While the news of Michael Jackson's death is everywhere in the news, eclipsing even Farrah's death
on TMZ and other pseudo-news shows and sites, an important Supreme Court decision is being ignored. The Supreme Court
has ruled that
it is
unconstitutional to strip search a 13 year old girl for Advil!!!! Yes, America PAY ATTENTION.
For some reason, in lower courts this case not only did not send the perpetrators to jail, it actually found them innocent of any wrongdoing!
Obviously, the justice system has been tipped way too far in favor of the government.
The courts have such allies of the prosecution and the authorities that this case had to go all the way
to the Supreme Court to determine that this type of behavior is illegal. It is safe to say that our
courts are no longer impartial, independent judges of the facts.
This is what happens when we give up our rights. FISA and other secret courts have made individual liberty
a pipe dream in America. I personally am incredulous that it had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to determine that
this type of heinous act is actually unconstitutional!!! On top of it all, it was not a unanimous decision!
Clarence pubic hair Thomas deems
this type of behavior as perfectly acceptable. We are talkng Advil here
people not meth or heroin.
America wake up and take back your rights. Pay attention to something more than the death of a child molester!
Apparently, most judges think that strip searching teenagers is perfectly OK...child molestation is OK, if you have money
or you are in a position of authority. The rule of law only applies to the weak, poor and powerless in America! That was
the purpose of being tried by a jury of your peers and jury nullification.
Jury nullification would
fix this crap in a heartbeat.
It has not been widely reported that
Ahmedinajad does not have the support of the clerics of Iran.
In fact, Stratfor reports that the Supreme Council has certified the election to prevent further violence.
They know that Ahmedinajad supporters will pour into the streets and chaos will ensue if the opposition
candidates were allowed a revote. What is lost in this is the reports by
many of the 1979 hostages that
Ahmedinajad was one of the hostage takers. This was eventually
disputed by the CIA and
the official US position
is that Ahmedinajad is not one of the hostage takers. However, let us remember that the hostage takers
negotiated with Reagan's team and agreed to hold the hostages until after the Reagan took power. Was not Dick Cheney part
of that team? Do Ahmedinajad and our government have a previous relationship? I do not know
if it means anything, but
those hostages were sure Ahmedinajad was therein 1979.
I do not mean to be filled with sour grapes or just be a naysayer. However, though I welcome Obama's attention to our
reputation as a country by addressing the torture issue, he comes up short on many other issues that really matter.
In Afghanistan we continue to lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the people, because we keep
accidentally
killing them. These foreign military adventures are not making us safe, they are emptying our bank accounts, we must end them.
Also, the domestic wiretapping issue is a big one to me. Allowing the government to data mine at will is destructive to
freedom. Every bit of communication, and I mean that literally, is now being snooped and stored by our government or by
its corporate agents. The ACLU and EFF started to pull back the curtain on these domestic spying issues through their lawsuits
against the telephone companies that aided and abetted the Bush administration. I was mortified last summer by
Obama's reversal on this issue as he cast his vote in favor of granting telecom immunity. He claimed at the time that he
was simply throwing it to the courts, but now that the
court's have ruled, it is clear that these lawsuits were meant to be shutdown
and that the wiretapping will continue under this administration. It is hard to be enthusiastically support these behaviors.
Given our current economic crisis, anything that smacks of politics as usual is not a good thing. We as Americans NEED change badly.
The taxpayers have been fleeced and our market economy milked to exhaustion. There is no longer any room for
the same old tired political games where government money flows to cronies and contributors. We no longer
have the slop in our budget to allow any money to feed these monsters. Some independent research has shown that
the
stimulus dollars coming from Washington, DC are not being routed to the
most needy states, the ones with the highest unemployment rates. Why we must ask ourselves.
We now know why Nancy Pelosi famously said in 2006 that
"impeachment was off the table". She knew then that she
was quite vulnerable to prosecution herself for horrendous violation of international law. The thing that I feel most
Americans should be considering at this moment, is how most of them were whole-heartedly supportive of torture at the time
Bush/Cheney brought it up. Some serious introspective restrospection should bring most Americans to understand that the politicians
did what most Americans wanted to be done. Fear, Fear, Fear!!!! We were overtaken by our fears and mistaken belief that the
government would and could protect us. This retrospection should also help most Americans to begin to embrace true liberty. Individual liberty
requires the restraint of the majority. Americans seem to clearly understand the importance of majority rule, however, we seem to
have lost our respect for minority rights. Without protections that are clearly laid out in the Bill of Rights, dictatorship
of the majority becomes inevitable.
Jane Harman, one of the Democrats, that often was an enthusiastic supporter of Bush Administration policies under the
Patriot Act, like domestic wiretapping, wholesale data mining and torture, may have had some other motivations for this support.
It seems that she may have been caught up in a wiretapping episode herself. She expresses great surprise and chagrin that
she should be getting wiretapped, as if as a member of Congress, she should be exempt from the policies that the rest
of America has to put up with. That is some big H hypocrisy there, I'd say. Additionally, it seems that the wiretapping
web she was caught up in gave the Bush Administration some tools to help motivate her to support their continued promotion
of the Patriot Act's unconstitutional activities.
Well, we are finding out now that only about 20% of the people who allegedly died in Mexico of swine flu, actually had swine flu. However
we still do not know what these people actually died of. Given the lack of transparency that has been the hallmark of 21st century government, one
has to wonder whether we should be worried about the other deaths.
Jane Harman, one of the Democrats, that often was an enthusiastic supporter of Bush Administration policies under the
Patriot Act, like domestic wiretapping, wholesale data mining and torture, may have had some other motivations for this support.
It seems that she may have been caught up in a wiretapping episode herself. She expresses great surprise and chagrin that
she should be getting wiretapped, as if as a member of Congress, she should be exempt from the policies that the rest
of America has to put up with. That is some big H hypocrisy there, I'd say. Additionally, it seems that the wiretapping
web she was caught up in gave the Bush Administration some tools to help motivate her to support their continued promotion
of the Patriot Act's unconstitutional activities.
Torture is wrong. I feel Obama knows this, but cannot bring himself to prosecute the torturers. Such an act of compassion could
be understood to some extent, but for his
lack of pursuit of the official torture promoters. The
inner circle of the Bush administration
that led the charge to violate the Geneva Convention. If the Obama administration wants to shield the people that were
"just following orders.", then he MUST PURSUE the leaders that made America an outlaw nation.
There can be no other way for me to see it.
My grandfather fought in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge and then was a prison guard on the Rhine in the later days of the war.
What he taught me about war was that it was HELL!
He taught me that torturing prisoners of war was wrong. America, we are the good guys, and we don't
The men ordered to perform these acts may have suffered emotional damage just as the victims
did. We ordered our soldiers to act in an inhuman fashion, we have damaged them. I can buy into the amnesty for
those soldiers, but I cannot accept no consequences for the architects of this brutality.
. That was what I really believe.
I do not think I can ever forgive Bush/Cheney for putting this black mark on the American record. Sure we did some bad things and we have
come to grips with much of our checkered past, but this was more than those transgressions. This was an open embrace of evil in my opinion.
Can we blame the rest of the world for their
legal prosecution of these war crimes committed by our leaders? I do not think so, unless we take action and restore
our honor as a nation, we will face the
legal consequences of becoming an outlaw nation. They may seem small now, but when the rule of law becomes a joke inside and outside our
borders I think bad things are going to happen. Our deal with the devil will require us to "pay up" at some point.
Many of my readers will remember that I was very late to endorse Obama, because of
his last minute change on granting the telecom companies immunity
for their
assistance in the government's illegal wiretapping programs. I could not help but believe that Obama just could fight the corporate
money interests and the government power brokers in the intelligence community. The people who blew the whistle
on the wiretapping still face possible charges. The CEO of the one telecom company to resist, Qwest, found himself in jail for
"insider trading". I guess that was what the SEC was up to instead of watching AIG and the rest of the financial robber barons.
One has to wonder why Martha Stewart was so important to prosecute, while the entire banking system was being looted. Perhaps she pissed
off a powerful person at some party and the SEC was used to punish her "disrespectful" behavior. One can never know what the politically
well-connected will do with the information they glean from their data mining. One might take a financial regulatory agency off its
main task to instead prosecute one's political enemies and if anyone at the agency objects just put your cronies in charge...no matter
that they have no experience in the field! The Obama administration is really showing its true colors when it
uses the Patriot Act to justify widespread wiretapping and
domestic spying. Or perhaps in a kinder reading, we are getting an insight into who is really calling the shots in our government. Perhaps
Obama is being given some support to spend some money on poor and middle class people, but for the most part, NO REAL CHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED!
There is speculation that there is going to be a
revolution in Georgia. After the whole fiasco in South Ossetia, one wonders if the Russians
are not behind anything that overthrows the government there. I have speculated that the Russians are using many venues to expand their power, like the
financial markets. Coupled with the recent revelation about the American power grid being hacked, one has to wonder if there is a virtual state of war
RIGHT NOW.
The TSA continues to abuse people in airports. The repeal of the Bill of Rights at airports just does not make sense. It makes us less safe as we are put in the hands of tin gods that
have the power to cause us serious harm. Here
a man is detained for carrying too much cash.
Interesting people has a
thread to the
TSA blog
discussing the matter...I find the TSA a chilling organization!
The man who destroyed my faith that there was such a thing as an honest Republican, Colin Powell, visited ultra-conservative Orange County. Some may find
my characterization of Powell as harsh, but his gravitas helped sell Bush's War. When he went to the UN and told the world that we needed to go into
Iraq, because Saddam was trying to build a nuclear weapon, most people took him at his word. However, it became increasingly clear before the actual invasion
that the cause for war was being trumped up. Weeks before the invasion, here we have a
clear refutation of Powell's UN assertion
that Saddam was trying to buy aluminum tubes to make a bomb. The only thing I can figure is that Colin was protecting his son's job as head of the FCC,
because the evidence was very weak.
This AIG bonus dustup is a real distraction from the very major problems we have in this country. The millions involve pale in compared to the trillions that are
on the line. Where is all this money evaporating to? Wealth is just drying up and blowing in the wind and we need to know why. This bonus drama does not get us
any closer, except in this sense. Back last summer when we were told that taxpayers had to bailout AIG, it was both Democrats and Republicans were saying it was
necessary. Hundreds of billions are being funneled into this mess, but what is going on? COuld big money power players getting taxpayers to help them unwind
their bad deals? Obama`s administration bought off on all of this stuff and had Dodd do the dirty work in the trenches. All of this surprise and outrage from Democrats AND Republicans
rings hollow to me. These guys are in CYA mode.
Therefore allowing these same politicians to institute a micro-targeted tax to confiscate the bonuses would be giving these guys way too much power. The last few
decades have shown quite clearly that every Constitutional right we lose, is lost forever! Allowing retroactive taxation of this nature cannot be allowed, if we want
to protect our wallets from further pilferage.
Sure Obama has come out with a much gentler and kinder tone when it comes to individual liberties. However, when one looks at the brass tacks, there has been little
change in the basic state of freedom in America. Obama signed off on immunizing the telecoms from prosecution in their cooperation with the Bush administration`s illegal
wiretapping and datamining programs. One of the whistleblowers that brought this huge Constitutional outrage to the public's attention
still faces serious
charges, which begs the question, Where is his the private citizen`s immunity? The Bush administration user the "enemy combatant" term to help justify their
indefinite detention of ANYONE, citizen and foreigner alike. The Obama administration dropped the term, enemy combatant, but
came up with another reason
that ANYONE could be indefinitely detained. A citizen is denied his Constitutional rights and his freedom in any case, what the difference what you call it. If one
tries to guess at the mitivations for these decisions with a juandiced eye, one might conclude that the big telco and military-industrial lobbies are still writing
policy in DC.
Sadly, we appear to be about to hugely escalate our involvement in Afghanistan. The military-industrial complex continues
to lead America over a cliff. Responsible
Russians are warning Americans to take heed of the lessons of the old Soviet Union, when
it hastened itself into bankruptcy through an Afghan occupation.
The largest private army is changing its name. Blackwater, the company that has made a mint off of America's
new penchant for paying mercenaries to fight in its name, is
changing its own name to Xe. How innocuous and
difficult to track that will be! I urge all of us to watch out for this name in the coming years. As America
pulls back from her foreign entanglements, I suspect there will be a huge increase in domestic private police forces.
A failure of attention on our parts could lead to former Blackwater soldiers patroling our neighborhoods with few if any
constitutional restraints. Warrants, we don`t need no stinking warrants!
With the way the Justice Department has been arguing these torture cases of late,
Pete Townshend's words
ring loud in my ears. My endorsement of Obama was never as enthusiastic as it could have and would have been
had he not voted to shield the telecom companies from their complicity with the Bush administration`s wiretapping.
Now here his Justice Department, in half a dozen lawsuits,
Justice lawyers are defending Bush administration decisions
to withhold records from the public.
I can forgive his increase of troops in the Afghan theater. It has been long-neglected and to get the guys safely out will
require force to create a truly orderly withdrawal that does not leave any MORE chaos in its wake.
However, my hair stood on end when
Obama came out and said the
Afghan War is winnable. How is the war winnable? Wasn`t the goal of the occupation to catch bin Laden? What is the goal now?
History is shouting at us to get out of the Graveyard of Empires.
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rep Paul Kanjorski Tells Americans About Near Collapse of System has
now hit the Congressional record. In this CSPAN video he talks of a half trillion dollar run on the banks on Sept 18th. Strangely, in this electronically
managed economy where all transactions over five thousand dollars must be reported, the government cannot seem to pinpoint where all this money was going.
I submit that they know, but do not want to say. Why? Because I think that the Bush-backed Georgian invasion into South Ossetia was a mere month before.
I personally see some connections that lead to the Kremlin's door. All this market turmoil seemed to come quite
coincidentally upon the heels of the Georgian crisis. Putin is flush with petrodollars. He sees quite clearly
the dangerous parallel universe the US has fallen into. In the 1980's, the Soviet Union got stuck in a quagmire
occupation of Afghanistan while trying to keep up an arms race against America. The economy of the Soviet Union, with oil at $10 a barrel,
finally collapsed under the stresses of these expensive engagements. America is financially battered. With so much hard currency
in their coffers now that the price of oil is so high, Russia is strong, in the black and expanding her influence.
The Russians have the technical expertise and the money to roil the markets with aggressive short-selling at first, then
out and out dumping of certain stocks to create market panic. Was this their retaliation for Western meddling in their
sphere of influence? I think it is worth investigation.
When Obama went ahead and supported the telecom immunity clauses within the FISA renewal last summer. I had serious doubts about my ability to support him.
As the election waore on and the economy tanked, "No Drama" Obama had more and more appeal. His pragmatic attitude sans any ideological axe grinding
helped me overcome my reservations about his commitment to individual liberties. However, this latest court case where the
Obama administration
continues to hide behind "national Security" shields is deeply troubling. The facts about extraordinary renditions and torture should see the
light of day, if we are ever to regain our honor as a nation. I thought Obama understood that, but one has to wonder now.
I have had serious doubts about the HDTV switch, mostly because I like to do my gardening
with a little black and white hanging off an extension cord nearby during the
football play-offs. With the switchover coming and my inability to get a converter
box AND HDTV antenna, I knew that this would be the last time I would
have this luxury, so I am sitting outside with my TV set during the Super Bowl while others
in my neighborhood are watching various other feeds. On big plays, I could hear cheers seconds afterwards.
I started paying close attention, like on touchdowns, and the delay was MANY seconds.
Still I thought to myself, they must have TIVO or it must be a satellite feed where there is a lot of mileage
that the signal is traveling to account for the delay. However, I have now brought my little black and white set into the house
and compared it to my Time-Warner cable connection. I have now timed it. There is a seven second difference between what I am getting on the
rabbit ears and what is coming to my cable box. That is just a lot more of time delay than I expected!
My kids are now loving the black and white with the rabbit ears and are in a nearby room calling out the results of
plays; like the little analog box is now a time machine! Yes, TV on a wire is prettier, but is it better? It sure
is not faster.
maybe we need to rethink this HDTV switch completely? Why are we doing it? Are we as a society truly served by this
switchover? The fact is that my little black and white will cease to function and I will dispose of it. Also, many of those that are
not getting TV on a wire will just live without TV now, because it is looking like the government will not be coming
up with those coupons. Even if they did, the coupons cover but a fraction of the real costs of actually receiving an HDTV signal. These people will
perhaps just live without TV. Now imagine this, there is a natural disaster, earthquake, hurricane, you pick and the authorities need
to communicate with the populace over the television, will TV on a wire be functioning? Is the HDTV switchover a potential public
safety issue?
Think I exagerate? This last summer my family was alone at home during an earthquake. I was at work and only had a VOIP phone at my desk
and a cell phone to find out the status of my family. I had recently switched over the family phone to VOIP also. Nothing worked!!!!
My cell phone could not connect to my wife's phone or my son's cell phone or my home phone. I was cut-off. I ended up racing home to find
everyone well, but I wondered about a bigger quake. It turned out that my family had been able to communicate with grandma by telephone.
Why??? Grandma picked up her copper wire telephone and called over to our home phone and could not get through, but she remembered that we
had another number. She used that number and SHE GOT THROUGH!. The other number was the business line we used for faxes and other business related
phone stuff. I had not converted this number to VOIP. It was on a copper wire too. Grandma made the older technology copper wire connection
no problem, but our cell phones and VOIP phones did not connect readily for hours after a relatively minor earthquake. Needless to say, I switched
my home phone back to the only local copper wire carrier.
I believe there is a possibilty that the HDTV switch could have a similar public safety aspect to it, because the newer technologies have not been
"overbuilt" in the way public utilities were forced to do when the public gave them these monopoliy businesses. Government has stepped back and
privatized these monopolies, so they no longer over build, but build only the minimum capacity to support a given profit margin. Over built redundancy for
public safety reasons is an alien concept.
