Big Dan's Big News June 30, 2008

McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years, Newsweek Reports

● When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona.

Here's what the "liberal media" (lol!) says about John McCain:

● Kind of like a Martin Luther [Chris Matthews - Hardball]
● A man of unshakable character, willing to stand up for his convictions [R.W. Apple, NY Times]
● An affable man of zealous, unbending beliefs [Richard Cohen, The Washington Post]
● The hero who still does things his own way [Richard Cohen, The Washington Post]
● Rises above the pack-eloquent, as only a prisoner of war can be [David Nyhan, The Boston Globe]
● The perfect candidate to deal with what challenges we face as a country. [Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC]
● Blunt, unyielding, deploying his principles, what he does do is what he’s always done, play it as straight as possible. [Terry Moran, Nightline]
● Wordly-wise and witty, determined to follow the facts to the exclusion of ideology. [Michael Hirsh, Newsweek]
● Willing to defy his own party and forge compromise. [Michael Hirsh, Newsweek]
● Pragmatic in the service of the national interest, rises to passion when he believes that America’s best values are at stake. [Michael Hirsh, Newsweek]
● The maverick candidate still. [Terry Moran, Nightline]

● The McLaughlin Group: Is The Media Smitten With McCain?

● Nation magazine: Loving John McCain

McCain flip-flops the corporate media is ignoring:

● McCain was against the repeal of Roe v. Wade before he was for it.
● McCain was against torture before he was for it. Really for it.
● McCain was against crazy right-wing preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson before he was for them.
● McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy before he was for them.
● McCain was against shady Bush “Pioneer” Texas billionaire swift-boat financiers before he was for them.
● McCain was for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law before he was against it and began breaking it.
● McCain was against Grover Norquist, whom he called “corrupt, a shill for dictators“ before he was for him.
● McCain was against BJU because of its “hateful,” “racist and cruel” policies before he was for it. ● McCain was against ethanol before he was for ethanol and then he was against it again.
● McCain was against a Martin Luther King holiday before he was for it. …

● Late Edition’s McCain Flip-Flop Flashback

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


● Nice guy! Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must "KISS MY ASS" for my support! I guess they are only in it for themselves!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
● At the Height of an Energy Crisis, Fat-Cat CEOs Still Litter the Skies with Private Jets. The private-jet perk is -- literally and figuratively -- a high-profile sign of an executive reward system out of control.

● OPEC Chief Sees $150-170 Oil in Coming Months

● VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: VINCENT BUGLIOSI: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

● Whistleblower: FISA ‘compromise’ advances police state agenda

● FOX News, right on schedule before the election, has started the reports of voter fraud by the Democratic Party. Eric Shawn interviewed the Alabama Attorney General, Troy King, who claimed people have been selling their votes. While they're in Alabama, why don't they cover the Siegelman case???

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

● Preparing the Battlefield. The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.; by Seymour M. Hersh/New Yorker Magazine

Big Dan's Big News June 29, 2008

How do you work this thing-uh-muh-jig??? Obama shouldn't have his finger on the button...

John McCain: "What's this thing, and how do you use it?"

McCain Staffer: "It's called a 'cellphone', Senator, you talk into it and people hear you."

John McCain: "A 'cell-'...what??? They have 'talkies' now??? I thought Bush 'n the Evangelicals banned stem-cellular research!!! Where am I??? Who's 'Senator McCain'???"

A laugh a minute! Funny news! Senile 71 year old man speaks into dead telephone for half an hour...WHOOPS!

...I mean, "John McCain gives half-hour speech into dead telephone"...now it's not so funny! This guy is running for president! SCAREY SHIT! IF HE HAS HIS HAND ON "THE BUTTON"!!! Hopefully, his hand remains on the button of a dead cellphone and not "the button"!

New Obama campaign strategy: Tell McCain he's president and he can stop campaigning...and give him a dead cellphone to give his acceptance speech... (just kidding)

● Can you hear me now? Bedeviled by a bad cellphone connection, John McCain gives a conference call speech to dead air. But he gets a do-over.

