is less jobs, and MORE WAR!

[update] Via MSNBC, McCain says he won't discuss his Lobbyist weaknesses any further:

"I don't have any more comment about this issue. I had a press conference yesterday morning, and I answered every question," McCain said.

"I'm moving on. I'm talking about the issues and the challenges of America and the big issues that Americans are concerned about. I addressed the issue and addressed every question that was addressed to me.

"I do not intend to discuss it further," he told reporters.

After omitting the fact that he lied at that press conference yesterday, McCain then goes on to exactly what he said he wouldn't do: Discuss it further:

"I square it one way," McCain said. "The right to represent interests or groups of Americans is a constitutional right. There are people that represent firemen, civil servants, retirees, and those people are legitimate representatives of a variety of interests in America.

WOOOHOOO! The old "Constitutionally protected" argument from a candidate that regularly ignores and tramples on The Constitution when it comes to your rights and mine. When McCain says he isn't going to talk about it anymore... He is really just praying that we will stop asking and digging on it. Good luck on that one!

[update deux] Crooks and Liars chronicles some of the lies from McCain:

So much for the Straight talk express. He’s been trying to spin the influence that Ms. Iseman had on him overall and specifically regarding the Paxson deal. McCain’s camp had this to say:

Statements from McCain’s office said Iseman met only with staff and indicated that a staff member was involved in drafting and sending the letter. Thursday’s statement went to lengths to say why McCain could not have met with Paxson.

There’s a slight problem with that. Bud Paxson basically called McCain a liar.

Broadcaster Lowell “Bud” Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson’s behalf.

Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters in 1999 to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson’s quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

And what about Vicki Iseman, you know, the lobbyist that McCain called a “friend?”

Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, likely attended the meeting in McCain’s office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. “Was Vicki there? Probably,” Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday. “The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings.”

Oh yes! There's still more more lies and inconsistencies from McCain...

[update trois] Denis Horgan sums up the inconsistancies of McCain on the lobbyists well:

Snow is sunshine. The moon is Mars. What’s the difference? How is the truth relevant?

Oh, yes. We need four more years of this.

NRO Wanks The McCain Crank Over Faith Forum

([update] Welcome to CNN readers that found this through their sphere links. Feel free to agree or disagree in comments!)

The NRO's misguided take on last night's Forum on Faith:

Team McCain needn’t have worried. This was not your usual political TV show. Warren — Pastor Rick, around here — asked big questions, about big subjects; he wasn’t concerned about what appeared on the front page of that morning’s Washington Post. And his simple, direct, big questions brought out something we don’t usually see in a presidential face-off; in this forum, as opposed to a read-the-prompter speech, or even a debate focused on the issues of the moment, the candidates were forced to call on everything they had — the things they have done and learned throughout their lives. And the fact is, John McCain has lived a much bigger life than Barack Obama.

The fact is that John McCain presented nothing more than canned stump speech answers to most of the questions. Ya know? The same old same old you would expect from any republican campaign. Predictable in his own self reverence (X = Heroic, X= Courage, X= Mavericky touchy feely across the aisle in a way only a republican could ever do), the bulk of the McCain interview was straight off of the pages of a GOP talking point cartoon strip.

When McCain got the question, he was able to tell an old story with a sense of gravity and poignancy that he seldom shows in public. He described his time as a prisoner of war,

Blah, blah, heard it at every stump speech and choreographed townhall, blahghety blah.

“I’ve always put my country first. And one of the times I had that test was years ago, and far way, in a North Vietnamese prison camp, when our North Vietnamese captors came to me and said: ‘You can go home early.’ Well my friends,

Cue this Blogs canned laughter to the canned stumped speech response.

And would the freak stop calling everyone "my friends"... MY FRIENDS understand that there is nothing funny going on with the disaster that is this countries economy and they also understand the view that "$5 million per year" as the line for separating the rich from the poor is not funny unless you are a clueless elitist with a rich wife that balances your checkbook and signs your checks. You can't distort that ridiculously callous statement.

Right now most of MY FRIENDS have cut back on expenses so much that many of them cannot afford one beer for themselves, never mind imagining they are going to be drinking with and from John and Cindy McCain's brewery heiress fortunes.

