Andy Martin: Contrarian Commentary

My Photo
Name:
Location: Manchester, New Hampshire, United States

Monday, May 21, 2007

NEWS FROM:
ANDY MARTIN
The Right Republican for
United States Senator

ATTENTION: ASSIGNMENT/DAYBOOK EDITORS

ANDY MARTIN CHALLENGES STEVE SAUERBERG TO CONDEMN "HATE POLITICS" OF SAUERBERG'S PRO-ISRAEL SUPPORTERS

(CHICAGO, DC)(May 21, 2007) Republican U. S. Senate candidate Andy Martin will hold a telephone news conference Tuesday, May 22nd at 11:00 A.M. (CDT) to demand that his recently-announced primary opponent disassociate himself from the "hate politics of his supporters."

"I call on Steve Sauerberg to condemn the 'hate politics' of his supporters Michael Cohen and Paul Miller, and Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune," Martin will demand.

"Sauerberg is so disinterested in being a candidate for the senate he didn’t even bother to show up at the Republican State Central Committee meeting in Champaign last weekend. Apparently he thinks that his agents of hate and intolerance will provide victory on a silver platter.

"I am here to tell Steve Sauerberg he is responsible for the acts of his acolytes, who are trying to smear me because of my support for Middle East peace. They won't succeed.

"Sauerberg's supporters are the same people who elected Democrats in the past, and crucified loyal Republicans such as Senator Chuck Percy and Congressman Paul Findley who also backed Middle East peace efforts. Percy and Findley would not fight back. I will."

NEWS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

WHO: Republican U. S. Senate candidate Andy Martin

WHERE: Telephone news conference

WHEN: Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 11:00 A.M. (CDT)

WHAT: Andy Martin demands that Steve Sauerberg condemn
Sauerberg's supporters who are waging a "hate
campaign" for Sauerberg

MEDIA
CONTACT: Toll-free number to call for conference:
(866) 295-5950
Participant Code: 2090340

WEBSITE: AndyforUSSenator.com

E-MAIL: AndyMart20@aol.com
------------------------------------------Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007. Martin covers national and world politics with forty years of personal experience. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; contrariancommentary.wordpress.com. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Cell (917) 664-9329 Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com; AndyforUSSenator.com.

ANDY MARTIN SUPPORTS MIDDLE EAST PEACE

ANDY MARTIN
The Right Republican for
U. S. Senator from Illinois/2008
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-2639
Toll-free fax (866) 707-2639
Web site: www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com


May 21, 2007

Dear Republican leader:

You have no doubt reviewed the weekend smear attack on me by the supporters of Steve Sauerberg. Later today I will be issuing a call for Sauerberg to condemn the hate tactics of his fanatic acolytes.

The attacks on me by Paul Miller and Michael Cohen will be dealt with in a court of law, affording these men an opportunity to make their case. I am also entitled to due process.

These men are relying on the smear journalism of Rick Pearson, a corrupt reporter at the Chicago Tribune who has an obsession with opposing me, no doubt because of his own hidden agenda. Pearson launches ambush attacks on me with no interviews, no fact checking, nothing at all. As a result, the Tribune publishes Pearson's malignant trash as fodder for people such as Cohen and Miller. Miller and Cohen are devouring the same kind of poisoned pet food that we are importing from China.

But I want you to also look at the wider picture to see what is at issue here. Miller and Cohen are not really concerned with 35 year-old court opinions, or long-since-closed cases involving me. That is not their real agenda.

Rather, Cohen and Miller are smearing me because I have a worldwide reputation as an advocate of Middle East peace. The Andy Martin Peace Plan was first promulgated in 2000. It was recently the virtual basis of a State Department peace proposal. Increasingly, the world is moving in my direction.

The pro-Israel fanatics can't stand my point of view. They want Israeli hegemony over the Middle East. That is not in the cards. So please be clear that the personal attacks on me are really political attacks.

For the past six years U. S. policy in the Middle East has been locked in the vice of pro-Israel genuflection. The result? Every day Americans are dying because of the faulty and fraudulent intelligence provided not only by the CIA but also the Israeli security services. I was there, in Iraq and Jerusalem. I know the inside. You don't. And Miller and Cohen don't want you to learn the truth.

To be fair, Israel didn’t start the Iraq war. No, George Bush and his group are solely responsible for that mess. But Israeli intelligence was clandestinely fed to the White House to justify an attack that has boomeranged not only on President Bush but also on the State of Israel.

To paraphrase President Reagan, is Israel better off today than it was six years ago, before Iraq? The answer is absolutely not. Israel is more endangered than ever before. All because of people like Paul Miller, Michael Cohen and Rick Pearson who want to make the United States Senate a subsidiary of Israel, Inc. Israel's greatest enemies are its misguided "supporters" in the United States.

Most of the American Jewish community, and most of Israel's citizens, favor an intelligent, fair, negotiated settlement that recognizes the humanity and territorial rights of both communities. Palestine and Israel must be treated equally if there is to be peace. That is what the U. N. contemplated when it partitioned the mandate. Only Likudnik zealots such as Cohen and Miller want to put Israel's right-wing in perpetual occupation.

I have news for Cohen and Miller and Pearson. I will not take their smears and hate attacks sitting down. The same types of extremists crucified Senator Chuck Percy because of his support for Middle East peace, and before Percy they crucified Congressman Paul Findley because he also asked questions about the legitimacy of our Middle East policies. Percy and Findley took attacks without responding. I will fight back.