● John McCain: Not so good with the telephone

Christ! If Obama did this, CNN & FOX would interrupt their regular scheduling to cover it 24x7 like "Obama's Pastor"!!!

"Where am I???" Phil Hartman doing Ross Perot's VP Admiral James Stockdale. Dana Carvey as Perot. Too bad Hartman isn't still around, he could do "John McCain on a cellphone"...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Operations outside the knowledge and control of commanders have eroded “the coherence of military strategy,” one general says.

● Phase II of the "Oil Wars": preparing the Battlefield. The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran. by Seymour M. Hersh

● U.S. escalating covert operations against Iran: report
(h/t Sherlock Church)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The California Wild Fires:

Haze from a wildfire covers a scenic view of the Pacific coastline along Highway 1 north of Big Sur, Calif., Friday, June 27, 2008. Fire crews continue to fight the Basin Complex fire, which is burning in the Los Padres National Forest near the coastal town of Big Sur. (picture from Wired Magazine; BlueBear's personal photos are in the link below)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Hundreds of lightning-sparked wildfires have turned the air of Northern California into an unhealthy stew of smoke and ash, forcing the cancellation of athletic events and other outdoor activities.

Health advisories urging residents to stay indoors to limit exposure to the smokey air were issued Saturday from Bakersfield north to Redding, a distance of nearly 450 miles.

Air pollution readings in the region are two to 10 times the federal standard for clean air, said Dimitri Stanich, spokesman for the California Air Resources Board.

Some areas are experiencing the worst air quality on record, with the smoke hanging down to the ground like a fog.

Air quality agencies are especially concerned about small-particle pollution. The tiniest particles can penetrate past the body's immune defenses, traveling deep into the lungs and the bloodstream.

● Smoky skies threaten health in fiery California

BlueBear (or BB2 as he sometimes refers to himself as...) often posts comments on Big Dan's Big Blog. He's from California and has snapped these pictures of the smoke situation he personally has to deal with. Click the link below to see BlueBear's pictures:

● BlueBear's Photo Gallery Pictures of the California Wild Fires' Smoke

Flashback October 2007: Ca. Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger tries to distract reporters from his veto of labelling cloned foods...by dressing as one of his movie characters "Mr. Freeze" from the Batman movies, and claims he put out the 2007 Ca. Wild Fires with his "Freeze Gun":

● After Vetoing Bill To Label Cloned Food, California GOP Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger Addresses Media...Dressed As Mr. Freeze!

Big Dan's Big News June 28, 2008

Above: Dick Cheney's secret meetings with Big Oil execs prior to 9/11.

Is this enough information for you, that the Iraq War was about OIL??? First read what "Peak Oil" is...

● Peak oil

● Cheney's secret meetings with Big Oil executives, long before 9/11

● The White House convinced the Supreme Court to let it keep secret the proceeding's of Cheney's task force, although the Washington Post later revealed most of its activities.

● So Iraq Was About the Oil

● The Rip-Off of Iraq's Oil Wealth

● A TIMELINE OF OIL AND VIOLENCE AFGHANISTAN

● Multinationals, not Iraqis, to reap oil fortune report

● Oil companies eye Iraq reserves

● Secret US plans for Iraq's oil

● Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil

● Bush-Cheney Energy Strategy: Procuring the Rest of the World's Oil

● Maps and Charts of Iraqi Oil Fields (Cheney's energy task force):

● Preparatory measures taken to sell oil in euros (Iran):

● Cheney: "We need to go where the oil is"; Bush: "Do not destroy oil wells"; Saddam a threat to energy supply, Cheney tells vets:

● China lays down gauntlet in energy war

● Q&A: China, Africa, and Oil

● China, Iran sign biggest oil & gas deal

● "the US remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma. Iraq remains a destabilising influence to... the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East" PNAC; "OIL IS MUCH TOO IMPORTANT A COMMODITY TO BE LEFT IN THE HANDS OF THE ARABS." - Henry Kissinger; [Iraqis] know we own their country...It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need. ~U.S. Brig. General William Looney; This is the very reason why all countries have interests in Iran:


● Kucinich: 'We went to war for the oil companies'

Alan Greenspan: “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

● Deals with Iraq are set to bring oil giants back: Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP.

