Photos of McCain’s Hoa Lo prison cell where he spent two years in solitary confinement

Amazing photos… I deeply respect McCain’s service and the sacrifices he’s made for this country. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to vote for him…

By Paul Bedard
USNews.com
July 11, 2008
Click here for the original article

These are the never-before-seen last known photos of Sen. John McCain‘s Hoa Lo prison cell, images that prove that even after being cleaned up for an American historical filmmaker, the terror of the Hanoi Hilton is real. Debra Watkins, who took the pictures and video in 1993 and 1994 before this and other areas of the century-old prison were destroyed, provided them to Whispers as part of a story that appears in the Washington Whispers column. Watkins did volumes of research before traveling to Hanoi, sparked by reports the government planned to rip down most of the facility. She was able to find McCain’s cell which she says is pictured in the above photos. The first shows an official opening the cell. You can clearly see old locks used presumably to hold leg irons and other torture implements on the inside. The second shot shows the inside of McCain’s cell and the leg iron contraption Watkins believes he was tortured with. Amazingly, in her 31 hours of video she also has an interview with McCain, seen in the third photo, as she shows him her pictures of the cell he lived in solitary for two years. She recalls that he “was emotional not teary.” He even laughed at some of the shots. We haven’t seen these images before because while she planned to produce a film or documentary long ago, it got pushed aside as she dealt with some family illnesses. She is now offering it to cable news companies because she has heard of reports of people questioning McCains POW experience. Asked how she felt leaving the prison years ago, Watkins focused on McCain’s efforts at the time to forgive and forget and open relations with Vietnam. “I don’t know if I could forgive and forget,” she told me. Nonetheless, it is a tourist destination now, one even McCain visited in 2000.

In 1973, McCain wrote a first-person account of his five-year captivity for U.S. News, read it here.

All three photographs are copyrighted by Debra Watkins.

The World’s Most Worthless Money

From Portfolio.com…

Zimbabwe: As Americans worry about the rate of inflation exceeding 4 percent, we should consider Zimbabwe, where the inflation rate broke the shocking 100,000 percent mark and the country released a 10 million-dollar note (now valued below $4 on the black market). But Zimbabwe’s currency is hardly the only one inflated beyond reason. —George Quraishi

Vietnam: 500,000-dong note. U.S. value: $31.37. An early-1980s U.S. embargo hobbled exports, leading to price controls and the printing of excess currency.

Indonesia: 100,000-rupiah note. U.S. value: $11.05. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the rupiah lost 80 percent of its value within months, sparking riots in Jakarta (and soon ending President Suharto’s 32-year rule).

Iran: 50,000-rial note. U.S. value: $5.35. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran’s inflation rate has hovered around 15 percent, thanks in part to ever-rising oil prices.

São Tomé: 50,000-dobra note. U.S. value: $3.47. This African island nation’s economy is tied to the volatile price of its chief export, cocoa, and is measured against its trading partners’ robust euro.

Guinea: 10,000-franc note. U.S. value: $2.33. In 2002, the mineral-rich African country refused to implement reforms mandated by the International Monetary Fund; foreign cash dried up, and the central bank printed too much money.

(Photos by Tim Hout and Dalia Nassimi)

Right on, General Clark!

By Jon Soltz
HuffingtonPost.com
June 30, 2008
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Boy, talk about your echo chamber in the media. Yesterday, General Wesley Clark went on CBS’ Face the Nation, and repeated something he’s said many times before. If you missed it, here’s the full quote in context :

Bob Schieffer: Well you, you went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote, and these are your words, “untested and untried,” And I must say I, I had to read that twice, because you’re talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He’s been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years. How can you say that John McCain is un- untested and untried? General?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Because in the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk. It’s a matter of gauging your opponents, and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in Air- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, ‘I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it-‘

Bob Schieffer: Well-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: ‘ -it publicly.’ He hasn’t made those calls, Bob.

So, in short, General Clark respects John McCain’s service, calls him a hero to millions, but notes that experience doesn’t make him qualified to be Commander in Chief…

Click here for the full article

More MSM coverage for Senator Jim Webb… could this be a VP nod indication?

Looks like Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) is picking up more coverage lately. Could this be an indication he is being highly considered for Obama’s VP position? I like Jim Webb but he hasn’t been a senator for very long and this form of inexperience could come back in November and bite the democrats in the ass.. no pun intended.

But I guess if you seriously want change, you’ll have to accept that it may very well come in the form of inexperience.

08AMA!

Arming Obama:
Sen. Jim Webb — Vietnam Vet, ‘Redneck’ — Is Emerging As the Democrats’ Military Point Man; The ‘VP!’ Chant

By Monica Langley
Wall Street Journal Online – WSJ.com
June 21, 2008
Click here for the original article

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With his two Purple Hearts, three tattoos and spoiling-for-a-fight attitude, Sen. Jim Webb is emerging as the Democrats’ point man on two of the most profound matters facing the electorate this November: national defense and the military.

A highly decorated war veteran who opposes the Iraq war, Sen. Webb is considered by many Democrats to be the best person to go into battle against another war hero, expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The ex-Marine, who hails from the important swing state of Virginia, could also become Sen. Barack Obama’s go-to person on national security, where the Democratic presidential candidate’s résumé is weak compared with rival Sen. McCain’s.

His rising star has been enhanced by the expected passage of a GI bill he championed, which provides money for veterans to go to college, and which President Bush recently accepted despite his earlier veto threat. All that makes Sen. Webb one of the most talked-about possible vice-presidential contenders.

Yet, Sen. Webb, a politician for less than two years, could be a risky combatant for the Democratic party. The 62-year-old lawmaker and novelist has a zeal that sometimes defies political niceties: He didn’t shake President Bush’s hand when the president asked about his son’s deployment to Iraq. Some of his views aren’t politically correct. He contends that “poor whites” are an oppressed class, and defends Confederate soldiers for fighting for state sovereignty.

A spokeswoman says Sen. Webb “speaks artfully about complex issues that many politicians shy away from, and it’s his authenticity that is so compelling.”

The self-described “redneck” occasionally carries a concealed pistol, and is still suspect to some Democrats for having served as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. He speaks fluent Vietnamese with his third wife, a lawyer who fled Vietnam as a girl and whom he calls his “warrior queen.” He takes long walks in Arlington Cemetery, stopping recently to place a rock on the headstone of Sen. McCain’s father, a tradition that signals respect for the dead…

Click here for the full story

Brutal anti-McCain video made by a very pissed off Ron Paul supporter

From JedReport.com

This anti-McCain video, put together in February by a Ron Paul supporter, is just brutal. Some of it is a little off the beaten track, but up to the 7 minute mark, it is devastating, especially starting at the 2:30 mark.

The List: A Mission To Save Iraqi Lives (CBS News: 60 Minutes)

Branded as collaborators by insurgents, many Iraqis who helped the U.S. now face serious danger

(CBS) The refugee crisis in Iraq is among the biggest humanitarian emergencies in the world. Millions of Iraqis have fled the war, many marked for death because they worked for the United States. They were translators, office workers, many other things, but now the enemy has branded them as collaborators.

When that happened in Vietnam, the U.S. brought more than 100,000 refugees to the states. But today, the U.S. government, which was so desperate for Iraqi workers, is not so eager to help them now.

As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, one young American named Kirk Johnson has jumped into this breach. All he wanted to do was rescue one of his Iraqi co-workers. When he did, a thousand more pleaded for help and Johnson began “the list.”

Click here to view the entire segment