Calling everyone "my friends" is about as maverICKY as McCain can possibly get.

Some of the real issues that McCain needed to shore up and tried to maneuver as his positives? Here is his response to working with the opposition:

When McCain got the question, everyone in the room thought he would bring up campaign-finance reform, the issue on which he has alienated the Republican base for years. But he didn’t. “Climate change, out-of-control spending, torture,”

Let's look at how McCain reached out across the aisle on these issues, OK?

"Torture" - McCain said he was against it and worked across the aisle on it... But didn't support banning it. McCain specifically talked about how he was tortured last night. Here are his actions in votes:

The Feinstein Amendment would have accomplished all of these objectives, but Senator McCain voted against it, presumably because he wishes that the CIA be permitted to continue the use of other of its enhanced techniques, apart from waterboarding. Those techniques are reported to include stress positions, hypothermia, threats to the detainee and his family, severe sleep deprivation, and severe sensory deprivation.

Note the bolded torture there that McCain specifically talked about as his torture experiences canned response last night. But did not support banning. McCain talked about being completely segregated from other prisoners, pretty severe, huh? Not to mention the stress positions torture McCain discussed, which are common knowledge. Never mind the complete and ongoing lack of respect for honest justice being involved in the entire republican side's position on prisoner torture.

"Out-of-control spending" - The largest part of out of control spending in the budget is the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. McCain, along with his incompetent buddy Lieberman, pushed for this illegal invasion and occupation. John McCain pushed hard for the quagmire and refused to acknowledge that pulling out of Iraq is the best thing to do, ASAP.

You can be certain that entrenched Iraqi politicians and power brokers learned many lessons well, on how to cause government breakdown and failure, from the entrenched politicians and power brokers in the GOP currently working hard to give their hand picked successor, John McCain, a shot at continuing bush failures on into the future.

Just another reminder as to whom we have to applaud for the Iraq distraction - ya know? The illegal invasion and occupation - and the ensuing quagmire and continued failure there:

Outside the administration, there is still a lobby pressing for a move against Iraq, but it is President Bush's strong political standing as a wartime commander in chief that will be essential in preparing the country and its allies for an Iraq campaign, foreign diplomats and administration officials say.

On Dec. 5, Congressional leaders sought to frame the justification for attacking Mr. Hussein in a letter to the president.

''For as long as Saddam Hussein is in power in Baghdad, he will seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them,'' said the letter, signed by Senators Trent Lott, Joseph I. Lieberman and John McCain, among others. ''We have no doubt that these deadly weapons are intended for use against the United States and its allies. Consequently, we believe we must directly confront Saddam, sooner rather than later.''

Any particular names jump out at you up there?

Bush, John McCain and their neoconservative buddies are responsible for the Iraq 10 BILLION DOLLAR PER MONTH taxpayer boondoggle. McCain and his neocon buddies are also responsible for lies that got us there in the first place.

"Climate change" - What a joke John McCain is when it comes to the environment:

McCain Scores a ZERO on the Environment

Arizona Senator Skipped Every Crucial Vote in 2007

Washington, D.C.--In the 2007 National Environmental Scorecard released today by the League of Conservation Voters, John McCain receives a score of ZERO. McCain was the only member of Congress to skip every single crucial environmental vote scored by the organization, posting a score lower than Members of Congress who were out for much of the year due to serious illnesses--and even lower than some who died during the term. By contrast, the average Member of Congress scored a 53 in 2007. McCain posts a lifetime score of only 24.

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

"We were appalled two weeks ago when John McCain was the only Senator who chose to skip a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America-dooming the measure to fail by just a single vote. As it turns out, this was merely the most recent example of a clear pattern of missing the most important votes on energy and the environment--as his abysmal LCV score clearly demonstrates.

"McCain missed votes to save his constituents $499 million dollars at the pump and at least $550 million on their energy bills, while creating more than 10,000 new clean energy jobs in his home state.

"Out of 535 Members of Congress, John McCain is the only one who chose to miss every single key environmental vote scored by the League of Conservation Voters last year. When it came time to stand up and vote for the environment, John McCain was nowhere to be found.

"Every other Member who received a zero from LCV last year at least had the temerity to show up and vote against the environment and clean energy time after time. And unlike John McCain, I doubt any of them would claim to be environmental leaders or champions on global warming.