● Oil giants to sign contracts with Iraq. Iraq's oil ministry stepped up talks with BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total after the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, visited Iraq in March, where he also pressed the government to revive efforts to pass the hydrocarbon law that nationalist MPs were blocking. The first contracts are expected to be signed this month. Some 90% of Iraq's budget comes from oil revenues.

● Feast of the Conquerors: Western Oil Barons Return in Triumph to Iraq

● Bush and Cheney clearly went into Iraq primarily in order to put US petroleum firms in precisely this favored position. The US power elite wanted this outcome and connived actively at it. As Alan Greenspan put it, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

The Bush government used our military to go to war for Big Oil companies! And got you to wave a flag while they did it!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie Black, John McCain’s senior adviser, made news earlier this week when Fortune Magazine editor David Whitford reported that Black told him “with startling candor” when asked how a terrorist attack inside the United States would affect the campaign,”Certainly it would be a big advantage to [McCain].”

● 10 Things to Know about Charlie Black


● The evolution of John McCain. As a maverick Senator, he took pride in just saying no to everyone's wish list. But as a presidential contender, he's become a tax cutter and defender of home mortgages. The inside story of how the candidate is shaping his plan to fix the economy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sterling Hayden

"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"
Two not-idiots Karin & Big Dan celebrate K's cancer free for 5+ years! (click to enlarge picture)

Big Dan's Big News June 27, 2008

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has introduced measures to impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, said Thursday that oil executives who secretly met with the vice president in 2001 should be held criminally liable for pushing an illegal war.

"In March of 2001, when the Bush Administration began to have secret meetings with oil company executives from Exxon, Shell and BP, spreading maps of Iraq oil fields before them, the price of oil was $23.96 per barrel. Then there were 63 companies in 30 countries, other than the US, competing for oil contracts with Iraq," the Ohio Democrat said during a speech on the House floor.

"Today the price of oil is $135.59 per barrel, the US Army is occupying Iraq and the first Iraq oil contracts will go, without competitive bidding to, surprise, (among a very few others) Exxon, Shell and BP."

● Kucinich: 'We went to war for the oil companies'

Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

● Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back


Special commentary by Big dan: "The truth is brutal. If you had a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, friend, or relative die in Iraq or Afghanistan, they died for the Bush administration's and PNAC's and Exxon and Big Oil's "Oil War". That's all it was about. They lied and tricked all of us into it, including me! They used 9/11 as a pretext for this oil war of lies. And it's a fact that they had this planned before 9/11. PNAC claimed that a 'Pearl Harbor Like Event' was needed to start this war. And then 9/11 'happened' to come along to speed things up. Ask yourself why right now we're forcing Iraq to sign over their oil to Exxon, Shell, BP, and Total, and what has that got to do with bringing freedom to Iraq? And why isn't this huge story being covered in the corporate-owned media who are part of huge conglomerate companies making huge profits off these wars! And why multi-millionaires like Rush Limbaugh and the corporate media are training you to make fun of truth-tellers like Dennis Kucinich! If you don't watch the video below, you shouldn't be allowed to vote!"

PNAC - Project for a New American Century



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rush Limbaugh politicizes George Carlin's death to promote his "Global Warming is a Hoax" propaganda. Limbaugh had 20 years to bring up this skit so a comedian (not a scientist) could back his argument. Limbaugh waits until Carlin dies to do this, because if he did this while George Carlin was alive, Carlin would've called him a "Big, Fat, Lying Nazi" and told him to "Suck my cock, Limbaugh!" How dare fascist Rush Limbaugh wait until George Carlin dies and then quote him as if he's on his side, and Carlin can't defend himself! George Carlin was the biggest counter-culture anti-war comedian, who absolutely hated people like Rush Limbaugh!

