Sydney Pollack is Dead at 73

This has been a real month of loss for our most creative individuals. I woke up this morning to the news that Oscar winner Sydney Pollack had died and was immediately saddened.

Pollack was a director, producer and, early on but especially in the last decade, an accomplished actor. He brought so much to the American film scene. TOOTSIE, THE WAY WE WERE, THE INTERPRETER and so many other films bore his directing stamp.

He will be missed.
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Humorous Videos...

Liz Trotta's apology:




Politicians and Hagee get ready for the Second Coming (with Tom DeLay and Joe Lieberman):




Hillary Drinks and Dances in Puerto Rico:





See what happens when I sit around alone on Memorial Day!


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Memorial Day

It is the day we remember our war dead. It is marked by visits to official monuments and memorials, parades with vets and scouts and kids karate classes, picnics and speeches. We honor all who served.

And what of those who called for the wars in which they fell? Some called for wars of absolute necessity... World War II, for instance... and some for wars of political manipulation. The soldiers have no choice in the calling of war.

One day we will have a competition among artists to create a monument for the unnecessary war we are now in, a way to spread thousands of names across granite for eternal memory. That such a thing will be necessary is unfortunate. But it is not the soldiers' fault.

We remember them. We remember them. And we cry.

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On Fox News... here's an ugly little slip:

Liz Trotter confuses Osama with Obama... and it looks like she'd like them both dead. This is a pretty amazing clip... and perhaps one that shows up the attitudes over at Fox pretty well.



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Dick Martin is dead at 86

From the NY Times obit:

clipped from www.nytimes.com Dick Martin, a veteran nightclub comic who with his partner, Dan Rowan, turned a midseason replacement slot at NBC in 1968 into a hit that redefined what could be done on television, died Saturday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 86 and lived in Malibu, Calif. The cause was respiratory failure, a family spokesman, Barry Greenberg, said. Mr. Martin had lost one lung to tuberculosis as a teenager, and in recent years he had used an oxygen tank for much of the day. “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” the hyperactive, joke-packed show that Mr. Martin and Mr. Rowan rode to fame, made conventional television variety programs seem instantly passé and the sitcom brand of humor seem too meek for the times. “My life has been divided into three parts in the show-business world: nightclubs, television, and then I was a director for 30 years of television shows,” he said in a 2006 interview on “The O’Reilly Factor.” “And I think the most fun I ever had was nightclubs. I loved nightclubs.”

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY....wheeeeeeee

May 24th is known to many as the anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge or the date of the hanging of Captain Kidd in London. To me, however, it is recognition of that day in Waterbury Connecticut in 1946 that I came into the world.

My wife is away at a conference and my daughters are over in Maryland getting ready to throw a birthday party for my grandson John (whose birthday is next week, I guess, but Memorial Day weekend was such a convenient time). My son is at work in Chicago where he is a doorman at the exclusive Hotel Blackstone as he plans a graduate education in History. My wife and my son called me with a "happy birthday" this morning, as did my mom who is just getting out of the hospital in Virginia today... I hope to get down to see her soon.


It's just me and my dogs, Nestle and Byron, out on the deck looking over our bucket farm (an experiment in gardening for those with a very small area.) It's a nice day, the sky is blue with puffy white clouds. The birds are chirping... what could be better?

I could be 25 again, that's what!

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Maybe McCain and Bush are seen as the same thing...

This from the Phoenix Business Journal:

clipped from www.bizjournals.com Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix Convention Center A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is being moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center. Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside. Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event. Anti-war protesters were planning to be out in force. President Bush's job approval rating stands at 31 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.com. Tickets to the event were to range from $1,000 to $25,000 for VIP treatment. Money was to go toward McCain's presidential bid and a number of Republican Party organs.

Is it all over for Hillary? (UPDATED)

By now, Hillary's unfortunate citing of Bobby Kennedy's June 1968 assassination at a morning interview in South Dakota has been seen, heard and commented on by just about everyone.



The television pundits have looked at the statement and the "apology"(I'll debate that) she made later in a supermarket an have seen it as a sign of something on her mind... not just a misinterpretation.