Steve Sauerberg must condemn his extremist anti-American, pro-Israel supporters, or Sauerberg is unfit to be a candidate for the senate. My only oath of office will be to defend and support and uphold the United States Constitution, not Israel's.

I ask for your support, and I ask for you to condemn the politics of hate directed against me by pro-Israel fanatics such as Pearson, Miller and Cohen. It is time for common sense and plain talk with our friends and neighbors on the future of American policy in the Middle East. There is a role for Israel, but it is not as an occupier and terrorizer of the region that brandishes nuclear weapons and undermines U. S. security interests. American policy should be made in Washington, not in Tel Aviv.

I welcome any Jewish group or organization to invite me and to hear me out. My campaign is open to everyone, including the Jewish community. As for the extremists, I can only answer them in Hebrew: Yimach shemo, veshem zichro.

Republicans can win in 2008 if we reject extremist, blind loyalty to foreign governments and if the Republican Party again puts America First. President Bush has made serious mistakes and if we own up to those mistakes we can win. If we don't, we won't.

The attacks on my mental functioning are beneath contempt. If there is anyone in public life whose sanity should be questioned, it is the pro-Israel extremists who have helped lead America into war, and who are now itching for a new attack on Iran.

Dick Durbin took the insane position recently that he lied to the American people because he took an oath of secrecy. To whom? In reality Durbin was pressured to pull his punches by his pro-Israel supporters who were itching for war and got one. Durbin put campaign cash ahead of American lives, and the result is there to see on TV every night.

I will be writing a column to explain my views fully, and I will see that you receive a copy. In the meantime, I am posting this response on the Internet to expose the viciousness and vituperation being used to try to undermine my candidacy. Dick Durbin is afraid to run against me. So Durbin is using his pro-Israel saboteurs to try and muck up the Republican primary. Don't let Durbin get away with it.

One thing is clear: by the vehemence of their attacks, Durbin, Pearson, Cohen and Miller are proving my campaign has a winning strategy and a winning candidate. Can any other Republican make that claim? I doubt it. On to victory in 2008.

Respectfully yours,


ANDY MARTIN
AM:sp

Thursday, May 17, 2007

ANDY MARTIN QUESTIONS IRP POLICIES ON FEDERAL CAMPAIGN ASSISTANCE

ANDY MARTIN
The Right Republican for
U. S. Senator from Illinois/2008
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-2639
Toll-free fax (866) 707-2639
Web site: www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com

May 17, 2007

Mr. Andy McKenna
Chairman
Illinois Republican arty
205 W. Randolph
Chicago, IL 60606
via fax (312) 201-0181


Re: Sauerberg campaign contribution/foundation

Dear Andy:

I spoke with an election law specialist in Washington and he made several points I felt I would pass on.

First, distributing press releases for a federal candidate is a service that is provided by many vendors. Thus, the use of the state IRP’s funds and facilities to distribute a press release for Steve Sauerberg clearly had a monetary value. That contribution has to be reported to federal authorities by Sauerberg. Otherwise, he would be in violation of federal election law.

Did the SCC authorize a federal election contribution to Sauerberg? If not, who did?

Second, there may be issues presented by having a state party provide services to some candidates, but not all, on a discriminatory basis. Has the party adopted a uniform, transparent policy on providing services or assistance to candidates?

I urge you to secure independent legal counsel so that the state party will not become embroiled in federal election law violations with Sauerberg. It seems to me that Sauerberg is being badly advised already. That is no excuse for the SCC to get dragged into Sauerberg’s machinations.

Finally, did you or have you obtained an independent legal opinion on the status of the Sauerberg Family Foundation before expressing an opinion on S’s status as a candidate?

I am happy to cooperate with you in any way; please get in touch if I can be of assistance.

Cordially,


ANDY MARTIN

AM:sp

cc: Steve Sauerberg
Associated Press

NEWS FROM:
ANDY MARTIN
Executive Editor
ContrarianCommentary.com
“Factually Correct,
Not Politically Correct”

THE BRAZEN LIES OF BARACK OBAMA

(CHICAGO)(May 17, 2007) Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times has been a “true believer” in Barack Obama since at least 2004. She has chronicled his rise to national prominence. But today’s column in the Sun-Times indicates that Sweet’s tolerance for Obama’s insatiable appetite for lying and distortion is ending. “Sweetie,” we hardly knew ye.

Likewise, when I began to write about Obama’s lies three years ago, no one was interested. They wanted to believe in the “dream.” The truth didn’t matter. One of these days the truth is going to come crashing down on these true believers. In the meantime, the extreme left of the Democratic Party has viciously attacked me, and forced me to become the point man in a conservative counterattack against Democratic media distortions.

Sweet is sending Obama a message today: Stop Lying! Will he heed, or even receive, Sweet’s cri de coeur? Good question. Sweet, of course, is a good deal more polite than I am. I have relentlessly hammered away at Obama’s links to indicted Chicago swindler Tony Rezko. But Sweet’s remarks today indicate that Obama’s endless litany of lies is wearing thin for his supporters in the Chicago media. When will the national media catch up?