● Rush Limbaugh: "George Carlin Took on the Arrogant, Environmental Left"

Attention Dickheads! Whoops! I mean Dittoheads! Here's the REAL George Carlin:



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEPA

Earlier this week, WILK's Steve Corbett had what he called an "interview" with Republican one-trick-pony anti-illegal-immigration specialist Republican Lou Barletta, who's running against Democratic incumbent Paul Kanjorski. Corbett put up a big "goose egg", a "big fat fart", as far as interviewing skills go. He didn't ask Barletta anything about: health care, Barletta and the Republicans' stance on outlawing not just abortion but birth control, nothing about the Iraq War, nothing about the millions of dollars he cost Hazleton taxpayers with his "5 minutes of national fame" illegal immigration campaign, in fact he didn't ask him anything important. Basically, I think he just let Barletta speak and you can get the same information off Barletta's website. He asked Barletta ZERO challenging questions. Corbett is doing his best to keep the voters dumb. If you're looking for good interviewing skills to bring out the issues to make you a more informed voter, don't look to the Corbett show. Corbett is not radio disc-jockey material. He should've stuck to newspapers, where he was bad...not real bad! Maybe he's throwing the Mexicans under the bus, like he did to women!

Big Dan's Big News June 26, 2008

Joe Lieberman: the new Zell Miller!

Joe Lieberman is a war hawk, plain and simple. He staunchly supports George Bush's War in Iraq and John McCain's plan to stay in Iraq for 100 years. But Lieberman's new alliance with the Republican Party runs even deeper. He has endorsed and stumped for McCain, wants to be the star of the Republican National Convention, and has even served on a 527 group that smeared Obama with a nasty attack ad.

Watch the video below.

And yet Lieberman still holds a top rank within the Senate Democratic Caucus as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Senate Democratic Steering Committee needs to know just how much of a conflict of interest this is. That's why we created Lieberman Must Go.

Here's what you can do: Sign our petition today and tell the Senate Democratic Steering Committee to strip Lieberman of his leadership role in Congress. Then, e-mail this video to everyone you know and spread it on sites like Digg and elsewhere.

Recently in Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall suggested that the best way to limit Lieberman is by encouraging the Steering Committee to render him powerless in 2009. Lieberman must go, and you can make that happen by donating to Brave New Films today.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Team


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


● FISA Vote Tied to Telecom Donations. Supporters of the Spying Bill Received Twice the Contributions as Those Against It...but yet, those same people say it's to "save us from the terrorists"!

● Chris Dodd’s Speech and a Glimmer of Hope for Stopping the FISA Bill; by Glenn Greenwald

● Heat Waves: Burning Off the Fog of the FISA Fiasco

● No One Is Safe (II): FISA Is Only the Prelude to Nightmare

● H.R. 6304 Translated–What the FISA Compromise Really Means (cont)

(couple of thefts from 99)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attention all Dickheads! OOPS! I mean Dittoheads!


● Rush Limbaugh says Global Warming is a "hoax"...

...but wait! In today's paper, U.S. Intel says this: "WASHINGTON - Global warming probably will mean more illegal immigration and humanitarian disasters, undermining shaky governments and possibly expanding the terrorism threat against the U.S., intelligence agencies say."

● U.S. Intel: Climate change linked to national security

Wow! So either Rush Limbaugh and Exxon are lying...or U.S. Intel is lying!

Below: Exxon's "Fat Bastard"...


The best Supreme Court $$$ can buy, let's let them drill in Anwar and on American shores, right? Look at this:

● The Supreme Court handed corporate America a major victory Wednesday when it sharply reduced the amount of money Exxon Mobil has to pay in punitive damages for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. On Wednesday the Supreme Court cut the amount of punitive damages again and ordered Exxon Mobil to pay just $500 million in punitive damages – 1/10th of the original jury’s ruling.


Why is Scalia, and no other Supreme Court Justice (ever), always on TV, in print interviews, etc...always telling us his personal opinions about everything? And why is the corporate media complying with this? And only with Scalia? Anyone find this extremely "out of the ordinary"? Why is he so special to the corporate media?

● The Un-American Lies of Antonin Scalia. It's time the American people fired the man who thinks himself 'too smart for the (Supreme) court'. Scalia has done it again. The architect of Bush v Gore, the disingenuous decision that stuck us with Bush, has stooped to yet another low. Scalia will tell bald faced lies to prop up his bullshit 'opinions'.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Above: Kim Jong Il, leader of North Korea.

