Going Out on a Limb....

Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb is now a candidate for president.  I believe he will be Hillary's choice for running mate

• I'm going to go out on a limb on this one but I predict that Hillary will pick former Virginia Senator Jim Webb as her running mate once she secures the Democratic Party nomination.  During the Reagan administration Webb was Secretary of the Navy.  He has also served as a US Senator from Virginia, Assistant Secretary of Defense, Counsel for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Marine Corps officer. Over the years Webb has dabbled in both parties but ran for the Senate in 2006 as a Democrat.  He is sometimes called a "maverick" similar in a way to Sen. John McCain in that he is not always predictable.  That's just enough for loyal Democrats to take the bait. Webb would likely be helpful to Hillary in her presidential run because the former Virginia senator comes from one of the most heavily militarized states in the country that is still a key part of the bedrock south.  Webb recently complained on TV that Bernie Sanders was "Not my Democratic Party."  It's the perfect match as far as the war machine goes.  They'd love the team.  Webb could run the Pentagon and Hillary's job would be to neutralize the women, liberals, environmentalists, and the black community as she pushes Greek-style austerity to America.  Say good-bye Social Security and Medicare..... 
• Today in the mail we received an award certificate from the city of Bath July 4 parade committee.  It appears that our local PeaceWorks group won the 'gold star' award for best "non-profit" group during the recent holiday parade attended by 10,000 Mainers - the biggest July 4 parade in the state.  The award was signed by the local chief of police (serving as chief judge) and I take it as recognition in our long local struggle to be taken seriously by the community as we work to convert Bath Iron Works from warship production to building light rail systems, wind turbines, or the like. If you didn't see our photos from that parade just click here
• I taped my latest This Issue public access TV show today and had a wonderful guest.  Sherri Mitchell is a Penobscot from Indian Island here in Maine.  She came on the show to talk about current struggles native people in Maine (and across the nation) are having as politics is turning mean and nasty.  In our state right-wing Gov. LePage has been cruel on Indian issues and has destroyed much progress that had been made over the years in repairing the relationships between native people and the white community. Sherri spoke movingly about her family - told a great story about her grandfather which people will enjoy learning about.  She ended the show with a call for all people of good will to work together to help save precious life on our Mother Earth.  I'll post the show here once available - likely in 1-2 weeks time.
• I am really impressed with an article by Mike Whitney that I posted on the blog yesterday.  He wrote an excellent piece digging under the surface of the Iran nuke deal.  Mike outlined a serious case that much of the Iran deal is part of the larger strategy the US-NATO is developing against Russia.  All about price of oil and natural gas and the market for supplying Europe - will fossil fuels come from Iran or Russia?  Gotta just 'love' the capitalists who always find a way to keep dividing the people against one another.
• Long regarded University of Illinois Professor of International Law Francis Boyle has joined this Iran analysis discussion and agrees that the implications of the agreement went far beyond the nuclear weapons issue. “This is an attempt by the US to reintegrate Iran into the US imperial order for the Persian Gulf,” Boyle told Sputnik. Up to 1979, Iran served as “the imperial policeman throughout the Persian Gulf region for the US under the Shah, but this ended with the 1979 Islamic Revolution,” Boyle said. In the background to the successful agreement, “the US used the pretext of the nuclear issue to bludgeon Iran into submission by means of the economic sanctions,” he added. "I suspect this deal will have wide ranging implications stretching across the Middle East and Central Asia,” he said. “Iran has made a strategic choice to align itself with the US. Iran is potentially a useful partner to Washington in energy projects that work against Russian interests, not least of them pipelines serving to 'diversify' Europe's gas supplies,” Boyle said. The two countries might also now more openly seek to extend their cooperation in the struggle to roll back the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Boyle concluded.