1. You think the telcos are bad? Wait till you find out what Bush and Co have been doing with the secret monitoring of banking transactions on ATM networks. This issue is so secretive the press cannot even discuss it, even though it has been hinted at several times during top level TelCo hearings.

2. Most of the disillusioned commenters here who criticize Obama will suck in their guts (again), clench their teeth (again) and go out and vote DEMS (again) on November 2nd. As a result, the Green Party led by Cynthia McKinney will pre-poll better than their final tally. If the Dems lose anyway, this will (again) be a lost opportunity for really "progressive" voters to shake the tree of the two-party (or is it one Corporatocracy party?) state.

The US Green Party may be an object of ridicule in the US corporate press, and personally I don't think Nader's one-man crusade helped their cause, but they are part of a global coalition of Green parties which provide real hope for concerted co-operation among nations, and a real agenda to save our planet.

I write this from distant Australia, where the Green Party has grown from a single-issue, anti-logging protest group some 20 years ago to a position of power today. They now hold about 10% of the popular vote and control the balance of power (along with two independent Senators) in the upper house. If the US Green Party could get just 5% of the vote this time around, that would represent IMHO the USA's biggest political change in 40 years. But here's a suggestion: if you are going to vote Green, don't just vote for them, get off your ass and go and help them, coz they are gonna need it. Otherwise you might as well vote Dem (again) because nothing will change.

Speaking of and from Australia, it's interesting to note that our former PM John Howard (a willing corporate Iraq warmonger stooge who Bush described as his "deputy") lost power to Kevin Rudd late last year. Obama's campaign to date reminds me of Rudd's in many ways, particularly the "me-too-ism" (spin doctors call it "shadowing") and the big question mark over what an Obama administration might really be like. The good news: Rudd is a thousand times better than Howard. The bad news: he is still in thrall to Big Business. The really bad news (for you guys): the USA and Australia are many miles apart in all kinds of ways, particularly due to (a) compulsory voting, (b) the Westminster system of government, and (c) preference voting (whereby my vote for the Greens sent preferences that helped Rudd get elected).

NB: If I am not able to read all the comments on this thread because the thread keeps growing faster than I can read, does that not imply that other commenters here are not actually reading previous comments before they comment?

Guess who else had an anti-Russian Op-Ed in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal this week?

Mohammed Fadhil, an Iraqi who co-writes a blog, IraqTheModel.blogspot.com, wrote a WSJ OpEd on Aug 23rd (link at my sig) saying:

"Russia and terrorism both target the values of Western democracies...

Russia is trying to revive the legacy of a totalitarian past and a foreign policy inconsiderate of smaller nations, so it does not have a good image to preserve or polish."

"Mo" Fadhil and his brother Omar know all about preserving a good image. Their Baghdad-based blog was a cesspool of rabidly pro-US wingnut warmongers, faithfully parroting the neocon line on issues large and small. Even the name of the blog belies the neocon fantasy that Iraq would be a model for other nations to follow.

The neocons liked the Fadhils' blog so much that Paul Wolfowitz often encouraged journalists to read ITM, and even brought the Fadhils to the Oval Office in late 2004, where they met with Bush. Another Fadhil brother, Ali, stayed at home alleging that they were being used for propaganda purposes by a bogus US "charity" called Spirit Of America, whose CEO Jim Hake was also at that White House meeting.

Ali said that Hake and his former "Director of Logistics and Procurement" Kerry Dupont were "stealing donors money" and lying to both Iraqis and Americans. He said Dupont offered the brothers $300,000 "that we could use to do what we want". Hake promised Ali "any position I wanted and any salary I would find suitable". A few days later, Ali mysteriously deleted all his posts and apologized for being a nuisance.

The Spirit of America "charity" was set up with help from two rightwing US thinktanks, Cyber Century Forum and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. And Cyber Century Forum was set up using Big Oil money for capitalization purposes.

In March 2007, Bush quoted another WSJ Op-Ed the Fadhils wrote as "proof" that living conditions were getting better in Baghdad.

The missions I described are only the opening salvos in what is going to be a sustained effort. Yet, the Iraqi people are beginning to say -- see positive changes. I want to share with you how two Iraqi bloggers -- they have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here -- (laughter) -- "Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed. We hope the governments in Baghdad and America do not lose their resolve."

Omar Fadhil is now living in New York and studying international affairs at Columbia University. Brother Ali is also going to college at Sony Brooks in Long Island. While millions of other Iraqi refugees struggle to make a living in places like Syria, the Fadhils enjoy Fullbright scholarships.

More here if anyone is interested:

http://bushout.blogspot.com/search?q=fadhil