Bush's "Axis of Evil" was Iraq, Iran, & North Korea. The only 1 of the 3 with "noo-KEY-lore" weapons is North Korea. They are also the only one with no oil.

● President George W. Bush said Thursday he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

● Anti-War Soldier Jonathan Hutto: People, Not Politicians, Will End the War in Iraq. The author of Antiwar Soldier discusses the GI movement, the election and why "the military needs racism" to fight its wars.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.


● San Francisco may name sewage treatment plant after Bush

Big Dan's Big News June 25, 2008

● Loving John McCain (the corporate media's love affair with McCain)

● Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight .

● Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight. This According to Michael Greenberger, a Former Director of the Gov't Board That Oversees Commodities Trading

● CloseLoopHole.org

● May 19 article: Sen. John McCain says he opposes the $307 billion farm bill because it would dole out wasteful subsidies, but his chief economic adviser Phil Gramm also wants to stop its proposed regulation of energy futures trading, a market that was famously abused when Enron Corp. manipulated California’s electricity prices in 2001. Phil Gramm's wife served on the board of ENRON, btw!

This is what the Iraq War was all about: the U.S. rulers' forcing Iraq to sign over their oil to Big Oil.

● Deals with Iraq are set to bring oil giants back: Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP.

How is McCain connected to big oil and rising gas prices?



● Saved by Senate Republicans, big oil companies dodged an attempt Tuesday to slap them with a windfall profits tax and take away billions of dollars in tax breaks in response to the record gasoline prices that have the nation fuming.

● 50% of gas increase is due to oil speculators, betting on the price of oil, allowed to do so because of an attachment to a bill in 2000 by Texas Republican Phil Gramm, who is now John McCain's campaign advisor.

(The following is from a June 4 post of mine...)


John McCain's campaign co-chair, Phil Gramm, blocked legislation that would have helped US investigators track Osama bin Laden's financial network before 9/11. Also, Gramm had been lobbying for a Swiss bank this spring to head off relief for victims of the mortgage crisis at the same time that he was acting as a leading McCain economic advisor.

This fresh controversy about Gramm arose as McCain was blasting Obama for his promise to talk with Iranian leaders and the Obama campaign was responding that McCain "continues to cling to a foreign policy that's failed to make the U.S. or Israel safer."

"How does McCain run on being tough on Israel's enemies?" Olbermann asked Chris Hayes of The Nation.

● Olbermann: 'McCain's top guy on the economy made it easier for bin Laden'

● MSNBC: McCain economic policy shaped by lobbyist. Swiss bank paid McCain co-chair to push agenda on U.S. mortgage crisis

● Newsweek: For weeks now, John McCain's presidential campaign has faced awkward questions about the outside activities of several top advisers. Add one more name to the list: former Texas senator Phil Gramm, McCain's longtime friend and one of his five campaign co-chairs. (A sixth, former congressman Tom Loeffler, quit recently after NEWSWEEK reported on his lobbying work for Saudi Arabia.)

Countdown: McCain's Lobbyists Ties to Terrorists



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No, this is no joke! This is an actual campaign commercial running in Texas to elect Republican John Cornyn! You will laugh your ass off at this!



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

George Carlin (1937–2008): Legendary Comedian Challenged Status Quo Throughout 50-Year Career

Legendary comedian George Carlin died of heart failure on Sunday evening at the age of seventy-one. Carlin was one of the most well-known comedians of the past fifty years and was widely considered one of the top stand-up comics of all time. We play some of Carlin’s memorable routines and look at his legacy with Richard Zoglin, author of Comedy on the Edge: How Stand-Up in the 1970s Changed America.



The entire Democracy NOW! show on DISH channels 9410 & 9415 and DirecTV channel 275:

Big Dan's Big News June 24, 2008

So, a terrorist attack is good for Republicans and no terrorist attack is good for Republicans! It's good that we haven't been attacked since 9/11, and it's good that Bush was president and didn't keep us safe on 9/11. It's also good for McCain if there's another terrorist attack! It's "all good all the time" for the Republicans!

