Michelle answers:

The division of society is along class lines. The right-wing is the wealthy-elite while the left-wing is labor. Those terms have their origin in the era of the French Revolution. This can be easily understood as the wealthy capitalists (right-wing) get richer and richer when the working class (left-wing) toils harder and harder for less and less, when good-paying jobs are offshored to cheap-labor locations, when benefits are slashed or eliminated, when corporations that are “too big to fail” receive trillions of bailout dollars, when public funds are used to wage imperialist war abroad.

While the Republican Party might be considered the more aggressive pursuer of the interests of the super-rich, the entire, hated Bush agenda would have been impossible without the complicity of the Democrats. The right-wing has two political parties in America while the working class remains without representation.

Six months of the Obama administration
21 July 2009
World Socialist Web Site
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jul2009/pers-j21.shtml

Excerpt:

The direction of the administration on military policy was signaled early on. On January 23, three days after his inauguration, Obama ordered missile strikes by unmanned Predator drones on a location inside Pakistan, killing 18 people. With this initial blood on his hands, Obama proceeded apace.

The war in Afghanistan is now definitively “Obama’s war.” Under his watch, the US has set in motion a doubling of its forces, from 32,000 to 68,000, and is presently carrying out a major operation to wipe out popular opposition in the south

On domestic policy, Obama’s overriding concern has been to defend the wealth of the most powerful sections of the corporate and financial elite. Through cash injections, subsidies and loan programs, trillions have been handed out to the banks and financial institutions, with no strings attached. The administration has opposed any real constraints on executive pay or bonuses.

On all essentials, the Obama administration has continued the antidemocratic policies of its predecessor. It has invoked “state secrets” to block court cases challenging torture and domestic spying. The administration reversed a promise to release photos showing US torture of detainees. It has continued the military tribunals and indicated it plans to adopt a policy of indefinite detention for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Obama has repeatedly insisted that there will be no prosecution of any of the crimes carried out by the Bush administration. This means no one will be held accountable and that the crimes will continue.

Michelle answers:

We know who the media intends to “bailout.”

Democrats will deny that the major media is supports them, but the facts make their denials laughable:
Polls on how Americans saw the mainstream media (TV and print) election coverage in 2008:
-Rasmussen poll: 69% for Obama, 6% for McCain
-Pew Research poll: 67% for Obama, 11% for McCain
-Sacred Heart University poll: 68% for Obama, 9% for McCain
-Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll: 67% for Obama, 11% for McCain

University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy survey of journalists, nationwide, during the 2008 election: 52% supported Obama versus 19% for McCain.

9/2009 Sacred Heart University Polling Institute: 69.9% agreed the national news media are intent on promoting the Obama presidency while 26.5% disagreed.

9/23/10 Pew Research poll: 43% of those who perceive bias say it is liberal; 23% say they see conservative bias.

9/29/10 Gallup poll: Distrust of the media Edges Up to Record High
Perceptions of liberal bias still far outnumber perceptions of conservative bias: 48% say the media are too liberal; 15% say they are too conservative.

9/22/11 Gallup poll: 60% perceive bias, with 47% saying the media are too liberal and 13% saying they are too conservative.

8/15/12 Rasmussen Poll: 59% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Obama has received the best treatment from the media so far; 18% think his Republican challenger has been treated better.

8/25/12 New York Times: Arthur Brisbane wrote:
“Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism — for lack of a better term — that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.”
“As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects.”

Who the New York Times endorsed for president, since 1960:
1960 Kennedy; 1964 Johnson;1968 Humphrey; 1972 McGovern; 1976 Carter; 1980 Carter; 1984 Mondale; 1988 Dukakis; 1992 Clinton; 1996 Clinton; 2000 Gore; 2004 Kerry; 2008 Obama. ALL DEMOCRATS.

9/21/12 http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-only-8-americans-have-great-deal-trust-news-media-new-low:
Gallup: Only 8% of Americans Have ‘Great Deal’ of Trust in News Media–a New Low

Evidence of collusion between democrats and CNN during the presidential debate of 10/16/12:

-10/17/12 http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/10/obama-gots-more-time-138699.html: CNN says Obama got 9% more speaking time [194 seconds].
-2/3/11 http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/03/news/companies/super_bowl_ads/index.htm: Fox Network charges up to $100,000 a second for big sports events.
[In other words, CNN gave Obama $19,400,000 worth of free campaign time — $100,000/second times 194 seconds]

The pro-democrat media has ten times more viewers than pro-Republican Fox News:
5/25/11 huffingtonpost.com: NBC Nightly News averaged 9.469 million viewers, ABC’s World News 8.380 million; CBS Evening News 6.204 million; among cable networks, Fox News 2.556 million. And those figures don’t include the democrat shills MSNBC and CNN.

