http://www.aflcio.org/...

Excerpts from the AFL-CIO website, with much more at the link:

"McCain ‘Would Negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with Almost Any Country.’ "If I were president, I would negotiate a free trade agreement with almost any country." (Speech to National Press Club, 5/20/99)

Rising Chinese Trade Deficits Resulted in 2.1 Million Displaced Jobs. "The rise in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 1997 and 2006 has displaced production that could have supported 2,166,000 U.S. jobs....Between 1997 and 2001, trade deficits displaced an average of 101,000 jobs per year.... Since China entered the WTO in 2001, job loss has increased to an average of 353,000 per year." ("Costly Trade With China," Economy Policy Institute, 10/9/07)

McCain Believes Human Rights Should Have No Bearing on MFN Trading Status. According to Project Vote Smart, McCain does not think a country’s record on human rights should have any bearing on awarding Most Favored Nation trading status. (Project VoteSmart, 1998)"

http://barackthevalley.com/...

The above photos were taken by a professional photographer, Dean Hawkey, of Obama's surprise visit to Downtown Bethlehem PA yesterday.  Click on each photo to enlarge it.

Here's excerpts of his well-written account, which he sent out by email:

"Whether you were in the right vein of gossip or not to hear that a celebrity had planned a last minute walk in the streets of Historic Bethlehem today, it doesn't matter. Apparently, one person told someone and that was just too big of news to just keep secret.

Yes, Barack was planning on taking an afternoon stroll. But shhh!!!! it is a secret! Try to tell an Obama supporter that they can't show their pride! Yeah that didn't work so well.

Barack stepped out onto the streets of Historic downtown Bethlehem.  From that moment on he was shaking hands, cracking jokes, consoling crying women that were explaining how much he has brought hope back into their lives. One woman that wanted a picture of her baby so bad that even though the baby screamed before it even saw Barack, she had to have that shot. "

I found this over at http://www.democraticunderground.com...
in a post by EffieBrown

This Week with George Stephanopoulos, May 13, 2007:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You have a very cool style when you're doing those town meetings where you're out on the campaign trail, and I wonder, how much of that is tied to your race?

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: That's interesting.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: One of your friends told "The New Yorker" magazine that the mainstream is just not ready for a fire-breathing black man so do you turn down the temperature on purpose?

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: You know, I don't think it has to do with race. I think it has to do with when I'm campaigning I'm in a conversation, and what I don't do when I'm campaigning is to try to press a lot of hot buttons and use a lot of cheap applause lines because I want people to get a sense of how I think about this process, I want them to have some ability to walk through with me the difficult choices that we face.

http://blog.pennlive.com/...

Obama announced plans for what his campaign is calling a five-day "On Track for Change" Tour that starts with town hall meetings Friday in Erie and Williamsport and end with a rally on Independence Mall in Philadelphia that night.

On Saturday, the Pennsylvania tour continues as Obama boards a train from Philadelphia for an old fashioned whistle-stop tour across southeastern Pennsylvania that will end in Harrisburg.

That would have him travelling along the Main Line and to Lancaster and then Harrisburg.  The Mayor of Lancaster is a vocal supporter of Obama, so I would expect a major stop there.  

For more details as they become released in the future, go to:

http://blog.pennlive.com/...

Obama was interviewed this morning on the main Phila. talk radio station (WPHT) by Michael Smerconish, a Republican who has appeared on national shows on MSNBC and Bill Maher.  It was a very positive interview.

http://www.philly.com/...

Obama, Smerconish talk church, bin Laden
By Peter Mucha, Philadelphia Inquirer

"This is not a crackpot church," the Democratic presidential candidate said of Trinity United Church of Christ. ". . . This is a pillar of the community, and if you go there on Easter, this Easter Sunday, and you sat down there in the pew, you would think this is just like any other church."  Obama told WPHT host Michael Smerconish these isolated excerpts give a distorted picture.

Obama was a Constitutional Law Professor at the University of Chicago for 10 years.  Here is an essay from a fellow law professor who knows him well.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...

Excerpts:

"The Obama I know:  Terrific listener goes wherever reason takes him

By Cass R. Sunstein, Professor of Law, University of Chicago

March 14, 2008

Not so long ago, the phone rang in my office. It was Barack Obama... he had an important topic to discuss: the controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance of international telephone calls between Americans and suspected terrorists...Before taking a public position, Obama wanted to talk the problem through... he and I investigated the legal details. He asked me to explore all sorts of issues: the president's power as commander in chief, the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Authorization for Use of Military Force and more."

There is a real shortage of Obama signs and stickers. Its time to print your own.  Here are some sites with materials that you can download for free and print yourself.

http://tomwfox.wordpress.com/...

http://www.changethethought.com/...

http://rebootwashington.org/...

Here's downloads to make your own tshirts by using an iron on, and make stickers by printing the logo on sticker back paper.

http://plushgraphics.com/...

I just received a hand-written letter from Don Siegelman, America's number one political prisoner.  

He has not been allowed to speak to the press, has not been allowed access to the internet, and has had only limited contact with his attorneys.  He was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in Federal prison, with no ability to post bail during the appeal.  His trial was 8 months ago, but the Feds did not produce a transcript until today, so he has not been able to file an appeal.

Here's what Don wrote:

"Thank you for your uplifting words!  Karl Rove (and others) must be held responsible for perverting our country's sense of right and wrong must be held accountable.  

The U.S. House must hold Rove in contempt, and then go to court to enforce the citation.

Congress must seek the truth.  Rove's documents, emails and phone records will prove his abuse of power and misuse of the Department of Justice for political purposes.