● McCain strategist: Terrorist attack ‘would be a big advantage’ in election


● Feingold: ‘Farce’ wiretap deal could be hiding ‘impeachable offense’. The “farce” of a surveillance law deal heralded by House Democratic leaders last week could permanently hide evidence of an “impeachable offense” on the part of President Bush, the Wisconsin Democrat said.


● Oversight Committee suggests US embassy involvement in 22-year-old’s sham weapons deal. The US Embassy in Albania approved an effort to conceal the illegal Chinese origin of ammunition provided to troops in Afghanistan under a Pentagon contract by a just-indicted 22-year-old Florida man, according to an investigation by the House Oversight Committee.

Anyone notice that kid looks like Andy Samberg from SNL's current cast???

● The Army's top officer said Friday it will take three to four years to put the Army back in balance after seven years of war.

● Brokers threatened by run on shadow bank system. Regulators eye $10 trillion market that boomed outside traditional banking. A network of lenders, brokers and opaque financing vehicles outside traditional banking that ballooned during the bull market now is under siege as regulators threaten a crackdown on the so-called shadow banking system.

● Gas prices up a dime in 2 weeks. Lundberg survey puts national average at $4.10. Drivers are feeling the burden - paying more than twice what they paid a year ago.

● Oil Speculators: Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday said as president he would strengthen government oversight of energy traders he blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil.

● James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

● Bush 'war crimes conference' to convene in Mass., plan prosecution of admin. officials. On September 13-14, 2008, Lawrence Velvel, the dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, plans to convene a 'convention' at the school's facilities; the attendees of which will plan strategies to prosecute members of the Bush administration for war crimes.

● Reporters Say Networks Put Wars on Back Burner

● Unlike the attack on Iraq five years ago, to deal with Iran there need be no massing of troops. And, with the propaganda buildup already well under way, there need be little, if any, forewarning before shock and awe and pox – in the form of air and missile attacks – begin. This time it will be largely the Air Force's show, punctuated by missile and air strikes by the Navy. Israeli-American agreement has now been reached at the highest level; the armed forces planners, plotters and pilots are working out the details. Emerging from a 90-minute White House meeting with President George W. Bush on June 4, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the two leaders were of one mind: "We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat. I left with a lot less question marks [than] I had entered with regarding the means, the timetable restrictions, and American resoluteness to deal with the problem. George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on that matter before the end of his term in the White House." Does that sound like a man concerned that Bush is just bluff and bluster?

Democracy NOW! DISH channels 9410 & 9415, DirecTV channel 275:

Is Israel Preparing to Bomb Iran?

The New York Times reported Friday that Israel recently carried out a major military exercise that Pentagon officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter planes took part in the maneuvers over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmmmmm....funny I didn't see this in the corporate-owned media:

The U.S. Conference of Mayors, meeting in Miami, adopted a resolution this morning in support of single-payer national health insurance.

The assembly, in unanimous vote, backed a resolution calling for the enactment of the “United States National Health Insurance Act,” H.R. 676. The bill, which is also known as the “Improved and Expanded Medicare for All Act,” is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and 90 other members of Congress.

● U.S. Conference of Mayors Backs Single-Payer National Health Insurance


(click on picture to enlarge)

There was very little coverage on this single payer health care for all rally in Wilkes-Barre. Keep an eye on Northeast PA Organizing Center: Single Payer Health Care for all Pennsylvanians for more upcoming rallies and protests for health care coverage for all! And visit HealthCare4AllPa for even more information! Next time, I'm going to make it a point to be at the rally now that I know about this, thanks to an email from a Wilkes University student...thanks for pointing this out to me! I'm on it! I'm going in! And I'm towing my posse with me! And I'm very happy to see college students interested in those in need, namely people without health care coverage or lousy/expensive health care coverage where you don't even want to use it! It takes a big person to be concerned about others. Not like those who have great health coverage and don't think about anyone else. The Northeast PA Organizing Center and Health Care 4 ALL PA links go up on the Big Links on the right of my blog under NEPA! Go, man, go!

