The McCain Campaign has released an interview with Orson Swindle, another one of McCain's buds and roommates from the Hanoi Hilton, which makes it pretty clear that it wasn't five and a half years in solitary, after all.

Is this another example of a "limited hangout" which Wikipedia tells us

A limited hangout is a form of deception, misdirection, or coverup often associated with intelligence agencies involving a release or "mea culpa" type of confession of only part of a set of previously hidden sensitive information, that establishes credibility for the one releasing the information who by the very act of confession appears to be "coming clean" and acting with integrity; but in actuality by withholding key facts is protecting a deeper crime and those who could be exposed if the whole truth came out. In effect, if an array of offenses or misdeeds is suspected, this confession admits to a lesser offense while covering up the greater ones.

Orson Swindle has, of course, come to McCain's assistance for quite a while. For example, during the 2000 primary campaign, when a veteran stood up and charged that McCain had led the veterans down during his years in the House and Senate, it's Orson Swindle who was reported to have called Tom Burch and told him

"We will destroy you."

So, there's some reason to speculate that McCain's buds (in addition to Swindle, Col. George E. "Bud" Day, another roommate at the Hilton, is always willing to lend a hand) were prepared to illuminate George W. Bush's meagre military record in 2000, but then the campaign was pretty much lost when the vets turned out in South Carolina.

http://www.johnkerry.com/action/marchmadness/

John Kerry blows smoke in regards to Oman vote at Jefferson Jackson event in Manchester NH When confronted with his vote on Oman free trade agreement, his response was that his staff researched this in depth and found that Oman had strong labor protections. I for one think that a. he should fire his staff and b. Keep the promises he made to myself and my brothers and sisters in organized labor that he would not vote for any trade treaty that did not include protections for labor or the enviroment equal to that given to property. This was one of the reasons we mobilized for his bid for President only to be lied to. For more information see my postings and follow links.

Please follow links on all my postings at Democracy for New Hampshire here and here

Also see posting at tabacco.blog-city.com

Rick Maynard made this comment,

read article here

Hopefully, future residential candidates won't wait two years to say what Senator Kerry said in the CNN story above.

Mexico's lucky, they got a presidential candidate who followed this approach this year in Luis Manuel Obrador.

If you believe something is right, you should follow it to the best of your abilities, regardless of what others think; but that's just my opinion, you're free to your own.

John Kerry's election bid for President was based on his differences with George Bush. One of these differences was in regards to US trade policy.

Expanding NAFTA to Central America Kerry no Bush yes.

Expanding NAFTA to entire Western Hemisphere Kerry no Bush yes.

Protection of Inernational labor and environmental standards in any new trade agreements Kerry yes Bush no.

Enforcement for workers and environmental as strong as for property Kerry yes Bush no.

Fixing NAFTA Kerry yes Bush no.

Senate Passes Oman Trade Pact—Another Bad Deal for Workers
The fight to stop the Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA) moves to the House after the Senate approved the latest bad Bush administration trade deal June 26 2006 on a vote of 60-34.

Five Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in voting against the deal. Eleven Democrats voted for the agreement. They include: Max Baucus (Mont.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), John Kerry (Mass.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Barack Obama (Ill.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Ken Salazar (Colo.). Vermont’s Independent Sen. James Jeffords also voted in favor.

A recent article in Time Magazine discussed a telecommunications conference in Guatamala City in which the State Department puts together a list of delegates. This is a business conference, and in no way political. It was revealed that delegates who openly supported John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election were told they would not be able to attend.

"The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission meets three times a year in various cities across the Americas to discuss such dry but important issues as telecommunications standards and spectrum regulations...

At least four of the two dozen or so U.S. delegates selected for the meeting, sources tell TIME, have been bumped by the White House because they supported John Kerry's 2004 campaign...

Only after the start of Bush's second term did a political litmus test emerge, industry sources say...

The White House admits as much: "We wanted people who would represent the Administration positively, and--call us nutty--it seemed like those who wanted to kick this Administration out of town last November would have some difficulty doing that," says White House spokesman Trent Duffy.

In what sort of political environment are private citizens openly targeted for their political views?

This is a message I sent to my email list this morning. Please send it on to yours, if you agree.

Blackboxvoting.org (http://www.blackboxvoting.org ) has taken the
position that there was significant fraud in the November 4th election.
Ohio and Florida are prime suspects, but information is now being
collected.  If you go to their site, you will see the status of their
effort and a request for help from people who are familiar with computer
technology (not the likes of me) to help with the analysis and to
develop contact information.

http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm on the other hand has hard
information on the returns from Florida and why they are suspect.  Lots
of registered Democrats suddenly voting Republican, but only in counties
with opti-scan systems (even Alachua registered 17,000 more votes for
Bush than would have been expected from their representation on the
voter rolls)

Don't forget that the election is not over until the electors vote in

There is quite a bit I need clarification on regarding the candidate John Kerry. I have watched all the speeches and appearances, listened to everyone's side, and I am becoming concerned about some of the things which appear to be between the lines. The following is in reference to the various things I have heard while following John Kerry

Government spending - I am hearing there will be increased spending in military, government run healthcare plan for all uninsured, higher education spending. All this without having to raise taxes for the middle class. The total of these various plans would be in the trillions of dollars an I don't believe there will be no increse to my taxes, or the taxes I pay on specific items as a way to recoup the money needed for big government plans.

Jobs - I have heard Kerry indicate he is against outsourcing, blaming Bush for all the jobs shipped overseas. I have also heard reports the Heinz Corporation outsources about 75% of it's workforce. How many jobs does that total for the American population, and why hasn't he spoken on this topic before the public starts to question him.

By Jenn Abelson and Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | July 26, 2004

Steven J. Ybarra, a California delegate pledged to former Vermont governor Howard Dean, compared coming to the convention this week to attending a former girl-friend's wedding.

"You look and say, 'She didn't want to marry me and that's OK,'" Ybarra said. "But there's still lots of good shrimp and hors d'oeuvres at the wedding, so that's pretty great."

read the full story
a story in The Guardian

There seems to be a need for a little attitude adjustment on the part of those who are organizing grass-roots for the Kerry campaign.
Specifically, some people who have offered their living rooms for an acceptance speech watch party have been told that their living rooms aren't big enough and the TV is too small.
What age group are we talking about? Senior citizens in their seventies who have actually participated in party activities for decades. No doubt, being spared the effort of organizing a get-together at their age is not a great disappointment. However, having this scenario discussed with all friends, neighbors and relations, cannot be a positive in a swing state where Kerry needs every vote he can get.
It might be instructive to hear whether others are having a similar or different experience.

Kerry is bringing his version of Rock the Vote to UNH on Monday. I was wondering if you might want to set up a voter registration table? My nephew goes there, and I am giving him the new universal forms I got from Rock the Vote, which he can mail back to them for free. If I can get him in touch with
someone from Democracy for NH, perhaps he could drop off the forms and you can do the registering? In NH, these forms are considered applications for absenteeballots as well as voter registration forms. You may want to check out the NH Secretary of State's page, as I did. There are certain ramifications of registering to vote in the town you go to college, but not if you register in your home town and then request an absentee ballot.

www.johnkerry.com has the information about UNH visit on Monday.

Let me know if you are interested in doing this.
thanks,

loisinVermont
Democracy for Vermont
www.democracyforvermont.com
Lois@democracyforvermont.com
(877) 623-9265