Tennessee Trade Group Scaring Employees into Voting for McCain

Dailykos:
We'll see lots of businesses trying to scare their employees into voting Republican this fall. This email is from a local Tennessee chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors trade group, and instructs its member companies to do just that.

From: Robin Collier [mailto:RCollier@abctennessee.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 10:42 AM
To: ABC Members Subject: ABC Mid-TN - President's Message
By Pete Dickson, President
Last week, ABC National held their annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. ABC members from across the country, including Mid-TN Chapter members, came together for one purpose - lobbying Congress.
There has never been a time in our industry when the slogan, "Get into Politics or Get Out of Business", applied more. During our visit with members of the TN Congressional delegation, it became very clear that the Democrats are increasing their efforts to oppose most every bill that would benefit or protect our industry and seek passage of legislation which would harm our industry. The greatest example is organized labor, with the help of the Democrats, is attaching amendments to most any bill to expand the use of Davis-Bacon wages.
The main topics of discussion with members of Congress, including Davis-Bacon expansion, Immigration, Union Only Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), Protect the Rights to a Secret Ballot, Salting Abuse, and removing the 3% withholding tax on business. Last but not least, the fuel crisis. When communicating with Congress, ask them to support a House Resolution to "Expand American Refining Capacity on Closed Military Installations". This should assist in reducing the price of gasoline and diesel by streamlining the refinery application process and by requiring the President to open at least three military instillations for the purpose of housing new American refineries.
In the past, you may have felt your voice wouldn't be heard in regard to political issues and elections. It's a new day and you must take the time to join with other ABC members to let your Representatives and Senators in Congress know your position on these issues.
You also must talk to your employees about the Presidential election. You are not allowed to tell your employees who to vote for but you can express your thoughts on the best candidate for our industry and the protection of their jobs. ABC has resources to assist you in communicating with your employees regarding politics.
The Democratic candidate has indicated he will work closely with organized labor if elected. There is "A Clear Choice" for our industry in regard to the Presidential election.
We must elect John McCain! Get involved! Don't wait!
"GET INTO POLITICS OR GET OUT OF BUSINESS!"
Please contact ABC @ 615-399-8323 if you need additional information or materials for your employees.
ABC Mid-Tennessee Chapter 1604 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville, TN 37210 Phone 615-399-8323 * Fax 615-399-7528 www.abctennessee.com

"Tennessee Democrats have really gotten embarrassing and offensive"

Indeed!

Political Salsa:
Will someone please step forward and rescue the Tennessee Democratic Party before or soon after the 2008 general election?

And that someone needs to be former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell in announcing his intention to run for governor in 2010. Start collecting the campaign donations. Get the bumper stickers printed. Create a website.Or else.

Things with Tennessee Democrats have really gotten embarrassing and offensive. Every state should have at least a strong two-party system to offer voters a choice. But all that's available in Tennessee is Republican conservative and a Democrat with a prominent elephant's trunk.

Democrats Have Legalized Bush's Crimes

Consortium News:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims that a key positive feature of the new wiretap "compromise" is that the bill reaffirms that the President must follow the law, even though the same bill virtually assures that no one will be held accountable for George W. Bush's violation of the earlier spying law.

In other words, in the guise of rejecting Bush's theories of an all-powerful presidency that is above the law, the Democratic leadership cleared the way for the President and his collaborators to evade punishment for defying the law.

Kristol says Bush might bomb Iran if he thinks Obama will win

C&L:
KRISTOL: I think honestly, if the president felt John McCain were going to be the next president he would think it more appropriate to let the next president make that decision than do it on his way out. I do wonder with Sen. Obama, if president Bush thinks Sen, Obama win does he somehow think that, does he worry that Obama won’t follow through on the policy…

WALLACE: So, you’re suggesting that he might in fact, if Obama’s going to win the election, either before or after the election—launch a military strike?

You can watch the video HERE

Obama vows to close 'McCain adviser's Enron loophole'

AP:
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.

