Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, a native of Auburn, Alabama, announces his refusal to return to active duty at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday, May 15th, 2008.

More about Sgt. Matthis Chiroux: ivaw.org

More about others like him: http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Check out OldManMcCain.com for more.

Gun control certainly isn't something to joke about, neither is the assassination of a presidential nominee.  And yet Mike Huckabee did both today while addressing the NRA.

From CNN:

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

Obama supports extending the assault weapons ban, limits on gun sales, and a national law against carrying concealed weapons, with exceptions for retired police and military personnel. John McCain – whose legislative record was awarded a C+ rating by the NRA in 2004, but has received a perfect score – will address the group later Friday afternoon.

 

Kristofer Goldsmith testified before the Congressional Progressive Caucus: 

I was stop-lossed. My one hope and dream in the military was to go to college after I went through Iraq. I attempted suicide. I never deployed a second time. Because of that I received a general discharge. I lost my college benefits, the $40,000 promised to me in the Montgomery GI Bill, I will not be eligible to receive. And currently there is a Senator in Congress currently running for president, who is fighting to kill our Webb GI bill. And I’m one of the soldiers who will never get that money.

Why won't John McCain support our vets like Goldsmith and sign Jim Webb's bi-partisan GI Bill? 

Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination has been marred by the controversy over remarks made by his fomer pastor, Jeremiah Wright. And now that relationship is being used by the Republicans in a strategy Democrats say is racially tinged.

We sent Max Blumenthal, a writer for the progressive magazine, The Nation, to the southern state of Mississippi. He asks if attack ads used in a congressional election there could be a sign of things to come.

Panelists discuss the alarming trend of politicians who break their promises to the lobbyists who helped elect them.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers was heard telling two other people: "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass." 

If Rove doesn't appear before Conyers's committee soon, Conyers said, "We'll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We'd hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested."

 

Radio host Kevin James on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, May 15, 2008.

With Hillary Clinton and Terry McAuliffe’s embarrassing endorsement of FOX’s coverage (apparently making up for FOX’s previous 14 years of horribly unfair, dishonest coverage) and the recent high-profile “get” of Barack Obama on FOX News Sunday, the feeling in the media world is that FNS host Chris Wallace (and FOX) have been legitimized and are on a roll — which is exactly what many on the left (including myself) predicted would happen if prominent Democrats appeared there. And with Wallace’s journalistic pedigree and willingness (on one lonely occasion) to call out his FOX colleagues for Dem-sliming that was even too outrageous for him, Wallace is being portrayed as FOX’s “serious,” respectable father figure — in contrast to hot-headed, homophobic Uncle O’Reilly and racist prettyboy meathead Uncle Hannity.

In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Wallace talked about his Obama Watch and furthered several myths about FOX which, unfortunately, are increasingly being regarded as “conventional wisdom”:

THR: How effective was "Obama Watch?"

Wallace: There were two factors in his decision to come on. One was the "Obama Watch." It gave us a way to dramatize the fact that he was ducking us. Right after we started it, I called one of the people in the Obama campaign who had been putting me off for months. I said, "What did you think of it?" His response was that it was obnoxious.

But now I say it was obnoxious and effective. More important was his defeat in Pennslylvania and his lopsided defeat among white, working class voters.

First, by saying that Obama was “ducking” FOX implies that Obama has some sort of obligation or responsibility to go on FOX. He doesn’t. Obama isn’t doing interviews with Rush Limbaugh, Michael Weiner Savage, the KKK, or Neo-Nazis because they’ve all vowed to destroy Obama with all the trash they can find or invent — just like FOX. If you don’t believe that that’s FOX’s goal, just watch FOX for an hour — you’ll get the picture after 15 min.

Most people have seen Bill O's rant online... here's a brilliant behind the scenes look. New footage shows O'Reilly's now legendary tantrum in an unbiased, spin-free light. Did he go overboard? Or was his producer at fault? You be the judge. look.

Wonder if CBS will try to pull this one too over copyright infringement.

MobLogic gets shown the back door at the Upfronts.

John McCain's chief adviser, lobbyist Charlie Black, worked for some of the world's worst dictators -- mass murderers, terrorists, and tyrants. McCain should fire Charlie Black.

http://www.moveon.org

If you want others to see this video, help it climb the YouTube ratings. 5-star it, favorite it, comment, and pass to friends!

John McCain adviser Charlie Black on FOX News, May 15, 2008

An updated version of your favorite childhood toy, My Buddy and Me, and Kid Sister! Oh you didn't have one? Oh, yeah... me either.

An updated version of your favorite childhood toy, My Buddy and Me, and Kid Sister! Oh you didn't have one? Oh, yeah... me either.

From Glenn Greenwald:

Yesterday was a very exciting day in America. Our nation's most serious foreign policy expert, the "brilliant" Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, declared our latest new war:

The next American president will inherit many foreign policy challenges, but surely one of the biggest will be the cold war. Yes, the next president is going to be a cold-war president -- but this cold war is with Iran.

So congratulations to us.

After years of desperately searching, we've finally found our new Soviet Union.

Nay-saying opponents of the New War (those who Tom Friedman, in March of 2003, dismissed as "knee-jerk liberals and pacifists") may try to point out that Iran is a country whose defense spending is less than 1% of our own; spends less on its military than countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden; has never invaded another country in modern history, and could not possibly threaten us, but those are just small details. Iran is our new implacable foe in Tom Friedman's glorious, transcendent struggle -- which, in 2003, on NPR, he called "the beginning of World War III . . . the third great totalitarian challenge in the last, you know, 60 years," and which he today defines this way (featuring an amazingly disingenuous use of parenthesis):

That is the real umbrella story in the Middle East today -- the struggle for influence across the region, with America and its Sunni Arab allies (and Israel) versus Iran, Syria and their non-state allies, Hamas and Hezbollah. As the May 11 editorial in the Iranian daily Kayhan put it, "In the power struggle in the Middle East, there are only two sides: Iran and the U.S."

 

The California Supreme Court in a monumental 4-3 decision overtuned the voter ban on same-sex marriage today, making California only the second state to approve marriage equality. 

I hesitated about posting this news here but since it is undocumented youth space, OUR space, and it does affect some of our lives, I had to share my elation. We have straight and gay DREAMers in our community who cried with joy at this news along with our brothers and sisters because even if it doesn't mean immigration equality, it means we are one step closer to achieving it for same-sex couples. As Gavin Newsom said in his press conference today, when California rolls, the rest of the nation rolls with us.

Monty Python Meets Democratic Politics.

www.britethorn.com

Written and Directed by John T. Kramer. Voices by Peggy Kramer, John T. Kramer, and Chip Bradley.

More at therealnews.com

Bush sends message of support for Israel as war of words with Iran continues.