Her apology brought out this comment:



Olbermann is making a Special Comment on it tonite...



I don't know where everything will go from here, but Howard Dean and the Democrats, and all those uncommitted superdelegates should get off the dime and end this farce now.

And let's see what Hillary does tomorrow.

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Cartoon of the Week

Jim Morin in the Miami Herald:



Looks like McCain's Diplomacy = Bush's Diplomacy.
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Cornell Capa Has Died

Brother of the late Robert Capa, Cornell Capa affected the lives of many artists and photographers.

This exerpt from the NY Times obit:

clipped from www.nytimes.com Cornell Capa, who founded the International Center of Photography in New York after a long and distinguished career as a photojournalist, first on the staff of Life magazine and then as a member of Magnum Photos, died Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 90. His death, of natural causes, was announced by Phyllis Levine, communications director at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan. In Capa’s nearly 30 years as a photojournalist, the professional code to which he steadfastly adhered is best summed up by the title of his 1968 book “The Concerned Photographer.” He used the phrase often to describe any photographer who was passionately dedicated to doing work that contributed to the understanding and well-being of humanity and who produced “images in which genuine human feeling predominates over commercial cynicism or disinterested formalism.”

62 Tomorrow

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'll be 62. Wow! I never expected to get this old, given my overall condition and the length of life of many males in my family. However, here I am...

Today I go into Hagerstown for an MRI to explain my recent double vision problem. The likelihood is that it is a temporary problem relating to my diabetes. I am on a new set of meds since late last week and it seems to be getting the numbers down to near normal, but my opthalmologist is insisting on this MRI. I guess he thinks I have something in common with Ted Kennedy (aside from political party, I don't think we have too many similarities.)

My grandson John is having a tenth birthday party tomorrow, although it is not the exact date for it, The coincidence of Memorial Day weekend and available time has made it happen this way. I'll get to see Most of my kids and all my grandchildren tomorrow, so that's a plus. I just wish my wife wasn't in New England this week.

I've got to get ready to go to Hagerstown now, so I'll hold off on the politicsl views until this afternoon.



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McCain accuses Obama of being...now get this...Young!

Doesn't this make us think of McCain as...Old?

From a statement the old man made yesterday:

clipped from thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com Mr. McCain, 71, who would become, if he is elected, the oldest first-term president in history, has been laying out a case against Mr. Obama based upon judgment and experience. But this time he introduced a new moniker for Mr. Obama, repeatedly calling him “young man.” “I admire and respect Senator Obama,” Mr. McCain said, his voice full of sarcasm. “For a young man with very little experience, he’s done very well.” He went on: “For his very, very great lack of experience and knowledge of the issues, he’s been very successful. So don’t get me wrong, I admire and respect Senator Obama, but he does not have the knowledge background or judgment to lead this nation in these difficult and challenging times and I do, and I can keep this nation prosperous and secure.”

And do we all feel prosperous and secure? Well the old man is going to keep us where we are.

For me, I'll take the "Young Man."

It's time to push the SuperDelegates...

To be a Democrat has, for me, always meant to be fair and to recognize the majority vote. In my 62 years I have voted for many Dems who didn't get elected, but were defeated by other voters according to the rules. The crushing of the rules in the election of George W. Bush was a devastating blow to all Democrats, yet I expected all of us to go on following the rules, knowing that being true to our principals will eventually win out.

Now we are confronted with Hillary Clinton and an attempt to break the rules that everyone else was following through the primaries. What is the difference between her actions now and the Bush campaign in Florida in 2000? Not much.

The Superdelegates see what is happening... they must. We have to urge those who haven't stated their endorsement to back our candidate, Barack Obama, now. And those who have endorsed Clinton should, at this point, be encouraged to switch. There is no other way.

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Want to know who all McCain's lobbyists are?

Click on the McCainSource.com line below to see the whole list of fundraisers and campaign managers and who they are tied to. (Thanks to Group News Blog)

clipped from www.groupnewsblog.net 118 Lobbyists in John McCain's campaign. -- McCainSource.com.

Here's some Thursday morning entertainment...

McCain's lobbyists are becoming a source for so much humor:


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Watching the Senate Question the Oil Biggies...