"The votes chosen by LCV represent the most important votes on the most pressing environmental matters facing us today: energy, global warming, clean water, stewardship of our public lands, and other crucial issues. Republicans and Democrats alike in both chambers received perfect scores of 100 this year, proof that being green isn’t a question of red or blue.

"John McCain’s LCV score exposes the real record behind the rhetoric: a lifetime pattern of voting with polluters and special interests instead of consumers and the planet when it comes time to stand up and be counted. Or perhaps worse yet: a consistent refusal to stand up and be counted at all. We encourage people to contact John McCain and tell him it’s time to start showing up to vote when the environment is on the line."

McCain sat there in a forum that was supposed to be about their religious views concerning political decisions and positions... And lied, Lied, LIED. Lying is something John McCain does often. It's the republican way. Not just little lies, But big bold faced lies.

About the only environment group that truly endorses John McCain is the Big Oil for less regulation and taxation of poor oil corporations and more destruction of the earth policy group. And Big Oil lobbyist money continues to pour into his campaign faster than McCain can say "drill, drill, drill!

A private roundtable with McCain will be held for his Colorado Finance Committee at 5:30 p.m. at The Petroleum Club at the downtown Denver Athletic Club. Attendees at the roundtable were to raise $25,000 apiece, according to the invitation.

That will be followed by a photo opportunity with McCain for $2,300 per person, then a general reception for $1,000 per person.

About 150 people total are expected

McCain is already getting money from oil companies at about a 3 to 1 advantage over Obama... They know McCain's vote can be bought. Which would clearly explain Obama getting donations from the Military at about a 6 to 1 ratio advantage over the "eternal war for oil McCain." They know that McCain's vote has already been bought and paid for by big oil too. They also know what that means in Iraq.

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall -- whether stationed overseas or at home -- are also favoring Obama

On McCains failed Marriage(s)

And then there is John McCain's own self admitted "Biggest Moral Failure" in his divorce - which is really the multiple affairs on both his first and second wife, his divorce from his first wife, and never mind the lobbyist ties that were never covered - and his campaign even attempted to use one of the purported affairs as a cover story to distract from lobbyist ties in this campaign - when he simply called his divorce his "Biggest Moral Failure."

McCain, when trying to define "marriage" in one of his canned responses, never seemed to mention - nor did Rick Warren call him out for it - the fact that his definition of marriage didn't mention that you could be a serial marriar in his little world and enjoy multiple affairs unquestioningly. That defines McCain's position on marriage and McCain's real faith right there.

McCains personal actions speak volumes about his real faith where his words failed to reveal the truth about his real political positions.

Though McCain does have big, big - HUGE - credibility issues - not just the with many of the voters that showed up at that forum - this was a forum that was made up of what, in the recent past, was a near guaranteed vote for his corrupt side of the campaign aisle.

The reality here is that McCain had to quell the rush of new, younger and more enlightened religious voter that puts more than just tired old Dobsonite campaign issues and wild eyed warmongering of bigoted and radical religious relics into the equation for their values vote.

I am going to give this pastor the benefit of the doubt on all of this before tonight's debate between Obama and McCain since his background seems to show a little more enlightenment than most of the religious types we have seen spoon-fed to the masses on TV news in the last couple of decades:

"As a pastor, I believe in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe we can separate religion from politics, because one's faith determines one's worldview, which informs one's decisions and determines how one would lead," Warren said.

His views on many of the political problems we face appear to be more encompassing - to include all of the very real problems of AIDS, poverty, the environment - as well as the other issues we usually hear about from the one-trick pony that Dobson's Focus on the Freepers has become. There are too many important issues that Dobsonites have purposefully and completely ignored and, even, fought hard to suppress in the religious discussions of politics.

McCain talked the canned talk but, and this is where McCain's silly walk express falls flat on it's huge BUTT, his voting record clearly shows disdain for all of the other issues where he never walked the walk. Heck, most of the time he didn't even care enough about issues enough to bother to show up to vote.

And, in failing to address these issues honestly and thoughtfully...

McCain lost this debate big time to the newer and younger voters that are going to look at his words, hit the internet... And match his words up against his record.