The Democratic candidate's campaign singled out the so-called "Enron loophole" for allowing speculators to run up the cost of fuel by operating outside federal regulation. Oil closed near $135 a barrel on Friday — almost double the price a year ago.

"My plan fully closes the Enron loophole and restores commonsense regulation as part of my broader plan to ease the burden for struggling families today while investing in a better future," Obama said in a campaign statement.

Bush 'war crimes conference' to convene in Mass., plan prosecution of admin. officials

Rawstory:
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.

"This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred," stated Velvel in a press release. "It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth.

"We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice.

ENVIRONMENT -- ADMINISTRATION REPORT LINKS EXTREME WEATHER TO POLLUTION, CLIMATE CHANGE

Center for American Progress:
Yesterday, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program released a 162-page report revealing that "changes in weather and climate change" have been and will continue to be "the biggest impact of global warming." The report, which synthesizes the findings of more than 100 academic papers, also warns that increases in extreme weather are "among the most serious challenges to society." The assessment finds that manmade global warming has caused an increased frequency of heat waves, droughts, severe rainfall, and fierce hurricanes, and that there is a 90 percent likelihood that the frequency and intensity of such harsh weather conditions will rise. Thomas Karl, co-chairman of the report, said the recurrence of the type of flooding witnessed in Iowa will continue as "time goes on and global temperatures increase." In definitive terms, carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning coal, oil, and natural gas, contributed most to global warming in the last century, the report concludes. NASA climatologist James Hansen cites the report in stating that "the next President and Congress" must exert leadership in order to take "responsibility for the present dangerous situation."

Constitutional expert: FISA bill 'is an evisceration of the Fourth Amendment'

Rawstory:
"Never appease political bullies, President Bush admonished at the Israeli Knesset," MSNBC's Keith Olbermann opened. "Oddly, House Democrats chose to ignore him on the subject of dealing with him."

Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley sees a "very frightening bill" in a proposed "compromise," currently in the House, that would update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to effectively grant immunity from civil lawsuits to telecommunications companies that agreed to spy on their customers as part of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, starting shortly before the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. If the White House asked a phone company to spy with its assurance that it was legal, the measure says, that's enough to dismiss a case.

Congressional Democrats, Turley went on, knew about surveillance and torture programs, but were politically unable to oppose them at the same time they were touting themselves to the public as defenders of civil liberties. The bill, he said, is part of a campaign of collusion between Congress and the Bush administration, immunizing not only the telecommunications companies, but the administration and any members of Congress, on either side of the aisle, that may have been involved.

Tennessee Democrat Who Called Obama A Terrorist Says New Comical Thing

Wonkette:
We all remember Fred Hobbs, the proud member of Tennessee’s Democratic Executive Committee who recently confessed that he thought Barack Obama was “terrorist-connected.” He has been apologizing all week, and in a letter to colleagues he explained what was running through his mind: his comments “did reflect questions I had after what I had seen reported on Fox News, but I should have taken some time to check the accuracy of what I saw on television before speaking publicly.” Fred added that he also doesn’t know how to drink water or walk without falling sideways, or whatever it is the human beings are doing these days.

Ok, how does a Democrat not know to question anything and everything they see on Fox News? Just as a general rule, all people this clueless should be banished from the Democratic Party.

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

Thinkprogress:
At today’s House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights hearing on torture, Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, told Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) that over 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody, with up to 27 of these declared homicides:

NADLER: Your testimony said 100 detainees have died in detention; do you believe the 25 of those were in effect murdered?
WILKERSON: Mr. Chairman, I think the number’s actually higher than that now. Last time I checked it was 108.

You can watch video of the testimony HERE

Countdown: McCain, Oil and The Enron Loophole

C&L:
How can you tell if John McCain is lying to you about how drilling in ANWR will help save American dollars and bring down the cost of oil? Phil Gramm’s lips are moving.

Keith Olbermann looks at the infamous “Enron Loophole” and how McCain Senior Advisor Phil Gramm is neck deep in policies that screwed the public for the gain of the almighty corporate dollar.

