Looks like the fix is really in with the corporate lobbyists and the big wig Dems... From ABC News Web Page

ABC Reporter Arrested

DENVER--Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Asa Eslocker and his crew were on the sidewalk in front of the Brown Palace when a HUGE Boulder County Sheriff Deputy came up and started pushing Eslocker out into the street... ABC caught the whole thing on tape.... the videolink is in the story

Josh Marshall has a piece on McCain's house memeory and posted this video that McCain's daughter put up YouTube about the fun, really cool day when all the national press showed up at their "ranch".. (my father was an Arizona rancher..20 acres in Sedona creekside don't qualify unless you count ranching bullshit)...
McCain Cous Cous BBQ in Sedona House Compound

As for being elitest, she mentions the couscous at the BBQ... I suppose that was next to the arugula....

So I was taking a break from editing a short video I am under the deadline gun to get done and I stole a moment to do a little surfin' for humor... which took me to funnyordie.com... which gave me another look at the Paris Hilton response to McCain... and then I saw this
Republican Slogan Satire Video

I know the Republican infringement on Effexor's trademarked slogan is nothing new... the original story broke in May. And I did a Kos search before posting this.

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What in the blazes is he doing flying MD-80's of any vintage? I refuse to fly on them. I am Gold Medallion on Delta, and will not fly an MD-80 under under any circumstances.

Ask almost any airline pilot.... One thing a senior Delta pilot told me is that Boeing craft (the MD-80 was built by McDonnell Douglas) are tested by bending their wings upward until they meet... nice to know when you are in heavy turbulence..

I recently heard an NPR Morning Edition report on Jack Bauer and 24. The thrust of the piece was that Jack Bauer's on-screen torture antics were viewed as nothing more than harmless entertainment by the show's producers...EVEN AFTER  

The dean of the military academy at West Point was concerned that some cadets took him too seriously — concerned enough that he visited the producers of 24 in late 2006. He asked if they could tone it down a little, if they could make Jack Bauer's violent tactics not quite so effective.

Bob Cochran says the show's producers took the comments under advisement, but that little has really changed. It is, after all, just a TV show, he says.

"I think the army is responsible for training its own people," Cochran says. "We're not. And they should be able to explain the difference to their own people between fantasy and reality."

Guess what? Turns out that smug producer of All American torture fantasy is as full of _hit as Bush,Cheney and the Chickenhawks.... cuz it just so happens that the Boys in Guantanamo looked at good ol' Jack for inspiration....

I put up a diary a couple of days ago pointing out that The Globe weekly tabloid had done a slime job on Obama... insinuating he had a gay affair.
Here is the link to my diary Major HRC Backer Smears Obama

This week, ANOTHER American Media tabloid, the National Enquirer, has a Front Page photo of Obama headlined Obama's Secrets, 3 subheads referring to terrorist ties, crooked contributors and other misinforming allegations that will be legally weaseled around on the inside article.
Nat Enquirer Front Page photo of Obama  

Globe Smears Obama as Gay

I just came back from the local supermarket. While waiting in line, a blaring tabloid headline caught my eye...rather it punched me in the eye.

OBAMA SEX SCANDAL EXPLODES! was  imposed over a page-high photo of Obama in swim trunks.. smaller subheads and photos show the alleged "gay lover" of Obama..

This smearshit took up 2/3 of the front page of the Globe, a weekly trash tabloid.

Take a look for yourself....Globe Smears Obama as Gay

This is directly in the eyeline of millions of voting Americans who never read political blogs, don't pay all that much attention to the facts in the news and often take what they read in these tabloids a the "real truth" behind the story.

And we all know how gay tolerant a lot of average Americans are... and combined with black skin, welll... you get the point.

My next thought was... Shit, Rupert Murdoch has let his attack dogs loose...

WRONG. As I discovered when I got home and checked out the Globe's ownership

My wife is Mexican. She watches a LOT of Sanish language television. She has been following the debates between Obama and Clinton.. and been able to give me a good idea of how well the candidates are faring with the "Hispanic" demographic...

She just told me that Obama made a HUGE mistake with the MOST IMPORTANT and RESPECTED news reporter in front of the US Spanish language television audience.

His name is Jorge Ramos... this is guy is not just good at his job, he is GREAT at his job... he is on the level of Bill Moyers and Walter Cronkite rolled into one.. he is BETTER than anyone of the fools working for English language newscasts... he does not show partisanship and he asks intelligent and informed questions. And Obama fucked up with him BIG TIME.

Tell ya the truth, I am not all that excited about either of the frontrunners. I liked Edwards, loved Clark until he went to Team Hillary, and will support whichever candidate eventually ends up in front.

HOWEVER... I don't think it really much matters which Dem becomes President of the USA. There are a number of reasons for this I will go into below the jump, but the bullet points are:

1. The Repubs don't really want to win this one. The neo-con frat rats have trashed the White House, maxed out the credit cards and are leaving the country in a mess. That's why they are only fielding dogs and the old WarWhore McCain.The next Prez will have agiant clean up job to do, and get all the blame for the mess.

2. We thought things would change when the Dems gained control of Congress. ROFLMA... Yeah, right. So why will a Dem Prez make a difference?

Both the Dems have LOTS of corporate baggage and backers.

Let me begin by saying I like John Edwards for his tendency to fight... and I think Barack Obama is an incredibly smart guy who has his own style of playing political cards which differs from Edwards.. so I am NOT trashing Obama... I just want to make sure that none of us, especially our  Democratic candidates, forget what the long struggle ahead of us is really all about. Hillary also would benefit from reading the sources I reference here, but I fear she may be too connected with the corporate political machine to change.  