The most entertaining thing on television yesterday was on C-Span, where a Senate committee questioned a half-dozen oil bigwigs on why gas prices are so high.

Would you believe it? No matter what the question, the oil guys were doing their best to get prices down.

They were reinvesting ALL their record profits into more oil exploration and research into new, clean fuels. And they are pushing their refineries to get closer to capacity. And they are investing as much in America as they are overseas.

Yeah. Sure. When I got off the floor from laughing, I reminded myself that it was only a TV comedy. Too bad it had no relation to reality.

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It's worse than the lobbyists running his campaign...

Here's a clip - read the whole article by Sam Stein in the HuffPo:

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Another McCain Connection To Anti-Obama Website This past month, Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign paid tens of thousands of dollars to a vendor that was simultaneously working on behalf of a independent group attacking Sen. Barack Obama. The $47,000 paid to the company Campaign Solutions for web services, on the surface, seems benign. But the expenditure brushes against the campaign's newly implemented policy which states: "No McCain campaign vendor may work with a 527 or independent group without a pre-approved legal 'firewall.'" Campaign Solutions, records show, also provides web services to Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit group headed by David Bossie and founded by Floyd Brown, famed Republican dirty tricksters. The website for Citizens United features a bevy of sharp attacks on Obama -- sample: "BARACK OBAMA - THE CHOICE OF TERRORISTS" -- and solicits donations for an anti-Obama documentary film.

Interesting Information about McCain... I wonder if it is accurate?

I found this (long) article from last February on the WCLT Radio web site in Newark Ohio. The author does a column called "Everyone's Entitled To My Own Opinion" at that location, and is obviously a conservative - and he doesn't care for McCain. Take this for what it is worth, but it is fascinating reading My note is at the bottom. Read on:

JOHN McCAIN
THE MOST FLAWED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN HISTORY
by Roland C. Eyears

It is now clear that what is left of the Republicon Party, after being fatally poisoned by the Bush administration, intents to commit suicide by nominating Senator John McCain (R-Hanoi) for the presidency. Where do I start?

THE EARLY YEARS

McCain spent his boyhood in exclusive boarding schools where staffers were paid to put up with his tirades. We all did some immature things before we matured. But with McCain, the tirades continue today.

Had he not been the son and grandson of admirals, there is scant chance he would have been admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy. Given his behavior patterns and academics, had he not been the son and grandson of admirals, there is little doubt he would have been thrown out. Instead, in 1958 he managed to graduate 894 out of 899. Had he not been the son and grandson of admirals, he is no chance he would have been accepted into the prestigious naval flight training program over far better qualified officers. On his way to becoming a North Vietnamese ace, the aviator lost 3 expensive aircraft on routine, non-combat flights. Little was made of all that, because he was, you know, the son and grandson of admirals.

McCain’s most horrendous loss occurred in 1967 on the USS Forrestal. Well, not horrendous for him. The starter motor switch on the A4E Skyhawk allowed fuel to pool in the engine. When the aircraft was “wet-started,” an impressive flame would shoot from the tail. It was one of the ways young hot-shots got their jollies. Investigators and survivors took the position that McCain deliberately wet-started to harass the F4 pilot directly behind him. The cook off launched an M34 Zuni rocket that tore through the Skyhawk’s fuel tank, released a thousand pound bomb, and ignited a fire that killed the pilot plus 167 men. Before the tally of dead and dying was complete, the son and grandson of admirals had been transferred to the USS Oriskany.

As a rising naval officer, McCain was surrounded by rumors of numerous adulterous affairs, such as used to be called “conduct unbecoming an officer.” Author and biographer Robert Timberg has detailed several of McCain’s sexual relationships with subordinates when serving as a Squadron Leader and an Executive Officer. I think we all know such behavior is a clear violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, in other words, a crime.

When McCain’s application to the National War College was rejected, according to noted author and researcher Joel Skousen, he whined to daddy who pulled strings with the Secretary of the Navy.

PRISONER OR HONORED GUEST?

