I am very excited to be going to meet Greg Palast and hear him speak in Seattle, June 8th. Anyone around who has not heard about this event yet, tickets are only $10 - call Elliot Bay Books (the same folks who hosted Bob Fitrakis last September).

Greg's book tour kickoff is happening right here in Portland, Oregon on June 5th! Woo hoo! So be sure to come out and join us and help support the Oregon Voter Rights Coalition! More event info is available on the site.

We are planning to have a sell out and some great video, so I will pass it along to Brad's crack video team to post after we get it done.

If you are reading this and you are in Oregon or SW Washington, please come and join us, and also get involved with the Oregon VRC so we can get our democracy back!

Thanks & Thank you Brad!!!!!

Kerry won!

Greg Palast is my favorite reporter so I can't wait to hear the audio later. He's wonderful and very reliable and someone I trust in journalism. Thanks for this interview Brad!

Thanks a lot for providing that!

Wonderful, Brad. It's going to take a lot of people exposing the information in many ways. An audio version is a great idea, even better with guest readers. I will look for it soon.

I've always loved Ed Asner. If you two were in on it, along with that list, I will look forward to Palast's writing.

p.s. - Hoping more rich and famous people come help save us middle class working slobs, before it's too late. They'll be part of the food chain someday too, if not. It would only be a matter of time.

Ed Asner's "Not In Our Name" petition started me down this ugly road to activism against the Bush administration. After that, I figured I was being "tracked" and it didn't matter how many anti-Bush petitions I signed afterward.

Thanks Ed, if this thing comes down, and it must, one way or the other, it's in no small part, due to patriots like you who gave up large masses of potential fans for the sake of what's right!

Bless you and all the others!

For a while there, Hollywood celebrities had become objects of scorn for expressing political views. Barbra Streisand and Susan Sarandon were compared to Jane Fonda. The Sheens, pere et fils, were victims of "shoot the messenger" tactics by the right wing.

But the Bush administration is so bad that its critics are being proven right. And members of the old liberal guard like Ed Asner are still there, speaking to a new generation that never knew Mary Tyler Moore. Thanks for staying the course, Ed.

It takes a mix of the old generation and the new to deal with the mega-crooks who are in power now (link here).

"I'm not a mega-crook" has replaced the naive by comparison "I'm not a crook" sayings of the Nixon era.

The Nixon crew, oddly enough, had too much honesty (by comparison) to play ball with the mega-crooks in the republican dictatorship today.

When Gregg Proops reads his section, does he read it as dialogue over a muted old movie?

While we're on the subject of actors speaking out despite the backlash, check out this statement by Mike Farrell. Mike is usually to the point, but the gloves come "way off" in this piece from "Crooks and Liars". Good for you Mike!

Be sure to read the whole third paragraph!

-------
I saw "Baghdad ER" on HBO last night (Sunday, May 21). I'd heard that the Defense Dept. had issued warnings urging servicemen and women back from Iraq to be wary of watching as it might trigger PTSD symptoms. Perhaps they hoped those about to go wouldn't watch as well, for fear they might not show up.

"Baghdad ER" is a documentary about a "CASH," a Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad. I recommend it for every American, but the queasy be warned: it is excruciating. I cringed at the gore, was sickened by the death, wept at the frustration and resignation of the medics, at the faith of the chaplain, at the simple, shocked, blank expressions on the faces of kids younger than my son – victims of this fool's war. Listening to the bravado of some, aching to comfort those who came in knowing they were hurt but not how badly, made me want to scream. Watching this horrifying, endless process, the tears on my face kept drying from the heat of my anger. Glorious, generous, talented, dedicated human beings forced to be part of this circus of carnage made me so furious I couldn't speak at the end.

I loathe the people who have created this monstrosity. I want the criminals who lied and cheated and pretended and twisted and perverted reality - and those who rationalized their crimes - so they could send over 2400 servicemen and woman to their death, nearly 18,000 to come home torn - some never to be whole again - thousands more to suffer mental damage, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians to be swept into the garbage can of "collateral damage," to pay. These bastards and their apologists should be stripped naked and forced to walk the main streets of America, allowing every city and town that has lost a loved one to injury or death in this shameful catastrophe to heap on them the scorn they deserve.

John F. Kennedy said America would never start a war. Well, it has now, and its architects have damaged our character, poisoned our standing in the world and soiled the soul of what was once the greatest nation in the history of the world.

A searing indictment. If only we could see REAL indictments.

Larry Bergman #11

My sentiments as well.

But just when I thought we had seen the worst, I learned that the republican dictatorship is also taking children and GITMOing them (link here), killing their parents before their eyes as they pray (link here).

And to top it off preznit blush laughs when a reporter informs him his poll numbers are lower than Nixon's.

Ghouls in power.

Big Brother is a republican.

Getting a bit big for your britches, eh Brad? Apparently, rubbing elbows with the limo liberals has given you a big head. Your work on e-vote machines is great, but your other theories are nothing more than conspiracies.

Randy Dredd,
Hey, when you point to these terrible actions by SOME US troops in Iraq, it seems as if you are blaming the President for the actions of these trigger-happy guys. So blame Pres.Johnson for the incidents in Vietnam, and blame Presidents FDR & Truman for the incidents in WW2.

If you want to be consistent, that is.

Larry,

If you are going to throw out charges like that against any US Senator, then you should point out your proof, if you have any. I never heard of that Senator or any of the Senators threaten a judge's life. Perhaps only in your overactive Republican-hating imagination.

Big Brother is a Mike J republican.

These bottom dwellers want to imprison children HERE too. Remember Senator Cornyn indirectly threatend judges lives for not giving children the DEATH penalty!

To Mike Farrell:

These guys are ALREADY naked!

America, hide your eyes!

Bush:

Apologize for existing, resign and give back the scull!

Mike J,

Tom DeLay: "The time will come for [judges] to answer for their behavior."

John Cornyn: Judges are killed by deranged rapists because they are "making political decisions"

Both have called for the impeachment of judges that they disagree with. They have no respect for an independent judiciary.

Thanks BVAC:

That's the exact Cornyn quote I said "indirectly" threatened judges lives.

So what do you thing Ricky J.?

If somebody you had just had a disagreement with called and said "somebody may what to harm your children", would you think he had good intentions for you and your family?

Greg Palast gave a report on the Mexico election on Air America here in San Diego today (Sunday). He said it was another Republican style stolen election, as in Ohio USA. Greg reviewed the exit polls, and made said conclusion.

Mexico has had a reputation of subjecting it's people to a low standard of living. Conservatives continue to throw red meat to Republicans on the immigration issue. But, the real reason Mexico's people have to come here, is that the Republican Congress has refused to force Mexico to raise their people's standard of living. Therefore, if Mexico's ruling class gave their people a decent wage, there wouldn't be a "border problem". Herein, lies the real red meat issue for Progressive Democrats!

As usual, Greg Palast is right on point.