Indeed, Sweet was much too polite. She limited herself to Obama’s lies on George Stephanopoulos’ program Sunday. She didn’t tie the entire oeuvre of Obama’s mendacity together. I will. Sweet points out that Obama lied when he said that he went to influence peddler Rezko for help buying a “first” house. In reality, Obama lied because he had already purchased a house and his latest mansion was not an innocent first purchase by an unsophisticated rube. He wanted Rezko’s juice, and he got it. There was no “boneheaded” mistake as Obama claims. Obama, moreover, was a practicing lawyer who was familiar with real estate law and financing.

Stephanopoulos, of course starts from a prepared script and lacks the ability to zero in on Obama’s lies. Obama went on to tell Stephanopoulos Obama didn’t take money from “lobbyists.” Sweet pointed out that he had, regularly. In his presidential race, Obama even has a lobbyist on his New Hampshire team.

It appears that Michelle Obama is also addicted to untruths and half-truths. Sweet was miffed when Michelle misled Sweet by removing campaign appearances from the “public” calendar because Michelle’s stops were “private.” Apparently it all depends on your definition of “private” and “public.” When is a presidential campaign fund raising stop “private?” Bill Clinton would be proud. He has a way with words too.

What Sweet left out, unfortunately, was the sinew that ties all of Obama’s Rezko lies together. Obama was collecting massive “campaign contributions” from Rezko at a time when Rezko had slum tenements in Obama’s own state senate district. Obama claims he had no idea Rezko’s slums were in his own district, a few short neighborhood steps away. If Obama didn’t know what was going on in his own tiny state senate district in Chicago (before being elected to the U. S. Senate) how can we count on him to keep track of the world? How?

Barry Obama has risen to great heights by alternatively playing the race card and brazenly lying about obvious facts, and always hoping that the truth won’t catch up with him. So far, it hasn’t. It will be a great fall when the truth finally does catch up. And he will then play the race card, again.

Tony Rezko faces serious time in jail. He can cut a deal and “drop the dime” on Obama. Here’s predicting Rezko "rolls over” and implicates Obama in some of Rezko’s criminal activity. Even if Rezko doesn’t, Obama will be a feature at Rezko’s criminal trial, just in time for the primary season.

Barry, or Barack, Obama, are you listening? Do you even care? Or are you so addicted to lying you will keep on manifesting contempt for the media and the American people?

Three years and counting I have been telling the truth about Obama. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

------------------------------------------
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007. Martin covers regional, national and world politics with forty years of personal experience. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; contrariancommentary.wordpress.com. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

"Pit Bull" Andy Martin is on the prowl for David Brock--in Court


NEWS FROM:
ANDY MARTIN
Republican for U. S. Senator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“PIT BULL” ANDY MARTIN IS ON THE PROWL—FOR DAVID BROCK

EXTREME LEFT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GOES INTO PAROXISM AS ANDY MARTIN LAWSUIT PROCEEDS AGAINST OBAMA DEFENDER “MEDIA MATTERS”

(CHICAGO)(May 16, 2007) The extreme left of the Democratic Party has gone into a paroxysm in the wake of Andy Martin’s lawsuit against Republican-conservative-turned-Clinton-leftist-and-worse-David Brock.

The DailyKos.com has logged nearly 300 attacks on Martin, and some prescient comments. One writer wrote: this guy's [Martin] like a pit-bull in a legal proceeding.

“Another writer attacked Martin—for citing the DailyKos.com in a news release! The nerve.

“The leftists think they will have a ‘slam dunk’ defeating my lawsuit,” Martin stated in commenting on the extremists’ attacks. “Where have I heard that before? I am already relishing, if that is the correct term, taking David Brock’s deposition. Brock may have tangled with Limbaugh and O’Reilly but he has not tangled with me. The more the left whimpers, the more I know Brock is wounded. George Soros does not have enough money to turn David Brock into a silk purse.

“Quite accidentally and unexpectedly I have become the national point man in the conservative counterattack against the extreme left of the Democratic party. As John Kerry would say, ‘Reporting for duty.’

“There has been a great deal of misinformation posted by these leftist morons, who drink Brock’s Kool-Aid like there is no tomorrow. The personal attacks on me are deplorable. Many of these jokers claim to be Democratic lawyers. Clients beware.

“I will present my facts in court. Suffice it to say I am confident my lawsuit will receive a fair hearing and that I will be vindicated before a jury. The ‘pit bull’ is on the prowl, for David Brock.

“There is also increasing evidence that Obama supporters are using anonymous sources to file personal attacks on me at the DailyKos.com; that’s a typical Barry Obama tactic. We may have to depose Obama to find out if he authorizes this action.”

------------------------------------------------
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007.
Martin has forty years of experience covering national and world politics. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

Andy holds a Juris Doctor degree (1969) from the University of Illinois College of Law. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com; AndyforUSSenator.com.

ANDY MARTIN SEEKS TO DEBATE "ALL COMERS" FOR REPUBLICAN NOMINATION

ANDY MARTIN
The Right Republican for
U. S. Senator from Illinois/2008
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-2639
Toll-free fax (866) 707-2639
Web site: www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com


May 16, 2007

Mr. Andy McKenna
Chairman
Illinois Republican arty
205 W. Randolph
Chicago, IL 60606
via fax (312) 201-0181


Re: Senate debate in Champaign


Dear Andy:

I was previously advised that the State Central Committee did not want to hear from candidates at the meeting on Saturday. I plan to be there Friday and Saturday to “meet and greet;” an invitation is going out tonight.

It occurred to me you may want to rethink your no-speech, no-debate decision.