McCain’s 5½-year stay at the Hanoi Hilton (officially Hoa Loa Prison) has ever since been the subject of great controversy. He maintains that he was tortured and otherwise badly mistreated. One of many who disagree is Dennis Johnson, imprisoned at Hanoi and never given treatment for his broken leg. He reports that every time he saw McCain, who was generally kept segregated, the man was clean-shaven, dressed in fresh clothes, and appeared comfortable among North Vietnamese Army officers. He adds that he frequently heard McCain’s collaborative statements broadcast over the prison’s loud speakers.

On October 26, 1967, McCain’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over Hanoi. The fractures of 1 leg and both arms were reportedly due to his failure to tuck them in during ejection. According to U.S. News & World Report (May 14, 1973), McCain didn’t wait long before offering military information in return for medical care. While an extraordinary patient at Gi Lam Hospital, he was visited by a number of dignitaries, including, to quote McCain himself, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the national hero of Dienbienphu.

Jack McLamb is a highly respected name in law enforcement circles. After 9 years of clandestine operations in Cambodia and unmentionable areas, he returned home to Phoenix where he became one of the most decorated police officers on record. Twice McLamb was named Officer of the Year. He went on to become an FBI hostage negotiator. This man has stated that every one of the many former POWs he has talked with consider McCain a traitor. States McLamb, “He was never tortured…The Vietnamese Communists called him the Songbird, that’s his code name, Songbird McCain, because he just came into the camp singing and telling them everything they wanted to know.” McLamb further quotes former POWs as saying McCain starred in 32 propaganda videos in which he denounced his country and comrades.

The Glavnoje Razvedyvatel’noje Upravlenije is the Soviet’s military intelligence division. Numerous sources confirm that during the Nam Era, the English-speaking Vietnamese who conducted interrogations of American prisoners were always overseen by Russian GRU officers. The ranking GRU officer at the Hanoi Hilton had a multilingual teenage son who was tasked with translating all interrogation reports into Russian. He would become known only as T.

According to T who interpreted all interrogations and notes pertaining to McCain during the latter’s stay from December, 1969, to March, 1973, when a well-fed looking McCain’s was released, privileges were extended. These included time at a furnished apartment in Hanoi – furnished with 2 prostitutes. McCain would attribute such absences to solitary confinement.

It has been widely reported that following his father’s appointment as CINCPAC Commander-in-Chief of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater of operations, McCain was offered an immediate parole. McCain insists that he refused such a preference. Others insist that his father refused to allow such a preference. In any event, such an offer would have required the approval of the Soviet masters, and T would have seen documentation. He has no recollection of such an offer.

In 1991 the Soviet Union was in a state of collapse. People and things were up for grabs. During that thaw, a mass document swap took place between the KGB and CIA. All T’s translations were included. If these dots are really connected, it is small wonder that McCain had fought consistently to keep all files sealed, block any attempts to retrieve POWs, and establish the friendliest of relations with his former tormentors.

Imagine the possibilities. A Clintonian leak during the presidential campaign. Or, in the unlikely event of a McCain victory, blackmail of the Manchurian Candidate.

It is public record that Admiral McCain was on hand to greet his son upon return. According to Major Mark A. Smith (USA Retired), a Green Beret and former POW, a trusted friend of his accompanied the Admiral that day. Later, when the friend referred to that meeting, McCain became enraged, volunteered that he had received “no special treatment,” and then denied that his father was there.

In 1989 legislation known as The Truth Bill was introduced in the U.S. House. It required the Department of Defense to publish the names and information on all unaccounted for POWs, MIAs, and KIAs in WW II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. It languished and was resurrected 2 years later. Then came the McCain Bill, promptly enacted, that blocked such information. The DoD does not even have to acknowledge confirmed sightings of live Americans.

TEMPER AND TEMPERMENT

The senator’s temper and temperament remain in question. His biographer quotes him: “At the smallest provocation I would go off into a mad frenzy, and then suddenly crash to the floor unconscious.” Has he moderated over time? Apparently. Somewhat. Senators who have had McCain scream hyphenated obscenities at them nose-to-nose include Rick Santorum, Richard Shelby, Thad Cochran, and James Inhofe. Most colleagues decline comment. The man has been called psychologically unstable.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER?