Here we are months after the TARP and little seems different. There is still talk of the government buying "toxic" assets.
They are toxic for the most part because their value is unknown. It is possible for our government to value the assets fairly
quickly and thereby detoxify them. There is a way and this is what
I propose:
First, attack the root of the problem by creating a foreclosure welfare program. If a homeowner is distressed, then they would have a place to turn.
They could go to the US Govt., which would then pay all the back payments in return for an interest in the property
and a promise from the homeowner to remain there for at least five years before selling.
Next, the US Govt. would arbitrate a sane interest rate with the lender for the homeowner. If the homeowner still
cannot make the payment. The US Govt could offer to make up the difference similar to a reverse mortgage for those families that
have wage earners and a reasonable chance of making it through the next five years based upon an evaluation of their others assets and debts.
Again the US Govt. would be gaining further interest in the property. Eventually those families will sell the house and the taxpayers
will possibly make a gain or at least get some amount of money back into the federal coffers.
In the end, this could cost a trillion dollars, but maybe not, because we cannot predict how much these properties will sell
for in the future. In this solution, the markets are satisfied that these mortgage backed securities are now backed by the US Govt. Also, by
stemming the tide of foreclosures the downward spiral of housing prices is curtailed and "detoxifying" mortgage-backed securities. Additionally and more importantly,
the US Govt has invested in its people and helped save families in the trenches of Main Street.
There is still time. Call your congressman and ask them to invest in the American people.
Symbolic of his broad appeal and ability to knit coalitions, our self-described mutt of a president
has become the subject of a fun little tune,
"There is No One as Irish as Barack O`Bama" by the
Corrigan Brothers.
Many of my readers will recall how bent out of shape I was about Obama'a support for the summer time bill immunizing
the telephone companies from lawsuits related to the government's wiretapping programs during the Bush years. Here is more
government theatre immunizing everyone involved. The secret and unconstitutional FISA court has ruled that the
government's wiretapping prgram is legal.
Wow! Are we not amazed that the unconstitutional FISA court has ruled that unconstitutional government domestic spying
program is actually constitutional. Hell, no one responsible is still on the secret court, anyway. It has been so abused that
the responsible members have resigned. Remember we did not hear about FISA until 2002
when Ashcroft pushed too hard and the court announced its existence
a generation after its creation. They came out saying that both the Clinton and Bush administrations had been
using the court for political ends and that Americans needed to wake up. However, there was not even a raised
eyebrow at the court's existence and only discussion on further roll back of the constitution.
FISA is Democratic legislation from 1978 and Democrats will not roll it back unless we demand it.
following a very similar path as the old Soviet Union, which collapsed rather suddenly. Our financial system
is in crisis and we need to take heed! Right now, I can only hope Obama listens to that wise old Republican, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The military/industrial complex is ever active modifying its political machinations both public and backdoor. The military/industrial
complex knows the military occupation of Iraq that has been so lucrative for so long is coming to an end. It is quite
clear that Obama is considering shifting an enormous number of troops to Afghanistan rather than just bringing them home.
He claims unfinished business, but what exactly is that unfinished business? Do we as Americans still believe the best way to capture
Bin Laden is a huge infusion of soldiers into the theatre? I think we need to be wary about allowing our leaders to continue
this Afghanistan occupation, no matter, how earnest their pleas, "A" #1, we cannot afford it! We should be very cognizant
that we now appear to be
following a very similar path as the old Soviet Union, which collapsed rather suddenly. Our financial system
is in crisis and we need to take heed! Right now, I can only hope Obama listens to that wise old Republican, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Those of you that have followed this site from its inception know that I have expressed a great deal of skepticism about Woodward's
fingering of Marc Felt as Deep Throat. Marc Felt has now passed on. I felt that the media completely gave Woodward a pass on this revelation. After all,
if Marc Felt truly was Deep Throat, then some very disturbing questions immediately come to mind. For example, Marc Felt
clearly was in fear for his life during the process that brought about Nixon's resignation.
Why is the Deputy Director of the FBI afraid for his life? Who does he fear?
What powerful institutions or people can threaten the life of the United States Deputy Director of the F.B.I.?
Doesn't this speak volumes about the state of our democracy? Where were these questions from the alleged journalists in
the American corporate media? There was no real questioning of Woodward's account of events. How convenient that the man
he fingers is so far gone mentally that he can contradict nothing about Woodward's story.
I guess the lame duck title is weighing heavily upon his brow these days as Mr. Bush has denied the Obama
family a rather simple request. Can we stay in the guest house of the White House, so our children can start school
on Jan 5th? No, you cannot!!!!!!
Many Christians would have us believe that the United States was meant to be a Christian nation from the beginning
and that the ACLU among other liberal hijackers have robbed the nation of her heritage. However, I think
a strong case could be made for the hijacking of the nation was done by modern Christians and not the other way around.
It was a mere fifty years ago that Congress bowed to the pious fires fanned by Reverend George M. Docherty and inserted
the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance. The
Reverend passed on this Thanksgiving and I thought it
important that Americans take the moment of his passing to consider how this religious phrase made its way into
the national allegiance pledge of American school children during the height of the Cold War.
The last time the Democrats had any real power, after Nixon, they overreached. They began a dictatorship
of liberal dogma. This only led to their fall from power. Now with
Schumer calling conservative
talk radio pornography, I see the same arrogance. I still have hope that Obama will restore the Bill of Rights
and the Constitution. There is so much work that needs to be done after the conservatives have run the country
into the ground. Freedom is what America needs right now and leadership. Please, Please Mr. President-e;ect
rein in these fool Democrats who seek to abuse their power just as the Republicans did. Censorship will not
win the battle of ideas.
Reported on Twitter, neo-liberalism.org, Verified Voting
My polling place, California Precinct 0063075 has a voting machine outage.
Paper ballots are being used with inadequate security.
A secret ballot folder is being used, but it fails to cover the entire ballot and
we were not allowed to insert the ballot into the box ourselves.
The hell with the Bradley effect! It is the Diebold effect we should be worrying about!
What will we do if there is another obvious voter tampering scandal? 2004 was pretty clearly
a stolen election, given the exit poll
discrepancies. In the Ukraine in 2004, the people hit the street due to exit poll discrepancies, no other evidence.
In America, everyone just went to work glumly disappointed.
Will there be an Orange Revolution like Ukraine or will we all just bite our lip and go to work on Wednesday morning?
I am figuring on demanding a paper ballot on Tuesday. I am also figuring on hitting the street as every other Obama voter
should, if McCain comes up the winner. Obama is President of the USA on Wednesday morning or plan no one
doing any business that day or the rest of the week. I hate to set it up, but be ready to not go to work and
hit the street on Wednesday. If it does not happen we can all go to work, but if the Repugs are in the Oval Office
we must cost them some money and show the world that Americans are no longer in control of their government.
Already the computers are flipping votes, look at this letter written to many secreataries of state in Battleground States. See Below
Letter to Secretaries of State re: iVotronic "Vote Flipping"
Statements & Testimony
By Lawrence Norden & Pamela Smith
10/27/08
This letter was sent to 16 Secretaries of State where iVotronic voting
machines are in use. These states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida,
Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and
Wisconsin.
Dear Secretary of State:
You may be aware of recent press reports of problems that voters are
having during early voting with the iVotronic voting machine in West
Virginia and Tennessee. Specifically, voters have complained of "vote
flipping," where they vote for one candidate or party, but another
shows up on the review screen.
There is a good chance that at least part of this problem can be
attributed to calibration on the iVotronic machines. West Virginia's
Secretary of State Betty Ireland has directed all counties in West
Virginia to re-calibrate their machines each morning during early
voting, which runs until November 1st, and on Election Day, November
4th.
As reported by the Associated Press on October 23rd, Secretary Ireland
has reminded voters that they should contact a poll worker if they
have any problems using an electronic voting machine, and that they
should carefully confirm their candidate choices on the accompanying
paper receipt attached to each iVotronic machine.
She also reminded voters in that they can ask for help and "keep that
poll clerk there until the voter is satisfied they have cast their
vote as they intended. This may include moving to another machine, if
that is the voter's wish."
There is a real chance that voters using iVotronic machines in your
state will experience "vote flipping" similar to that experienced by
voters in West Virginia. You may already have provided guidance to
your state's iVotronic jurisdictions, but if not, we urge you to take
actions similar to those taken by Secretary Ireland, to avoid voter
confusion and frustration, and to ensure that every vote is cast as
intended. Where a voter-verifiable paper trail is available, voters
should also be urged to confirm their candidate choices.
For more information about calibration issues on touchscreen DRE
voting machines, we direct you to this article: http://accurate-voting.org/2006/11/01/touchscreen-calibration-issues-with-voting-machines/ .
Please feel free to contact us with questions.
Sincerely,
Lawrence Norden
Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice
lawrence.norden@nyu.edu
Pamela Smith
President, Verified Voting
pam@verifiedvoting.org
Yes, I am truly one of the late undecided, so ridiculed by many. Of course, I was not undecided about McCain vs. Obama,
but rather Obama vs. Barr. The Obama campaign"s H1B stance and telecom immunity really pushed me off the Obama bus,
but a couple of things changed my mind.
Secondly, a conversation with my youngest son about presidents getting shot over the years led me to the realization that
I had grown up in a time when being president or running for president had been like getting a target painted on your chest.
I was a baby, when JFK
went down and then the RFK shooting only a few miles from my childhood home was memorable. This had followed quickly on the heels of
Martin Luther King, Jr. getting it. And it continued with George Wallace, a gun pulled on Ford and Reagan getting shot as well. Obama is the
same age as me and he learned the same lessons. Speak out and do it successfully and you could be shot by the power brokers you
threaten.
Thinking of Reagan truly made me take a moment to consider Obama's VP. Yeah, Joe Biden is a veteran pol and well-schooled in foreign policy. Oh yes, very well-schooled. A member
of the Council on Foreign Relations forever. Did putting a nice, safe, white dude that the power brokers liked a necessity?
Does it make Obama even less safe, because the "Board of Directors" finds JB an acceptable replacement? Obama is like Reagan. He
was not supposed to get the nomination and get as far as he has. I think Poppy Bush was forced upon the Reagan camp as the VP and I find
it especially coincidental that Reagan then catches a bullet shortly after becoming the prez.
Obama has learned the same lessons as I, yet still he runs. If he is willing to stand up there so calmly in the face of real danger,
then he deserves my support and I am forgiving the FISA bill as backroom arm-twisting that I can barely comprehend.
So yes I can! I can support Obama, but for all of those that cannot I urge you to vote for
Bob Barr,
The Socialist Party never won an election in the 1930's, but it surely had a strong effect on government
policies. Social Security never would have happened without the quixotic Socialist candidates. With the
global financial meltdown revealing the ugly truth of the banking oligarchy, I feel my readers should try to
find out more about what is going on beyond the Republican/Democrat axis.
CSPAN will not carry the debate live, but it will be happening at
http://www.revolutionbroadcasting.com/at 1:00pm California time.
It is being sponsored in Ohio by the
City Club of Ohio. Be informed and don't miss the ideas that the establishment does not want you to hear.
Last post, I said that I was not likely to endorse Obama. I do think he is going to win and I am not
particularly upset by that. After all, my previous post must reveal the fact that I do "like" him as a person.
I also believe he will be a good president, but...
How can I vote for a man that is saying he is going to give away my job and the jobs of other Americans,
through an increase in H1B visas.
Labor arbitrage
is extrememly destructive to the American worker
and he must know this. I hope beyond hope, that he just saying it to get into office
just like when he voted for telecom immunity
this summer.
I do find myself tempted to vote for
Bob Barr,
and really cannot predict what I will do in the voting booth at this point.
I certainly urge all that CANNOT vote for Obama, for whatever reason, to cast their vote for the Libertarian candidate,
rather than the ancient, foolish, flip-flopping, hothead McCain.
When a member of THE Arizona Conservative family,
the Goldwaters, comes out against him,
it has to be noted. Sure perhaps Obama is not someone that most "true" conservatives can vote for, but I submit that disgruntled
Repubs should not be staying home, but be casting their vote for former Republican congressman,
Bob Barr then, NOT McCain!
Obama loves his grandma. Yes,he does.
This slide show
demonstrates it quite clearly. Certainly, the aforementioned slide show demonstrates a side of Obama that most
politicians either never show or do not possess. These pictures brought a tear to my eye as I was reminded of
my own grandmother
and how much I miss her. In fact, I was almost driven to endorse the man for President of the US, which
I have yet to do. Many of you may be surprised by that fact, but as I state in the center column of this
blog, I am not a Democrat and I do not find Democrats to purveyors of the "true liberal" ideals of
libertarian-socialism. My next post will detail why I cannot bring myself to endorse the man.
Sometimes humor, especially political humor can remind us of the realities of real life. This little vignette
does provide us with some of that insight:
Politicians in Heaven?
While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically
hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by
St. Peter at the entrance.
"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it
seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around
these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."
"No problem, just let me in," says the senator.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do
is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then YOU can
choose where to spend eternity."
"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the senator.
"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes
down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in
the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse
and standing in front of it are all his friends and other
politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him,
shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while
getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar
and champagne. Also present is the devil, who really is a very
friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They
are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time
to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the
elevator rises ..
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where
St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit heaven."
So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented
souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing.
They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have
gone by and St. Peter returns.
"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now
choose your eternity."
The senator reflects for a minute, then answers: "Well, I would
never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I
think I would be better off in hell."
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down,
down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the
middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all
his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it
in black bags as more trash falls from above...
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.
"I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here
and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and
caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now
there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look
miserable. What happened?"
The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were
campaigning, today you voted."
Yes, as the US and the globe worry about money, stocks and credit, Barack Obama projects am air of calm.
The Obama demeanor is winning over votes in these final weeks I believe. McCain seems desperate and a bit
strident as he struggles to get traction in what looks more and more to be a losing cause.
Truly, McCain has tons more experience that Obama, but in this current situation it does
not seem to matter. Old solutions are failing. The true nature of much of the Republican right,
which has been in charge of America for some time now, is revealing itself. At McCain rallies they are
mean, jingoistic and nasty. They say all kinds of wild things about Obama demonstrating truly how out of
touch these people are with reality...and always have been, I might add. No wonder are country
is circling the drain. The McCain rallies have become so "chippy" that the old bulldog himself has had to
quiet the inflammatory rhetoric.
What would you do, Sarah Palin, if you found out the Russians were attacking the financial systems of the West?
... 00
Yeah, I kind of thought so. Too bad you cannnot lend us some of your expertise on the Russkies, Sarah,
because I think we really need some creative thinking on how to fight back.
I personally see some connections that lead to the Kremlin's door. All this market turmoil seemed to come quite
coincidentally upon the heels of the Georgian crisis. Putin is flush with petrodollars. He sees quite clearly
the dangerous parallel universe the US has fallen into. In the 1980's, the Soviet Union got stuck in a quagmire
occupation of Afghanistan while trying to keep up an arms race against America. The economy of the Soviet Union, with oil at $10 a barrel,
finally collapsed under the stresses of these expensive engagements. America is financially battered. With so much hard currency
in their coffers now that the price of oil is so high, Russia is strong, in the black and expanding her influence.
The Russians have the technical expertise and the money to roil the markets with aggressive short-selling at first, then
out and out dumping of certain stocks to create market panic. Russia has an enormous $22 billion lawsuit
against the Bank of New York. This is only one of two national clearinghouse banks. Were the BONY to lose such a
suit they could be bankrupt. Strangely, the
Russians did not show today for a hearing on the matter.
I don't think this is all about Georgia either. This is the rise of a new Cold War. How convenient for the arms
dealers! German PM Merkel just got back from Moscow. She got
her marching orders from Vlad, too, I bet. NATO
membership for the Ukraine, Georgia, or any other former Soviet Republics would be stopped by all means necessary, she
was told I imagine. The Germans need Russian natural gas and capital in wake of the financial instability.
Germany has little choice, but to bend to the will of Moscow, as our influence continues to wane under the Bush
Doctrine.
Yes, all those millionaires in the Senate want to bailout their buddies on Wall Street. They have
tossed in some goodies like tax cuts and tax credits to help calm the people and make them want their
congressman to vote for it. All I can say is that since Bush is so much for it, I find it difficult to support
a bailout. I just do not trust the guy. It seems like all these bandits that have been in Washington are
running for the exits now with bags of money.
We the people cannot know what is really happening. In the old days, we would see the lines outside the
bank or savings and loan. We would see money move, but nowadays it moves electronically. WaMu is said
to be a classic run on deposits, but the electronic nature of the run makes it a different beast in a lot of ways.
Reporters are still referring to the raise of the FDIC insured deposit amount in terms of preventing people from
going down to the bank and getting their money.
Because things happen so quickly now in the financial markets, we can see that a meltdown is not going to happen.
I base this on the premise that, of late, the dollar seems stronger against the euro when the stock market goes
down and the bailout seems unlikely. Nonetheless, it keeps being reported that any strength in the markets is
due to optimism that a bailout is coming. Hmmmm, interesting spin doctoring that.
My libertarian roots tell me to let the market value these assets and be quick about it, so we can stop wondering.
That is the source of the panic the uncertainty. However, in the interest of doing something, here is the solution
I propose:
First, increase FDIC to at least $500,000.00, because a quarter million is not enough. If possible push that insured
amount to one million dollars. This will put the full force of the US government behind its banks and keep money here on shore.
Next, attack the root of the problem by creating a foreclosure welfare program. If a homeowner is distressed, then they would have a place to turn.
They could go to the US Govt., which would then pay all the back payments in return for an interest in the property
and a promise from the homeowner to remain there for at least five years before selling.