McCain lived a big lie last night, but has never lived a bigger life than Obama.

The NRO should be embarrassed by their pitiful propaganda piece.

Many of the things that I wrote about yesterday cover issues that were never covered honestly in the debate last night:

But I do have a problem with some of the McClatchy story on the debate:

McCain often mentions how his faith sustained him while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, telling how one of his captors treated him humanely and once secretly drew a cross in the first to signal his own faith.

McCain also talks about his stewardship of the environment and care for the poor — his wife helped found the American Voluntary Medical Team and led 55 medical missions overseas to deliver emergency medical care to the poor. Asked to provide medical care to two babies from Mother Theresa's orphanage, McCain brought one home and the McCains adopted her.

McCain, reared an Episcopalian, now attends a Southern Baptist church in Arizona. He opposes abortion rights.

Obama has talked about how his Christian faith influenced his public life, which included working as a neighborhood organizer trying to help people who lost their jobs. He became a practicing Christian as an adult, joining the Trinity Church of Christ headed until recently by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama quit the church during the primary campaign after inflammatory comments by Wright hit the Internet. He supports abortion rights.

Never mind the multiple hypocrisies like: McCain calling his captors gooks; being on the republican team, McCain has literally and consistently put corporations ahead of your health and the health of the environment (Some steward, eh?) and talks about the environment but refuses to vote for it; And being on the same republican team that has refused - after decades of control over congress and nearly a decade of control in the White House - to do absolutely anything substantive to address Americans' health care needs and has created the largest gap in decades between the rich and poor AND created more working poor families than I can ever remember seeing in my lifetime. Never mind the pure hypocrisy in all of that...

What I want to know: Why do they have to write the story to say that McCain attends a different church - You know? Different from the one that gave McCain his faith that was so rock solid that it carried him through his POW experience on into his multiple affairs (not even mentioned in this story on personal faith) and divorce (not a word on that either?) - But Obama?

Obama QUIT the church.

Yep! McCain simply attends a different church but Not Obama... Obama quit the church. All things considered, is that a fair assessment and honest message coming from any of the traditional media given this topic of personal faith? Interesting choice of words. Kind of straight out of a Frank Luntz school of framing for the media.

How are we supposed to judge a debate focusing on giving "a place for America to hear the candidates' hearts by going beyond moral issues and their virtues, to also share their values and vision for leadership" when important facts are misrepresented and left unchecked in the media before the debate has even started?

Hopefully the pastor will give an honest effort illuminating the issues that are truly in the public interests. But, equally important, I hope that the pastor has done his homework on the many issues that are too often left answered - or are reported on - in a dishonest manner by politicians and media stenographers.

Anyways... The debate, the first time Obama and McQueeg, err, McCain will meet to put forth their positions from any point of view - faith based or not - is tonight at 8 P.M. for your own personal viewing pleasure - Faith based or not.

[update] It appears that it really isn't a debate after all. Just an interview setting for the two candidates to discuss these issues with Warren:

“Though appearing separately, the candidates will field similar questions about their faith, abortion, same-sex marriage and humanitarian efforts abroad,” writes Maeve Reston in The Los Angeles Times. It is a chance for both to hone their comments on sensitive topics and practice connecting with an audience not chosen by their tightly controlled campaigns.”

While the HuffPo calls it a "forum" on faith:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has reaffirmed his stance that marriage is "the union between a man and a woman," although he supports civil unions for gay partners.

Sorry, but I am for marriage equality... Because you can't pick and choose who has a right to freedom. Never mind the fact that I never had to get permission from gays, lesbians and bisexuals in order for me to be allowed to get married to my wife. Why should they have to get my permission?

Apparently Blue Texan at Firedoglake is "drunkblogging" this event:

Who loves Jesus more?

That's what we're about to find out as Barack Obama meets John McSame at Rick Warren's megachurch in the heartland of America -- Orange County, California.

A note on Warren -- he helped Bush get elected in 2004. And Serious Person of Faith Andrew Sullivan calls him "pernicious."

For the record, this practicing Roman Catholic thinks this is absolutely terrible for the republic and a huge freaking embarrassment. But aided by a pretty decent pinot noir, I'll give you my thoughts, in real time.

