I'm not exactly sure what (former?) chief economic advisor to the McCain campaign Phil Gramm would say nowadays about his pal John's current situation, but I wouldn't be surprised if it included the word 'whiney'.

The only thing more egregious than the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune pummeling any Republican candidate for president in 2008 is the bunglingly inept campaign of a guy who's been in politics forever, and even run for president once before.

No small part of the campaign's ineptness is its predicate, either. McCain sold his soul eight years ago, when he let Rove bugger him like some mere Democrat, spreading rumors in South Carolina about the old man's sanity and about how his adopted daughter from Bangladesh is actually a love child from a liaison with a black woman. It was lame enough that McCain didn't just let loose and open a can of whoop-ass on Bush during the subsequent debate (which might have gotten him the nomination, given how much terrified GOP primary voters appreciate violent tendencies in their politicians), but then it just got worse, as the defeated war hero later traipsed around the country campaigning for the victorious war avoider. And then it got even worse yet at the convention in 2004, as McCain fawned all over Bush and ever since has gone to the wall supporting the Iraq debacle, transparently the worst foreign policy cock-up in American history, and somewhat less transparently its greatest crime.

There's a debate in the media about the recession. On the right are those who say that the economy has never been better. Not so fast, says the official left: we've (just) started a recession.

Phil Gramm, McCain's former economic advisor, leads the School of Sunny Optimism. "This is a mental recession," said Gramm. "We may have a recession, we haven't had one yet. We have sort of become a nation of whiners." Given his day job, you have to admire his attitude. UBS Investment Bank, which employs Gramm as its vice chairman, was recently forced to write off $38 billion in bad debts because of its exposure to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. All its profits since 2004 have been wiped out.

Listening to the endless stream of cars passing my house every day, and knowing, from watching them from my mailbox, that they are almost all carrying just one person, either commuting to work or running some kind of errand, I know we are headed for disaster.

Two days ago, there was a report by Agence France Presse about the ongoing destruction of the world's remaining wetlands (60 percent have already been destroyed by man over the past century), and how they contain within them an amount of stored carbon equal to all the carbon currently in the atmosphere. Global warming and property development are drying out those remaining wetlands, causing the release of that carbon, which will more than negate even the most radical efforts at reducing carbon emissions from power plants, factories and automobiles.

Better than explain the inartful headline, it would be better to read the complete statement issued by Talk Radio Network (posted below*) - the company who owns Michael Savage's radio show - that lays out their defense of Savage's inartful comments about Autistic children. Don't be surprised if Savage or his Network claim that the complete, unedited statement has been taken out of context or cut and pasted for your pleasure. It seems that argument applies to anything that exposes any of the broadcast Lords of Loud by printing/playing their actual words...in context and unedited...artfully.

TRN's CEO, Mark Masters investigated what they're calling "84 seconds of commentary concerning autism" by asking Savage what he meant, wherein Savage "explained the circumstances and intent of his statements in considerable detail."

The House Judiciary Committee today, Friday, July 25th, will put impeachment squarely back "on the table" and restored to its prominent place in our Constitution.

Elliott Adams, President of Veterans for Peace, and a descendant of American revolutionary Sam Adams, will deliver this prepared testimony, in which, if his 5 minutes allow him to reach his conclusion, he will say:

"For us veterans, when our time came, we volunteered our very lives for this republic; for the principle of freedom for all, for equal opportunity for all, to defend the Constitution and the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and to guarantee the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, Congressmen, it is your time, and I hear there is not enough time! Now is your time, and I hear it will not be good for one party or the other party! Now is your time, and I hear there is not enough political will around you! When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence they were not worried about political will, or how much time there was, or about any parties' political future, they were just worried they were going to be hanged by the neck. But they did what was right. Now it is your time to standup. Einstein said - 'The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.'"

The peace movement was moving full-throttle during the primary season to confront the presidential candidates on the war, and can take credit for helping to shift the momentum from Hillary Clinton -- who voted for the invasion of Iraq -- to Barack Obama -- who opposed the invasion. And we have certainly contributed to the momentous shift on the need for a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. We have also moved into high gear to prevent a war with Iran, and so far, have been holding our ground on that front.

But in Afghanistan the peace movement has been missing in action. This has come back to hit us in the face during Barack Obama's Middle East trip, where he called for sending 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan. John McCain, not to be one-upped in putting our young men and women in harm's way, is also calling for an escalation of the Afghan war.

Two weeks ago, I met with my friend Tom Geoghegan, the single best writer and thinker on labor issues in America, and a guy who should be a leading choice for Secretary of Labor in a Democratic administration. I turned our conversation into my newspaper column this week, which you can read here.

Tom, a longtime labor lawyer and author, has come up with a six-word way to re-balance the American economy - a stroke of genius that asserts the major problem for workers is that the New Deal lashes their union rights to a labyrinthine federal bureaucracy in Washington. His proposal subtly challenges the theory behind the Employee Free Choice Act by suggesting that no matter how much wee reform the National Labor Relations Board and union elections - admirable goals - we have to go much farther by giving workers the legal tools to defend themselves, regardless of who is at the NLRB or in the White House.