Nothing increases interest in and attention of a party more than debates and candidate confrontations. The presidential candidates have already had two (2) debates; why not the Illinois U. S. Senate candidates, now that I have a primary opponent?

I am anxious to debate Sauerberg and he should be anxious to confront me.

It would increase the turnout and ratchet up the interest.

As a “heavyweight” debater (who is always on a diet of the other kind) I am ready to take on all comers, and especially my latest opponent.

Anyway, I am just making a suggestion. I will be there Saturday revved up and ready to go. If the Committee changes its mind about candidate speeches, please let me know in advance and I will prepare some remarks. Or I can be prepared to debate Sauerberg if you decide to stage a brief session.

Because Sauerberg is not an experienced debater or familiar with national issues I am prepared to offer him the handicap of a short debate, say thirty (30) minutes instead of the normal length.

Cordially,

ANDY MARTIN

AM:sp

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

ANDY MARTIN QUESTIONS ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN ANMDY MCKENNA ON CANDIDATE "FAVORITISM"


ANDY MARTIN
The Right Republican for
U. S. Senator from Illinois/2008
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-2639
Toll-free fax (866) 707-2639
Web site: www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com

May 15, 2007

Mr. Andy McKenna
Chairman
Illinois republican arty
205 W. Randolph
Chicago, IL 60606
via fax (312) 201-0181

Re: IRP assistance to Steve Sauerberg

Dear Andy:

During the last primary cycle the state party stayed relatively neutral. The result was that after the primary all of the candidates came together to support the eventual winner.

Today I received a notification from the weblog IllinoisReason that the Illinois Republican Party is distributing press releases for Steve Sauerberg. Perhaps you did the same for the defunct candidacy of Steve Greenberg.

IllinoisReason stated:

A Sauerberg press release was just distributed courtesy of the Illinois Republican Party.

Does this mean you are using party funds and informaiton (mailign lists/e-mail lists) to distribute informaiton for one candidate but not for all candidaes? That would be discriminatory.

Are there any written guidelines governing how party information is to be used to benefit one candidate in a contested primary? If not, what was the basis of the assistance to Sauerberg and not to me? If there are guidelines please send me a copy of the rules or guidelines.

I would also like a copy of the same mailing lists and e-mail information that was made available to Sauerberg this week.

I am bringing this matter to your attention early in the primary season so that the state party can remain neutral and appear to remain neutral. Favoring one candidate over another is dirty pool. Let the voters decide. In our mutual situation, we need to put aside our past history of personal conflict and work to better the party as a whole. Keeping the party neutral in primaries achieves that goal. Let’s do it.

You need to be aware that in the Internet age transparency is there for all to see, often whether we like it or not. So it is better to be transparent [and fair] than to appear to be hiding something or favoring someone.

I look forward to seeing you Saturday. I assume Sauerberg will also be there. Let ‘er rip.


Cordially,


ANDY MARTIN


AM:sp

W/encl.

NEWS FROM:
ANDY MARTIN
Republican for U. S. Senator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANDY MARTIN WELCOMES "FAMILY PHYSICIAN" TO U. S. SENATE RACE

(CHICAGO)(May 15, 2007) Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and foreign policy critic Andy Martin today welcomed Dr. Steve Sauerberg as a Republican candidate for the U. S. Senate.

"I was starting to feel a little like the Maytag Repair Man," said Martin. "All alone. And I am amused that Andy McKenna keeps throwing 'bergs' in the race. First there was Steve Greenberg; now there is Sauerberg. What's next? Hamburg?

"America is a great nation because anyone can run for office. There are those Republicans, mostly 'true believers,' who don't like me because I always give them the unvarnished truth. And they like a little varnish. Maybe Dr. Sauerberg can varnish his credentials and foreign policy expertise and become credible. He is not now.

"And, continuing his unbroken streak of supporting potential losers, Andy McKenna states that Sauerberg is 'serious and credible.' On what basis? Does the good doctor have political or electoral experience? Foreign policy experience? Or is it only deep pockets that McKenna evaluates as 'serious' credentials. So, how deep are Sauerberg's pockets?

"I find it questionable that Illinois voters, who have turned increasingly Democratic during McKenna's years at the helm of the Republican Party, will choose a neophyte who is concerned with 'extreme liberalism' and not primarily with the disaster that Republicans (and Democrats) created in Iraq. When I told Republicans in 2006 that Iraq was the issue; they responded with profanities. Iraq is still the issue. They can swear at me all they like but in 2006 the voters imposed a harsh reality on the Republican Party and those who would neither listen nor respond.

"Mr. McKenna undermines the entire Republican Party and makes us look silly when he states that a neophyte candidate is 'serious and credible.' McKenna said Greenberg was serious and credible too, and Greenberg vanished without a trace. The last doctor in the U. S. Senate, Senator Frist, left under a cloud after a failed leadership. Dr. Sauerberg will have to make a 'clean breast' of the Sauerberg Family Foundation and its past activities.

"I look forward to hearing in detail from Chairman McKenna just what criteria he applies to determine 'seriousness and credibility.' I don't think that many people would consider a rookie candidate a serious 'contenda' to go against a heavyweight like Dick Durbin.

"Finally, I am also concerned that Chairman McKenna appears to be taking sides in the primary. In order to remain a united party we should adopt the same approach as 2006, and have the party leadership remain neutral until after the primary. That way all of the candidates were able to unite behind Judy Topinka.