Get your Tivos revved up... This really is campaign comercial stuff dreams are made of:

McSame just refused to define what upper and middle class was in actual terms. Amazing. Though [McCain] finally copped to saying "rich" meant "$5 million a year." That's a campaign ad, Obama people. Contrast that with Obama's very direct answer. Not very straight-talky.

$5 million per year is rich??? How out of touch with the realities of today's economy can McCain possibly be? $5 million per year is uber-ultra-elitist rich. You can bet that Cindy McCain, his second wife, is the one that watches their money 'cause McCain is clueless when it comes to the cost of living.

[update] Welcome to Blog Revolution and Buzztracker readers that seem to be finding this and other pages on this Blog for some reason or another?

[update] If you are pro-choice, clearly John McCain isn't for you.

Obama and McCain Debate Tonight

I am going to give this pastor the benefit of the doubt on all of this before tonight's debate between Obama and McCain since his background seems to show a little more enlightenment than most of the religious types we have seen spoon-fed to the masses on TV news in the last couple of decades:

"As a pastor, I believe in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe we can separate religion from politics, because one's faith determines one's worldview, which informs one's decisions and determines how one would lead," Warren said.

His views on many of the political problems we face appear to be more encompassing - to include all of the very real problems of AIDS, poverty, the environment - as well as the other issues we usually hear about from the one-trick pony that Dobson's Focus on the Freepers has become. There are too many important issues that Dobsonites have purposefully and completely ignored and, even, fought hard to suppress in the religious discussions of politics.

But I do have a problem with some of the McClatchy story on the debate:

McCain often mentions how his faith sustained him while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, telling how one of his captors treated him humanely and once secretly drew a cross in the first to signal his own faith.

McCain also talks about his stewardship of the environment and care for the poor — his wife helped found the American Voluntary Medical Team and led 55 medical missions overseas to deliver emergency medical care to the poor. Asked to provide medical care to two babies from Mother Theresa's orphanage, McCain brought one home and the McCains adopted her.

McCain, reared an Episcopalian, now attends a Southern Baptist church in Arizona. He opposes abortion rights.

Obama has talked about how his Christian faith influenced his public life, which included working as a neighborhood organizer trying to help people who lost their jobs. He became a practicing Christian as an adult, joining the Trinity Church of Christ headed until recently by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama quit the church during the primary campaign after inflammatory comments by Wright hit the Internet. He supports abortion rights.

Never mind the multiple hypocrisies like: McCain calling his captors gooks; being on the republican team, McCain has literally and consistently put corporations ahead of your health and the health of the environment (Some steward, eh?) and talks about the environment but refuses to vote for it; And being on the same republican team that has refused - after decades of control over congress and nearly a decade of control in the White House - to do absolutely anything substantive to address Americans' health care needs and has created the largest gap in decades between the rich and poor AND created more working poor families than I can ever remember seeing in my lifetime. Never mind the pure hypocrisy in all of that...

What I want to know: Why do they have to write the story to say that McCain attends a different church - You know? Different from the one that gave McCain his faith that was so rock solid that it carried him through his POW experience on into his multiple affairs (not even mentioned in this story on personal faith) and divorce (not a word on that either?) - But Obama?

Obama QUIT the church.

Yep! McCain simply attends a different church but Not Obama... Obama quit the church. All things considered, is that a fair assessment and honest message coming from any of the traditional media given this topic of personal faith? Interesting choice of words. Kind of straight out of a Frank Luntz school of framing for the media.

How are we supposed to judge a debate focusing on giving "a place for America to hear the candidates' hearts by going beyond moral issues and their virtues, to also share their values and vision for leadership" when important facts are misrepresented and left unchecked in the media before the debate has even started?

Hopefully the pastor will give an honest effort illuminating the issues that are truly in the public interests. But, equally important, I hope that the pastor has done his homework on the many issues that are too often left answered - or are reported on - in a dishonest manner by politicians and media stenographers.

Anyways... The debate, the first time Obama and McQueeg, err, McCain will meet to put forth their positions from any point of view - faith based or not - is tonight at 8 P.M. for your own personal viewing pleasure - Faith based or not.