Next the US Govt. would arbitrate a sane interest rate with the lender for the homeowner. If the homeowner still
cannot make the payment then the US Govt would offer to make up the difference similar to a reverse mortgage. Again
the US Govt. would be gaining further interest in the property. Eventually those families will sell the house and the government
will possibly make a gain or perhaps a loss, who knows. In the end, this could cost $700 billion, but maybe not.
In this solution, the markets are satisfied that these mortgage backed securities are now backed by the US Govt.
Additionally and more importantly, the US Govt has invested in its people and helped
save families in the trenches of Main Street. Wow! Why would the US Govt want to do that when it can line the pockets
of fatcat political donors and other power brokers?
There is still time. Call your congressman and ask them why they cannot invest in the American people.
What happened to free market economics? The levers of power, including those Wall Street, appear to be in the hands of a very few.
Washington has stopped short-selling, a perfectly legitimate investment methodology to prevent further degradation of financial stocks and prevent the American moneyed elite from losing more..
However, short selling is the natural order of things in free markets. Weak companies are identified and targeted. If they are too weak, they
end up collapsing. Pumping almost a trillion dollars into the market to prevent it from going down seems very short-sighted. These guys
evaporated more than that in the last few years, so giving them more only prolongs the pain. Bankrupt Lehman Brothers is still scheduled to pay out
2.5 billion in bonuses. The pain of failure brings caution, and without it, recklessness. For me, one of the most telling factors
is the euro to dollar exchange rate. During the week that these things reached a head and the market fell over 800 points, the dollar got stonger
against the euro and other major currencies! As news of the bailout hit and the stock market rallied the dollar suddenly weakened and fell. Additionally, believers in the falsehood
that the price of oil is related to supply and demand should review the price fluctuations over the last few weeks. Spikes in the price of oil
appear to be much more closely tied to the euro dollar exchange rate. The stronger the euro, the higher the price of oil. A de facto
euro denominated oil market has sprung up in the background. Watching the currency fluctuations, I began to realize that foreign investors were
GLAD the American stock market was correcting. Not because they are anti-American, but because their investments in America will be worth more, once the stock market
corrects and all this financial mess works through. Printing up money to solve the problem, does not seem to be a good idea to
outsiders looking in. They understand the pain of free markets as well as the dangers of market manipulations by central banks willing to print
money in huge quantities to avoid the pain.
So you say you need even more proof that Republican economic policies are a miserable failure. I think you just got it this week.
Of course, the Republicans will try to blame someone else, but the reality is that an enormous amount of money has been squandered
in the Bush/Cheney military adventures.
It would appear that Americans have finally begun to weary of the Republicans and their
patriotic claptrap. Patriotism doesn't pay the bills. America is in a sour mood. The economy
is clearly in a shambles and unemployment just keeps on climbing. Yet McCain still talks about
giving jobs to foreigners putting Americans out of work. I live in the Orange County. I live
a mile from Eisenhower Park, 5 miles from the Nixon Library, 10 miles from the John Wayne Airport
and 25 miles from the Ronald Reagan Freeway. If this is not the Republican heartland as well as finance
center, nowhere is. Yet there was nary a flag to be seen yesterday, despite the email campaign
over the weekend urging Americans to show their colors. For Americans on this Day After, it is clear they no longer buy
into the politician's song and dance about protecting us. The incidents of 9/11 called for a
greater freedom for the individual, not less. The government and the military failed on that day utterly and completely.
I wrote about it almost immediately, and have continued to pound the drums for individual freedom with rewrites and updates of
The Lost Lesson of 9/11
A fellow
Vietnam POW of McCain's warns of the candidate's quick and explosive temper
and suggests McCain is exaggerating his imprisonment. The guy has real credentials, too.
Doctor Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former
light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight
years as a prisoner of war. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars,
two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals. After his repatriation in 1973
he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at San Diego and became a
Navy Organizational Effectiveness consultant. He completed his Navy career in 1981 as a
professor of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is now a
peace and justice activist with Veterans for Peace.
If there were truly any doubt that the current course of America is flawed, check
out this latest report from Canada. Yeah, Canada! We would not get such a damning report from
the corporate media as this one, stating that
criminals are demanding euros as their currency of choice in
the underworld.
I recall at the very beginning of this Georgian crisis that a breakaway region of
Georgia, South Ossetia,
had been attacked by the Georgian military. South Ossetia had been autonomous
since the ridiculous farce called Commonwealth of Independent States ended its run.
Why would Georgia attack this region that has long been tied to Russia for all practical intent, but the
drawing of maps? Could their be people in power that would gain from tension between Russia and America?
Surely the military industrial complex cheers. Perhaps Putin, a good friend to Bush to hear him tell it, is going to
do
Dubya a favor and pull out just as McCain names his VP, helping Republicans control the news cycle for awhile.
I guess
Iraqis want their country back. Say it ain't so! Surely in our
five plus years there in Babylon we have won the
hearts and minds of the populace by
breaking into their houses and killing them randomly.
.
It started with the drug war this growing police power in America.
Be nice to your local policeman, because he has absolute power over you.
Recently, the
police raided the house of the mayor of a Maryland town
killing his two dogs in the process. This is a terrible abuse of power and had they not
ben raiding the house of a government official you have to wonder if we would
even be hearing about it.
.
A war that has
sent our nation into economic crisis, devalued our currency and killed many soldiers and citizens
was sold to the American people through weapons of mass deception. Many billions have now
been sent to the bank accounts of war profiteers everywhere and Americans cannot stand idly by.
Even if we impeach on the last day of the
Bush/Cheney tyranny, we still have the effect of restoring constitutional rule in our republic.
Robert Wexler has the power as an elected official in the federal government to work for the
people's justice and he says so at
www.wexlerwantshearings.com
July 19th 2008
McCain, Enron and MTBE
Yes, Barack has seriously pissed me off by voting to immunize telephone company's complicity in the Bush/Cheney,
"Spy on Americans" program. It does not mean that I will be voting for "Bomb Iran" McCain. McCain has so
flip-flopped on numerous positions that it is difficult to believe anything he says. I sure do not want a
bonehead like this in the White House. Therefore I could not help but toss up this bit of craziness that seeks to implicate
McCain in an Enron/MTBE scandal, but the writing is a bit confused and the logic difficult to follow.
Nonetheless, please give it a read and
let me know what you think about it.
July 10th 2008
Obama Sells Out
Barack Obama got the nomination based on his promises for change. Unfortunately, those were just words apparently.
Obama gave Bush and the telephone companies all they wanted in the FISA bill. Obama's support for the telecom immunity
in the recent abomination called the FISA Compromise makes me question what kind of president he really will be. He talks about change, but
most of what he talks about when he talks specifics are tired old liberal ideas from the 1960's.
I have to admit that his support for telecom immunity as well as his continued calls for increasing H1b visas have taken their
toll on me. I may not be able to vote for Obama even if he were to name John Edwards, my populist hero and candidate of choice, to be his VP.
Obama is looking like another DNC candidate that will delight in eroding individual rights and liberty while giving away American jobs.
Obama's campaign called and asked for more money,but I had to say that there would be no more contributions from me.
All my spare political contributions will have to go to the ACLU, since they are the only ones willing to protect my rights.
Independence Day 2008
Teaching Your Children to be Free
One time I was at Fry's, I caused a short little scene when I asserted my 4th amendment rights.
I was with my kids and there was a long line to check receipts to leave the store. I told my kids that I did not have to wait
in the line nor did any of these other people, they were simply acting like sheep because they did not know the Bill of Rights.
I then passed by the line to exit the store with my boys in tow and someone tried to check my receipt. I declined their offer
and they insisted.
I told them I had bought the items in the bag with American money and they now belonged to me.
I did not need to submit to any searches, since I was an American and need not submit to requests to be searched by ANYONE due
to the 4th Amendment. I continued that without evidence of a crime, such as shoplifting, they could not detain or search me...
I got a rather quizzical look and then a pleasant, "Have a Nice Day", dismissal
As my kids and I left, I told them that unless we exercised our rights, we would lose them. Simple as that. Use them or lose them,
Isn't that how it always is? I turned back and pointed to a few brave people following my example. These good citizens just broke
out of the line instead of passively waiting for receipt checking. It was an important lesson for my kids,
one I try to reinforce when the opportunity presents itself, but
also I felt I had done my patriotic duty that day.
I urge all Americans to exercise their independence on Independence Day and decline the intrusive receipt checking that many stores
now subject their patrons to. Be free, stretch your liberty, EXERCISE YOUR FREEDOM and show your kids about individual rights so that
they are not lost to the next generation.
Happy Independence Day
July 1st 2008
Losing More of Your Rights
Today in California the law banning cell phones being held to the ear while driving goes into effect. The lawmakers claim it will
save 300 lives, but that is just fantasy. The law allows texting ona telephone, so how many will do that instead
because it is legal. More than do now I suspect and therefore there will be some more accidents. Not only that there is
abosolutely no evidence that talking on a cell phone with a hands free device is actually safer. Studies have shown that
whether it be hands free or pressed to the ear, people CAN get distracted while driving. We as a people
have got to stop giving away our freedoms to overzealous legisators.
June 25th 2008
Wiretapping Their Political Enemies
In February of 2001, the Bush Administration immediately upon being installed in office went to the telecom
companies and started demanding extra-Constitutional powers. They claimed they had such powers inherent
in the "unitary executive". They also told the telecom companies they'd pay something like $10,000 per wiretap.
The phone companies saw a big revenue stream once they realized how extensive the government domestic spying program
was going to be, so they complied. EXCEPT for QWEST. Qwest refused on constitutional grounds. It was rewarded for
its patriotism by the cancellation of government contracts it had already secured. Of course, the owner could see his
stock price was going to fall in this battle and he ended up selling some of his shares. The government tried and
convicted him for insider trading. He is now serving time in prison. However, even if he was inclined to take out
a full page ad about the government vendetta against him, he could not because everything is classified under national
security, so there was no way he could not be 'guilty' of insider trading, because he had inside knowledge of classified
information that meant the stock price would fall.
We would know none of the above were it not for the ACLU's lawsuits. Immunity in the upcoming FISA bill would end these
suits and end our source of the truth of what went on in 2001. Remember the government had already obtained extra-constitutional
powers to wiretap just about anyone as well as snoop all data in February of 2001, yet seven months later the planes are
run them into the World Trade Center. The government claims they are so surprised that someone used planes as weapons and
they had no idea or foreknowledge. Hmmmmmm?! They must be extremely incompetent or too busy wiretapping their
political enemies or... ????
It has only been three months since Congress tried to protect the telephone companies, but
here they are again.
These ACLU lawsuits must be allowed to go forward. Why is everyone so anxious to give them immunity in Washington?
I think because there are a whole host of greater revelations that have yet to surface, but maybe I am wrong.
I think that making companies immune from unpatriotic actions such as, cooperating with government spying for money, needs
to be punished in no uncertain terms, if it turns out to be true.
Call your Congressman and tell them:
Hello:
My name is _______ and I am a constituent of Congressperson __________________. I am interested in what my
representative thinks about telecom immunity in the upcoming FISA bill.
and then just give them your opinion on the matter, and remind them of the timeline of events...
7 months of extra-Constitutional wiretapping power and then we're surprised by "terrorists".
Ironic that the phone companies own devices could be turned on them today....while they are listening in!
Having a secret court makes secret law is bad for an allegedly free society. See how the Qwest CEO is unable to
avoid financial consequences due to secret actions and an attempt to avoid the consequence leads to violations
of secret laws. It really gives the government the ability to imprison anyone they want when they become too 'uppity'.
Dave Farber's
Interesting People list has a very insightful discussion and a link to an EFF forum that helps us understand
the flaws of secret court decisions and how they can become oppressive instruments of power.
DAMN IT!!!!!! Yeah, its Friday the 13th when
America loses one of its few objective journalistic voices.
There are so few real journalists left.
I actually enjoyed watching "Meet the Press", because I expected AND got some objectivity and some real questioning of the attendees.
Damn
Damn
Damn... :-(
We need to watch our government closely. With all the hype surrounding the elections, there is a lot
of horse trading going on behind the scenes. And don;t forget, you are not a citizen, you are a horse to be traded among the
moneyed and powerful. Look they are passing laws to allow them to
search all your electronic devices for alleged copyright violations.
Oh look here, they are trying
give away more American jobs, while you are standing in the unemployment line!
No barbs or political tongue-lashing in this post. Just wanted to wish luck to the Senate's
'liberal lion' as
he enters surgery for his brain tumor at Duke.
Of course we should! Now that we hear more about the
inner workings of the
White House propaganda machine. Impeachment becomes even more necessary. A war that has
sent our nation into economic crisis, devalued our currency and killed many soldiers and citizens
was sold to the American people through weapons of mass deception. If only Scott McClellan had spoke out sooner.
If only he had seen fit to inform us sooner, but he did not. Nonetheless, he has now. Many billions have now
been sent to the bank accounts of war profiteers everywhere and Americans cannot stand idly by. Even if we impeach on the last day of the
Bush/Cheney tyranny, we still have the effect of restoring constitutional rule in our republic.
I feel the ghosts of 1968 lurking about. You know, here we have an unpopular war, but the establishment
wants to stay in for fear of being labeled 'peaceniks'...and for the money they are making, of course.
The Democrats have a young dynamic candidate that is gaining attention
all across the nation, just like 1968. Obama looks a lot like RFK to me and I can see why Clinton might mistake
him for Bobby. Now with Clinton making a
'slip of the tongue', I feel a chill on my spine. It feels very much like the one I got when in December of 2000, Dubya held a news conference
from an undisclosed location and told the country everything was going to be OK. This was before the Supreme Court had
anointed him President. Why did the networks give him air time?, I wondered among other things.
Do not forget, people, about the incident at an Obama rally in February, or did you not hear about it? I can see
why you might not have heard, since the US media often ignore events that ought to be
a big deal here in America, but instead we need to search foreign media to read about:
Secret Service order Dallas police to 'stop screening for weapons' at Obama rally. If it were not for
opednews.com, the
non-searches
would have been COMPLETELY ignored by our domestic media sources.
Let us all hope that the 2008 Democratic convention is not like the 1968 convention,
because that will bring upheaval like we have never seen before and guarantee a Republican in the White House.
The arrogance and ignorance that has crept into our government is staggering.
Here we read
that a document with classified information 'redacted' did not really have the classified material removed.
Instead the information
was just covered up in a very ameteurish fashion.
I am filled with confidence now and want to cede over
more of my rights to this government so it can better protect me...NOT!
I regret a little my earlier ruthless post on the calculus of the Senate. Still I felt people needed to understand.
Now with Senator Kennedy diagnosed with a brain tumor,
I only want to wish him well and good luck in his upcoming struggle in this post.
With the balance of power so tenuous in the Senate, ruthless calculations were already being
made as Kennedy was airlifted
to a hospital. Remember right after the 2006 elections, Senator
Tim Johnson of
South Dakota had a stroke, throwing control of the Senate into doubt. It had appeared that the Democrats had
won control of the Senate in 2006, with Lieberman saying he would caucus with the Democrats despite being an
independent.
Lieberman has had extraordinary backroom power being the man that gave the Democrats control of the Senate, 51-49.
When news of Kennedy's illness broke, the power brokers began crunching the numbers again no doubt. Lieberman
would have even more power were a Democrat in the Senate be unable to serve. With the Senate so closely split,
the health issues of the members have enormous implications.
Despite other closely split Senates in our history, the narrowness of ruling margins in this century has led to a
dictatorship of 51%. Historically, the friendly and collegial nature of the Senate such narrow margins were not quite as
as important. The Senate was more of a bipartisan institution, which sought to rule by compromise and
consensus.
Tailgunner Joe was instrumental getting us into the Iraq War with a similarly closely divided Senate.
Lieberman stabbed Tom Daschle in the back and went to the White House to cut a deal with Bush/Cheney.
Daschle had effectively stopped Bush's rush to invade Iraq, but when Lieberman decided he was going
to back the White House's efforts at regime change it all fell apart. Lieberman made sure the vote would be a 50-50 split
meaning Cheney would cast the deciding vote. Once other Democratic senators realized this calculus they ran for
cover and gave Bush the war authorization he needed.
I have not forgotten that we were given this war by the narrowest of margins, the votes of a few men in key
positions of power brought America her most expensive and destructive military adventure in her history.
So my sincere apologies to Edward Kennedy for the crassness of this post, but I hope he realizes that Americans need
to understand this dynamic. November needs to be a decisive change of direction for our country. Control
of the Senate is key to preventing another ill-advised military adventure by this nation.
Thank goodness for the librarians of this nation. Those staid individuals that are the guardians of our books were
one of the few groups to speak out against the wave of unconstitutional acts that followed and apparently preceded 9/11.
Without the librarians, I doubt we would have even heard of 'National Security Letters'. I first read about
this one on
Dave Farber's
venerable Internet list,
Interesting People.
Were it not for the whistleblowers and watchdogs, where would we be?
We the People must turn back the power grab. We CAN do it, just as Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has done.
We now know and can celebrate a victory for individual liberty as the
FBI has withdrawn a National Security Letter
it served on Mr. Kahle.
With recent studies showing that
Americans can no longer expect increasing life spans
and in fact may have
to accept that for some segments of American society, declining life spans are the norm. There will be more
calls for some kind of universal health care. John McCain has even got out there with some kind of 'alleged reform' of the US
helthcare system. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great idea, but no one is saying how they would pay for it. This nation cannot
continue to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan and expect to take care of an expensive domestic agenda item like universal healthcare.
For years we were told we could not afford universal healthcare. Now in the sixth year of war, America has
squandered hundreds of billions of dollars,
with no end in sight, on a war that has no obvious goal but the continued occupation Afghanistan and Iraq. We can spend money on Bush's War or
we can spend it at home...simple choice, it would seem to me.
