http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080705/ap_o n_el_pr/obama

There has been a lot of media hoopla concerning Barack Obama's recent comments on Iraq. There are those that would like people to believe that Obama has somehow flip-flopped on the issue, and that he is no longer committed to ending the conflict and bringing our troops home safely. Nothing, in fact, could be further from the truth. In his own words Obama has now made his policy on Iraq very clear:

"I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off by what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement," he said. "I am absolutely committed to ending the war."

On Thursday in North Dakota, Obama said that "I'll ... continue to refine my policy" on Iraq after an upcoming trip there. With a promise to end the war the central premise of his candidacy, the Obama campaign has struggled over the past two days to push back against Republicans and others who say his recent statement could be a softening or change in policy.

PLEASE go to Youtube and RATE the video, COMMENT on the video & mark the video as a FAVORITE. This will help promote the video and reach a larger audience.

The back story on the creation of the video is on my blog: Come a Long Way . . .

Addition:Reason to demand Clinton's name on the Roll Call, was discussed on The Denver Group's Website: "At a dinner with Clinton donors two weeks ago, Senator Obama was asked if he supported Senator Clintons name on the ballot. His answer was that he wasn't there to negotiate the convention. We think its fair to say that if Senator Obama has his way her name wont be on the ballot and he will use all his influence with the DNC to accomplish that."

There is a story on CNN today about the recent Zimbabwe election. They quote the UK Guardian newspaper about a video that has been smuggled out of the country showing how civil servants were forced to vote for Mugabe. According to CNN "that would confirm the suspicions of election monitors that Mugabe rigged the entire runoff." A prison official was able to film his actual vote that was supervised by a Mugabe supporter, and how he was forced to vote for Mugabe. This very brave man, Shepherd Yada, then video taped himself to explain further about what happened, and he spoke very elequently of his pain of this event.

This is how we speak the truth everywhere. This is how we start to take back our world from despots. Shepherd Yada, you are my hero.

Please check out the article at the guardian.co.uk, I know I will.

British medical journal The Lancet reported that about 3.5 million children die every year because of lack of nutrition (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/719200 4.stm). Feminism can save most or all of these children. For example, when women have equal rights with men it's easier to get a job to pay for food for their children.

We should help women get equality ASAP because child malnutrition is a big problem. It does not just cause death but even when poorly nourished children survive their poor diet can lead to irreversible damage in later life. Save the Children's director of policy David Mepham said, "Children who are malnourished suffer cognitive impairment, affecting their capacity to learn, and they have much weaker immune systems, making them more vulnerable to disease..." For example, under-nourished children do less well at school which reduces their potential to earn money analysts at the University of Southampton found.

...and I thought that anything Bush says now wouldn't bother me anymore.

After the Supereme Court ruling last month gave all detainees the right to petition federal judges for immediate release, Dana Perino, speaking for Bush in a press conference Thursday, said that the dangerous detainees who are detained in Guantanamo could end up on the streets of the U.S.A.  Her quote, as reported by the AP:
"I'm sure that none of us want Khalid Sheikh Mohammed walking around our neighborhoods."

Uh.. I may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but I thought that Homeland Security was supposed to be able to take care of that very unlikely possibility. After all, wasn't Khalid the Al-Quida third in command, and tactical mastermind of 9/11? He is either a confessed civilian mass murderer or a war crimes criminal, and he'll have his day in one court or another.

Bush gave Osama Bin Laden more then he ever hoped for. How many are aware that Osama wanted the price of oil to sky rocket?

http://www.plp.org/misc/exxonwtc100101.h tml

From the U.S. imperialist viewpoint, "chaos" means loss of the Saudi oil fields. Bin Laden admits that they are the ultimate prize he hopes to win for his faction of bosses. In a 1998 interview, he "claimed that the United States has carried out `the biggest theft in history' by buying oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. According to bin Laden, a barrel of oil today should cost $144. Based on that calculation, he said, the Americans have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims..." (Associated Press, 9/28)

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht ml?res=9401E2DC123FF937A25753C1A9679C8B6 3

'If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now.

Here is what Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff and certainly no left-winger, said with respect to the dilemma with troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq recently.

"What I said in my statement is also important as a part of that calculus, which is, I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq...unlike the insurgency in Iraq, we don't have enough troops there to hold." http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/02/mull en-cant-have-more-troops-in-afghanistan- until-i-have-a-reduced-requirement-in-ir aq/

"In the last six or seven months, we have a put a tremendous amount of focus on Afghanistan, and I think rightfully so. It is an economy-of-force campaign, and by definition, that means we don't have enough forces there...I am constrained on forces I can generate quite frankly because of Iraq. Afghanistan is a significant challenge and is going to take a significant period of time." http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/30/mcca in-afghanistan-iraq/

Admiral Mullen sounds closer to Obama than he does to General Petreus or McCain on the issue of troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.  McCain has dismissed arguments in favor of reducing the troop presence in Iraq to deal with the threat by arguing that Afghanistan and Iraq are not an either/or proposition.

With violence increasing in Afghanistan (it has increased the last four months) and the Taliban getting as strong as it has been in the last seven years, isn't it time for McCain and Petraeus to "refine" their positions with respect to Afghanistan?  Did McCain visit Afghanistan in his last sojourn to the Middle East?  

How does Petraeus get around Crocker's admission to Joe Biden that it would be better for US interests to go after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan than Al Qaeda in Iraq if he has no way of getting more troops to that region without redeploying troops from Iraq?

Obama should talk more about the increasing threat that is Afghanistan; I wonder if Obama will be stressing Afghanistan more once he talks to the commanders on the ground there.

Hey all.  I read an artice today that really sent me over the top.  Mike Falcone over at "The Caucus" wrote an article about how the criminal Karl Rove was attacking Obama on abortion.

No big deal so far.  The really aggravating part came with this segment here

"Though he helped derail Senator McCain's presidential bid during the 2000 Republican primary, Mr. Rove lavished praise on his party's presumptive nominee on Friday. He spoke glowingly of Mr. McCain and his wife's decision to adopt a child from an orphanage in Bangladesh."

No note of the irony of the fact that Rove derailed McCain's 2000 campaign by raising the spectre of McCain HAVING FATHERED A BLACK CHILD.  This he now goes on to praise.

So I realize that this is minor compared to the more egregious distortions going on with that Donut delivery service laughingly caled the Associated Press.  But hey different straws for different camel's backs.

The point is I am fed up and pissed off.  

I have a burning desire to fight back lest my head explode.

I am pretty new at this whole game so I could use some help.  In fact I'm yelling out for it here.  

For instance does anybody know of a reliable way to get the e-mails for these various authors?  I wanted to point out to Mr. Falcone the irony I noted above but couldn't find his e-mail address.  

How else do you fight back?  I looking for advice from some of you more experienced hands out there.  How does one raise an effective stink outside our little echo-chamber here.  

How do we at least make it uncomfortable for them when the media lies or allows themselves to pass on lies.  

I'm tired of screaming at my computer.

So oh great and wise MyDD community...what advice might you have?