Michelle answers:

Answer for Iraq. Fox news, Biased Websites(like WMDS is a lie), CNN, MSNBC, international media are sensationalist news nowadays you should not take info from. After Gulf War 1, as part of the CEASE FIRE, the UN passed 22 resolutions which AUTHORIZED continued MILITARY ACTION against Iraq for failure to comply. Iraq FAILED to comply with 18 of the 22 which AUTHORIZED continued military action. The invasion was a continuance and conclusion of Gulf War 1 and was FULLY AUTHORIZED by the UN. For what? Kicking out UN inspectors for WMDs many times. He also fired our aircrafts in no-fly-zones many times in the 90s. And just so you know…the UN is NOT a legal body and no one is obliged to ask for or obey any directive from the UN. The UN has NEVER said the war in Iraq was ILLEGAL by UN standards. The reason we never go in to take Hussein down in the 90s was because that several countries(France, Germany, Russia) had economic relationships with Iraq. That’s why UN voted not to invade Iraq. Those countries wanted their money except USA which have no economic ties to Iraq. After 9/11 we informed the WMDs and in 2003, we went into Iraq and caught Saddam Hussein. So we finally did something that should have been taken care of long time ago.

We have not found massive stockpiles of WMD but enough has been found to be a concern. To say that “WMDS was a lie” is blatantly false:

* On June 23, 2004, U.S. Forces seized 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium at a nuclear facility in Iraq. This is the type of fuel that can be used to make nuclear weapons. It was also reported by the BBC (a frequent critic of the war) that the U.S. Department of Energy removed over a thousand “powdered” radioactive sources. These could be used to make a very effective dirty bomb.

* Polish troops in Iraq, upon receiving intelligence that insurgents in their sector were buying WMD, bought 17 chemical weapon warheads for $5,000 each from Iraqis to keep them from the insurgents. Tests confirmed that these warheads contained cyclosarin which is five to 10 times more effective (read deadly) than the sarin used on the Tokyo subway attack. Also, all munitions containing cyclosarin were reported destroyed by U.N. Enforcers between 1991 and 1998. Apparently not.

* On Aug. 8, 2005, U.S. Soldiers raided a warehouse in Mosul, Iraq, and found 1,500 gallons of chemical agents.

* On May 17, 2004, a U.S. Convoy was attacked by a roadside bomb that was found to be an improvised device made from an artillery shell containing the nerve agent sarin.

* A similar device was found the same month that contained the blister agent mustard.

I could go on but all of this and the UNSCOM (U.N. Inspectors of the ’90s) reports that could not account for some 6,500 chemical munitions and tons of biological growth media and anthrax cultures as well as evidence that Iraq was making fresh chemical munitions as late as 1998 leaves me flabbergasted at the continued myth that Iraq “had no weapons of mass destruction.” Two things can off my mind

1. Iraq DID and had WMD.

2. They can pose a very significant and deadly threat in even small and big amounts

About Afghanistan, the reason we invaded because Taliban is stationed there. We didn’t leave Afghanistan left. But we are leaving by end of 2011 because we can’t afford anymore deaths. We are training Afghan troops to fend off Taliban for themselves. It was been 9 years and we still haven’t found Bin Laden. So it’s better we pull out rather than having our troops slaughtered there for nothing.

Michelle answers:

If Fox mucks up the schedule like last year, it’ll start on a Wednesday, probably Oct. 22.

The All-Star Game decision will determine which league gets home field for Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 (if necessary).

The schedule should (but might not! Never trust Fox) go:
Game 1 – Wed 10/22, first city
Game 2 – Thur 10/23, first city
Game 3 – Sat 10/25, second city
Game 4 – Sun 10/26, second city
Game 5 – Mon 10/27, second city
Game 6 – Wed 10/29, first city
Game 7 – Thur 10/30, first city

Call your preferred hotels and ask if you can make a reservation as long as it can be canceled on 72 hours notice (this is pretty standard) — but you may as wait until after the ASG (July 15).