With recent studies showing that
Americans can no longer expect increasing life spans
and in fact may have
to accept that for some segments of American society, declining life spans are the norm. There will be more
calls for some kind of universal health care. John McCain has even got out there with some kind of 'alleged reform' of the US
helthcare system. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great idea, but no one is saying how they would pay for it. This nation cannot
continue to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan and expect to take care of an expensive domestic agenda item like universal healthcare.
For years we were told we could not afford universal healthcare. Now in the sixth year of war, America has
squandered hundreds of billions of dollars,
with no end in sight, on a war that has no obvious goal but the continued occupation Afghanistan and Iraq. We can spend money on Bush's War or
we can spend it at home...simple choice, it would seem to me.
Bob Barr, a former Republican Congressman from Georgia, is
slipping back into presidential politics with his announcement that he has
formed an exploratory committee to evaluate a candidacy as a Libertarian. For the first time, since 1992 a 3rd party candidate
is going to make some noise. The Hillary/Obama mess and John McCain's non-conservative positions on issues like immigration mean a whole bunch
of voters from both parties are thinking about taking their votes elsewhere. After more than a generation of horrific partisan fighting
inside the Beltway, many Americans will not want to cross the aisle and vote for the opposition.
I have to admit that a Hillary Clinton candidacy cannot get my vote. I just will not vote for the DLC's Republican-lite candidates.
With my long time Libertarian roots and honest respect for Bob Barr's straightforward message of individual rights that he espoused even as a Republican, I could actually vote for
him rather than McCain or Clinton. That is not the case with Barry O, though...he'd get my vote over all others still.
Hillary has finally admitted
she hates those darn Democratic activists that have been trying to wrest control of the party from the DLC. She tried to cast those activists
as crazed peaceniks by saying they had opposed the invasion of Afghanistan. I find it extremely disturbing that opposition to the invasion of Afghanistan is
such a heinous act that even MoveOn.org shies away from it.
Let me say here and now, that I did oppose the invasion of Afghanistan. I predicted that Bin Laden would not be captured and the people of
Afghanistan would suffer once again the symptoms of our geo-political games. Sure Bin Laden needed to be captured, but invading a
sovereign nation and making war upon its people accomplished nothing except reignite the cultivation of opium.
If I were a little more cynical
I might believe that the top end puppeteers running the great drug cartels had orchestrated the overthrow of the Taliban to regain their
source fields. Harry Browne was the only politician brave enough to come out and say the invasion of Afghanistan served no purpose and that
the capture of Bin Laden was a matter for police forces not armies. He kept me as a dues-paying Libertarian for a couple more years by those
brave words...may he rest in peace.
No, but he is older than Reagan when he took office. McCain is definitely ancient. Here is an interesting look at those
that are
younger than McCain. After you watch that video consider some of the items that the video left out. John McCain is also older
than RADAR, commercial television, jet-powered flight...Hell, he is actually older than the formation of the United States Air Force!
Americans must get it through their heads soon that the government does not have their best interests at heart.
Red light cameras were sold to us as a way to prevent one of the most deadly types of traffic accident, the running of a red light.
Now we hear that not only are
these cameras being used to increase government revenues,
rather than protect drivers, they are putting drivers at greater risk of death.
You see the government can increase their revenue from red light cameras by shortening the length of the yellow light.
This of course creates more red light runners, but it also creates more traffic collisions of the most deadly type!
I have been trying very hard to support the Democrats. I even registered as a Democrat so I could vote for John Edwards in the Cali primary.
Unfortunately, he suspended his campaign. I stay registered as a Democrat hoping beyond hope that somehow a brokered convention will hand
Edwards a chance to run. Obama is OK, I guess, and I think he will end this militarist foreign policy, if he gets elected...I think.
Nonetheless, so many
Democrats are making money off these wars
that I really do begin to doubt my decision to register as
a Democrat. Are they really going to end these wars and spend these trillions on some domestic programs? So far these wars are likely
to end up costing trillions, if we get out tomorrow. How much was universal healthcare going to cost again?
Hillary voted for us to go into Iraq. She voted with Bush to label the Iranian military a terrorist organization, she has
demostrated nothing that makes me think she'll really get us out of Iraq. Now as her campaign manager resigns, we learn that not only
is he a lobbyist for other countries,
Penn has a PR RELATIONSHIP WITH BLACKWATER!
Blackwater!!!! the Republicans private army!
Hillary just announced that
she wants to put another 100000 cops on the street. Scary, scary. Would Blackwater be her fill in choice while the officers were trained????
Blackwater's policing during Katrina was heinous. Hell, even in Baghdad, Blackwater is considered notoriously harsh, compared to the other private contracting armies.
Many might think that secrecy makes them safer, but it really does not. Secrecy allows the powerful to preserve their power, it does not
make the average citizen safer. The creation of the giant, bureaucratic umbrella agency, the Department of Homeland Security is being used
by the powerful to classify and keep secret anything that might causes them to lose power. They cry national security, but it is really
about their own security. Time and again the DHS has really served as an Orwellian Department of Homeland Insecurity.
DHS caused the Katrina response to clumsy and tragic. DHS crippled FEMA. DHS was used by the Republicansin power to track down
the Democrats that had fled the Democratic legislature trying to prevent the Republicans from gerrymandering Texas to gain more seats
in the House of Representatives. Clearly a state issue, somehow became a national security issue that allowed Republican legislators
to track the Texas Dem representatives to a hotel in Oklahoma. During the 2004 presidential election, in a key Ohio precinct, Republican officials
announced that the Department of Homeland Security was declaring a terrorist emergency and the building where the votes were being
counted had to be cleared of all non-essential personnel. In reallity, it meant that all the Democrats were kicked out of the vote counting
rooms while Republicans were allowed to count the votes privately. Guess what Dubya came from behind in the precinnct and gain key votes necessary to
take Ohio's electoral votes.
Yep, the Department of Homeland Insecurity needs to be abolished before its continued use as an instrument to protect those in power
will eventually lead to some very unsafe conditions for the average American citizen. Doubt me? Well, this
story on a livestock disease,
hoof and mouth, is pretty sketchy on details, because the Department of Homeland Insecurity is saying the status of our nation's food supply
is classified information!!!!
I recently received an email from Congressman Wexler asking me what I thought he should be asking the General today. Here is how I responded:
Hello Congressman:
I would be most interested in hearing about the private contractors. After all the surge was a small percentage increase in troops and
the media mostly ignored how small that percentage really was. It made me wonder whether there was a bigger private contractor surge to make it work.
Always we seem to be talking about 125000 to 150000 troops in Iraq, but the reality is that we have more like 300000 troops in Iraq counting these contractors.
So when we look at the occupation with eyes toward history and comparing it to previous military ventures before the rise of this private contracting army, we need to be talking about 300000 troops, not the 125000 or so the media keeps discussing.
I am deeply troubled by this use of mercenaries. These private contractors are not bound by the military code of justice or Geneva Convention, but they fight under our
flag. A flag that they do not really owe allegiance to. As mercenaries they are soldiers of fortune, beholden to “gold”, not honor and duty. Historically one can look at
Rome for examples of how a republic can be corrupted and hasten its demise through the use of mercenaries to further foreign policy.
I’d like to hear some questions about the use of private contractors furthering “war” as a “for profit” operation. When war becomes the business of the nation, then
endless war is required to keep the economy going. Why have we rehired Blackwater? Have they not caused us enough trouble and embarrassment as a nation. Blackwater
is the world’s largest private army and air force and they seem to be working for the GOP, not America.
Please ask some questions about Blackwater and the use private contractors creating a situation of “war for profit”.
Also, a question or two about why Blackwater gives so much to Republican causes would not hurt either.
As things continue to be undecided on the Democratic presidential ticket. The prospects for a brokered convention have
become more likely. Al Gore's name has been floated several times, but I really do not think he wants it. He has moved on
from the aggravations of Washington politics. John Edwards suspended his campaign rather early...before California.
He was regularly polling in the high teens or low twenties and he would be coming in with hundreds of delegates had he not
been a good Democrat and dropped out to let the two biggies fight it out. However, the expected result of having one of them
gain the lion's share of delegates has failed to materialize.
Obama's campaign needs to demonstrate that it can win again before most of the remaining super-delegates will be ready to move decisively.
I am very worried about the brown vs. black tension that has evolved over the years. The Republicans
have a candidate that can and will get Hispanic votes due to his positions on immigration, which are quite liberal, much to the chagrin of the right.
McCain would have a real chance of picking up electorate-heavy California running against Obama.
If Obama fails to put up some solid victories soon, super-delegates will rightly question Obama's ability to beat McCain. Obama may not be able to win.
Hillary simply cannot win nationally in my opinion, nor is she someone I can vote for. I find her
religious affiliations far more troubling than Obama's pastorgate.
The negatives on the Clintons from those inside and outside their party are high. It will make Democrats stay home and Republicans get out and vote.
Beyond that I know the Clintons are the real architects of the Orwellian Dept. of Homeland Insecurity. Also, bringing into doubt the true
nature of her politics, Hillary was apparently involved in trying to
prevent the impeachment of Nixon as a young lawyer!!!!
All of this leads us back to
John Edwards, the most electable Democrat. He would be a far greater force had he not dropped out so early. However, I believe
he believed he was being a good Democrat by doing so. He was trying to help the Democratic party get their decision done early, but that has not happened.
If neither Hillary nor Obama can get a majority on the first ballot, then I think Democrats should be thinking about John Edwards.
If you were thinking the winner of the 2008 presidential election was still up in the air, fuh-getta 'bout it!
If you were not paying to attention to the last couple of elections, you might be surprised, but
vote-tampering
by the rich and powerful is old news. Now even the illusion of suspense has been lost as
Diebold accidentally leaked results of 2008
to the public recently.
I am so tired of this war and its negative consequences. I finally got out and had my picture taken
at
one of the protests with my sons. We withstood the intimidation of the gang of bikers that showed up with
their American Flags. Everywhere the peace protesters stood the bikers would send over their American flags.
Police showed up and wrote tickets to some of the peace protesters, but fraternized with the vigilante bikers.
It was strange and scary. I will comment further on that but here are the pictures.
Heck! Why not give away some American jobs in the midst of the biggest recession since the Great Depression?
The alleged high tech worker shortage is really a ploy by Corporate America to bring in
more "indentured servants".
Corporate America wants these changes for obvious reasons. After all, it is very tough to balance
work and family with deadlines and overtime. Sometimes those darn uppity American workers want to
be with their families. The more unpaid overtime that can be squeezed out of a worker, the greater
those profits and productivity numbers. We all know the realities that those H1B workers face.
If the boss says to work 50 or 60 hours for 75% of the normal salary, you do it or you could be back
to the homeland right quick. Am I exaggerating? I don't think so, because there could be no other
reason for those thousands of H1B visas being applied for when hundreds of thousands of American programmers were
out of work between 2001-2003.
McCain has
already gotten out there and started stumping to give away more American jobs.
Unfortunately, the two alleged liberals in the Democratic race have not see an American job that they did not think should be given to a foreigner, either.
I expected it with
Hillary. After all she happily enjoyed the appellation of the
"Senator from Punjab".
(Punjab is a state in the country of India.)
However, I thought
Obama would have been more supportive of the American middle class.
Call your Congressman, because the legislators are going to try to sneak an H1B visa increase through in some little watched late night session.
The job you save could be your own!
March 7th, 2008
Stop Telecom Immunity
Tell Congress To Stop Giving Away Your Rights
In February of 2001, the Bush Administration immediately upon being installed in office went to the telecom
companies and started demanding extra-Constitutional powers. They claimed they had such powers inherent
in the "unitary executive". They also told the telecom companies they'd pay something like $10,000 per wiretap.
The phone companies saw a big revenue stream once they realized how extensive the government domestic spying program
was going to be, so they complied. EXCEPT for QWEST. Qwest refused on constitutional grounds. It was rewarded for
its patriotism by the cancellation of government contracts it had already secured. Of course, the owner could see his
stock price was going to fall in this battle and he ended up selling some of his shares. The government tried and
convicted him for insider trading. He is now serving time in prison. However, even if he was inclined to take out
a full page ad about the government vendetta against him, he could not because everything is classified under national
security, so there was no way he could not be 'guilty' of insider trading, because he had inside knowledge of classified
information that meant the stock price would fall.
We would know none of this were it not for the ACLU's lawsuits. Immunity in the upcoming FISA bill would end these
suits and end our source of the truth of what went on in 2001. Remember the government had already obtained extra-constitutional
powers to wiretap just about anyone as well as snoop all data in February of 2001, yet seven months later the planes are
run them into the World Trade Center. The government claims they are so surprised that someone used planes as weapons and
they had no idea or foreknowledge. Hmmmmmm?! They must be extremely incompetent or too busy wiretapping their
political enemies or... ????
These ACLU lawsuits must be allowed to go forward. Why is everyone so anxious to give them immunity in Washington?
I think because there are a whole host of greater revelations that have yet to surface, but maybe I am wrong.
I think that making companies immune from unpatriotic actions such as, cooperating with government spying for money, needs
to be punished in no uncertain terms, if it turns out to be true.
I have called my Congressman:
Basically this was my script:
Hello:
My name is _______ and I am a constituent of Congressperson __________________. I am interested in what my
representative thinks about telecom immunity in the upcoming FISA bill that came down from the Senate.
and then just give them your opinion on the matter, and remind them of the timeline of events...
7 months of extra-Constitutional wiretapping power and then we're surprised by "terrorists".
Ironic that the phone companies own devices could be turned on them today....while they are listening in!
Having a secret court makes secret law is bad for an allegedly free society. See how the Qwest CEO is unable to
avoid financial consequqences due to secret actions and an attempt to avoid the consequence leads to violations
of secret laws. It really gives the government the ability to imprison anyone they want when they become too 'uppity'.
Dave Farber's
Interesting People list has a very insightful discussion and a link to an EFF forum that helps us understand
the flaws of secret court decisions and how they can become oppressive instruments of power.
Again, media outside the US are aware of events and report them, but for
opednews.com, the following little gem
never seemed worth reporting to America by our domestic media sources. I'd say Americans would be surprised to learn that
Secret Service order Dallas police to 'stop screening for weapons' at Obama rally, because the Dallas police sure were.
I feel a chill as I fear a ghost of 1968 is lurking or is it 1963!!!!!
Media outside the US are aware and
reporting the truth of how America got itself in this
economic mess. However, are domestic media as postulated several thousand other causes and never ever touch on the expensive
ill-advised invasion of Iraq. I am not surprised that Hillary has not tuched on this, since she voted
for the invasion, but I am a bit surprised that Obama has not been spending some time on this.
Many conservatives will be crying crocodile tears today over the death of William F. Buckley, Jr. He was long a voice in the wilderness
for conservatives when liberalism seemed to have triumphed in the 1970's. Many of today's conservatives will talk about how much
they owe Mr. Buckley. They'll skate around the fact that Mr. Buckley was intellectually quite rigorous in his political positions.
Mr. Buckley demanded rational conservatism that was intellectually consistent. Of course,we all know that conservatism can no longer
claim this high ground. Conservatives today have revealed themselves to be sick political animals who say anything to "get the base out".
Due to the power of doublespeak under Bush and Cheney, Mr. William F. Buckley, Jr. died a LIBERAL!!!!!! Doubts?????
Mr. Buckley believed that the
"War on Drugs" was lost and
legalization was the answer.
Mr. Buckley believed that the mission in
Iraq was a failure and
that America should get out before things got worse. Oh yes, in today's screwed up Bush/Cheney political universe,
William F. Buckley, Jr. dies a liberal.
The new law allows the tax preparers to get your signature and
then give or
sell the full tax return to data brokers, to your boss, to anyone.
And there are absolutely no restrictions about what recipients do with the returns.
We need to start thinking outside the 'Bush' box. What are America's foreign policy interests ad objectives. How can we best achive them
given our now very limited resources. We need to also take into account our squandered diplomatic capital and credibility due to this misguided
occupation of Iraq. Britain has
moved beyond this so-called, War on Terror,
and we need to recognize it for the straw man it always was.
Wake up, wake up, wake up! In about a week,
five undersea internet cables were cut or otherwise damaged.
All of them serving or connecting to the Middle East. Only one cable cut, the one linking Oman and the United Arab
Emirates has been identified as accidental, caused by a dragging ship anchor.
I cannot believe we are not talking about this a bit more. This event seems very, very suspicious. Too, too coincidental for me not to
believe this is
a work of deliberate purpose. An enlightened individual or individuals could gain a lot of knowledge about capacities, disaster plans, switching alternatives, etc.
from this act. An entity, be it national or otherwise, could have staged something to gain such insight or as a dry run for some future more sinister purpose.
What do I mean? Well, let me remind all of you that I am a civilian...big-time civilian, I know nothing but what I read on the Internet and see on TV. Given that, it seems
rather obvious that were a coordinated move to be made in Iraq or Afghanistan by forces unknown a disruption of the Internet would have quite a negative
impact on the American military in the theater. I don't know this for a fact, but I fear we may rely quite heavily on VOIP and other Internet connectivity to
coordinate our spy satellites, ground forces and other robotic devices, et al.
So I just kind of felt ot was my patriotic duty to say, 'Lets look at this a little more closely.' First we need to make sure our military has backup Internet capacity in as many different
forms as possible. Second, we need to find out who the heck cut those cables!!!!!. Lets not have any more big intelligence failures.
If these telcos are given immunity, then the lawsuits stop. We the people will learn nothing more about what
really went on once Bush got into office. Fortunately,
the House has not ratified this travesty
and we may let
learn what really happened when the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush president.
So far we have learned that almost immediately upon his taking office, Bush
went to the telcos in February of 2001 to start wiretapping. Why? Why didn't they find out about the WTC disaster, if
wiretapping is so effective in protecting us from terrorists. They were wiretapping 7 to 8 months before, but still those
terrorists somehow got on those planes.
We need those lawsuits to go forward, so we can find out what really happened. Thank you Nancy Pelosi for fulfilling
your Constitutional duties. I'd also like to thank my two California senators for voting against the Senate's immunity legislation, even
though it was in vain.