WE ARE FACED NOT ONLY WITH THE TASK OF CLEANING UP THE WORST MESS, POLIITICAL, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL, IN THE HISTORY OF THIS GREAT REPUBLIC AS WELL AS STOPPING THE NEO-CON GAME PLAN TO MARCH THIS COUNTRY INTO COPORATE FASCISM. IT WILL NOT BE EASY, AND THE REPUGLICAN/CORPORATE NOISE MACHINE WILL TRY TOI BLAME IT ALL ON THE DEMOCRATS IN POWER. (Why do you think they are running only dogs and old war whoreses? They WANT the Dems to win, IMHO.)

I posted a couple of weeks ago about a group of intrepid young idealists who are taking very real actions and very real risks to make a difference in the lives of Cambodian oprhapns and street kids.

Here is a link to my original post  Trabant Trek Intro Post

This post is to bring you up to date on their continuing journey across some of the world's most difficult and dangerous highways in one of the cars that would be voted Least Likely to Make It. Especially with the lack of backup and resources.

I will keep this post short, but there is more below the fold...

I believe in the power of pictures and good photojournalism. I grew up with Life Magazine and Look as well as National Geographic. I have worked as a photojournalist without much fame or money... so I have also worked other jobs in my life. But I keep a fire burning for great photojournalism and appreciate it when I see it.

The US Corporate Media and Military also appreciate the power of well done photojournalism. That's why they wanted the journalists and camera people "embedded" with the troops, so they could control what got out.

This diary is about two photojournalists who have taken truthful photos in Iraq. Both are Pultizer Prize winners. One is an Iraqui, and he was arrested and jailed over a year ago by the US Military and is still there, on false charges. The other is having his work shown, but much of the strongest has not been widely published.  

This is the story of the other side of the 20 something generation... the story of a group of intrepid idealists who represent the best and the brightest ( a tip of the hat to David Halberstam)of their age group... young adults who are in every way the exact opposites of the hypocrites interviewed in the Generation ChickenHawk video.

These intrepid idealists need our help. They have set out on an incredible odyssey that will take them from Eastern Europe across Turkey, through the various Central Asian 'Stans, on and into Mongolia, Siberia and China all the way to their final destination... Camobdia. Their motive (besides the pure adventure) is to raise at least $300,000 for Cambodian orphans and street children.

Keep reading for the rest of the story... it gets better, much better.

We all know about the power of memes, those short little phrases that simplify complex subjects so voters don't really have to think when they go to the polls to decide the fate of the city,county,state, nation and world.

"Democrats are weak on defense" and "Tax and spend liberals" are two Repug invented and diffused memes that have lodged themselves in the public mind and terrorized/paralyzed the Democratic Party into meekly going along with some of the worst Repug agendas... the Iraq war, the Patriot Act... the list is long. Dems vote for what they know is horrible legislation becuase they are afraid of the Republican memes becoming attached to their actions.

It's time to strike back.  

I've been exploring MySpace to see what my kids have been up to. I discovered that it allows you to connect with people from all over the world. I decided to check out to see if anyone was online from Lebanon (as well as Israel). This was about 11 p.m. PDT Thursday...

There was one person online from Lebanon (none from Israel), a 24 year old woman, a graphic/fashion designer, a Scientologist, who lives in the Christian section of Beirut. She had some long, well written and from the heart blogs on her MySpace page dealing with what is happening there. I wrote and asked her permission to post one of her heartfelt essays here on Kos....

This was her reply, I am posting it as an eyewitness account of Israel's latest bombing/shelling.

The New Mexican Revolution has begun. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gave a stirring yet concise speech to at least 2 MILLION Mexicans in Mexico City's great Zocalo plaza today.I say at least 2 million because the official count was reported at 1 million 100 thousand, and the government never lies, right?

Remember, the last Mexican Revolution was just about 100 years ago and for much the same reasons: the Mexican people were fed up with being ruled by autocratic elites who imposed neo-liberal (look it up in Wikipedia) economic policies on the country.

Here is a link to photos: http://fotos.eluniversal.com.mx/...
Scroll down a little and you will see an arrow to go through all 14 shots.

I have spent the last several hours translating his speech. I have posted it in its entirety, with the spanish in italics. Anyone find any errors, let me know.

Too bad Gore and Kerry (especially Kerry) and the Dem leadership did not have the cojones this guy and his people have.  

There's been a lot of folks here on Kos who have stated they would like to see the flow of illegal immigrants stopped.

Well, here's your chance, as well as a chance for all of us to help do the right thing at the same time we can help reframe and refocus the immigration debate from the Republicans' dual hearings and Bush's duplicity to exposing how the recent election for President in Mexico was rigged.

We all need to contact our Senators and ask them to put pressure on Mexico's Federal Election Institute to start a vote by vote recount of the election results. We need to contact the editors of our local papers and inform them of the consequences of the loss of the PRD candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, AMLO for short, on the future stability of Mexico and how that loss will affect Mexican immigration northward.

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Just got this email from an actress/producer friend of mine.. she's in Hollywood, working with her Canadian hubby.. she sent his excerpt from Vonnegut's new book 'cuz it sums it all up for her... me too. Pardon my lifting this excerp... minor poets borrow, great poets steal and Vonnegut brings it straight from the heart and gut, so I'll pass it on. If this has been posted before, again my apologies.
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