MoveOn.org has launched a campaign to pressure Republican presidential candidate John McCain to fire his chief advisor, Charlie Black, who in his work as a lobbyist has represented some pretty creepy foreign clients including dictators Ferdinand Marcos in the Phillippines and Mobuto Sese Seko in Zaire and mass murderer Jonas Savimbi in Angola. Here is MoveOn’s ad:

Charlie Black is a long-time Republican political operative who has served as an adviser to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, who themselves showed little compunction about cozying up to tyrants and terrorists when it served their ultra-right pro-corporate agenda. He is obviously without conscience and I concur with MoveOn that he should be dismissed.

In addition to contacting McCain at (703)-418-2008 to urge him to dismiss Charlie Black, residents of the 6th should contact Peter Roskam, who serves on the McCain Campaign’s Illinois Leadership Team. Roskam can be reached at his Washington office at (202) 225-4561 or in Bloomingdale at (630) 893-9670.

After you’ve made your phone calls, mosey on over to WBEZ’s web site and listen to the Worldview interviews from May 19th with Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and with James
Jordan of the Alliance for Global Justice. The theme was the so-called “democracy-building” agenda under President Bush and predecessors. I think the show points out pretty starkly what a sham and failure this agenda has been, back as far as Nixon and Reagan and should help motivate you to throw out the McCains and the Roskams and their spooky hangers-on like Charlie Black. The world can’t handle much more of their brand of “democracy-building”.

Addendum 5/22: The Washington Post published an article about the Black controversy today.

Recently I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon in my server logs. Folks are landing at RubberStampRoskam.com using search strings like “how did congressman roskam get my phone number?” or “peter roskam do not call” or “peter roskam stop phone calls” or “stop roskam calls”.

Apparently people are getting a bit perturbed by Peter Roskam’s robo-calls aimed at letting us know what a good guy he is even though he keeps voting against the legislation we care about.

Sorry folks. I can’t make them stop. I’d like to stop receiving them myself.  Can you help us with this Peter? Can we have an opt-out list?

Peter Roskam, who this past week signaled his desire that the military occupation of Iraq be prolonged indefinitely, failed to stand up in support of Illinois veterans returning from honorable service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Roskam continues to support hundreds of billions of dollars in appropriations for George Bush’s wars but refuses to vote to for any spending to aid the men and women who have fought so bravely in those wars.

The vote came on Thursday, May 15 in an amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Peter Roskam voted no. The amendment passed by a margin of 255-166.

The new GI bill, if enacted, will provide veterans with a more substantial package of educational benefits including tutition payments up to the amount of the most expensive public school in the Veteran’s state plus additional funds toward books and housing. It is funded by the veterans themselves, who must buy-in at the beginning of their enlistments and by a tax surcharge of 0.5% on individuals with more than $500,000 and couples with more than $1,000,000 in annual income.

President Bush, who sent these men and women to war, has vowed to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. John McCain, Peter Roskam’s choice for our next President, has also refused to support it, despite his ardent support for the military occupation of Iraq, even to the point of keeping our troops there for 100 years.

Residents of the 6th district who believe in taking care of our veterans should let Roskam know of their displeasure with his continuing failure to stand up for vets. Roskam can be reached at his Washington office at (202) 225-4561 or in Bloomingdale at (630) 893-9670.