BushCo is concerned probably about allowing the lawsuits to go forward, because there will likely be more and more damaging
revelations. Americans must turn to the House for Congress to perform its constitutional duties instead of providing
unconstitutional shields to companies that help an out of control executive branch.
In my opinion, Hillary has no chance to make it to the convention with enough delegates to sew up the nomination. Obama, on
the other hand, has a small chance to do so. He'll need to keep up his winning ways, of course. However, this last weekend
shows that he has the charisma and vote-getting appeal to do it.
It is unsettling to think that the only way Hillary can win the nomination is for neither Obama nor her reach the convention with
enough regular delegates, then the super delegates weigh in and hand it to the Establishment candidate. No need for bullets or riots to
silence the Democratic grassroots.
The Democratic grassroots want Obama, it is clear. It also seems like the Clintons hold quite a few super delegates, though. The people in states that have not voted
yet are
wondering whether their super delegates will follow their leads and endorse the candidate that wins their state.
How naive of them.
With the departure of John Edwards from the Democratic race and McCain looking to lock up the Republican
nomination, I fear we will be in Iraq for many more years. I do not believe that either Hillary or Obama can defeat McCain.
Both of them just do not have the necessary broad national appeal to win. Only Edwards had that and now he is gone.
If Obama gets the nomination, then I'll likely vote for him despite my pessimism. It will be very difficult to vote for
Hillary however. The Clintons invented the Department of Homeland Security. They are no liberals, unfortunately.
I feel the ghosts of 1968 lurking about. You know, here we have an unpopular war, but the establishment
wants to stay in for fear of being labeled 'peaceniks'. The Democrats have a young dynamic candidate that is gaining attention
all across the nation, just like 1968. Obama looks a lot like RFK to me and now with all the Kennedys lining up behind
him, that feeling is even stronger.
I can only keep my fingers crossed that the 2008 Democratic convention is not like the 1968 convention, because that will guarantee a
Republican in the White House.
I have been watching the alleged market mavens and various other pundits debate the coming recession.
They all have ideas about what people should do and why we are in the current situation. Most agree
that Americans are likely just going to have to ride it out, despite the alleged stimulus coming our way from
Congress.
I am angry that no one seems to be talking about the fact that we were sold a bill of goods back in 2002 about how
we had to invade Iraq. We were also told it would be a very inexpensive operation and that Iraq's oil revenues
could pay for the whole thing. What a joke that has become. Now five years and over a trillion
dollars later, we are still there. Nothing is more destructive to an economy than war. Bombs never turn a profit
when you make them and then blow them up. Not unless sell them to someone else for their war or you use
them for imperial purposes and gain treasure
and booty for the economy that is building and dropping those bombs. Otherwise it really is just
money down a rathole...check that...money into the pockets of war profiteers.
Afraid of recession? Tired of our flagging economy and rising inflation? THEN GET OUT OF IRAQ!
It is so darn simple, but no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room. Why?
The media may not be reporting it, but there are some things
to ponder about what happened in New Hampshire. Mostly the lamestream corporate
media has spent much of their time acting surprised by the fact that Hillary and McCain won.
However, they are coming up with some rather lame theories on why the polls were
wrong.
Why are we not asking more probing questions about electronic voting security, why votes are being counted in secret and
why the exit polls keep coming up wrong in certain key races? We must not allow the
end to representative republican democracy! Europeans are really becoming
suspicious of American election results.
C'mon people !!!!!!! Demand hand voted ballots!!!!
Demand vote counting be public record and not done in secret without independent audits being allowed.
If the bank tells us, we have less money in the bank than we thought, we don't just live with it, we investigate what
happened. Of course, most of the time the issue is with our own math, nonetheless we would never allow
anonymous secret accounting of our bank balance. The bank must show us the transactions that led to the balance,
yet no such audit trail is being sought for elections even though there are so many clues that things are
not on the up and up.
Some suspect that the
corporate and moneyed
want to make sure that John Edwards does not achieve the White House.
The memories of the moneyed are long and they continue to tear down all that the Republican Teddy Roosevelt and the
Democrat Franklin Roosevelt did in the 20th century to empower the common man. John Edwards is a self-made man,
who appears to be owned by nobody other than his own conscience. This makes him very, very difficult to manipulate
in the a way similar to Teddy Roosevelt, who broke the backs of the robber barons a century ago. At least some are calling for
a repeal of the political obituary that the corporate lamestream media has already written.
With a resurgent John McCain, Democrats could be facing the only Republican capable of winning
in November. The other Republican candidates would likely fall to any of the top three Democratic candidates.
Only
John Edwards looks to handle a McCain challenge easily. In fact many
polls and
pundits
have come out noting Edwards electability far outstrips his Democratic
rivals,
especially Hillary. Hillary
may have won in New Hampshire, but she cannot win nationally, ESPECIALLY against McCain. Obama will
have problems carrying middle independents against McCain. Only Edwards is a shoo-in against ANY
Republican nominee. Democrats would do well to pay attention to the electability of their nominee.
Though earlier I wrote I would not ignore the libertarian, it does not mean I would necessarily vote
for him. Ron Paul is probably my second choice with Obama right on his heels. Barrack Obama seems
inexperienced to me and if I am going to go with that, I'd prefer a real new direction for the country. Paul
provides that. I think Obama would probably make a great president, but deep down I fear the
country cannot handle a president of color. Some psycho redneck wanting to strike a blow for the old Confederacy
would somehow get close to him and we'd all be stuck with whomever Barrack selected as his VP.
All that notwithstanding, John Edwards is definitely the man I think most likely to turn America around. I believe he truly is
insulated from special interests by his motivations to be out there. I think those motivations are purer than
most candidates. I think to some extent he runs for his fallen son. The death of a child is profound and I think
it has driven Edwards farther into the spotlight than he ordinarily would have come. He runs to make America a
better place. Memorializing his son's effect on his political actions purifies his motivations. He must always
take a momment and run his motivations and ideas through the mirror he holds up as the torchbearer for his lost son.
This is of course very sad really, but I think America benefits from a man grounded in a way that cannot be faked. Edwards continues
to run with his wife backing him 110% despite her own battle with cancer. As Edwards faces a world that has handed
him so much emotional adversity, he is not insulated from life the way so many candidates seem to be. He truly runs because he must,
no longer because he wants to. The old image of Plato's philosopher king shadows Edwards in my mind as the individual
most qualified to lead and the one least likely to want it. That fine farmhouse he now owns would be a wonderful way
to spend time with Elizabeth and his children were he not so driven by the state of the nation to be out there doing more.
John Edwards is a tough seasoned campaigner capable of beating ANY of the Republican contenders. Democrats would
do well to nominate him. He has spent time inside the Beltway and outside of it. His work as a lawyer is indispensable as
experience winning people to ideas. The time he spent at a large hedge fund has been criticised, but this kind of knowledge
of the inner workings of the great global money machine will be invaluable in helping him lead an America left financially crippled by
the Bush/Cheney wartime profiteers.
Edwards has kept to his populist path, even backing away from an earlier call for H1b visa increases, once he became aware of the
true nature of this indentured servant program. He is willing to change his mind. To look at things fresh, if there
is fresh data. He runs for his father, for his son, for his wife...for us all. In my heart, I believe
his motivations to be president are purer than any other current presidential hopeful. He reminds me of a 21st century
Teddy Roosevelt in his advocacy for the common man. No, I cannot help but give Edwards a resounding endorsement as the candidate
I am backing for 2008.
.
I'll forgive Ron Paul's conversion to the Republicans as long as he keeps giving them so much heartburn.
He raised
million of dollars this last quarter. Finally, a libertarian is getting financing. I have to admit that
in a Hillary versus Ron Paul race I would have to vote for Ron Paul. Hillary does not care about individual liberty.
We are just pawns in the Clintons power game. They treated the pawns better than Bush/Cheney have, but we are still
just serfs in the Clinton's eyes, I believe. Remember the Department of Homeland Security was a Clinton idea, but the
Republicans in the 90's thought it too Orwellian and killed it. I believe AMerica would be better off under Ron Paul than
Hillary Clinton...sorry Dems :-( I can only urge you to nominate John Edwards, the most electable Democrat....IMHO
.
Christopher Dodd is the one Democrat really hammering on the roll back of individual liberty by Bush/Cheney.
I have to thank him here publicly for being
instrumental in getting Reid to pull the FISA legislation that promised
retroactive amnesty for telephone companies that helped Bush spy. The only major telco, Qwest, to not cooperate
suffered
lost revenue and their management harassed and thrown in jail on trumped up charges. The damage is done to
Qwest, those that willing cooperated illegally need to pay the price for their cooperation...free Americans demand it.
Did you know that there is poor oversight of our torturing, tape-burning spies? Her failed oversight
implicates her and prevents her from taking the Oval Office, because she would have to go down with Bush and Cheney.
The facts of it were revealed by the Post last week.
The Washington Post article,
Intelligence Oversight In Free Fall left me so outraged that I am compelled to write on the matter further and not
just about Pelosi's knowledge of the administration's acts of torture. At the end of this article, the author does not offer one shred of
creative, intelligent advice on how the next administration should deal with intelligence oversight.
I say, HOW ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION?
Simply adhering to the Constitution may well have avoided all of this debacle. The FISA court is unconstitutional!
It always was and is more so now. A secret court and secret laws that I can unwittingly violate, because all the
information on the "law" is classified, is not allowed in a free society. The repeal of habeus corpus and the resignations from the court by
principled judges point to serious abuses of the secrecy. Our Founding Fathers created a document that protected the citizens
of a free and open society. Almost immediately the elected officials started attacking it, because it kept them bound.
They would make laws that were unconstitutional, but were still difficult to enforce. America was so vast that freedom reigned.
The technology has finally caught up with the desires of the politicians.
The violations of the Geneva Convention by this administration noted in this article are clearly impeachable. These violations
are some of the most powerful instruments that could be used to impeach Bush/Cheney. I can see why Pelosi took impeachment off
the table. This article makes it clear that she would have to go down with them. The attacks on the World Trade Center seemed to make everyone
lose their desire for freedom and liberty and the politicians obliged.
I will never understand why the
people of this nation bought into the politician's song and dance about protecting us. The incidents of 9/11 called for a
greater freedom for the individual, not less. The government and the military failed on that day utterly and completely.
I wrote about it almost immediately, and have continued to pound the drums for individual freedom with rewrites and updates of
The Lost Lesson of 9/11
The Post was pounding the drums of war for this administration after 9/11/2001. Intelligence Oversight in Freefall my ear.
There never has been any oversight. Nobody really knows what happened in the 1970's when FISA was born except for some of the
Post writers at the time and the politicians. Perhaps the Post can do some investigations for me and the rest of America.
Can Marc Felt really be Deep Throat, like Bob Woodward says he is? I find it convenient that Mr. Felt is now in a
condition that prevents him from confirming or denying anything. However, lets take Mr. Woodward at his word.
If Marc Felt is Deep Throat, then the words in "All the President's Men" are quite damning.
You see the Deputy Director of the FBI complains several times that he is in fear for his life as he feeds Woodward information.
Who is he in fear of? Who has the power to assassinate the Deputy Director of the FBI? I believe that if the Post was to
find out who Marc Felt feared was going to kill him, then we'd really know something about "intelligence oversight"! Act
like the newspaper you are supposed to be and provide some oversight of power for us
and quit churning out this lamestream media drivel.
This administration would have us believe that the reasons behind the current
rate freeze plan are purely altruistic. 'We want to help.' However,
the SF
Chronicle is probably a bit closer to the truth, when it suggests the freeze
is really to avoid lawsuits and jail time for this horrendous financial disaster.
It has become abundantly clear that there has been a deliberate plan being executed in Washington to
remove certain items from the public record. This administration has
crossed over so many lines that in pre-9/11 America would have led to
impeachment. The Bush/Cheney administration has stained America's reputation in a way that
we have not even begun to clean up. If we do not start soon, we will never regain our honor and standing
in the world. Torture is
torture is torture. Everyone agreed at the Geneva Convention what it was, but once
Bush/Cheney got into office a darkness has gripped this nation. They used high sounding words and strongly worded denials to
make us believe, but their
words are now just empty rhetoric echoing in our memories.
Now that the people appear to be
waking up to what has been going on, there has been a deliberate plan to
destroy evidence and
obstruct justice. When will all this evidence add up to
"high crimes" Madam Speaker?
John Edwards, the most electable Democrat...IMHO, has begun to
back away from an earlier call
to increase H1b visas. As a populist, I believe Edwards has seen the light and realizes
that the alleged high tech worker shortage is really a ploy by Corporate America to bring in
more "indentured servants".
Corporate America wants these changes for obvious reasons. After all, it is very tough to balance
work and family with deadlines and overtime. Sometimes those darn uppity American workers want to
be with their families. The more unpaid overtime that can be squeezed out of a worker, the greater
those profits and productivity numbers. We all know the realities that those H1B workers face.
If the boss says to work 50 or 60 hours for 75% of the normal salary, you do it or you could be back
to the homeland right quick. Am I exaggerating? I don't think so, because there could be no other
reason for those H1B visas being applied for when hundreds of thousands of American programmers were
out of work between 2001-2003.
On Saturday, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez.
delivered the Democrats' weekly radio address. He was very
critical of the Bush administration's "failure to devise a strategy for victory in Iraq," then came out in
support of Democratic legislation linking continued war funding with a timeline aimed at ending U.S. combat operations by December 2008.
The White House appears to be
running interference for their private security firm,
Blackwater. The Republican's mercenary army is a real stain on America. To those that
have been victimized by Blackwater, they make no distinction between a private mercenary and
a true, blue American soldier. The details of this investigation are disturbing in that involve
weapons smuggling by the mercenary firm. Weapons that ended up in the hands on insurgents!
Former White House mouthpiece, Scott McClellan, has
implicated Bush and Cheney
in the Plame cover-up affair. The ridiculous claims that Valerie Plame was not a covert
agent are refuted by the fact that this administration retroactively re-classified
details of Valerie Plame's employment. If she was not a covert agent then why
classify all these details about her employment at the CIA. It is to cover-up the
fact that the outing of Valerie Plame was a treasonous crime of the highest order
and just as this administration said at the time, the perpetrators must be prosecuted.
However, with the Democrats refusing to even look at impeachment, it appears that
Bush and Cheney will walk out of office without suffering the consequences of their treason!
Outing a CIA agent to help push this country to war can only be described as treason.
It is what it is.
The
Paralyzed Veterans of America dates back to WWII. Though many point to the lack of
actual deaths among iraq veterans compared to previous such engagements, they fail to
take into account the amount of maiming being done. Due to improved medical transport
and armor, soldiers often times survive horrific injuries. These guys are not "dead"
so they do not always show up in the stats, but they are casualties, sure enough!
Mukasey
has been confirmed by the Senate.
Again and again the Congress has failed to do its
constitutional duties and provide a check on the executive branch. Despite
testimony from
miitary interrogation instructors calling waterboarding torture, the Senate confirms a man
who says he is unsure of waterboarding is torture. We all know its torture and
common sense
tells us it is torture, but we look the other way. Shame on Americans!!!!
In
this interview, Mitt Romney, attempts to attract more corporate cash, (other than his own cash),
by promising to give away more American jobs. These are high-skill, high-pay jobs that Americans
are more than willing to do, but Corporate America wants indentured servants not "uppity" citizens that
know their rights.
In this
scathing essay on Congressional "BuyPartisanship", David Sirota reveals that
both Democrats and Republicans will give away your job, if their Corporate sponsors
give them enough money. So much for the oath of office, eh? Scared for the future
of your income stream?...Trick or Treat!!!!
For some reason the Democrats in Congress think they can pass a law that allows the possible
unconstitutional
behavior of the telephone companies to be legal and constitutional, after the fact.
These Congress critters take an oath of office. They vow to
uphold the Constitution. We must tell them that it is not OK to give away our rights and let the
telephone companies that helped Bush spy on us. Besides that if you are thinking of switching phone companies,
Qwest could
use some business since
the government is punishing them for protecting our rights and refusing to comply with Bush's warrantless spying.
Today the Governor of California signed into law a bill to
make smoking in a car with minors illegal. One of the bills
sponsors came out and stated, "...the highest government mandate is to protect our children.". To me this
clearly demonstrates how much we have lost our way. The government's highest priority is to uphold the Constitution
and the provide for the common defense. Truly the government should be involved in upholding the freedom's individuals
so that they can protect their own children. The misguided perceptions of government as our Nanny is destroying our privacy
and rights as individuals. In recognition of this growing Nanny State and the increasingly sophisticated technologies
being used to watch us and make sure We are all safe the ACLU has created the
Surveillance Society Clock.
The online clock is patterned after the Doomsday Clock, created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947
to warn against a nuclear holocaust.
For years, their objections have been stifled. Finally, with our prisons overflowing
and our streets just as violent as they were over a generation ago, their words are beginning
to make sense. Yesterday, the executive director of
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition,
visited the editorial board Thursday, along with L.A. Chamber of Commerce chairman David Fleming, for a discussion of his group's plan to end America's war on drugs. What
he had to say may finally be sinking in and actually find its way into our penal codes.
We hear that the office of the
Vice President is trying to start a war with Iran.
We hear many disturbing stories about
private mercenary armies being employed by our
government. It seems that no evil and dark ground will go unsown by this administration.
Now we hear of an airplane crash loaded with cocaine in Mexico. Not all that unusual, I guess,
in today's world, but when one learns of some of the plane's earlier destinations.
Apparently, this plane has
a tail number that has been spotted at Guantanamo!!!!
Daniel Ellsberg
claims there has been a coup. Is he right? If you know, you may be on
an unhealthy list. The seemingly utter lack of any checks
on the executive branch since 2001, certainly point to it. I know I felt a chill down
my spine after the surprising news conference in December of 2000, before the Supreme Court had annointed Dubya, in which
George, from an undisclosed location, was given network time to address the nation and
say with his best Alexander Haig delivery, ...don't worry everything is under control.
