Yep,Tom Loeffler makes number five, FIVE people working for McCain’s campaign who have been forced out because they do lobbying work for dictatorships and other REALLY bad clients. Read the Wa Po article HERE. This run of forced exits from his flopping campaign speaks a volume or two about his judgment. Poor John must not be too concerned about who works for him, and must not be too careful about vetting them. MOST of the activities of these lobbyists have been to represent FOREIGN interests. From the Burmese military dictatorship to the Saudi royal dictatorship, the worst regimes on earth are well taken care of by John’s friends. Senator McCain claims to be well-versed on foreign policy and the ability to lead our military. He claims to have judgment and a maverick streak. So, what’s next? Are we going to find out that he has people working for him who advocate for Castro? Al-Queda? It would be nice if he had at least a couple people in his campaign who are DOMESTIC lobbyists. Maybe a nice asbestos or dioxin lobbyist. I admit that it makes me a little nervous knowing that a guy who obviously has NO idea who works for him or any concept of the vetting process COULD become the president. I am even MORE concerned that he doesn’t care.

This week, we were honored to have Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) join us. We talked about upcoming hearings on the oil futures market and their effect on the price of oil.HERE’S
a direct link to the show. Read about the issue HERE. We hearkened back to the hearing when then chairman Ted Stevens ( really old guy-Alaska) refused to swear-in his friends in the oil biz.We talked about the veto-proof passage of the farm bill, and how it will help people keep food on our tables.
We also talked about the GI Bill sponsored by Jim Webb and their planned consolidation of THAT bill and Maria’s “GI Bill for life” bill to help our vets when they come home. (FINALLY)
Maria relates the story of how she helped get a film crew out of Nigeria after they were detained for no apparent reason. Read about it HERE.
We are proud of Maria and the work she does to keep us safe from energy predators, and when they DO screw us, to hold them accountable. Keep up the good work Maria, we will soon be sending you an adult, LUCID president to work with. We can only imagine the good work you will be able to do then.

That’s right, Bob Barr is mounting a bid for the presidency. He quit the republican party a couple years ago because I guess they started doing stuff he didn’t like. Such as radically expanding government like no one else in history. They have spent us to the point of a massive depression, and de-valued the dollar to the point that oil is about to be universally traded in currency other than petro-dollars. They spy on us without warrants, torture people at will without reason and have just plain brought our country to it’s knees, all for money. OH and he HATES the war.

Bob Barr is everything a good republican could want in a candidate. He was the leader of the house impeachment team that got Bill Clinton. He was having an affair the whole time he was attacking Clinton and despite being publicly pro government-forced birth his FIRST wife said he forced HER to have one. We can only hope he can convince Ron Paul to be his running mate. The leadership in the GOP HATES him. Now that alone is reason for us to sing his praises. It might be a good idea to give Barr a few bucks to encourage him. Oxi-rush wants chaos? let’s send the GOP a Barr/Paul riot. heh heh heh

Anyone who knows me, or listens to our show KNOWS that not even a case of lockjaw can keep me from talking. Today, Skip Dreps from the Northwest Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America presented and read a resolution from the board and membership making Audrey, Traci and I honorary members of their fine veterans service organization. It is with no small amount of pride and humility we accept this honor from the brave fighting men and women in this fine organization. Words failed me today,and we thank you and ALL veterans and active duty military for your service and keeping us safe. We are proud to have earned your sponsorship and support,and rest assured that we will continue to fight for the rights of ALL soldiers and their families to be treated with dignity and due respect. You can download the show HERE.

We also had a visit from our Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) this week. Senator Murray has been the best friend veterans have in the Senate. We talked about The VA and the “discrepancy” in the estimates of suicide attempts among our veteran population. Senator Murray told us about a bill pending that would help slow the astounding rate of suicide and also the new GI bill proposed by Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia). This bill has 56 co-sponsors from both parties and divergent Senators like Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and leiberman (I- CT).

There was a remarkable piece of legislation signed by bush called Wild Skies. This sets aside over 160,000 acres of lowland wilderness in our state forever. It took Senator Murray and a host of others nine years of negotiation to accomplish this feat.

Toward the end of our interview with Patty Murray, she praised our efforts to help veterans and their families. Well, there we were speechless again.This was an informative and emotional show. No matter what we will continue advocating for service men and women. Like we said, this is NOT a Democratic OR Republican issue, it is an American issue.

Yesterday as the returns were coming in, North Carolina for Obama and Indiana (barely) for Clinton,Traci and I were on the phone to each other and I groaned that this darn primary reminds me of the Bill Murray movie “Ground hog Day”. It never ends. I have strong opinions about this situation that I won’t write about here, but I WILL say this: oxi-rush’s much self-touted plan to disrupt the Democratic process IS BS. IF he has such clout with the GOPers, Hillary would have won Indiana with a LOT more than a one point spread. Ya see, rush and I have a different take on Republicans. I don’t think Republicans are stupid. Although I am a Democrat, I know that the majority of Republicans are just as adversely affected by the bush/cheney policies as are the rest of us as Americans. THEY see a war for oil without end, THEY pay three times as much for gas as they did before bush, THEY see the ten trillion dollars borrowed from China and the Saudis,THEY know our skyrocketing food and fuel prices are largely the result of manipulation by commodity traders and hedge fund managers AND they know whose policies and deregulation caused all of this misery. THEY are having their jobs sent overseas, THEY know their kid’s schools are failing and falling apart, THEY are losing THEIR medical insurance and being foreclosed on by crooked banking and mortgage policies. THEY see the result of seven years of bush rule and they also see the need for change. Whether they vote for Clinton OR Obama, they realize that the only ones among them (Republicans) who are benefiting from these idiotic policies are the richest one percent.
In an interesting twist, despite McCain being the presumptive nominee, he only got between 73 and 75 % of the Republican votes. The other 25 % went to Huckaby and Ron Paul. Maybe oxi-rush should concentrate his efforts on convincing his listeners to vote for Republicans. heh heh heh