Big Dan's Big News June 23, 2008

Died for nothing...well, actually for oil...(not "the terrorists"). Did you have a family member who died in Iraq or Afghanistan? Or do you know somebody who died there? The U.S. unelected rulers are forcing the Iraqi's to sign over their oil to the Oil Barons in an "agreement" that is ASTOUNDINGLY not being covered in the corporate owned media. The same media that is making huge war profits. That's all this war was about. Otherwise, what would this "agreement" have to do with the Iraq War supposedly bringing them freedom and democracy? And the Republicans, the party of Bush & Cheney, just blocked a bill in congress to penalize Big Oil for gouging us! They have their millionaire spokesman Rush Limbaugh scaring you about "the terrorists" so you don't know about this! So, they still want offshore drilling so the Oil Barons can take us over, too!

Alan Greenspan: “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

● Deals with Iraq are set to bring oil giants back: Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP.

● Oil giants to sign contracts with Iraq. Iraq's oil ministry stepped up talks with BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total after the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, visited Iraq in March, where he also pressed the government to revive efforts to pass the hydrocarbon law that nationalist MPs were blocking. The first contracts are expected to be signed this month. Some 90% of Iraq's budget comes from oil revenues.

● Feast of the Conquerors: Western Oil Barons Return in Triumph to Iraq

● Bush and Cheney clearly went into Iraq primarily in order to put US petroleum firms in precisely this favored position. The US power elite wanted this outcome and connived actively at it. As Alan Greenspan put it, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”



The rich American Billionaires' millionaire spokespeople, William "the Bloody" Kristol lower left. None of these people would fight, they only speak for billionaires who won't fight either, but have hijacked our military to line their pockets with even more money, war profiteers. Fascism has finally won! These people are paraded on TV as "experts", pushing the billionaires' war and telling you you're a good Patriotic American if you wave your flag and believe them!

Knowing all of the above, that the Iraq War was about oil, we have from the fascists' media base FOX "news", neo-con fascist William Kristol egging on a war with Iran, which will also be about oil. Oh, they won't tell you that's the reason, just like they did with Iran! They'll say it's "the terrorists"! Rush Limbaugh will say, "They're keeping you safe". How long are you going to fall for this? How do you feel about this if you have friends or family in the military?

● Kristol: Bush might attack Iran if he thinks Obama will win

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

● From Glory Boy to PW Songbird. John McCain: War Hero or North Vietnam's Go-To Collaborator?

● Vietnamese radio propagandists made good use out of McCain. On June 4, 1969, a U.S. wire service headlined a story entitled "PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral.” .

● Mad Men: Pathology, Pretense and Power. We don't say too much about John McCain around here, for the same basic reason that we don't talk a lot about Osama bin Laden: a dislike of wasting people's time by belaboring the obvious.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Counter-culture and anti-war: George Carlin...watch the video below, you probably won't see it in any of the corporate media tributes.

● Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

George Carlin: "The American Dream." America is a club...and you ain't in it! The American Dream is called a dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it!



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Food Towers or Sky Farming

Why vertical farms? Cities like New York City can take up very little horizontal space and produce its own food, control it, and not have to have it shipped in. Job creation for people to work in them. Food is sold fresh, ripe off the vine.

● Futurama Farming in New York

● Vertical Farming – The Future of Agriculture?

● South Street Seaport: Some Fresh Food With Your Towers?

● The Vertical Farm Essay by Dickson Despommier, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University

● VerticalFarm.com

● Food, Fuel and Farming: the Sky's the Limit

● Lots of great pictures here! Vertical Farm Designs

Big Dan's Big News June 22, 2008

bd: This is what I've been saying! The Bush administration, McCain, and all the other high-profile Republicans are not "conservatives". Here's 2 op-ed's by conservative icon George Will, one siding with the constitution and giving Habeus Corpus to prisoners and against McCain and the Bush administration and their "Fascist Four" Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Scalia. And another one admonishing McCain for wanting to continue a 3rd term of Bush making the executive branch into an all too powerful monarchy. Remember! These so-called "conservatives" wanted limited government...until THEY got in power! Maybe George Will is "against the troops", "with the terrorists", and all their other fascist phrases to smear those for the constitution and against these criminals! The continuing growth of REAL conservatives questioning these Republicans in sheep's clothing that took over their party. I have discovered, that I can depend on REAL conservatives for a lot of my ammo I post on this site against the criminals and thugs now ruling the Republican Party

Thank you, George Will!