What powers does Dick Cheney truly wield in our government? None of us truly knows. After all,
Dick Cheney is currently contending in court that the office of the Vice President is a branch of the government
all by itself, it is not executive nor legislative nor judicial. Dick Cheney wants to invade Iran and
may be trying to make it happen. The news accounts are getting pretty scary.
Cheney eyed Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear reactor, portrays Cheney as trying to get the Jewish state
to do his dirty work for him. Stupidly, in the article the neo-conservative who spilled the beans is being
refuted by his wife!
If that is not scary enough, you must read this
Stratfor article,
Israel, Syria and the Glaring Secret I would surely love to put the verbiage from Stratfor right on this page, but
copyright law prevents this. Nonetheless, if you follow the link to the article you can get temporary access to some of the
intelligence site's articles and essays. It is worth the read.
Bush's private army,
Blackwater, has been operating all over the world including the US
with very little oversight. Troop level discussions have always been somewhat ludicrous
when there are actually more mercenaries and private contractors in Iraq. These mercenaries
being paid by the American government and acting as an arm of our military have almost
no constraints on their behavior. The recent
shooting of Iraqi civilians, again, has
finally forced the Maliki government to take action. Take action is probably
too strong a word, because though he has revoked the Blackwater license to operate
in the country. However, there still remain in effect many
laws from the Coalition
Provisional Authority, which trump any efforts to assert their sovereignity. Iraq is not
free, but under the boot of an occupying force, America.
Goodness Gracious! Alan Greenspan has come out in his memoir
and
wrote that the Iraq invasion was about oil. Alan Greenspan also says the
Bush tax cuts were a mistake. I guess he figures that no one will remember that
Bush's tax cuts were in political trouble and might not
have made it through the Senate, but for
Greenspan coming out and giving his blessing.
Guys like Colin Powell, George Tenet, Alan Greenspan as well as numerous
other Republicans that have either retired from politics or left the administration
are yellow-bellied sapsuckers as far as I am concerned. They were enablers for this administration.
For them now to come out and talk about their doubts and their inner sanctum knowledge
is a little too little, too late! I think some of these fellows may very well face treason
charges, if there was any real justice in this country.
No doubt America changed dramatically on 9/11. Sadly, it was mostly for the worse as fear and hate
seemed to drive our politics down to the man on the street level. Somehow everyone was afraid and
willing to give up their rights to be protected. All I saw was government failure and the need for more and
greater freedom, not less, as I wrote here
The Lost Lesson of 9/11.
The totalitarian nature of the National Security Letter powers given to the FBI have
finally been rolled back in court. The
FBI cannot do whatever it wants any longer. Finally,
a judge has sided with the
ACLU and ruled that American citizens still have some rights. After five years of living under govt imposed
gag orders over 100,000 sneak and peek searches by the feds will now come to light.
The Democrats continue to lose my support as they roll over and give
Bush/Cheney everything they ask for, e.g. allowing continued wiretapping
of Americans just before going on the summer recess. I have to admit that
I am hoping the ACLU puts up a presidential candidate next year, because the
Democrats do not seem to be offering much of an alternative to the disastrous and
authoritarian policies of Bush/Cheney.
.
The Holt election reform bill has been so marked up by lobbyists that free and fair elections will
not result from its passage. As a longtime computer programmer, I am appalled by what has happened
to our elections since 2000. These electronic voting machines are so insecure and the corporate
entities so closely tied to political interests, that anything less than complete open source
is unacceptable in a free and open society. Congressman
Holt's bill has been gutted by
his own admission. At the risk of being called a neo-Ludditte, I say, " RETURN TO PAPER BALLOTS!"
.
Everything that has happened since 9/11 increases our doubts about the goverment story.
A foreign journalist honestly scratches his head with his essay,
Even I question the truth about 9/11,
in the British Independent.
Your invertebrate Congressional representatives gave away your Constitutional rights and then went on vacation. Take the time to
tell them
what you think about them giving your rights away and allowing our criminal AG to decide what is reasonable and appropriate.
The case of the US citizen jailed and tortured by the American government over the last four years is finally
gone to jury deliberation. It is hard to see the outcome as being fair. The judge admits that Padilla
has been psychologically damaged by his treatment, but allowed the trial to go forward. The Christian Science
Monitor, that notoriously liberal rag, does a pretty
good job of laying the facts of the case on the table
for those interested in a mostly truthful account of events. In America, one man can have a free American citizen jailed and tortured
for years without trial. So much for the rule of law, we are dictatorship by most measures at this point.
Apparently, the secret FISA court made a secret ruling that prohibited some the Bush Administration's secret spying on
Americans. Unfortunately, it is all secret and none of us really know what is going on. The Bush Administration wanted
the Congress to basically overrule FISA and the Democrats have obliged. It has to give many liberal Democratic activists pause.
Pelosi actually said the law "...does violence to the Constitution"...but she helped pass it anyway! If this is how the Democrats
are going to oppose Bush, give him money for his surge in Iraq instead of getting us out, allowing Gonzales to lie blatantly with no
consequences, allow Scooter Libby's jail term to be commutted and now
allow expanded wiretapping and give that power
to the very people that have abused it over the last few years. What is the real difference between these two parties?
The Democrats seem to be shoring up the concept of the unitary executive for their use in 2008 and beyond
The Bill of Rights used to protect citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. However, this administration
has ended the rule of law in America. No better reason to fly the flag upside down as a sign of distress.
These are dangerous times for speaking one's mind though as this
North Carolina couple discovered when they
displayed an inverted American flag in front their house.
The poor average American citizen better put his camera away. The government has come up with a new way to make you a criminal.
There is apparently a
secret list of buildings you can't photograph, but no way to find out which buildings these are!
As Dubya opines that Iraq is a "must win", we the people are nearly blind to what is truly happening there. We'll
know when the money runs out...maybe, but until then the corporate media is leashed and nearly useless so far. Even those journalists with the bravery,
courage and passion to pursue the truth can only provide us with a keyhole view. Sonni Efron"s
article on the information gap created by dead reporters is right on the money. Propaganda can easily become
the news of truth on both sides when reporters are repeatedly kidnapped, tortured and killed.
Given the collaboration between corporate America and the government when it comes to spying on citizens, it has
become increasingly difficult to put forward any kind of anonymous speech. Thinking of printing out some
Anti-Bush pamphlets or perhaps you are a rabid Kucinich or Ron Paul supporter and want to get the word out?
Better use your neighbor's printer or better yet go to Kinkos and pay with cash, because printers are spying on you!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a
list of printers that mark your documents so they can be tracked back to you and those
that do not. I wonder if that venerable printer manufacturer, OkiData, is going to see a surge in sales?
A new web site has sprung up which allows anonymous postings. Nothing new about that, but this one limits
the posts to those originating from the IP address segment that is Capitol Hill. If you are a Congressional
aide or other lower echelon worker on Capitol Hill you can anonymously post to this site. It is new and
no revelations have been posted there YET, but
thecapitolist.com, has the potential to scoop major media
outlets. Bush/Cheney have such tight control over the message and the media it seems the truth never sees the light of day.
This site could help turn over the rock.
John Conyers claims that more than half of Americans want to see Dick Cheney impeached.
Conyers told
George Stephanopoulos on This Week,
"We're hoping that as the cries for Cheney and Bush now reach 46% and 58%, respectively, for impeachment,
that we could begin to become a little bit more cooperative, if not even amicable in trying to get to the truth
of these matters."
To now look back over the Clinton administration and to think that the man was impeached
for having an oral sex affair with Monica Lewinsky seems like a bad fiction novel, when viewed in light
of today's dangerous and destabilized world.
Bush/Cheney have been saying from the beginning that the unitary executive can do as he pleases.
They have pretty much done as they pleased and now with the Scooter scooting out on any
jail time, one has to admit they have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they CAN do as
they please. Honestly, I never thought Scooter should go to jail, because it seemed to me that Cheney had
been the man in charge of the Iraq War parade and the retributions against those that refused to march in it.
What concerns me more than anything else, is my every-growing belief that the Democrats are
eyeing the powers that have been accumulated by this administration and they now want
these powers for themselves. That is perhaps the main reason that impeachment will
not be pursued by the Democrats. It seems as if only the Republicans can save us now, because
some of the wiser ones may not want to see a Democratic president act as the unitary executive and may press
for impeachment, thereby forcing the Democratic hand.
We the people must implore our representatives to do their constitutional duties and impeach Cheney at the very least, if not both men.
Otherwise all the corruption and illegality that has been a hallmark of this administration will become institutionalized.
Not to mention that our standing in the world arena depends on us taking legal action to throw these guys from office. Sans such an
effort the world sees Americans as complicit in the misdeeds of Bush/Cheney.
Finally, if you want to live in a "relatively" free country, impeachment would seem the only course at this point.
We now live in what can be best described as an authoritarian capitalist nation. This nation imprisons more individuals
than any other Western nation, but the last illusion of the rule of law has been brought to an end by Scooter Libby's escape from prison.
So who are all these prisoners? Just the powerless and poor that could not buy a better outcome?
Here I was asking myself this morning why Kurt Loder's MTV.com article
attacking Moore as a money-hungry grandstander kept showing up when I
brought up news.google.com . Usually those articles churn pretty
thoroughly and a three-day old article is not going to get top
billing in Google News, but for some reason over the last three days, every time
I go to Google news, I see a link for Kurt Loder's article.
Hmmmm??? What is Google up to? Then I see this article on Interesting People
about
Google's dislike of Sicko. Google seems to be involved in some kind of media manipulation.
Perhaps we are about to see a replay of the growing money power of the
hi-tech robber barons as we did in 2000, when I strongly suspect that
Bill Gates threw a lot of support into the Bush campaign to prevent his
company from being broken up.
Others now confirm that Loder's article has unusual staying power
at Google News.
Want to
hire cheaper foreign workers instead of Americans? A lawyer tells you how to game the immigration system, and it's all on
YouTube courtesy of the
Programmers Guild. As the Senate
reconsiders the immigration bill, we can only hope that the obvious
abuse of H1b visas as portrayed in this video will guarantee
that these temporary guest worker visas be struck from the bill. I have no real problem with amnesty, because they are already here. Besides
if you think hard and honestly about the facts, an amnesty for these 12 million undocumented people will help pay your Social Security.
As the Republican candidates fall all over each other in recent debates to support torture more than their rivals, the American people
need to stop living in fear. Mark Fiore's cartoon,
The Return of Knuckles, will make you laugh, make you less fearful and MAKE YOU THINK.
What great thing has
Salman Rushdie done that requires he be knighted at this time? It seems to be a purposeful attempt
to inflame the Islamic world and quite specifically to provoke
Iranian ire. Why now? Personally, I find it to be stupid unless
it is a deliberate attempt to create an incident or crisis in Iran that could be used to justify outside intervention. There is no way
that the West can say it is trying to be conciliatory and diplomatic with the Muslim world when we are knighting Salman Rushdie. Rushdie's
novel, Satanic Verses, puts the whole Islamic religion in question in the same way that a novel portraying Jesus Christ as a charlatan
magician and not the Messiah would inflame the Christians of America. Sad that British diplomacy has become such a blatant tool
of the Bush/Cheney war machine.
With all the talk about the H1B visa shortage there have been some question as to how this individual
was able to get one so easily.
Did someone in
Washington, "grease the skids"
for him?
Many Democrats are now claiming that impeachment of President Bush is impractical, because it will take more than two years. I know they
have no stomach for it, because they think Americans will feel that they are wasting government time and money. However, the way this nation
went to war must be punished and the many people that have now lost their lives must not have died in vain. The Iraq War is lost and civil war rules the day, but these people need not have died in vain, if someone
in power is held responsible for this debacle. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "The tree of
Liberty must be refreshed with human blood."
If no legal proceedings are started against Bush/Cheney then subsequent presidencies
will believe they have all the power of this administration's mythical "unitary executive"claims. I laud the efforts of
Kucinich and Waters
for bringing impeachment of Tricky Dick Cheney into the House of Representatives.
Closet Republican, Joe Lieberman,
continues his war hawk ways and advocates the bombing of Iran.
One has to wonder about this guy's attitude if his own children were wearing the uniform. Apparently the blood he already has on his hands from
helping dismantle Tom Daschle's blockade of the resolution that let Bush take us into Iraq back in 2002 is not sufficient. Military men have begun to grow
weary of the chickenhawks in our government. This retired
Marine referred to Lieberman as a COWARD for his call to strike Tehran.
One of Garry Kasparov's defining characteristics when he was a titan in the chess world was his ability
to snatch victories from the jaws of defeat. His arch nemesis, Anatoly Karpov, found this out more than once.
Now the
great champion squares off against Putin in a match that no one thinks he can win. I do not think he can do it either,
but I applaud his efforts and hope that he can pull-off another of his miracles. Go Super K!
Ever wonder why the economy seems so thin while the stock market has hit new highs? This author
pulls the curtain back
on "bush-E-nomics" and it reveals a hollowed out economy.
The same brotherhood that allows them to trust each other in a foxhole, compels some veterans to speak out
against this illegal and unjust war. The Marine Corp is trying to stifle the protests of Iraq veterans by threatening their benefits and denying
them free speech rights. Finally, veteran groups like the VFW are realizing that this administration specifically and Republicans in
general do not support troops and is telling the Marine Corp to grow up and get some common sense.
All actions of the American government are in our names. Ergo I expect the government to adhere to a certain
level of moral and humane conduct. This administration has strayed farther than any other in my lifetime from
the straight and narrow when it comes to human rights and the diginity of the individual. Sadly, the Democrats have
not done their job as the opposition party and have actually given this administration most of what it has
wanted over the years. So do I send money to Democrats...(on a rare occasion, yes, but not often) However,
the ACLU receives a monthly stipend from me, because they seem to be the only institution in this
nation
really fighting for my rights as an individual.
Cindy Sheehan
posted her resignation to the
DailyKos yesterday morning. It is a bitter resignation as she realizes that there is not
much difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. This is a sad day for us all. This woman's personal tragedy led her
to make huge efforts to try and stop this stupid war. Now she realizes that the Democrats are not going to get us out of Iraq
any more than they stopped Bush from going in the in the first place. America, Cindy Sheehan has given up on you! With the loss of her son,
stopping the deaths of more soldiers in an illegal and unjust war was truly a cause for a grieving mother. For her to give up before the task is
complete reveals much about our national soul or lack thereof.
I do not trust the Democrats anymore than the Republicans to protect my individual liberties. After all the Dept. of Homeland Security
was a Clinton proposal that Republicans thought too Orwellian in the 1990's. Anyway, the bipartisan immigration bill has more language
to increase H1b visas. I know there is a lot of lobbyist money behind this issue, but the opposition from the people
is enormous. At OpedNews, I write about the possibility of a much more
sinister force driving the H1b visa increases.
It is a desire for a highly intelligent, but compliant high tech work force to institute more government data mining, that is
also driving this...IMHO.
Until further notice, I am endorsing
John Edwards as my choice for 2008. Overall, he really seems to be
seeing a future for America that I can believe in.
A future that is
not so militaristic and imperialistic. Some say he is naive, but I say he is
just idealistic.
A 50 year old idealist could be just what America needs to heal her reputation in the world as well as take care of her own people
Rather than cave into corporate special interests aimed at using
temporary workers to depress the wages of American workers, some senators stood up and refused to support the sell-out of the American worker.
Following is a list
of the Senators that supported the Dorgan amendment. I'd like to single out Barbara Boxer for praise, because she is one of my senators
and in California the pressure to raise H1B visas is enormous. High tech industry apparently has no shame, because they
lay-off thousands during the year and yet still claim that there is a need for temporary workers from overseas. Silicon Valley
is putting a lot of pressure on the California senators and Boxer stood firm, while her sister Senator had no qualms about
giving my job to a cheap foreign import.
Those supporting Dorgan (partial list):
Baccus
Bayh
Boxer
Byrd
Sherrod Brown
Casey
Clinton
Harkin
Landreui
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
McCaskill
Nelson (NE)
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Staebenow
Tester
Webb
Whitehouse
An interview with the man
whose lies provided the pretext for war does little to clear the fog surrounding
his involvement in providing the Bush administration with the intelligence they wanted(needed) to sell their war
of occupation in Iraq.
The Bush/Cheney administration has been very good at hiding the costs of their war. Unless there is a natural
disaster like Katrina, we do not really notice that all the National Guardsmen are outside the nation. However,
after nearly five years of war, the wear and tear is beginning to show as police departments are now not only
having problems filling the uniform, because so many are
reservists now on active duty, but now they are
having
trouble filling their guns, too.
Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was blocked from attending the march, as was another highly visible opposition figure, Eduard Limonov. Both
were detained by police at a Moscow airport for several hours
on Friday as they tried to board a plane to Samara for the march of dissenters.
Hmmmm! High-crime, treasonable offense, maybe...undemocratic and unconstitutional...absolutely!
Keep your head in the sand if you must, but the truth is the truth and the truth is that Bush/Cheney used a propaganda machine to rush this nation to a war in Iraq. Many have lost their lives already in this horrific mistake. This is so unfair for the people in uniform to have been used in this way and it is why I say we must get out ASAP.
I have absolutely no opposition to amnesty for the current crop of undocumented workers. After all who is
going to pay my Social Security elsewise. However, I find it reprehensible that there is
another H1b visa
increase wrapped up in Kennedy's immigration bill. Get some more details on H1b visas and their history here
jobdestruction.com. Call your senators and tell them to stop
this blatant attack on the middle class by the Corporate CEOs and moneyed classes.