Some men sacrificed their sons for their nation. George Herbert Walker Bush sacrificed his nation for his son.

In a July 15th appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, Barack Obama announced that as President he would seek the foreign policy counsel of former President Bill Clinton, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, former Bush Sr. Secretary of State, James Baker, former Bush Sr. National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft, and former George W. Bush Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Below are the video and text of Obama's pronouncement:

There is one more John McCain gaffe that the media missed from the now famous CBS interview with Katie Couric.

This is the same interview in which McCain claimed the surge led to the Anbar Awakening, which is demonstrably false. But watch below for another gaffe when McCain says Iraq was the first major conflict after 9/11.

Since I'm usually one of the last people in the country to get my copy of the New Yorker (well, it sure seems like it), I'm aware of any excitement or controversy the new issue has generated long before the magazine actually lands in my mailbox.

So I was hardly shocked at the cover of the July 21 New Yorker when I finally saw it -- Barack, Michelle, Osama, the burning flag, the AK-47. Of course it's satire, as editor David Remnick has been forced to explain a few times since the issue whacked America in the face. I also saw the problem with it. Satire normally creates acute discomfort for those it is targeting, but this cover managed to wound only those who had already been wounded.

Dear TruthOut, OpEd News, Lone Star Iconoclast, Common Dreams, Black Commentator, Smirking Chimp, Counterpunch and Novekeo:

I just called the Congressional Press Gallery to see if I had been credentialed to cover the Denver and Minneapolis conventions. I hadn't been. That wasn't really a big surprise. But then I started asking the press gallery rep if any of the online progressive news services that I write for -- even occasionally -- might have gotten credentialed so that perhaps I could go to the conventions on their coat-tails instead. "What about OpEd News?" I asked. No.

"TruthOut maybe? Counterpunch? The Black Commentator?" Nope, nope, nope.

Last Wednesday, at an improvised press conference, George Bush gave what might have been the most comical performance of his eight year presidency. Looking like the skipper on the flight-deck of the Hindenburg, Bush tried his best to reassure the public that "all's well" with the economy and that everyone's deposits were perfectly safe in the rapidly disintegrating US banking system. Leaning lazily on the presidential podium, Bush shrugged his shoulders and said,

“My hope is that people take a deep breath and realize that their deposits are protected by our government. We're not seeing the growth we’d like to see, but the financial system is basically sound."

"It's a free country."

How often do you hear someone say that phrase? Or, does this lyric ring a bell: "I'm proud to be an American/ where at least I know I'm free." You can never go broke selling something if you put the words "freedom," "liberty," or "American" in it. Just look at the "A" section of the yellow pages. Throw "extreme" in there if you want to sell to anyone under the age of 25. I'm waiting to pass the kiosk in the mall selling american extreme freedom liberty cell phones.

It's funny that we live in times when we're thumping our chests proclaiming how free and American we are while at the same time surrendering every inch of what that really means. Not just because the Department of Homeland Security solicited proposals from companies for shock bracelets for people traveling on airlines, in order to stun potential terrorists, not to mention the lady in row 23 who won't tell her annoying kid to sit down, shut up, and stop pounding on the backs of the seats.

During the week of July 20th, Barack Obama visited Afghanistan, Iraq, and several other countries, strengthening his claim to be commander-in-chief material. John McCain spent the same period firing off a barrage of negative ads and comments: "Obama would rather lose a war than an election." The Arizona Senator fears Obama is stealing the issue of national security.

When likely voters are queried about perception of the two candidates, Obama bests McCain in all but one category: by a 46 to 40 percent margin, respondents see the Arizona Senator as being the more "strong and decisive leader." Eighty percent of those queried saw McCain prepared to be "commander in chief of the military," whereas only 55 percent thought Obama was. McCain's strong suit is his alleged national security experience.

Yesterday on his Radio Factor, Bill O'Reilly tried as hard as he could to
come up with something that proved the case those dang smear sites were
making. That the Fox News channel is racist. He even brought on the
ever brilliant, albeit Fox News consultant, Prof. Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a
real live African-American, to try to help him.

Problem is, Bill nor Prof. Hill ever looked at the "Fox's Quarterback"
(Bill's own egoless designation) himself.

In one of the most incendiary columns ever written, "Race And The Presidential Election,"

So, just how many wrong wars are the American people supposed to fight? Here we've got a president that criminally deceived us into making war on Iraq and who is now trying to plunge us into another criminal venture against Iran!

If you swallowed the Bush lie he struck Iraq based on faulty CIA analysis doesn't his motivation become clear when he rejects the new National Intelligence Estimate's report that told him there is no basis for attacking Iran?

By rejecting it, Bush proves he'll wage war no matter what his intelligence agencies tells him! He's been telling Iran to "come clean" when he's neck deep in what comes out of the hind end of a Texas longhorn.

Four years ago, I placed a bumper sticker on my car emblazoned "Howard Dean for America." It is still there. Other stickers have come and gone since then, but the "Howard Dean for America" sticker remains.