[update] It appears that it really isn't a debate after all. Just an interview setting for the two candidates to discuss these issues with Warren:

“Though appearing separately, the candidates will field similar questions about their faith, abortion, same-sex marriage and humanitarian efforts abroad,” writes Maeve Reston in The Los Angeles Times. It is a chance for both to hone their comments on sensitive topics and practice connecting with an audience not chosen by their tightly controlled campaigns.”

While the HuffPo calls it a "forum" on faith:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has reaffirmed his stance that marriage is "the union between a man and a woman," although he supports civil unions for gay partners.

Sorry, but I am for marriage equality... Because you can't pick and choose who has a right to freedom. Never mind the fact that I never had to get permission from gays, lesbians and bisexuals in order for me to be allowed to get married to my wife. Why should they have to get my permission?

Apparently Blue Texan at Firedoglake is "drunkblogging" this event:

Who loves Jesus more?

That's what we're about to find out as Barack Obama meets John McSame at Rick Warren's megachurch in the heartland of America -- Orange County, California.

A note on Warren -- he helped Bush get elected in 2004. And Serious Person of Faith Andrew Sullivan calls him "pernicious."

For the record, this practicing Roman Catholic thinks this is absolutely terrible for the republic and a huge freaking embarrassment. But aided by a pretty decent pinot noir, I'll give you my thoughts, in real time.

Get your Tivos revved up... This really is campaign comercial stuff dreams are made of:

McSame just refused to define what upper and middle class was in actual terms. Amazing. Though [McCain] finally copped to saying "rich" meant "$5 million a year." That's a campaign ad, Obama people. Contrast that with Obama's very direct answer. Not very straight-talky.

$5 million per year is rich??? How out of touch with the realities of today's economy can McCain possibly be? $5 million per year is uber-ultra-elitist rich. You can bet that Cindy McCain, his second wife, is the one that watches their money 'cause McCain is clueless when it comes to the cost of living.

[update] Welcome to Blog Revolution and Buzztracker readers that seem to be finding this and other pages on this Blog for some reason or another?

[update] If you are pro-choice, clearly John McCain isn't for you.

The lack of applause at McCain events...

... has, obviously, made McCain seem even more bitter than before. It is unclear if the lack of applause at McCain events is: due to a lack of prizes for this kind of support: due to the lack of warm bodies like this at McCain events to supply applause - Sure, the tiny crowds that bother to show up clap a little at McCain events but it is nowhere near the enthusiasm of the huge crowds at an Obama event; due to McCain's complete lack of credibility on nearly every issue?

John McCain in 2008!
The best of the worst the GOP has to offer!

"The jobs are never coming back,
the illegals are never going home,
but we’re gonna have a lot more wars."

I can't understand why more people aren't drawn to McCain's petrified brand of negativity, bigotry and eternal warmongering?

McCain Will Mess With YOUR Internet

What is the tool, John McCain, up to now?

It’s been widely reported that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is a self-admitted “illiterate” when it comes to computers. But some have suggested that he could still put forward sound technology policy because he surrounds himself with tech-savvy advisers, such as former Hewlett-Packard chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina and former eBay president and CEO Meg Whitman.

But it’s unclear how much he is listening to them. Yesterday, McCain finally released his technology platform. (Until this time, “technology” was not even listed in the Issues section of his campaign website.) His plan supposedly focuses on innovation, but in reality, it often repeats McCain’s previous non-innovative positions, such as his opposition to net neutrality:

When Regulation Is Warranted, John McCain Acts. John McCain does not believe in prescriptive regulation like “net-neutrality,” but rather he believes that an open marketplace with a variety of consumer choices is the best deterrent against unfair practices.

This position is misguided and opposed by major Internet innovators. As Free Press explains, net neutrality preserves a “free and open Internet” by prevening “from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.”

On April 5, 2006, technology industry leaders wrote to Congress and asked it to preserve net neutrality.

While most of the industry leaders understand the significance and importance of Net Neutrality, remember that John McCain has long been an enemy of Net Neutrality and clearly does not understand how his ideas would kill any real value, monetary or otherwise, that the Internet provides to everyone...

Just look at the moronic position McCain took, from this vintage brew, in December of 2006, raising the ire of the everyone in the Blogosphere. Left, right and center included:

McCain has Gone COMPLETELY OFF THE DEEP END!