Please write Congress to encourage them to take the next important steps to the truth.

- Don.

Go to www.donsiegelman.org "  

http://www.democraticunderground.com...

The above post is a link to a great map prepared by the New York Times that shows each county won by Obama vs. Clinton.  It adds real meaning to the geography, showing for instance that Obama won the populated areas of Northern Calif. while Clinton won southern Calif (which are more Latino).

Obama youthful appearance can be deceiving.  He is now 46, and would be 47 when he takes office.  That is a year older than Bill Clinton was when he took office.  When they became president, John Kennedy was 43 and  Teddy Roosevelt was 42.  Robert Kennedy was 43 in 1968 when he won all but one of the primaries he entered.

We have a choice that is similar to 1960 - between idealistic John Kennedy vs. entrenched politician Lyndon Johnson.  Our choice is also similar to 1968 - between energetic and caring Robert Kennedy or sleep-enducing Hubert Humphrey.  

Do we widen the party and motivate the young, or do we stick with the same rhetoric?

Right now, Hillary is way ahead in delegates - not because she earned that many more delegates from votes by the public, but mainly because she has spent years lining up politicans and party officials who serve as "superdelegates."  She has about 11% of the total delegates she needs (236 vs. 2025), while Obama is at about 5%.

http://www.philly.com/...

This article was published on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  It is about 57 year old Paul McHale, who served as a Democrat in the US House during the late 1990s, after defeating an entrenched arch-conservative.  McHale could have held that seat for life, but did not run for re-election to REALLY spend more time with his family.  

McHale is now US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security.  At his own request, he recently went back into active duty in the Marines to serve a tour of duty in Afghanistan.  McHale in the early 1990s resigned his seat in the PA. State House to volunteer for active duty service during the first Gulf War.

http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/

Last night, while listening to NPR, I almost drove off the road.  NPR reporter Guy Raz had a story about Bush going to the Pentagon to attack the Dems for not quickly approving all the tens of billions for the Iraq occupation that he wants without any conditions.

Raz then made this stunning statement:

"The President is popular with the military. As he walked down one of the Pentagon famously long corridors uniformed men and women shouted and applauded; some snapped pictures. Many of them agree with the President's argument that support for the troops requires unconditional Congressional funding for the war."

So let's see, some people who are not serving in Iraq applauded.  Some people who are lined up for future high-paying jobs with bloated defense contractors applauded.  Therefore, it is a statement of fact that the military supports Bush and wants Congress to approve endless war with no conditions and no attempt to start to leave.

Has he actually talked to anyone who recently served in Iraq?

Just when you thought he had crawled back under a rock on K Street. Ricky Sphintorum is back, writing a new regular column for the Phila. Inquirer - the largest paper in PA. The announcement was greeted with a number of letters to the editor that basically said: We defeated this guy in a landslide. What makes you think we want to read anything he has to say?

In the column, Santorum neglected to mention any of the media quotes involving man on dog sex or the new widely accepted definition of Santorum (if there are no children in the room, google "santorum" with "definition").

http://www.philly.com/...

Excerpts are below.

The following website has a great collection of quotes about war, peace, protest and lunacy. Here's some of the highlights:

http://www.usresolve.org/...

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." George W. Bush

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." George W. Bush

"The reason we start a war is to fight a war, win a war, thereby causing no more war." George W. Bush

"Our nation is somewhat sad, but we’re angry. There’s a certain level of blood lust, but we won’t let it drive our reaction. We’re steady, clear-eyed and patient, but pretty soon we’ll have to start displaying scalps." George W. Bush

(P.S. - Sarah Silverman described the character on her TV show as being "arrogantly ignorant." I think that describes our President.)

http://www.post-gazette.com/...

The above article describes some of the secrets that are being revealed about Richard Mellon Scaife.  He is the billionaire who provided much of the funding in the 1990s for attacks on Bill Clinton.  Scaife also provided the funding for many right wing "think" tanks and for right wing pundits on national TV.

He is now undergoing a divorce.  The article talks about his cheating on his wife, his taxes and his finances. When his wife peaked into the windows of his house to try to catch him cheating with another woman, he had his own wife arrested for trespassing and thrown in jail for the night.

 

http://www.npr.org/...

NPR had a story yesterday about a seriously wounded US soldier. You would expect that a wounded soldier at a minimum would have basic expenses covered. However, because of bureacratic debacles, his family is stuck with $100,000 in expenses. The solider will probably never be able to work. His wife had to quit a high paying job to care for him. They probably will lose their ranch. And to top it off, the Army is refusing to pay him his enlistment bonus because he was wounded and didn't finish his term. Even his regular military pay has not been received because of a SNAFU. Here is an excerpt:

"Four months after Army Spc. Ronald Hinkle left his ranch and family in Colorado to serve his country in Iraq, he was injured in an IED blast. He now suffers from a traumatic brain injury and is unable to think clearly. He suffers from seizures and cannot be left alone.

http://news.independent.co.uk/...

Just when you thought the news from Iraq couldn't get any worse. While attention is focused on the Cheney-Bush manly surge, a large dam is in danger of "imminent collapse."  The dam threatens to release a wall of floodwaters onto a city of 1.7 million people.  I just imagine King George saying "No one could have predicted that the dam would collapse."  

A brilliant satire is now available on DVD. I found it at Blockbuster. It is CSA - Confederate States of America. It is a brilliant satire of about what the US would be like today if the South had won "the war of Northern aggression" and had taken over the north.

The movie at times is hilarious, and at other times is disturbing.

The film is set up like a historical documentary, with inspiration from Ken Burn's films.