Four years ago McCain loudly defended the glorious hero of the Vietnam War, John Kerry. That would be the young naval officer who hid out in an office until he took command of a river patrol boat for a few weeks. He put in for a purple heart every time he got a scratch or bruise. With 3 of those, he rotated out with the intention of running for public office as a war hero. When Kerry saw the level of anti-war sentiment, he quickly morphed into an anti-war hero running for public office and later married the widow of an extremely wealthy, conservative senator who died under highly suspicious circumstances. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have not died. Their affiliate is Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, headed by former Sergeant Ted Sampley, who also serves as vice-president of the half-million member Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally.

Sampley has spent years working toward the return of Vietnam era MIAs and POWs abandoned by our government (which is invariably the case at a war’s end). McCann has thwarted him at every turn, dismissing 1,600 credible first hand sightings, 14,000 second hand sightings, and countless radio intercepts that supported the observations.

In 1991 a Senate Select Committee held hearings on the subject of Vietnam POWs. Tracy Usry, honored Vietnam veteran and former chief investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, testified that American POWs were routinely interrogated by Soviet intelligence officers. Several times, an enraged McCain interrupted, shouting that, “…none of the returned U.S. POWs released by Vietnam was ever interrogated by the Soviets.” He knew better. So apparently did Bui Tin, former Senior Colonel, NVA, who testified that he had been privy to all Soviet documents pertaining to American prisoners. He supported Usry, refuted McCain, and offered his personal records as added proof.

In short order, Usry and all participating staff members were fired. Jack Wheeler, Republicon insider and master strategist, attributed that to McCain’s behind-the-scenes pressuring.

Add to that McCain’s despicable treatment of families of POWs. Is that based on guilt or is the man simply despicable?

A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON

In the 1920s, the Bronfman family of Montreal rose to power and wealth based particularly on its Seagrams liquor business, which had as its Prohibition Era partner Meyer Lansky, American Mafia boss. Bootlegging profits were enormous. The family branched into many areas, including media. In recent years, Bronfman acquired a major chunk of Time-Warner.

Michael Collins Piper is the author of several books including FINAL JUDGMENT and THE HIGH PRIESTS OF WAR. According to his research, Jack Ruby, Texas nightclub manager and silencer of JFK’s alleged assassin, was a Bronfman asset. Piper identifies Ruby as “a key player” in the smuggling of arms stolen from U.S. military bases to Israel.

In the years prior to World War II, the move into Arizona was made. In 1941, Gus Greenbaum of Phoenix started a national wire service for bookies. When he shifted to Las Vegas in 1946 to oversee Meyer Lansky’s casino interests and subsequently replace the infamous, violent Bugsy Siegel, Kemper Marley was appointed crime syndicate boss of Arizona. According to sources within the Marley group, it was Bronfman who put him in the liquor business and enabled him to build a statewide monopoly. In 1948, the feds sent 52 employees to prison for liquor violations. Rumor has it that Marley remained untouched because one of his lieutenants, James Hensley, took the fall and did a dime. Piper reports that Hensley’s attorney and dealmaker was William Rehnquist. Yes, that would be the Chief Justice who later pulled his former girlfriend onto the high court and spent his last decade on the bench hallucinating on drugs. Upon release, Marley gave Hensley one of the biggest Anheuser-Busch distributorships in the country – certainly the biggest in Arizona. Thank you for your faithful service.

Then one day in 1981, an obscure, newly retired naval officer rode into the land of sun, cacti, and retirees. After his first wife, who had raised his children and waited for him became crippled in an accident, John McCain had dumped her overboard and married his mistress – Cindy, daughter of James Hensley. The next year the “straight talker” was installed in the U.S. House of Lords. Four years later he moved to the senate.

So who owns honest John McCain? The mob that runs Arizona? The big Vegas money that continues to contribute heavily? The Israeli connection? You be the judge.

UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS – WHO NEEDS IT?