"There will be time enough for reality, however. Today I welcome a new candidate to the honorable calling of politics, and I hope he stays in the race a little longer that the first 'berg.'" Martin stated.

------------------------------------------------
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007.
Martin has forty years of experience covering national and world politics. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com

Andy holds a Juris Doctor degree (1969) from the University of Illinois College of Law. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com; AndyforUSSenator.com.

NEWS FROM:
ANDY MARTIN
Executive Editor
ContrarianCommentary.com

ATTENTION: ASSIGNMENT/DAYBOOK EDITORS

ANDY MARTIN DEMANDS MICHELE OBAMA CUT LINK TO WAL-MART SUPPLIER

(CHICAGO)(May 15, 2007) Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin will hold a news conference Tuesday, May 15th at 3:00 P.M. to demand that Michelle Obama resign for the Board of Treehouse Foods. Treehouse Foods is a supplier to Wal-Mart.

"Everyone says that politics and politicians are two-faced," Martin will charge. "But the Obamas are in your face with their two faces. Barry Obama attacks Wal-Mart, and Michelle Obama serves the same Wal-Mart through Treehouse Foods. What a twosome. On both sides of the same issue and at the same time.

"I say it's time for the Obamas to 'End the Hypocrisy!'

"Let me state unequivocally that I am a supporter of Wal-Mart," Martin will state. " I have found the political shenanigans involving Wal-Mart in Chicago disgraceful and self-destructive. Can Wal-Mart make improvements? Surely they can. Do they provide a valuable service to working America? You bet they do. Are they responsive? I think they are.

"Barack Obama and his wife work both sides of the street of the Wal-Mart controversy. Pretty soon we're going to have a new expression: "That's a real Obama," (meaning, you talk out of both sides of your mouth for political profit).

Since the 1960's Andy Martin has been Illinois' leading public interest advocate (see AndyMartin.com' AndyforUSSenator.com).

NEWS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

WHO: Internet journalist/editor/critic Andy Martin

WHERE: Southeast corner of Wabash and Huron Streets,
Chicago, (St. James Cathedral)

WHEN: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 3:00 P.M.

WHAT: Andy Martin will announce that he is asking
Michelle Obama to resign from the Board
of Wal-Mart supplier Treehouse Foods

MEDIA
CONTACT: (312) 440-4124

WEBSITE: ContrarianCommentary.com

E-MAIL: AndyMart20@aol.com
------------------------------------------
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007. Martin covers national and world politics with forty years of personal experience. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; contrariancommentary.wordpress.com. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com; AndyforUSSenator.com.

Monday, May 14, 2007

ANDY MARTIN ATTACKS PENTAGON LIMITS ON YOUTUBE, MYSPACE

PENTAGON SHOOTS ITSELF IN THE FOOT WITH NEW CENSORSHIP POLICY

"PENTAGON COMMANDOES" SEEK TO "MUZZLE" TRIGGER PULLERS IN THE FIELD

(CHICAGO)(May 14, 2007) Well those Pentagon commandoes have done it again. Low morale in the field? Men and women dispirited about having their tours extended? Just heap it on and block access to web sites where families and military personnel can exchange information.
Oh, no? This is not censorship? Soldiers can still use their personal computers? In Iraq? Give me a break. I am sure they all have heir laptops hanging on their backs.
Once again the United States military shows why incompetent generals so often treat the forces in the field like jerks, and seek to "muzzle" the people they depend on to aim their muzzles at the enemy. I am sure there will be some backfire on this one.
It could also backfire on President Bush. As though he needs more headaches.
In Iraq and Afghanistan the military probably enjoys a working monopoly on computer access. Soldiers can’t just pull up to an Internet café and share their thoughts on the Internet.
Now, the military leaders in Washington want to block
people in the field from accessing YouTube, MySpace and other sharing sites on government computers.
Computers have been a major factor in keeping families connected, and keeping families together during the years of a stressful conflict where the Congress refuses to authorize adequate troops to provide for proper deployments.
Yes, Congress is to blame for this mess. They fund the war, grudgingly, but refuse to fund the increased military forces necessary to give our men and women proper rest between tours. And craven politicians both in Congress and the administration, and goofy, timid generals refuse to ask the American people for the money to provide adequate force levels to ensure a humane environment for our forces.
Now they want to lock up the computers.
It's enough to make you say "Allah Akbar."
The latest stunt by the Pentagon idiots will boomerang both in the short an long-term
We criticize the Chinese government for blocking Internet access. Now the U. S. Government is following the Chinese model. What an example we set!
Not enough bandwidth? I say add more. Add enough so that people can stay connected, so that stresses on families can be alleviated, so that contact and communication can continue. Add more access not less.
Rupert Murdoch owns MySpace through one of his companies. I am sure he will make his views known. It is one thing to fight a war against Iraqi insurgents. Rupert Murdoch is a much more formidable foe, and he will attack. Bush better surrender fast. He doesn't need Fox News attacking him for censorship. Go Rupert.
And, please, Mr. President, add some common sense to that cauldron of incompetence, the Pentagon; for the sake of our fighting men and women that have been treated so poorly by American leaders over the past four years.
________________________________________________
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007. Martin covers regional, national and world politics with forty years of personal experience. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; contrariancommentary.wordpress.com. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639 Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com; AndyforUSSenator.com.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

HE'S BAAAAAAACK! IRAQ DISASTER ARCHITECT PAUL BREMER SAYS HE "WON'T BE A "PUNCHING BAG"

ANDY MARTIN SAYS, "OH YES HE WILL. FOREVER"

A NEW INSTALLMENT OF THE SOAP OPERA "AS BREMER'S WORLD TURNS"

(CHICAGO)(May 14, 2007) Paul Bremer just won't leave well enough alone. Or maybe he can't. Maybe he knows more than he wants to admit; and each time he admits a little more he opens the door to future admissions. And questions.