Senate Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Aside from increasing the H-1b cap far above the total rate of job creation, it provides that anyone in the world with a masters degree in a tech-related major is eligible to work in the U.S. This flood will wash out job opportunities for new American graduates with bachelors degrees in Engineering and Computer Science. This is likely to come to a final Senate vote on Monday May 21, 2007.
You can read more about these bills and impacts at
Programmers Guild.
See also this CNET Article:
Senators propose infinite H-1Bs for advanced degree holders
and InformationWeek's report that the
Majority Of U.S. Staffers At Indian Outsourcers Are On H-1B Visas
We are hearing plenty of media coverage of the now
infamous bedside confrontation over the authorization of
this
administration's domestic spying.
It is shocking to imagine these guys were up to anything Ashcroft would
not just rubberstamp. I mean what could Cheney and Gonzales been advocating for this loyal GOP warrior to balk?
I think there are still revelations to follow. Sadly, our national media is woefully ill-equipped to report on
this. After all, the sick bed confrontation was revealed to the public long ago, but was given no coverage at all.
Now finally they cover it, because it shows up in Congressional testimony. The media in this country have completely
let down the people. Hell when there is
talk of waterboarding a GOP loyalist like Ashcroft
something sinister must be afoot!
.
The government wants us to give up our privacy to be safer. Again and again when these proposals are looked at in the
clear light of day, at best they do not make us safer from terrorists while exposing our privacy to the scrutiny of
a faceless bureacracy of government officials. At worst, they expose us to greater terrorist threats through incompetence, malice
and the whim of government "tin gods". Floyd Rudmin's
essay on the Politics of Fear gives a clear and considered case
on the dangers of governmental mass surveillance.
Regular readers of this site may have already read much of
this article,
but given the recent disturbing revelations coming out of the trial, it seemed appropriate to work on the essay again.
Reworked; I sent it to
Oped News,
which has a syndication feed with Google and a large readership. The fact is that these poor boys were put in a situation
that encouraged this behavior now being condemned. If the
Boys of Haditha
are being tried, then the architects of this war need to be similarly tried. This message is directed especially to those
with yellow ribbons on their bumpers. If they really care about the troops, then protect them from an incompetent and uncaring
commander-in-chief!!!!!!!!!!!!
Almost every vote in the Senate these days is along party lines, but they got together yesterday. To do what, you ask... Balance the Budget?...
Give us Universal Health Care or God Forbid ...Get us out of Babylon?...NOPE!!!!! They made sure
Americans continue to pay the above market
prices for the products of the big drug companies, while citizens of other nations pay much less! American citizens
need to forget about Red and Blue, because in Washington DC its all about the GREEN!!!!
Remember the crazy Canadian spy coin warning from our government. No details were forthcoming at the time and our intelligence
services probably hoped the topic would never come up again. However, the Canadians were a little annoyed at the time and their
take on this American foolishness is a little embarassing.
The people must be allowed to protect themselves. Less freedom does not
bring more security...it brings less, because America becomes walled island that and her citizens are subjected to over-hyped
warnings of danger from poorly trained, overly authoritarian government officials that cannot even recognize their neighbors money!
As a self-employer person, I have to pay for my own and my family's healthcare insurance. I just received a 30+% increase in my rate
without any explanation or claims made by myself or my family in the last 12 months. At least nothing big, just routine health maintenance.
The situation is rapidly reaching critical levels as we see more health, infant mortality and longevity statistics reflecting this one must
ask can we stop it. We must demand that our government representatives fix this horrific extortion that responsible tax-paying
citizens are being subjected to. I am sure
the Republicans have nothing to offer, but do the Democrats have anything? I am not sure and I am
worried that they have nothing too.
Why does the
current surveillance debate never question the constitutionality of FISA in the first place?
Remember we did not hear about FISA until 2002
when Ashcroft pushed too hard and the court announced its existence
a generation after its creation. They came out saying that both the Clinton and Bush administrations had been
using the court for political ends and that Americans needed to wake up. However, there was not even a raised
eyebrow at the court's existence and only discussion on further roll back of the constitution.
The framing of this debate frustrates me greatly
The ACLU has broached the subject, though daintily. Still
their strong opposition to these constitutional rollbacks is the reason why the ACLU receives a monthly stipend from me.
I believe the question needs to be directed to those Democrats currently spearheading Congressional oversight investigations and
the candidates seeking the presidential powers in 2008. FISA is Democratic legislation from 1978 and Democrats
will not roll it back unless we demand it.
I abhor Bush as much as the next, but the Dept of Homeland Security was originally a Clinton invention...FISA, a Democratic one.
A failure to recognize this leads to a repeat of history. Bush cannot come to power in an America with its checks and balances properly in place.
Perhaps the debate should center on how FISA in 1978 helped tip the balance in favor of the government and politicians to
such an extent that it helped create the climate that allows Bush and his minions to gain power and to hold it so effectively
in spite of failure after failure.
Every British ambassador in the Middle East warned the Government that
invading Iraq would be a nightmare. Shouldn't we begin
to listen to the people that predicted the mess that we now have on our hands?
Great article by Ruth Marcus in the Post today
on the loss of the rule of law in this country. Bush and Cheney are now, in my mind, "hardened" criminals. So wrapped up in their enterprises
that have gone so far afield that they cannot really bear the light of day. They both know that they have extended far beyond the bounds of traditional legal and
constitutional authority. It can only be a matter of time until criminal negligence, ignorance, torture, fraud, forgery...etc etc. rise to the level of adultery. I really
believe they are now just counting the days until they get out, scott-free, leaving the rest of us and the next administration to clean up the results of their horrific incompetence.
Ruth Marcus wrote a great article, but for its final sentences..."The strength of our legal system," the president says in his proclamation, "requires the ongoing commitment of every citizen."
Maybe that could start with the citizen at the top.
I disagree; this is at the people's doorstep. Ruled by fear, they are still willing to give up freedom for security and to allow others to be tortured as long as the government says it is to protect Americans. Gitmo belongs to the people until they demonstrate that they do not want it...and there has been very little of that even in today's huge anti-Bush rhetoric and a "brave" empowered Democratic Congress.
Somebody is brave enough to speak for the poor bastards in the trenches! A
failure in generalship
by Lt. Col. Paul Yingling for the Armed Forces Journal, does not paint a pretty picture and he does tip-toe
around his discontent. He opens his piece with this quote: "You officers amuse yourselves with God knows what buffooneries
and never dream in the least of serious service. This is a source of stupidity which would become most dangerous in case of a
serious conflict." - Frederick the Great Duty-bound and powerless, the lower ranks have been silent and this officer speaks to the
case that officers are duty-bound to NOT BE SILENT!
I was never in the military, but my father spent 27 years in the military and my grandfather was in the Battle of the Bulge. They were not officers, though
certainly gentlemen. My grandfather took the time to
impart to me some knowledge of war, so I never took lightly the idea
of invading Afghanistan or Iraq, because every enlisted guy who marches off to war is my dad or my grandfather to me, not Eisenhower or MacArthur.
George
Tenet has written a book in which he takes the Bush administration to task, for pressing this
country into a war no one wanted. Still I think that if George Tenet had been a real patriot he would
not have accepted the Medal of Honor that he received in 2004. It was ridiculous on the face ot it. Here they are
saying the CIA f****d up and yet they are pinning a medal on the man who headed the CIA at the time. It really looked like a reward for Tenet keeping his
mouth shut. Worked well enough in 2004 and the neo-cons remained in power, but apparently Tenet senses a sea change, so he is braver, NOW.
Too Little, Too Late, Mr. Tenet, thousands are dead now and you will not reap the benefits of your cowardice in book revenues.
Despite the fact that Congress has issued a subpoena for the Secretary of State to explain in
greater detail how the obviously faked Niger documents ended up being referenced in a presidential
state of the Union address. Rice is saying she is going to respond with a note and
she need not
testify before Congress despite the subpoena. Ironically, she is actually referencing constitutional concerns regarding
the separation of powers. Hysterical!!!
Finally, sending thousands to their deaths on "trumped up" intelligence is a crime on par with adultery.
I am ever amazed by what a quiet halcyon era the Clinton years now seems to me. All we had in the news
was Monica, Monica. The world was at relative piece, Social Security was fueling a huge surplus and
America was a titanic superpower, economically and militarily. Oh how the might have fallen.
You just cannot blame the Clintons for this mess. We all know who to blame. It is time to pay the Piper.
Cheney continues to feed the media stories of an Al-Qaeda connection in pre-war Iraq. It is a crime to
use intelligence as propaganda and to out intelligence agents for trying to expose your ruse. Impeachment
hearings have been a long time coming, but Democratic presidential candidate Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio went
ahead Tuesday and filed three articles of impeachment against the vice president.
Kucinich says it's more 'practical' to impeach Cheney than Bush. I beg to differ here. I think the
impeachment must go forward simultaneously to prevent a repeat of the Nixon-era merry-go-round, where Agnew resigns
and Nixon hangs on long enough to appoint his successor.
Though repeal of the Patriot Act has much
more of an impact on individual rights, this administration blatant manipulation of intelligence and the media
to sell a war must be punished, if only to "right the wrong" against all those that landed at Dover "doing their duty".
An
American writing in the UK's Guardian has enumerated the signs of Fascism on Bush/Cheney road.
The power of the people must reasserted, but only "the people" can do it. Either we live in fear
and ask the government to protect us or we stand up and demand to be free. If you are scared then move
to China or Russia where the secret police make sure nothing bad happens to "good" citizens.
Oh Ben Franklin, where are you when we need you!?
Oh well, I guess it is time to come out of the closet, I am a pro-nuclear environmentalist. I understand
it is an oxymoron to many, but after 18 years of pushing this point of view, it seems I am
finally making some inroads. My recent rewrite of my position on nuclear power,
Political Science 101 For Global Climate Change
, made it into Rob Kall's OpEd News site, where it should get broader exposure. I used to trot this essay out
every Earth Day, but in the early days the piece was heavily laced with facts supporting global climate change
as a reality not a weak scientific theory. These days I can skip that portion of the debate almost entirely
as most people now accept this as a proven fact now.
If Alberto
cannot convince Republicans that he should stay on as Attorney-General, then he is done.
Time they are a changin' Republicans are beginning to worry that Bush/Cheney's incompetence and heavy-handed
manner are going to make 2008 a GOP bloodbath. The unquestioning support of Republicans for this administration
is falling apart rapidly. Politicians are politicians and Bush is looking like a pariah that will mean that
Republicans will be an even greater minority in the future.
As I have said, time and again, Bush is the best thing to happen to the Democratic Party since Herbert Hoover. With
If Alberto calls for impeachment
growing, Republicans are beginning to think their survival depends upon distancing themselves from this administration.
Sadly, for Americans, Bush is also the worst thing to hit the "man on the street" since Herbert Hoover fiddled
while the stock market crashed. Whomever gets elected in 2008 will be in for a very, very difficult job. The longer
we wait to throw the bums out, the longer the comin economic disaster will last.
Corporate
executives really want to stick it to the American worker. Congress has already passed the H1B increase
they have been lobbying for since the dotcom flameout forced Congress to return the visa limit to its original cap.
We still have a chance to protect our jobs though, because the House and Senate have to reconcile their two versions.
Get on the phone people, if you want to keep your job!.
Lee Iacocca is mad as hell and he is not going to shut up about it. He rips the current administration,
calling them,"...gang of clueless bozos"
in his recent book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
A British International Development Secretary Hilary Benn aspiring to higher office later this year called the Bush administration's
use of the phrase "war on terror" as only likely to encourage terrorists.
He disputes the notion that military and economic force alone can solve world problems.
The numbers sound so small for the
Dissenters' March protests,
but they reflect the true authoritarian nature of Putin's Russia. Every person that stepped out
to protest in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg knew they risked serious consequences. Independent sources have reported that
hundreds have sought treatment for injuries at local hospitals though. Only
Garry Kasparov breathes life to this meager opposition.
As a former tournament chess player myself, I am painfully aware of the level his celebrity with the people. He is a superstar on the
level of Nolan Ryan or Michael Jordan in Russia. The level of that star is the reason
he was released only hours later with a small fine. Jailing oligarchs
is one thing. Jailing the people's world champion is another. You see he defeated the Soviet state-backed champion Anatoly Karpov, in the 1980's even after the
Soviets tried numerous shenanigans with the international sanctioning body, FIDE, to avoid a decisive victory by Kasparov. He is god-like among the
basic man on the street as someone who stood before the old Soviet monolith and triumphed. Only he stands between Putin and totalitarianism.
Where are the loud condemnations from our government?
A belligerent Russia and the Cold War are being reborn and Bush/Cheney are wasting blood and money in Baghdad.
This author speculates that
Pat Tillman was assassinated, not just a victim of friendly fire. Apparently, Pat Tillman no longer
wanted to be an Army Ranger and was very regretful that his brother had gotten involved with the military due to his enlistment. If that had been public knowledge
in the early days of this administration's military adventures the fallout would have been huge. Nonetheless, I personally believe that the
administration's handling of the incident reflects more incompetence than a dark assassination plot. The biggest reason for my belief is that to
believe otherwise violates one of my basic tenets of human nature. Never attribute evil and cunning to the actions, when simple arrogant, ignorance
suffices, because the human race suffers from a scarcity of neither. Beyond this, the author seems a little naive, because if this administration
was able to pull off an assassination of this nature without hundreds of co-conspirators, then the "war" is over and we lost.
As an aside, I once got in an argument with a poll worker about this right. You see I did not want to wait in line
for the voting booth, so I began filling out my ballot at an open table. She told me the law "required" that I have a secret ballot. I countered that
it is my option, that if I wanted the whole world to know I could show it. I reitereated that I was not required to keep it secret, but the government is required
to give me the option of keeping it secret. It was ugly and loud and I was a little embarrassed, because one of my children was there, but I saw no reason in the
pre-9/11 world to knuckle under to ill-informed government workers. Later I was much less embarrassed when David Brinkley recounted a very similar
anecdote in his book,Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion. I was very proud of myself for being in such good company and
it is probably why I could not resist recounting it here.
Barack Obama has followed John Edwards lead and
pulled out of the Fox Democratic debates. Can Hillary afford
to do the right thing or is she beholden to a higher authority?
I have to admit that I am not a big fan of this particular Pope. Of course, his predecessor set a high bar. Though baptized as
a Catholic, I practice no organized religion. As far as being a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ was a great philosopher, perhaps the
greatest, but he was not a god. Nonetheless, I was a huge supporter of John Paul II, at least rhetorically. He truly seemed to be guided by an inner light.
I cheered when he told Bush and Cheney back in 2003, "...if you invade Iraq, you go without God." To now hear this
Pope echo a similar message,
gives me
hope that we as a nation will wake up and take back control of our government and our war-making apparatus.
To be fair I should add that I can see some truth to Cheney's statement. It is possible that Al-Zarqawi fled to northern Iraq and set up operations unbeknownst to Saddam.
You see this was part of the northern no-fly zone, so Saddam had very little power and the area was controlled by ethnic Kurds. These
Kurds betrayed by the US more than once in their battles with Bagdhad might have seen an opportunity to get Saddam overthrown once and for all.
They may have supported Al-Qaeda or simply looked the other way. Similarly in the southern no-fly zone, Shiites would very likely have given aid and comfort to
Al-Zarqawi. Unfortunately for Cheney, in these scenarios do not in anyway justify an invasion, only the competent direction of our military forces already
in the area.
So you see in the final analysis, Bush/Cheney are either completely and impeachably incompetent or purposefully gamed the intelligence
for some kind of gain or finally Cheney has simply lost his grip on reality.
Years of watching this kind high stakes poker foreign policy over my life makes me suspect that the Iranians were trying
gain concessions in backroom negotiations or were retaliating for unknown transgressions.
Could the capture have been
provoked by secret American actions?
Pure speculation of course, but clearly there are missing pieces to this
puzzle.
Bush claims Congress must pass the supplemental funding bill this month or Army will go broke. However, there may be some military/press back channel
communication on the matter. I think the Army has finally figured out that Bush does not give a damn about them. It is all about politics.
It looks like the military has supplied some facts for
journalists interested in vetting Bush's dire predictions of the Army's collapse.
The idiocy of this administration's foreign policy has done more than mess up the Mid-East. Vladmir Putin prepares to rob Russians of their democracy
and the "Great Exporter of Democracy", Dubya, has helped him do it. The opportunity this nation had of forging a long-lasting
relationship with our former enemy was squandered by this administration as they skipped off down their path of imperialism. Now the only man with
a chance to turn the Russian bear away from their authoritarian destiny is Garry Kasparov. The great world champion and
chess grandmaster has
hurled himself into the breach in one last ditch attempt to stop Dubya's buddy, Putin, returning to the totalitarian past.
I have written extensively on the ridiculousness of the TSA theatre that is being foisted upon this nation as safer than before 9/11. My latest
attempt to convinve people that the TSA and DHS make them less safe is titled,
The Lost Lesson of 9/11 and I urge you to read it.
These "No Bill of Rights" zones are a travesty and are unconstitutional AND they do not make you safer. Why give up your rights, if the
TSA misses 90% of the bomb making material
smuggled right under their noses onto airplanes at the Denver airport?
.
The Senate and House have heeded the message of the people, "Continue your occupation of Iraq at your own political peril."
The Senate just passed the a
bill that requires Bush to begin withdrawal from this fool's errand that he and Cheney have led us on. No surprise
that Tailgunner Joe abandoned his Democratic Caucus to vote with the Republicans. However, a couple of Republicans Hagel of Nebraska and Smith of
Oregon have finally left the monolithic wall of Republicans pushing war upon this nation.
The family of Pat Tillman have suffered an incredible loss. Patching over their loss with a
fake story and a silver star does not salve their wounds.
When your children are killed, there is no longer any authority that can silence you.
Just like
Cindy Sheehan, the Tillman's want the truth of the government's exploitation of our military personnel to be exposed.