Not long ago, McCain stated to a journalist that, “Economics isn’t my strong suit.” But, he added, he is reading Greenspan. That would be Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan who, during his tenure, expanded the money supply more than in all the years since 1913. The Greenspan who kept the printing presses running at warp speed, turning out little pieces of paper called money and backed by the promises of politicians. Alan the Inflator fueled the dotcom bubble, the stock market bubble, and more recently the real estate bubble. It is no wonder that the LONDON ECONOMIST recently pegged 2007 true U.S. inflation at 17%. Just what we need – another president who is an economic illiterate. It’s small consolation that McCain admits it, because if elected, he’d appoint the wrong advisors.

MCCAIN VERSUS THE CONSTITUTION

McCain, also known as senator hyphen around D.C., frequently partners with members of the far left. The McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill was an obvious, full-frontal attack on the First Amendment – perhaps the most blatant since the Sedition Act 200 years previous. Specifically, it outlawed the most protected of free speech, political descent. This alone should be a deal breaker. Anyone voting for the bill should have been impeached and removed from office. George Bush, when he broke another of his pledges and signed the odious legislation, said he had problems with it but that the Supreme Court might very possibly strike down parts. Apparently, his thinking was (1) this is bad law, but why should I worry, and (2) I don’t need to do my job because somebody down the line might do it for me.

Accordingly, it is entirely logical that radio talk show hosts are in strong opposition to McCain. They understand how much he hates free speech, and they don’t want to see a return to the deceptively named Fairness Doctrine that used to force broadcasters to devote matching time to the promotion of liberal views to balance conservative. At the core is the liberals’ fear of exposure to the marketplace of ideas and free discourse. To them, it is not enough that you have a dial and an opposed thumb. If we’re going to have a Fairness Doctrine, let’s carry it all the way out. For every 80 anti-gun news stories, I want to see 80 (easy to find) pro-gun stories. Not 1. For every male bashing commercial, mandate one female bashing. Let’s limit the number of black players on college and NBA teams to 12½ percent, reflective of the population. Et cetera.

McCain also works to destroy the Second Amendment. John McCain does not trust you with a firearm, regardless of the plain words of the Constitution. He would bar you from defending yourself from marauders and certainly from an out-of-control government. The Gun Owners of America rates McCain F minus. Although the National Rifle Association is far softer in defending gun rights, its president has termed McCain the “worst Second Amendment candidate.” Example: McCain sponsored an amendment to S. 1805 that would destroy gun shows by outlawing private gun sales at such events, although they have been proven to not be a significant source of criminals’ weapons. A next step would be the outlawing of private transfers. A father would be unable to pass down a family treasure without government blessing. The unconstitutionality of all this is of no importance to the senator and his ilk. Check his record. This alone should be another deal breaker.

Just about everybody loves a maverick, right? Spirit of America and all that. We often impute a certain sense of integrity to someone who turns on his own. Is the senator from Hanoi really a maverick? Sure, but from what? Honor? Duty? The Constitution he works so hard to make irrelevant? But as a career politician and long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations, McCain is also a one- worlder and a senior insider.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

I’m sure the sponsor of the so-called Campaign Finance Reform Bill wouldn’t mind if we took a cursory look at his donors. They include the sinister international currency manipulator George Soros, JP Morgan Chase & Company, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers. In other words, McCain is backed by most of the usual suspects who back “the competition.”

According to WorldNetDaily, since 2001, this candidate has receiving funding via the Reform Institute of Alexandria, Virginia, founded to launder money from George Soro’s Open Society Institute and Theresa Heinz Kerry’s Tides Foundation. Let’s just know who owns whom. All this only makes sense. The senator is a long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a one-worlder, an ultimate insider.

Funding scandals? Sure. We have them too. Does anybody remember the Keating Five debacle from 1987 that cost depositors and taxpayers $160 million? Charles Keating owned American Continental Corporation and its subsidiary Lincoln Savings & Loan. Facing multiple federal indictments, he called on the recipients of his largesse – Senators Alan Cranston, John Glenn, Don Riegle, and from the great State of Arizona Dennis DeConsini and John McCain. Strings were pulled, but, in the end, Keating was convicted. In 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee (I know, such an oxymoron) ruled that McCain hadn’t quite done anything illegal. But by his own standards he was corrupt.