In yesterday's Washington Post (May 13) Bremer says he won't be a "punching bag" for his critics. Then he spills the beans on more evidence that ensures he will continue to be a punching bag. He seeks to distort the history of Iraq in 2003-2004 when Bremer was destroying the country. Amusingly, the national media that treated Bremer seriously when he was in Baghdad, still treat him seriously and provide him with a soapbox.

Finally, for comic relief in his latest transcript of the tragedy, Bremer plays the Bush Family favorite: the Nazi card.

Bremer began yesterday's apologia by claiming that Saddam Hussein had modeled himself on Adolph Hitler. Shades of George H. W. Bush. It is a peculiar form of American racism that we do not credit Arabs with any independent intelligence or creativity; they must have copied some European model for whatever they do. Saddam Hussein was a Middle East dictator; his barbarism and atrocities were entirely homegrown.

Unfortunately, comparisons to Hitler and Nazi Germany have been a stable feature of Bush family attitudes towards Iraq. Apparently they feel we Americans are either too stupid or too racist to question or care about such analogies.

Bremer says, "We had no choice [but to invade Iraq] to give [Iraqis] a brighter future." Some bright future. Four years later, we can’t even keep the lights on in Baghdad. And so, finally, Bremer confesses why we invaded Iraq: The "Nazis" made us do it. So much for the president's foreign policy. President Bush has denied "the Israelis made me do it," which is probably closer to the truth. He probably never thought of blaming Adolph Hitler. Yet.

Bremer drops the dime on Douglas Feith, an Israeli attorney who was serving in a high position at the Pentagon, and is now a "Visiting Professor" at Georgetown University and also serves at Harvard as an expert on "terrorism."

Honestly, if Feith has anything to do with "terrorism," America is doomed.

Bremer says "The day before I left for Iraq in May [2003]…Douglas Feith presented me with a draft law that would purge top Baathists." Bremer says Feith's desire was to remove a "small group of true believers..not to harass rank-and-file Sunnis." Bremer says "Feith's Law" only implicated "1 percent of Baath party members."

In a reversal of field worthy of an NFL running back, Bremer then says that the Baath party bad boys had inserted a competent layer of "senior civil servants…running the Iraqi ministries." So, in Bremer's World the evil Baath leaders (say "Naaazzi" if you prefer) had left behind "impressive…senior civil servants to guide Iraq." Well, that's news to me and probably everyone else.

Before yesterday, no one has ever suggested that just below the evil Baath thugs was a secret layer of competent "senior civil servants." This "corps of competency" exists only in "Bremer's World," nowhere else. There were competent Iraqis scattered about, but the Iraqi government as a whole lacked any "generally impressive" body of civil servants.

And, then, Bremer confesses. "I was wrong here." Those nasty Shiites ruined Feith's Law. It's all their fault. Blame the Shiites. Bremer says, "The Iraqi leaders…broadened the decree's impact far beyond our original design." And what did Bremer do? He did nothing. Rummy did nothing. No one did anything. Bob Woodward has written that General Jay Garner's warnings were ignored. So, today, in Bremer's World, a new reality is exposed: the Shiites were responsible for the failure of de-Baathification. Ucch.

Bremer goes on to defend the "disbanding" of the Iraqi Army. He has a simple explanation. "[T]here was no Iraqi Army to disband." In Bremer's World, the Iraqi Army enlisted ranks were "almost all Shiite." No problem there; I thought Shiites were our friends. But the troops had gone "back home." Bremer did not want to "send U. S. troops into Shiite villages to force the [Shiite soldiers] back at gunpoint." Whew. Good call, Paul.

This is more malarkey from Bremer's World. Bremer knows nothing about soldiers or armies. The man who did, General Jay Garner, was thrown out of Iraq by Rummy, Feith and the other crackpots that are now hiding behind closed doors in Washington. They were afraid Garner might get it right and make it work.

Soldiers and armies are the most loyal people and institutions in organized society. If asked to, the soldiers, yes those Shiites, most of them, would have shown up, to be paid, and they would have helped maintain order.

In Bremer's World the nonexistent Iraqi Army posed so many risks to peace and stability it is almost amazing he did not "send U. S. troops into Shiite villages." The big risk of recalling the existing Army: Iran and Turkey would have invaded Iraq if the Iraqi Army and been activated.

Who knew those Turks and Iranians were at fault! Oh, my God. Who knew that! The Persians, invading Iraq? In 2003? Because of Shiites being recalled into the Army? And the Turks too. Why that's an act of war. How dare they invade?

Bremer says he would not have trusted any Iraqi Army even if it did turn up. "[N]either the U.S.-led coalition nor the Iraqis could have relied on the allegiance of a recalled army." But then Bush & Co. never really trusted Arabs to begin with. Bushies had their law offices in Tel Aviv (Feith). Why would pro-Israel sympathizers operating inside the U.S. Government want to trust Iraqi soldiers?