This isn't about child porn... This is about shutting down the Blogosphere. That's it in a right-wingnut-shell. That is all there is to say. McCain has completely and totaly lost his effin' mind.

"Because "social-networking site" isn't defined, it could encompass far more than just MySpace.com, Friendster and similar sites. The list could include: Slashdot, which permits public profiles; Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists; and blogs like RedState that show public profiles. In addition, media companies like News.com publisher CNET Networks permit users to create profiles of favorite games, gadgets and music.

"This constitutionally dubious proposal is being made apparently mostly based on fear or political considerations rather than on the facts," said EFF's Bankston. Studies by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children show the online sexual solicitation of minors has dropped in the past five years, despite the growth of social-networking services, he said."

Not only will the left blogosphere start pounding him on this BUT the right-wingnuts will spazz out on this in their typical fanatical fashion. CT Bob has already found some signs of the twitching in right-wingnutosphere.

Think Progress has more on this:

– Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.”

– Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties” than ISPs.

— Social networking sites will be forced to take “effective measures” — such as deleting user profiles — to remove any website that is “associated” with a sex offender. Sites may include not only Facebook and MySpace, but also Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists, and blogs like DailyKos, which allows users to sign up for personal diaries.

This could wreak havoc on sites like MLN, dKos and other big communities. Nevermind the fact that little Blogs like your Blogspot could end up shutting down completely. How many of us can afford a $300,000 dollar fine?

Imagine MLN or dKos if they had to turn off the comments features for fear of one person adding a link to the wrong address? The entire freeflow of thought that has built the left's internet think tank would effectively be muzzled. And how the hell do they stop this in other countries? They can't enforce this here unless they cut the American internet off from the rest of the world.

The moronic McCain has just surpassed Kerry by a longshot as the biggest joke in the Blogosphere. Unlike Kerry's botched joke, McCain has willfully chosen to commit political suicide. I guess that will makes him the punchline too!

And if that isn't enough they are also attacking us from everywhere on other Blogging issues! Kidspeak has an excellent piece on how the politicians (on both sides) will be taking the failed federal attempts at muzzling us down to a state level in "Net Neutrality: Strangling netroots state by state." Figure the odds that "we see the political power of the netroots begin to be strangled, with the fine help of a DLC-approved Democratic governor."

We have to pay close attention to these issues. We will only get one shot at stopping all of this madness and after that the Blogosphere as we know may cease to exist.

How anybody could trust the bumbling and foolish John McCain with with anything, never mind voting for him as the POTUS, is beyond comprehension?

How does your Connecticut internet connection stack up?

Right now, the US is falling way behind in relation to the average speed of internet connections when compared to the a lot of other countries:

The second annual speedmatters.org survey of actual Internet speeds of users nationwide shows that the United States has not made significant improvements in deploying high-speed broadband networks in the past year. Our nation continues to lag behind other industrial nations and currently is ranked 15th in the percentage of residents who have broadband access.

Important to note here is that other countries aren't spending any more on their monthly bill than us for their internet connections but they are getting faster connections for their dollar.

How does Connecticut fare in comparison to the rest of our lagging nation?

Connecticut Speed Test Results
Over the last year, people who live in
Connecticut have gone to the speedmatters.org
site to take an Internet speed test and measure
how fast their computers can upload and
download data. The results of the speed test
show that the Internet speeds of people who
live in Connecticut, like those of the entire
country, lag behind.

Connecticut Internet Speed Test
World Median Download Speed
Ranking (megabits per second)

• 1 Japan 63.60
• 2 South Korea 49.50
• 3 Finland 21.70
• 4 France 17.60
• 8 Canada 7.60
• 15 United States 2.35
• CONNECTICUT 2.89

International data from the Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation. U.S. data from speedmatters.org test results. Most test
participants had DSL or cable modem connections.

Just a little bit faster than the rest of the USA but way behind the world leaders in connectivity.

Results for other states are available here. It is also where you can take the test yourself to compare your own connection to everyone else's.

