HYRTN: September 9th, 2008

New edition every Mon-Fri at around 9pm PST

Have You RED The News? for September 9th, 2008:

1. Ron Paul to announce presidential endorsement plans

"WASHINGTON (CNN) – Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul will call on supporters to back a third party candidate for president Wednesday, rejecting his own party’s nominee and offering equally harsh words for the Democratic candidate.

Paul, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination, will tell supporters he is not endorsing GOP nominee John McCain or Democratic nominee Barack Obama, and will instead give his seal of approval to four candidates: Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney, Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr, independent candidate Ralph Nader, and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, according to a senior Paul aide.

The announcement will take place in the morning at the National Press Club in the nation’s capital.

While Paul failed in his bid for the Republican nomination, he found a large, diverse audience for his anti-war and anti-tax messages. The Texas congressman’s campaign was fueled by a successful on-line grassroots fundraising operation. Throughout the campaign, Paul supporters called on others to join the “Ron Paul Revolution.”

Paul will offer this open endorsement to the four candidates because each has signed onto a policy statement that calls for “balancing budgets, bring troops home, personal liberties and investigating the Federal Reserve,” the Paul aide said."

I don't know if anyone has actually been paying attention to Ron Paul (since our country's two party political system is seriously whack!), but I think it's wonderful that this man isn't giving up the fight for a better America. Of course, I plan to vote for Obama, but it's wonderful that such an influential and intelligent man is using his powers for good rather than evil. Will any of the candidates he endorses win? No chance in hell, but it warms my heart all the same to see the guy trying.

2. McCain camp launches ‘Palin Truth Squad’

"(CNN) – John McCain’s campaign defended Sarah Palin Tuesday over a report that highlighted some of her travel expense claims as governor, and announced the launch of the “Palin Truth Squad” to fight future attacks on the VP nominee.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Alaska governor had billed the state a per diem for 312 days she spent at home, and requested reimbursement for plane rides and hotel rooms for her husband and children, including a $707 room when her daughter accompanied her on a trip to New York to attend a Newsweek forum.

The paper noted that officials said the claims were justified under existing state regulations.

The McCain campaign said that Palin had reduced yearly travel expenses by roughly 80 percent of the amount spent by predecessor Frank Murkowski, in part by selling the governor’s private jet. Roughly half the $93,000 spent went to cover expenses incurred by her family. In a post on the campaign’s Web site, adviser Michael Goldfarb told supporters that Alaskans were paying “pennies on the dollar,” and accused the Washington Post of “hunting for ‘scandal.’”

“As governor of the state, Palin is expected to travel across Alaska to meet her constituents and attend community events. As a mother of five, she occasionally brought her children with her,” wrote Goldfarb. “Her travel-related activities have been appropriately documented, are completely transparent, and entirely legal. She also saved Alaskan taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in the budgeting process and hundreds of thousands in cutting waste from her own office. It is an impressive record of reform by any measure.”"

Oh boy, here the Goppers go again with Failin's private jet... that she failed to sell for the original price. If that isn't evidence that she'll be discounting the American people, I don't know what is!

And hey, Failin! It's not the American taxpayers' faults that you had to get knocked up five times. Why should we have to pay for your little "miracles"? And to think Republicans want to cut programs that matter like health care and education... they have no problem accepting money to send their crotchspawn to exotic locales. Typical Gopper hypocrisy.

I commend those over at the Washington Post who had the courage to stand up to this capitalist pig in lipstick. If there's any sense of journalistic integrity left in the world, it's definitely at the Washington Post. And this blog. And CNN. But that's it!

3. Obama says he's not worried over Palin poll surge

"RIVERSIDE, Ohio (CNN) – Senator Barack Obama told reporters he is not concerned about the spike in enthusiasm among Republicans since Governor Sarah Palin joined the GOP ticket, or recent polls showing a dead-even race.

“My general approach throughout this process has been not to worry about today’s news or yesterday’s polls but worry about what is it where is it that I want to see the country what is it that I’m trying to accomplish,” said Obama at a press conference in Riverside, Ohio. “I know that after our convention we had a bump, after theirs they get a bump. I think that what you’re going to see settling in, is that the race is going to be very close.”

The Democratic nominee, asked whether he wished he had picked a female running mate given some polling data that indicates women are flocking to the McCain-Palin ticket, said he had no regrets.

“The notion that people are swinging back and forth in a span of a few weeks or a few days this wildly generally isn’t borne out,” said Obama. “These are the same polls that had me 20 down last summer that have swung wildly throughout this process. There is no doubt that Governor Palin has attracted a lot of attention."

Obama is totally right. And to think I was beginning to worry! The Goppers have managed to gather in the last few straggling morons with their flashy displays of empty promises and hypocrisy, but at the end of the day it's the Democrats who still have their integrity. You see, they don't have to rely on flashy tricks or catchwords like "maverick" to entice the people. They run a platform based on the Truth, Change, and Hope. I commend Obama for his refusal to talk about numbers and instead talk about this country. If only we could all see the big picture so easily...

I'm glad the election is going to be a close one! It'll just mean when the Goppers lose, they'll be even more disappointed! Hehe... Yeah, I'm not worried at all about a couple of flashy lies. It's the truth I'm looking for. The Democrats are definitely going to win, no question. I don't even know why I bothered posting this story! I mean, it's just so obvious that the Democrats are going to win. They're going to cream the Goppers. I'm sure that the Democrats are going to win. It's gonna happen in November! It's definitely going to happen. No question. Stupid Goppers.

4. McCain and Palin once again play 'Barracuda'

"LEBANON, Ohio (CNN) – The rock band "Heart" may have asked John McCain and Sarah Palin stop playing their song "Barracuda" at their rallies, but the campaign is apparently paying no heed.

The track — played at the Republican National Convention in honor of the Vice Presidential nominee, who earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" playing high school basketball in Alaska — was pumped through the streets of Lebanon, Ohio on Tuesday morning at an outdoor rally before the GOP ticket showed up.

When the song was played after Palin's convention speech last week, the band members quickly requested that McCain and Palin pull the plug.

"Sarah Palin's views and values in no way represent us as American women," Ann and Nancy Wilson told Entertainment Weekly. "We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image."

But the McCain camp said last week that it had paid for and obtained all necessary licenses before using the song."

Leave it to the Goppers to justify injustice with money. Man, it's like all they care about is paying people off! If record executives, people with business degrees, can be bought off so easily, imagine how easy it must be to buy off the fiscally-uninitiated American public... with tax cuts. Yeah, that's right, just throw money at all your problems Goppers. That's how things gets solved in this country... NOT.

I'm not really all that surprised that a corporation would rip off one of its musical artists for a quick buck though. After all, they don't care about artistic expression or innovation or freedom of soundwaves or any of that so called "radical" business. No, it seems all they care about is exploiting the talent of others, and that makes me sick. Exploiting people is pretty much how corporations are run nowadays. I was watching a documentary on my iPhone about it the other day. Really opened my eyes even more to how horrible the business world truly is.

Fortunately, there are plenty of independent, underground artists out there whose labels would never sell their music to politicians for their propaganda machines. As a musician myself, I can think of nothing worse than such a thing happening to my music, and so when we eventually decide to sign to a label we'll be sure to make sure our music won't be used for such nefarious purposes. I guess people still have some sense of agency, in that regard. It's not much, but we gotta hold on to every last bit of freedom we have.