Bremer then says he "started paying pensions to officers from the old Army." Yup, in Bremer's World he would not recall the enlisted men because they were Shiites, but he would pay pensions to those hated Baathist Sunni officers. Does this make sense?

I was outside the Green Zone when American troops massacred Iraqi soldiers who were asking for their pensions. We killed innocent people who were protesting peacefully, "to protect Americans," of course.

The truth: General Jay garner wanted to avoid instant de-Baathification because he knew exactly what would happen, and it did. Garner wanted to retain the army, and work from within to reform the ranks. His instincts were sound. Garner just might have succeeded. Which is why he was replaced. Bush & Co., and Feith, Wolfowitz & Rummy, put a clown in charge that was guaranteed to fail.

Some people feel Feith, Wolfowitz & Co. put Bremer in charge knowing he would fail, and that Iraq would collapse. Draw your own conclusions. They dumped competence (Garner) and imposed incompetence (Bremer) on an occupied nation.

In the pages of the Washington Post Bremer chides "people who have never visited Iraq." He should include himself. Bremer never visited Iraq, never saw Iraq, never had anything to do with Iraq. He lived locked away in his "Green Zone." I called it the "Emerald City" and refused to visit. Inside his cocoon he took his marching orders from Douglas Feith. Bremer knew nothing about Iraq when he was physically present but mentally absent from Iraq in 2003-2004, and he has learned nothing about Iraq since departing the country.

Instead, Bremer continues to live in Bremer's World, not the real world. In the real world Americans are dying, for no clear policy, for no clear goals, for no hope of imposing democracy and freedom on a country that was dismembered through American incompetence and possibly design.

I wonder if Doug Feith ("Professor Feith?" Don't make me laugh.) still visits Bremer, occasionally. Bremer and Feith will go down in American history as evil people that destroyed American policy, destroyed our economy and scarified American lives, all for what?

It makes you wonder: why do Georgetown University and Harvard continue to allow Feith to associate himself with those educational institutions? Is Feith telling his students the truth? Don't bet on it. Then what is he doing at Harvard and Georgetown, but lying all over again?

Sadly, the Washington Post still gives Bremer a podium from which to preach his nonsense.

Finally, a personal note, Mr. Bremer, in response to your ridicule of your critics "who have never visited Iraq." That lacuna does not apply to me. I was there. I lived there. In Baghdad. I saw it all. I wrote about it, and my words of condemnation are a documented record for all to revisit and read. Forever. Where were you? And where are you?

Bremer's World.

------------------------------------------
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and media critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007. Martin covers national and world politics with forty years of personal experience. Martin, America's most respected independent foreign policy and intelligence analyst, served as a Baghdad Bureau Chief in most of 2003 and became the nemesis of Paul Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com
Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com, AndyforUSSenator.com

Friday, May 11, 2007

Andy Martin: Forty Years Later in Washington

THE VIEW FROM 16TH & K STREETS;
MY FORTY YEARS AS AN INVESTIGATIVE
WRITER/JOURNALIST/ETC./ETC.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

(WASHINGTON, DC)(May 12, 2007) A few days ago Larry King made a large production of his fifty years in journalism, if you call what King does broadcasting (I would call it sleepcasting).

My 40 years as an investigative researcher, journalist and "etc." won't be celebrated in the same fashion as King's, but it is forty years since I began investigating and writing, and irritating, and doing a little bit of a lot of other things that usually puts me where few people want to be and where I have always liked being. (And I will celebrate 40 years as a broadcaster--in 2008.)

I arrived in Washington this Thursday morning for a series of confidential meetings as well as public news conferences, tired after not having slept all night, and appeared at my favorite hotel, the Capital Hilton, with what must have been a hang-dog look. I looked at the woman behind the desk and asked for an early check-in. She was from the U.K. and we chatted about our neighborhood in London. I took the room she offered.

Then I opened the curtains and looked out on the last 40 years of my life. My room, 582, overlooks 16th and K streets, a couple of blocks down from the White House.

I looked at the corner across the street. It's a Starbucks now. Forty years ago it was the ticket office for Pan American Airways. In 1967 I was told to walk over there and pick up a ticket, and I did. To Saigon.

In 1967 as in 2007, Washington was at war. Then as now we were fighting both a real enemy and an imaginary enemy.

Then the majority party responsible for the losing war was the Democrats. Now the losing party is the Republicans. Candidates up for election/reelection in 2008 are looking for the same exit signs along the war's highway that candidates were seeking in 1967. But the road to war, and the road back from war, is an unmarked turnpike. You keep paying and hoping to find the exit sign. My guess is that it won't any easier for the Republicans to find their way home than it was for the Democrats.

My sponsor then was a retired U. S. Senator, Paul Douglas. Douglas was an unlikely close friend of President Johnson, and a man who had high hopes for me because of my independent spirit and political instincts. I was already an old Washington hand at the age of 21. My plans to enroll in law school in Washington had changed in 1966; I went back to the University of Illinois.

Forty years later I'm a little older now and, I hope, a lot wiser. But I am still independent and committed to the truth.

If the truth be told, my thoughts were a lot more conflicted then than they are now. When you are 21 no one expects you to be a diplomatic expert, or a skilled analyst. They know that young men hunger for experience, adventure, challenge and testing. Maybe in a fairer or more sensible world the old guys would jump out of helicopters and the young men would watch at home on TV. Wars would end a lot faster that way. But that's not the world we live in.