● McCain, co-author of the McCain-Feingold law that abridges the right of free political speech, has referred disparagingly to, as he puts it, "quote 'First Amendment rights.' " Now he dismissively speaks of "so-called, quote 'habeas corpus suits.' " He who wants to reassure constitutionalist conservatives that he understands the importance of limited government should be reminded why the habeas right has long been known as "the great writ of liberty."

● BY GEORGE F. WILL: McCain's Question Time. Most improvements make matters worse because most new ideas are regrettable, including this not-quite-new one from John McCain's speech depicting how improved America will be after four years of him: "I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the prime minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons." .

● Attention conservatives! The Republicans need some MORE of your tax $$$...a couple more BILLION!!! (don't worry, it's because they're saving us from the terrorists...)

● More Billions of your tax money...SPENT SECRETLY! Secret Pentagon Funding Near All-Time High. The latest Pentagon budget request contains a near record high level of money for classified, or "black" programs, reports the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Fiscal year 2009 includes a whopping $34 billion to fund classified weapons purchases and development, though it is not the highest level ever.


Actions speak louder than party! Obama is the conservative on this one! Obama against government in cooperation with giant telecom corporations spying on us! Of course, the FAKE "conservatives will say, "We'll give up our liberties...cuz of the terrorists!" The Republicans have used "terrorism" and 9/11 as an excuse for ALL their anti-American legislation! Ever see the movie, "V For Vendetta"? Personally, I'd rather fight the terrorists over HERE, than over THERE! By "them", I mean the fascists in our own government and these corporations!

● Obama: I’ll Fight To Strip Telecom Immunity From FISA

● Newsweek poll: Obama leads McCain by 15 points


I suppose this major general is also "for the terrorists"! Everyone against Bush is "for the terrorists", the Straw Man Argument!

“Major General Taguba’s comments confirm my long standing assertion that President Bush and Vice President Cheney have committed war crimes in violation of the War Crimes Act, Section 18 of U.S.Code § 2441. Commission of war crimes is an impeachable offense,” Kucinich said.

In the preface to a recently released report by the Physicians for Human Rights on the potential criminality of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’, Major General Taguba writes:

“After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes.

The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who
ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

● Kucinich: Major General Taguba’s Comments Add Weight to articles of impeachment

● Keeping America Safe: Prosecuting Children as Terrorists. President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and the rest of the warmongers and terror-pimps in the White House would have us believe that Omar Khadr is a monster. Khadr is the 21-year-old Canadian who is facing one of the first show-trials at Guantanamo.

● SETON HALL LAW REPORT: DEPT. OF DEFENSE DATA REVEALS NO RELEASED GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEE EVER ATTACKED ANY AMERICANS; Dept of Defense’s own data rebuts Justice Scalia’s claim that 30 former GTMO detainees ‘returned to the battlefield’

● Ex-State Dept. official: Hundreds of detainees died in U.S. custody, at least 25 murdered.»

● Jeb Bush And His Cronies Have Big Plans for Govt.-Funded Religious Schools in Florida. Religious school scheme backed by the former Fla. governor has provoked a church-state showdown with national ramifications. (bd: This is FINE...as long as we start taxing them! No separation of church & state here!


● Why We're Suddenly Paying Through the Nose for Gas. Oil companies, speculators and OPEC played their part, but ruinous Bush Administration policies have compounded the crisis.

Not covered by the national corporate media: June 19th protest for single-payer national health insurance (hospitals are corporations, for-profit corporations, and so are health insurance companies):

● Today we're fighting Murder By Spreadsheet on the streets of San Francisco

● California Nurses Association for single-payer national health coverage for all!

● The Courage Campaign

● Help us get this TV ad on the air in San Francisco in the next 48 hours