You can watch this special report Here

General who probed Abu Ghraib says Bush officials committed war crimes

McClatchy:
WASHINGTON — The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing "war crimes" and called for those responsible to be held to account.

The remarks by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who's now retired, came in a new report that found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices.

TN Redneck Democratic Leaders Call Obama Terrorist

Wonkette:
One of the funniest, tragic outcomes of Obama’s takeover of the Democrats is how certain factions of the party — white, rural “yellow dogs” or “blue reds” or “purple assholes,” depending on the current lexicon — cannot, at all, give support to Obama, for fear of losing support in their red-leaning districts. This comprises 10-25 Democratic members of Congress and virtually all Southern branches of the party. Now, silence is one thing. But when they start literally calling him a terrorist — as some Democratic leaders in Tennessee are doing — to distance themselves, then that might be a modest form of overkill.

Fred Hobbs, a state Democratic Party Executive Committee member representing part of Davis’ district, said he understands why Davis is not endorsing Obama and is “skeptical” of the Illinois senator himself.

“Maybe [it’s] the same reason I don’t want to — I don’t exactly approve of a lot of the things he stands for and I’m not sure we know enough about him,” Hobbs said when asked why he thought Davis wasn’t endorsing Obama. “He’s got some bad connections, and he may be terrorist connected for all I can tell. It sounds kind of like he may be.”

Lincoln Davis and Fred Hobbs should be run out of the party on a rail. This kind of ignorance and racism shouldn't be tolerated in the Democratic party.

Obama The Preferred Candidate Around The World: Poll

AP:
WASHINGTON — People around the globe widely expect the next American president to improve the country's policies toward the rest of the world, especially if Barack Obama is elected, yet they retain a persistently poor image of the U.S., according to a poll released Thursday.

The Truth Behind High Oil Prices- Enron All Over Again

Star Telegram:
One piece of legislation is why the price of everything is going through the roof

"There’s a few hedge fund managers out there who are masters at knowing how to exploit the peak [oil] theories and hot buttons of supply and demand and by making bold predictions of shocking price advancements to come, they only add more fuel to the bullish fire in a sort of self fulfilling prophecy." — National Gas Week, September 5, 2005 as reprinted in the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’ report, "The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices," June 27, 2006

Fiddling While We Burn
There it is in plain sight for everyone to see, exactly what I’ve been reporting for the past few years: Many individuals who are investing in oil and natural gas futures are going out in the media and trying to convince the American public that either we are out of oil or there is a serious supply shortage of crude against worldwide demand. The question is: Does it surprise you to discover that the US Senate investigated the rigging of the oil market by speculators in the summer of 2006 – and concluded that there was no supply and demand problem with oil?

You can read the second part of this investigative report here

Obama’s tax plan would offer middle class families three times more than McCain’s

Thinkprogress:
According to a non-partisan analysis of the presidential candidates’ tax plans, Barack Obama “offers three times the break for middle class families” than proposals of John McCain, who “would steer the bulk of the benefits to the wealthiest families”:
Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain’s tax cut for this group would be $319, the report states.

The Wonk Room has more on the study by the Tax Policy Center.

UPDATE: In 2001, McCain said of the Bush tax cuts: “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief.” McCain is now proposing tax cuts that are more regressive than the Bush tax cuts.

Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq statements were untrue

McClatchy:
A long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report made public this morning concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available intelligence. "There is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, the committee's chairman

Bush On Iraq War: "I Don't Care If It Created More Enemies"

HP:
NBC News' Richard Engel, who in April was promoted to chief foreign correspondent, has written a book, released today, about the years he spent reporting in Iraq. The book is titled War Journal: My Five Years In Iraq, and it contains an explosive interview with President Bush. The president makes several controversial, some might say shocking, statements

McCain Has Yet Another Senior Moment While Campaigning in Nashville

Thinkprogress:
Sen. John McCain had one of his infamous “senior moments” while speaking at a campaign rally in Nashville today. “If we do everything right — and we can and we will — I will win in January,” he said, “and I will be the next President of the United States.” Watch it