And, as I noticed somewhere along the way, just as paranoids can have enemies, so too can countries. Sadly, sometimes nations are no more efficient and effective than paranoids at dealing with their enemies, real and imagined.

A few days later in 1967 I was to walk through a looking glass from official Washington to jungles and jumbles. From bases to sometimes no base at all. Just myself. A singleton in a singular world. You grow up fast under those conditions. It was to be over a decade later before someone actually stuck a gun in my gut and said "let's go;" in Viet-Nam the enemy was largely unseen. Or not much seen.

I learned some lessons jumping out of helicopters into rice paddies, though, and those simple truths have stayed with me for a lifetime. Indeed.

My initial assignment was a short-term one, and I finished up in time to reregister for law school in the fall. Dan Balz was the editor of the Daily Illini them, and he edited a few columns I penned for the student newspaper. There was muted controversy, but not a lot. The explosions of 1968 were still in the future.

Looking back forty years, and looking ahead to 2008, there are obvious problems for the Republicans. It was not until early 1968 that President Johnson quit. President Bush is under pressure to put up or show up in September. In 2007. We are all more impatient now than we were 40 years ago. If I remember correctly, in 1967 TV network film still had to be sent by plane to Hong Kong before it could be processed for the U. S. Today digital cameras are everywhere, e-mail and video feeds instantly available around the world, to friend and foe.

I saw the impact of changed media in Iraq, one day near Kufa. I knew Iraq would be different long before I got to Baghdad; but it was still jarring to see the truth in action. The margin of error in war, and the margin of lying, had been reduced to zero.

Soldiers get old and retire, and a lot of their wisdom and experience goes with them. But our historical wisdom and experience as a nation should never retire; it should remain there through the ages to guide us. That has not been the case with Iraq. Obviously, some of our leaders in Washington were basing their actions on the last major conflict, not the current one. And opinions too.

Instant communications has made decision-making more difficult, not easier. And it has made political posturing more potent, not more patient.

If Iraq had been fought in 1967 with 2007 media? Good question. Senators Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening would have had a much larger following, much faster, with much more power. Bobby Kennedy might have jumped sooner. Gene McCarthy would have been, well, Gene McCarthy. A lot of the bad things that were happening in Viet-Nam took longer to percolate; today the coffee's ready, instantly.

I grew up in a foreign policy household, being lectured about the Holocaust and Middle East and World War II, not about box scores and motor boats. I actually remember Korea.

Suddenly I found myself transitioning from law school to a clandestine world where laws barely existed and no one would bother to read them. It's hard to seek truth under those conditions, but sometimes truth appears, uninvited. And sometimes we stumble over truths. And sometimes--unbelievably--we actually find them. And so it was with me in 1967.

Now, forty years later, I firmly believe laws and the rule of law are essential, even in the middle of a war. That is why I have been so disappointed by the self-inflicted tragedy of Guantanamo, the mistreatment of prisoners, the unnecessary abuses that have exacerbated the problems in Iraq. The hubris of George Bush & Co. At least President Johnson read the newspapers.

I think (not sure) that Colin Powell was out there in Viet-Nam during the summer of 1967, learning his lessons just as I was learning mine.

My experiences led me to march against any Iraq invasion before the war began. I could not believe we would commit such a blunder. How could another major conflict begin in my lifetime? Was this insanity? It seemed impossible to believe we could be so stupid. But we were. And now it is 2007, not 1967. Where do we go from here?

While I don't think much of Powell as a warrior, he was a more than competent soldier. More's the pity that Powell abandoned his own "Powell Doctrine" for political ambition, and ignored the reality that his undying principles of military engagement (political support, massive force, exit strategy) were being ignored in 2002. Powell knew that ignoring them would lead to disaster in Iraq. He should have jumped out of the Bush Administration's helicopter a lot sooner than he did. His caution made him a casualty of a war he opposed on the inside but could not bring himself to expose on the outside. Blind loyalty and ambition became his own toxic cocktail.

In Iraq, we manufactured paper mache public support, went in with too small a force, and had no exit strategy worthy of the name. And we believed our own nonsense. The same way that today we are believing our own nonsense about Iran.

The world was much smaller in 1967 than it was in 2003, but we made the same mistakes. Computers and satellites and all of the other paraphernalia of modern politics and government did not improve decision-making one whit.

And, of course, Hillary Clinton, who as a presidential candidate says she knows it all, and made the same claim in 2003, now says she knew nothing in 2003. Sergeant Schultz would be proud. If, as Emerson said, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," Hillary is no little mind.

So, I didn't close the shades on my room yesterday, hoping to close out the last 40 years. Time moves on and Bush will move on and Iraq will end. That's one of the lessons I learned one day, one night actually, somewhere in an unknown rice paddy in 1967.

Of course, as I looked out my window across the street at the old Pan Am ticket office, I was once again reminded of one of my favorite poems, by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken."

That day in 1967, when I crossed the street and picked up my ticket to Saigon, "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

Today I went over for a Starbucks.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster and critic Andy Martin is the Executive Editor and publisher of ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2007. Martin covers national and world politics with forty years of personal experience. Columns also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; contrariancommentary.wordpress.com. Comments? E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Cell (917) 664-9329 Web sites: ContrarianCommentary.com; AndyforUSSenator.com.