D.C. FOLLIES

Recently, the New York Times ran a piece suggesting that McCain may have had an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman that went back 8 years. Ms. Iseman is a partner in Alcalde & Fay, who represent Carnival Lines, several broadcasters, and municipalities. The Times, along with Drudge and the Washington Post, had been sitting on the story for some weeks. The allegations are unproven, and, the senator has exhibited extraordinary self-control when denying them. I can only say that he has a history of this type of Clintonian behavior, both in the military and, admittedly, during his first marriage. Apparently it is acceptable anymore. In any case, I question whether the Times should have run with this.

Influence peddling? Sure, McCain rode Lowell Paxson’s jet several times. It would be asking a lot of a high-profile senator to walk through a crowded airport and climb on a commercial flight. Maybe he wrote Paxson checks at the commercial fare rate. He did accept $100,000 donation from Alcalde & Fay. And he did write 2 letters recommending that the FCC approve Paxson’s purchase of a Pittsburgh TV station. Only two? Lobbyists lobby. I don’t have any finger to point here.

THE GREAT CONSERVATIVE

Taking a page from Bill Clinton’s Attorney General, McCain has called Christian leaders “agents of intolerance.”

McCain often crosses the aisle to block the confirmation of conservative judges with strict construction leanings. His record on taxes is clear; he likes them. Senator hyphen has co-sponsored ill conceived legislation that would boost gasoline prices by more than half a dollar a gallon. And he supports radical global warming measures that would significantly disadvantage the U.S.

COME ON UP. HERE’S A CHECK.

Teaming again with Teddy Kennedy, at al, the senator from Hanoi sponsored an amnesty bill for illegal aliens. A top aide, Juan Hernandez previously held a cabinet level position with ex-president of Mexico Vincente Fox. This dual citizen is on record as favoring “Mexico First.” McCain supports open borders. Well, until he caught sight of the prize. These days he’s auto-phoning into Ohio, promising that “first I’ll close the borders.” He’d still like to see Social Security money paid to the sneak-ins. Another deal breaker?

DISCLAIMERS AND CONCLUSIONS

The presidential frontrunners have a curious commonality. Not one has any significant administrative history. None has headed a company, none has managed an organization, and none has ever had to meet a payroll. Their experience has been totally devoted to throwing other people’s money at problems they created (often for that very purpose), and they’ve run nothing but their mouths. Seriously, if you owned a large business enterprise, is there any chance that you would pick one of the candidates to manage it?

As for the illegal, immoral war in which we are engaged, Obama is clean, Hillary is implicated, and McCain says he’s fine with another hundred years.

Personalities aside, I’m not certain how much difference it makes. McCain has essentially endorsed Hillary. According to him, “She has integrity,” and “I have no doubt that she would be a good president.” He likes, really likes the woman, and says, “I think she’s a very good person.” Meanwhile, Barack Hussein Obama’s policies differ not one whit from Hillary’s. So that’s a popularity contest.

Then there is the matter of the label. In his way, George Bush has done to the Republicon Party what Bill Clinton did to the Democrat Party in his way. In the last congressional race, the Rs did poorly; yet their D replacements have fixed nothing. The congress’s approval rating is 22 percent. As the legatee of Bush, what does baggage does McCain bear? Here are just a few bags: unrestrained spending, huge trade deficits, illegal wars of aggression, empire building beyond our capacity, abandonment of our fallen veterans, war crimes, the elimination of civil liberties with war as a pretext, the death of habeas corpus, favoring Israel over the U.S., the stock bubble, the real estate bubble, collapsing home values, permanent core job losses, true 10 percent inflation, debasement of the currency (They won’t even publish M3 numbers anymore.), torture of prisoners (On October 6, 2006, McCain voted to exempt the CIA from restrictions.), prisoner rendition, deconstruction of the Constitution, opening our borders to everybody and anybody, violations of separation of powers, corruption, and incredible incompetence. I could go on. My question: Is the Republicon nomination worth more than 15 cents? Even if McCain puts nominal Democrat Joe Lieberman on his ticket to demonstrate bi-partisanship and pull in Dems and Independents?