I received the sticker after making a donation to Dean's 2004 presidential effort, the first and only time I've given my credit card number to a political campaign. I felt strongly enough about Dean to allow his campaign to deduct money from my credit card for the next six months. It was a small price to pay for freedom from the suffocating status quo represented by other candidates at the time.

In Andrea Miller Virginia's fourth Congressional district has the opportunity to replace a Cheney Republican with a real progressive, and the first African American our state would ever have chosen to represent us in Congress. Here's a race that can make a difference not just in the head-count for the two increasingly indistinguishable parties, but in what actually happens in Washington.

I know Andrea. She's a leader and she pulls no punches. She would energize the progressive caucus and the black caucus or start her own caucus. She would put her money - our money - where her mouth is. If she gets elected to end a war, she won't turn around and borrow a trillion dollars from our grandkids to fund it. If she sees an impeachable offense, she will introduce an article of impeachment without asking anyone's permission. As long as we do not yet have single-payer health coverage, she will push with everything she has to make it happen. And nobody could have bribed her into shredding our Fourth Amendment.

This country is in a healthcare crisis today -- but we're not thinking enough about tomorrow either. Here are seven trends to watch, starting with the short-term and ending with what may seem more like science-fiction.

The seven trends are: Doctors leaving the public system, a shortfall in primary care, underutilization of medical treatment, "superbugs," virtual health care, climate change, and radical self-redesign and enhancement.

1. Doctors Leaving the Public System: Medicare dodged a bullet when Congress stopped a substantial pay cut for physicians this month. But doctors continue to leave the Medicare system -- in Texas, in Washington State, in Tennessee, and elsewhere. And many doctors already limit the number of Medicaid patients they accept. Shortages will become more acute as SCHIP and other reforms (hopefully) increase the number of Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and they'll hit lower-income and minority communities first and hardest.

Every now and then I am fortunate enough to communicate with someone who has near complete insight into our political process, why things happen and where it seems likely to be headed. Recently I received this analysis from a high powered political consultant whose name is withheld for obvious reasons. He/she has to live and work in the political world and for either party. In any case, I found it breathtaking in its fundamental analysis and its clarity -- clarity being no easy thing to accomplish is the swamp of media-consumerism-politics. Here it is:
-- Joe Bageant

Much has been written by political pundits in their attempt to explain the unexpected victory of Senator Barack Obama over Senator Hillary Clinton in this year's Democratic Presidential Primary. When looking at the results of this race, none of the conventional political math that would help one handicap the outcome would make one conclude that Senator Obama would win this contest.

One thing has been driving me crazy about this drilling debate -- everyone seems to assume that if we drill for oil in the US, that we will get the oil. And hence, we won't be dependent on foreign oil anymore. But we won't get anything, Exxon-Mobil will.

The oil that comes from that drilling will not be United States property (Republicans aren't suggesting we nationalize the oil companies, are they?). It will be the property of whichever oil company got the rights to that contract. They can then sell it to whoever they like -- and they will. They will sell it on the world market, so the Chinese will have just as much access to the oil that comes out of the coast of Florida as we will.

(To see photos from the Green Zone -- a monument to Saddam, the press room at CPIC, reporters at a press conference before they all packed up and ran off to Afghanistan and the Iraqi parliament meeting at the convention center next door to CPIC, go to my blog.)

****

I figure that with Afghanistan getting all the top news focused on it these days, all those crowds of TV crews and MSM journalists that follow the action will be hanging around Bagram and Kabul right now, and so if I go over to Baghdad instead, I will have the entire Combined Press Information Center in the Green Zone all to myself. Plus if I went over to Iraq right now, I could send some more accurate dispatches back to poor sweet be-nighted John McCain, who needs all the help he can get.

John McCain, presumably advised by Karl Rove and definitely imitating the politics of George Bush, is now saying that Barack Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election.

This is a defamation; this is a slander; this is a lie. McCain should apologize to Obama. This is the latest in a long list of cheap-shot, low-blow politics. McCain has learned nothing about why the American people are rejecting the Republicans and why the Republican brand has been compared to the appeal of defective dog food.

This morning, right-wing former congressman Joe Scarborough essentially said that Keith Olbermann is "too stupid to be on television."

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has caught some flak for proposing, in an address to the American Enterprise Institute, that Congress should declare war on Al Qaeda.

Instead, he should be applauded for his brilliant idea.

First of all, Mukasey is admitting, whether he wants to admit it or not, that the Bush/Cheney program of capturing alleged terrorists and holding them for years as enemy combatants without charge in detention centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and various undisclosed locations around the globe, and of torturing many of them, are illegal actions that violate US law and International Law. So let's give him credit for that.

— from Truthdig

Barack Obama is betraying his promise of change and is in danger of becoming just another political hack.

Yes, just like former maverick John McCain, who has refashioned himself as a mindless rubber stamp for the most inane policies of the miserably failed Bush administration. Both candidates are embracing, rather than challenging, the fundamental irrationality of Bush's "war on terror," which substitutes hysteria for rational analysis in appraising the dangers the country faces.