Pelosi Questions Lieberman's Leadership Position

Via scarce and Crooks and Liars, House Leader Nancy Pelosi wonders aloud in a radio interview - on San Fransisco KGO's Ronn Owens Show - about possible repercussions in the Senate for Joe neocon Lieberman's most recent republican regressions in his eternal warmongering quest:



Apparently, The Lieberman Limbo may result in his being banished to political limbo with the rest of the (R)idiots permanently:

It appears that Connecticut's junior Senator, Joe neocon Lieberman, can and will continue to try and set the bar lower:

"In my opinion, the choice could not be more clear: between one candidate, John McCain, who’s had experience, been tested in war and tried in peace, another candidate who has not," Mr. Lieberman said. "Between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not. Between one candidate who’s a talker, and the other candidate who’s the leader America needs as our next candidate."

Just because Obama hasn't joined the neoconga line with you on the failed side of American party politics does not give you the right to question his patriotism.

Though I must admit that the pitiful desperation in your message suits you, Joe.

Kicking the warmonger, Joe neocon Lieberman, off of the Homeland Security Chair would do a lot towards securing our nation long into the future. Even better would be to get him off of the Homeland Security Committee altogether.

Hopefully Joe will retire after he becomes politically obsolete.

Waiting for an update on this important story!

standingup at ePluribus Media brought this interesting story to everyone's attention yesterday:

In news that could eclipse the announcement of either party's Vice Presidential running mate, McClatchy reports:

Now come at least three men — coincidentally all in the Bigfoot business — promising evidence at a Friday news conference in Palo Alto, Calif., that the elusive creature has been found at long last.

"A body that may very well be the body of the creature commonly known as 'Bigfoot' has been found in the woods in northern Georgia," says a news release. It describes the carcass as that of an animal 7 feet 7 inches tall, weighing more than 500 pounds that "looks like it is part human and part apelike."

Stay tuned as we follow up on this historical event tomorrow. And if there really is a Bigfoot, he (or she) will undoubtedly be more exciting than any of the names I have seen leaked as potential running mates for the 2008 election.

Well? With Barack Obama on vacation there really isn't much worth watching in the race to the White House. Unless you enjoy watching the John McCain campaign crawl out from under the rocks only to misfire daily?

Note to News Busters: Face the facts you right wing nut busters... With the pitiful performance of the McCain campaign you are lucky that Bigfoot isn't winning the media cycle against your recycled reject of a second best to bush candidate from 2000. Even an Obama on vacation story is cleaning your cuckoo clocks and making you look silly in the process.

[update] For the many of you more interested in the Bigfoot story than anything John McCain has said in this campaign... And we know there are a lot of you! CNN has photos of the alleged Bigfoot body and reports of ongoing DNA tests.

Do you support Bush as much as McCain does?

Just some food for thought:

"When the American public disapproves of Bush's Presidency more and more each day, why does McCain continue to increase his support of such increasingly unpopular policies and positions?"

Do you really want to be electing a president that will continue down the same failed path Bush has laid out? Do you really support the incompetent neocon fantasies that both Bush and McCain have consistently supported and embraced?

[update] Shays' continued support for most of the Bush administration's failed ideas is just as bad as McCain's ridiculous positions:

As their interviews in the above piece show, the differences between the two candidates on the economy could not be clearer. While Jim will protect Social Security and has proposed real middle-class tax relief, Congressman Shays continues to both proudly support privatizing Social Security and defends the failed Bush economic policies of the last eight years.

They also have a Crazy Shaysie video up there that is worth a peek... We simply cannot afford Chris Shays unfairly increasing the middle class' taxburden anymore. And I sure as heck don't want him messing up my retirement with another of the GOP's failed privatizing government schemes that amount to nothing more than corporate welfare for GOP donors and supporters.

The Lieberman Limbo

It appears that Connecticut's junior Senator, Joe neocon Lieberman, can and will continue to try and set the bar lower:

"In my opinion, the choice could not be more clear: between one candidate, John McCain, who’s had experience, been tested in war and tried in peace, another candidate who has not," Mr. Lieberman said. "Between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not. Between one candidate who’s a talker, and the other candidate who’s the leader America needs as our next candidate."

Just because Obama hasn't joined the neoconga line with you on the failed side of American party politics does not give you the right to question his patriotism.

Though I must admit that the pitiful desperation in your message suits you, Joe.