Are you a genuine social conservative? Do you believe in our wonderful Constitution? Are you opposed the Iraq War and its precursor strategies that have killed hundreds of thousands of innocents? Are you fiscally responsible? Do you truly understand the principles of republicanism? Do you believe in marital fidelity? Are you a supporter of free speech? I submit that if your answer to any of these questions is yes, you cannot vote for John McCain and retain your integrity. The lesser of 2 or 3 evils is still evil. In this case, not by a measurable amount.

The party of Ronald Reagan left me years ago. America’s bright beacon of hope, so loved by much of the world for over 200 years, is being reduced to a faint glow in the eyes of the true believers.

We have had some incredibly unqualified and inept people run for and sometimes win the top job. But John McCain must be the most flawed and compromised candidate in our nation’s history.

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Note from Bill: This guy is a real piece of work. I've left his column intact, even the typos, and you can see he is against McCain AND Hillary AND Obama. While I know some of this stuff is verifiable, lots of it is questionable...
but such quetions! I'd be interested in your comments.

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Obama's Interview with BlogHer.com

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From my pal Bob Cook in Texas...

Next up on the Klinton Komedy Tour

Back when Obama was winning 11 primaries in a row, Team Clinton furiously lobbied Superdelegates urging that they need not, they must not, slavishly ape the result of Democratic primaries because primaries are infested by "party activists" who are known to often Vote Incorrectly. The job of Superdelegates is to annoint the establishment candidate because they are The Establishment.

Fast forward to mid May and the Superdelegates now favor Obama. Look for shrill cries that the Superdelegates must not, dare not, overturn the Will of The People, as calculated by dismissing the pledged delegate count, including primary states, excluding caucus states, including states which were previously excluded by agreed DNC rules...

And including Puerto Rico. Not a state.

You read it first here.

I don't think people in caucus states are really Americans.



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Happy Birthday Al

Today is Al Franken's 57th birthday and here at Under The LobsterScope we wish him well and hope his campaign for the Minnesota senate seat is proceeding apace.

Al is one of our favorites, as readers of this blog know. Hopefully he will drive Norm Coleman out of the Senate.
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Hillary took Kentucky, Obama took Oregon, and...

The numbers are in!

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Obama Wins Most Pledged Delegates Sen. Barack Obama passed a major milestone on Tuesday night, winning a majority of the pledged delegates in the Democratic race for president, according to estimates from the Obama campaign and several news outlets. Obama's campaign also announced it had collected more than $31 million in April, "bringing his total amount raised so far this year to $167 million -- a staggering total that suggests his vaunted fundraising machine continues to churn." "You are Democrats who are tired of being divided, Republicans who no longer recognize the party that runs Washington, independents who are hungry for change," he said, speaking to a crowd on the grounds of the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines as well as the millions around the country who will elect the nation's 44th president in November.

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille...

This is really so unfair to Hillary, but I just couldn't stop laughing.



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Bulletin: Ted Kennedy Diagnosed With A Brain Tumor

It's all over the news stations now... Kennedy's seizure was diagnosed as the effects of a brain tumor. According to Senator Kerry, who spoke with him this morning, Kennedy is optimistic.

The tumor is, however, malignant, and radiation and chemotherapy is being started,

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This is scary...

Found this at Think Ptogress:

clipped from thinkprogress.org Senior Israeli official: ‘Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term.’» The Jerusalem Post reports that a senior Israeli official said that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are of the belief that military action against Iran is necessary and that such an attack could be coming soon: US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday. The official claimed that a senior member of the president’s entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for. However, the official continued, “the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice” was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic, for the time being.

It is time to call McCain out on his lack of supportb for the GI Bill

This ad and a similar one targeting Texas Senator Cornyn are swamping the Washington DC stations today. It's not coming from the Obama campaign, it's coming from vets. Take heed and makr a call!



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Byrd Endorses Obama

Despite the results of the West Virginia Primary, our senior Senator, Robert Byrd, endorsed Barack Obama just after noon today.

Byrd has been outspoken against the Iraq War, and this seems to be his prime reason for the endorsement.
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An Endorsement for Obama

When the world's richest man favors a candidate who he knows will tax him, then let's take it seriously!

clipped from news.yahoo.com US billionaire Buffett backs Obama for president