Since the alleged reasons for these military adventures have been revealed as misrepresentations at best, the deaths of our
military personnel appear to be in vain. However, if their deaths lead to the prosecution of the liars that
put this country's best and brightest in harm's way and prevent future manipulations, then perhaps there is meaning after all.
The Congress may want to
avoid a Constitutional showdown, but Bush/Cheney are looking for it. As the political tides turn and
Bush continues to push his failed policies, Americans are getting fed up with his "trust me" approach. Bush's
refusal to
take any guidance from the Iraq Study Group, fellow Republicans or the American people has begun to wear thin. Americans are
beginning to sense that the only way back to the America we remember is through the impeachment process.
Alan Greenspan becomes the first government or pseudo-government official to admit that
H1b visas are being used by the
government to hold down salaries
of America's middle class professionals. His excuses is to control inflation, but is not the real
cause of inflation in the last 5 years the Bush tax cuts, the squandering of half a trillion dollars in military adventures and allowing
oil companies to manipulate the price of gasoline at will.
An American
citizen forcibly conscripted to spy
for this administration speaks out at great personal danger. Can any of us be
safe from a government with the power to compel us to spy on our neighbors and lie to our families to cover it up? This is the very antithesis
of freedom. Bush/Cheney have helped the terrorists win. This brave soul lights the path that will lead our people back to freedom
and individual liberty.
I have stayed away from endorsing any of the Democratic candidates here, but I will say this: "I thought Edwards
was the best candidate for the Democrats put forward." Now with
Elizabeth Edwards facing cancer,
another round of chemo and perhaps worse consequences, he cannot help but be distracted. My thoughts and hopes for a good outcome are with
the Edwards family now.
I hope he can stay in the race.
Edwards is a candidate I could support. Why? Because I thought he was
relatively honest and actually had altruistic motivations for continuing his bid for the Presidency. I felt that the death of his
child had spurred within him a need to memorialize his child through good works to make the world a better place. On any given
policy issue I might disagree with Edwards, but in my heart I felt his intent was to do the "right thing", not the most expedient thing
or the thing most likely to get him elected. A person with truly altruistic motivations is our only hope to save this country. The power
of the presidency is so seductive without the grounding in "real" life that Edwards has, it seems anyone else will go astray.
My heart goes out to Elizabeth Edwards and her family as they climb another mountain in their life.
Bush
has warned Democrats
that they better take his offer. He has offered to allow his aides, including Karl Rove,
to testify in the investigation of the US attorney firings. However, one cannot really call it testimony
since Dubya
insists it cannot be under oath or on the record. This has been a continuing theme with this administration
where Congressional investigations move forward, but much of the testimony is off the record and not under oath.
There is no investigation, when none of the testimony is under oath. It was political theatre for the first six years\
of the Republican Congress "pretending" to investigate. It looks like there may finally be a showdown on
the alien concept of the unitary executive. I mean if the Congress subpoenas Rove what is the White House
going to do? What is Bush warning will happen if the Congress demands testimony under oath?
Political
analysts are wondering
who posted this
pro-Obama, anti-Hillary video on YouTube. To be frank, I find it hard to support Mrs. Clinton.
After all, she voted for the war and still seems to think the invasion was a good idea, just poorly executed,
and let us not forget that the Clintons invented the Department
of Homeland inSecurity. It sounded too Orwellian for the Republicans in the late 90's, but they
loved the idea when Bush/Cheney resurrected it. The Clintons and the Bushes are two sides of the
same coin. I'll take Obama over "Billary" any day.
As distressing as it is, we should not forget that the people largely opposed the war in Vietnam for
many years before we actually got out. Despite
the thousands that hit the street in protest today
, anti-war activists must continue to press their case, so that there are no candidates in 2008 advocating
continuing Bush's Folly.
I recently got this article published at one of the bigger
progressive news sources here:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_anthony__070313_the_lost_lesson_of_9.htm
If you get a chance, please visit and perhaps leave a comment or two,
if you are so inclined. The more traffic and commentary my article
generates the more the message of freedom and individual liberty makes it to the masses
Once upon a time (2003), a web site made a prediction that the outing of Valerie Plame
would be the downfall of this administration. The
prediction was made years ago by a site run by disaffected spooks. Well
Congress has finally gotten interested in the Plame case and
she has just testified before Congress.
If this really does lead to the downfall of this
administration, the 2003 prediction by www.fromthewilderness.com is even more
striking.
Whatever slim hope of getting back the billions that Bush/Cheney have funneled into Haliburton through no-bid government
contracts in Iraq has likely been lost. The company
has fled to Dubai just like Michael Jackson...to protect their ill-gotten gains perhaps or just to escape future prosecutions
for illegal behavior. Maybe an insider gave them the high sign that the jig is up! Even if a court or Congress issues a judgement against
them, we'll be hard-pressed to get the money from a foreign company. I am cynical, and I smell a rat here. Not to mention that none of the
"freedom fry" crowd seems to have a problem with a foreign company supporting the US military and profiting from enormous no-bid contracts.
Chuck Hagel, an outspoken Republican critic of the Iraq War,
used the "I" word at a news conference. Senator Hagel seemed to
be revealing his own suspicions about the "impeachability" of this president. He actually uttered the phrase
"You can impeach Bush..."
. Somebody tell Nancy it isn;t of the table.
Alberto Gonzalez may be
forced to resign soon for the part he played in the political dismissals
of eight US attorneys. I have personally
abhored this man ever since I learned he was the source of the
"torture" memo.
The one where he referred to the Geneva Convention as "a quaint
anachronism." This view completely disqualified him for any government positions of responsibility in my opinion. His views were so clearly
foreign to this nation. The Geneva Convention was what set America apart during WWII and since. We were the good guys. We didn't torture people.
Alberto Gonzalez helped bring about this tragic and evil shift in American policy...SYSTEMATIC TORTURING OF PEOPLE!!!!! No, No, He Must GO!!!!
The Scooter Libby trial revealed a White House intent on invading Iraq. As this war drags on and these revelations follow one upon the other
this nation and her people must act. The actions of the White House,
especially in the office of the Vice-President, clearly were meant to sell
a war. How long can we keep believing that this was just mistaken intelligence? Too many in the intelligence community were yelling at the top of their
lungs at the time that these facts were questionable. Joe
Wilson bravely took the administration to task
for its "fabrications". This administration
has potentially committed acts of high treason, but the Liby Trial and other post-9/11 revelations
"prove" this administration is at the very least guilty of "impeachable stupidity"!!!!
In the criminal justice system, this is known as criminal negligence and this appears to already be a proven fact.
Given the dramatic shift in American foreign policy toward one of "preemptive war" to solve diplomatic disputes or to gain
power and money many in the world see George W. Bush as the embodiment of evil. Because of this Mayan priests
are going to hold ceremonies to cleanse the sites after Bush's visit
this morning to sacred Mayan areas
The Democrats may want to take impeachment off the table, but the people are beginning to demand it be put on the table.
The grassroots are disgusted with the prosecution of this war as well as the continuing revelations on how much
the Bush/Cheney administration manipulated the media and the intelligence to sell an invasion of Iraq. Nearly 30
Vermont towns
have passed resolutions requesting the initiation of impeachment hearings.
Off the table???? Hardly!!! Beltway Democrats in Washington, DC are
trying to squelch a state house resolution in
Washington state to initiate impeachment hearings. You see the Constitution has a provision for beginning impeachment hearings
from outside the House of Representatives...just in case the Congress proves to cowardly our Founding Fathers added this check to
the balances of power.
The jury has returned a
guilty verdict on Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby. C'mon Nancy! If
Scooter is guilty of these crimes leading up to the invasion of Iraq, what does that say about this administration's
purposeful manipulation of the media to sell their war? Remember how Cheney kept saying Saddam was in bed with Bin Laden.
Remember that this whole affair is about Valerie Plame's husband trying to notify the American public that he had
been sent to investigate claims of Iraq's attempted purchase of uranium in Africa. Plame's husband was adamant that he had not found these claims
credible in any way. This is what led to the media campaign spearheaded by Libby to discredit Wilson and his wife.
Why? Because this administration wanted nothing to interfere with their plans to take over Iraq? Perhaps.
Who knows, but it is the duty of this Congress to find out why thousands of people, American and otherwise, have been killed
and maimed in this costly and tragic military adventure. Impeachment cannot be off the table, Madam Speaker. For those who
have given the greatest sacrifice, and their families deserve to know what the truth really is!
A Republican Senator has now admitted to calling a US Prosecutor. The
prosecutor has said two members of Congress pressured him to hurry up a corruption probe
of New Mexico politicians. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) admitted that he did ask what the time frame was on the investigation of the Democratic politicians,
but said he did not pressure or threaten Dave Iglesias. Domenici may find himself in serious hot water. Maybe he'll end up resigning
because this situation is not too flattering. However, again I have to say that this Senator was simply doing business as it has been
done for quite a long time now and unless the "People's Court", the US Congress, takes up impeachment hearings, the trickle down
corruption and authoritarianism will continue.
David Hicks has been held for years without charges. He was accused of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and murder, but no trial
has ever been held, no evidence presented, nothing...zilch...just endless incarceration. This itinerant
kangaroo skinner found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was picked up in Afghanistan. He has now been
held at Guantanamo for 5 years without any of these charges being filed against him. Finally, the
Bush administration has charged him
with the somewhat more nebulous crime of "aiding terrorists". This has not played well at all with the Australian public and Bush's
very
solid ally, Howard, has been taking some real heat about it. No one in Australia believes, he'll get a fair trial.
The fact that his
lawyer is in hot water with the Bush administration for actually trying to act like a lawyer confirms the Aussi's suspicions.
As the death toll in Iraq continues to mount, so do the resignations and firings in Washington, DC. However, one hasd to wonder
when the true architects of this mess are going to be "fired". Even the
mainstream media are now asking whether the right general got fired. Impeachment is the only way to "fire"
the true culprits here.
Following the hysteria of 9/11, Canada passed laws similar to our Patriot Act. The Canadian Supreme
Court has overturned the hysterical, knee-jerk reaction. The unchallenged detentions
have now dragged on for years and the
Canadian court has finally restored Habeas Corpus rights to detainees in Canada. Will America return to her
roots and reassert the dignity of the individual versus the state?
Mark Twain popularized the phrase, "There are lies, there are DAMN lies and then there are statistics!" likely borrowing it from Disraeli polemic.
It is becoming ever more clear that this administration "gamed" the intelligence to sell a war to the American public. If this administration
has the power to plunge this nation into conflagration, does it surprise you that they may be playing the same games with the economic numbers.
This
link to a post on
Dave Farber's interesting people archive shows how
the government has been tweaking the numbers
for a generation.
According to this article, the true unemployment rate is about 12% and
inflation is running at about 8%!!!!! When the real numbers are lower, it
is a lot easier to make the statistics paint a rosy picture. However, as Katrina exposed, we have but a thin veneer covering the realities
of the new neocon America.
Now that the judiciary completely regrets the Supreme Court decision that put this administration in office, they are trying to
reassert the authority of the judicial branch of our Constitutional government. Bush and Cheney have begun to deal out
retribution to those judges that try to enforce the law
and act independent of their authoritarian administration.
Too bad we failed to retain the
hard-earned knowledge we gained in Vietnam. If we had, there is no way the neo-conservatives
could have sold their war to the American people. Unfortunately, we are an amnesiac nation doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Though I doubt he can do much worse than what Rice has been capable of, I still find it a little disturbing that a member of the Saudi royal
family,
Prince Bandar, is now acting as our Secretary of State in the Mid-East. In light of the fact that Bin Laden is a member of the Saudi royal family as well, it
really makes it difficult to understand what is going on unless one begins to accept the fact that patriotism has nothing to do with this
mess in the Mid-East. It is all about keeping the family business in the family, as it were.
Americans need to wake up to what is really happening in this country. Bush/Cheney have
repealed all protections that US citizens
have long taken for granted. They do not always act upon their new found powers to oppress, but when they do, it is with a chilling and
ruthless hand. We are now discovering that an American citizen, Jose Padilla,
has been so heinously tortured that he is no longer
psychologically fit for trial!!!!! Congress cannot let this stand.
Habeas Corpus must be restored for all!!!! If an American citizen can be
detained, imprisoned for years and tortured to the point of losing his mind without any access to courts, what rights
do American citizens really have. Only impeachment will properly punish the illegal and inhumane actions of this administration.
On this day back in 1903,
the USA acquired the lease to Guantanamo Bay. As a child I became skeptical of the Cold War and the Cuban threat
when I learned we actually had a naval base on the island. I could not understand how the tiny island could be a real threat when we
actually had a military presence on the island that neiher Havana nor Moscow could push us out of. Now more than 100 years after the acquisition, Gitmo
stands for American arrogance and disdain for human rights and international law. A sad, sad, sad day in history as it now
blemishes our
Land of Liberty with the repeal of Habeas Corpus protections as well the Geneva Convention.
If we truly are the world leader we claim to be, where are we leading the world?
Half a Trillion Dollars and countless casualties
later
Iraqis eke out living in Baghdad rubbish dump in a tragic commentary on Bush's destructive
war. Why are we there and what are we accomplishing?
Madam Speaker may have decided to take impeachment off the table, but the people have begun to be heard.
The
New Mexico Senate has just passed a resolution urging the impeachment of this administration. During the Clinton
years the airwaves were loaded with impeachment stories concerning the "Lewinsky Affair". Aaaah, those were the days,
when the biggest news was whether or not the president had a sexual adventure with an intern. Now the news is loaded
blood and gore, (not Al), from Iraq and Afghanistan, so apparently, they see no need to report that a whole
state legislature had
passed a resolution urging that Bush/Cheney be impeached, or at least that some proceedings begin, since there
is clearly enough evidence that there was some real questionable use of intelligence to sell the Iraq invasion, if not out and out lying.
To truly understand how STUPID the invasion of Iraq was and is,
one must understand the
history of the region. The neo-cons have gotten us embroiled in a centuries long religious conflict
for no good reason.
Republican and their right-wing ideologues claim that they are
the party of God...(the Christian God). For some reason,
there was very little media coverage leading up to the Iraq invasion of John Paul II's declaration
that
if the US goes to Baghdad, we will go without God. I submit that God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, the Absolute,
and the Supreme Being all oppose "man's inhumanity to man".
we need to send more troops. If this is remarkable progress after five years and billions of dollars
I shudder to imagine what poor progress would look like. In fact with
"Remarkable Progress" like this, who needs
"Miserable Failures" BTW: I resisted the temptation to link the phrase miserable failure
to the White House web site, since Google is trying to control this type of search engine bombing...but I was tempted!!!!!
Spending half a trillion dollars on an illegal war has consequences across the board. It is shameful that
Bush continues to prosecute his war and is asking for even more money while
our own children are being left behind
by the offspring of other developed nations.
John Edwards pointed out today a rather obvious fact that few have mentioned. Congress declares war and
Bush's invasion, occupation and continued involvement in Iraq goes
far beyond what the Congress authorized back in 2002.
The Department of Homeland Security head, Cheney and Bush may love the TV show
"24" for its dark and ruthless tactics in pursuit of "patriotic" duty, but the military has had its fill.
The military has specifically
asked the producers and writers of "24 to tone down or remove the torture scenes,
because they are having negative ripple effects across the nation and the world.
As Americans we have an obligation to combat our own amnesia. The
Grammy awards certainly showed that the Dixie Chicks' reputation had been restored despite their early opposition to Bush/Cheney's
pugnacious foreign policy. This ill-conceived military adventure that
the neo-conservatives and their right-wing pundit allies sold to this nation has killed many thousands of people and
cost half a trillion dollars. Those that sold it should have their "punditry credentials" revoked!
It might be a good idea for some of the news media to replay all of their saber-rattling rhetoric from 3 years ago.
Let us do an analysis of their predictions and speculations about the future. I would love to see the
Goldberg bet paid off in a public forum as wide and watched as the hawkish propaganda had played in 3+ years ago
Surely the American people will not be fooled twice by this administration's gaming of intelligence.
The
trial of Scooter Libby has exposed the inner workings of the White House War Marketing Machine.
They are now coming up with
a list of reasons to invade Iran,
but why should we believe them given their track record on the wars they have
already sold us. So what
if Tony Blair believes them? He believed them in 2002, too. Most people now realize that the
invasion and occupation of Iraq has not been worth it, so why should we expand the war to save a failed
strategy of military invasion and occupation masquerading as foreign policy?
Is it just complete military incompetence or are they
paying back their military/industrial complex sponsors?
How can the CIA be forced to take the blame for bad intelligence? This
administration set up
it own intelligence gathering agency within the Pentagon. No one else can be responsible
when they clearly went around the official inteliigence community. These actions put Bush/Cheney
at the crux of the question:.Gaming intelligence to sell a war to the American people
is surely a high crime? If nothing else it is criminal negligence and may actually rise to the level of
treason, if the right people "spilled the beans", I bet!
Tailgunner Joe was instrumental getting us into this mess when he stabbed Tom Daschle in the back and
went to the White House to cut a deal with Bush/Cheney. Daschle had effectively stopped Bush's rush to
invade Iraq, but when Lieberman decided he was going to back the White House's efforts at regime change
it all fell apart. Again the Democrats have marginal control of the Senate just as they did in 2002 and again
Lieberman works with Republicans to block Democratic efforts to extract us from the mess Lieberman helped
create. Tailgunner Joe also wants to
levy a special tax on us to support his war.
From an objective point of view, the Iranians have every right to
be afraid of the United States and her "dirty work" ally, Israel. Afghanistan and Iraq border Iran. The American
invasion and oocupation of both those nations are a classic geopolitical pinscher move. Therefore it almost
makes sense for the Iranians to be pursuing the "bomb" as a deterrent toward an invasion of their own country. Not that
I think it is anything to cheer about, only that I understand why
the Iranians are worried about a US invasion. The
American people better urge their Senators and Representatives to rein in Bush/Cheney or we may find ourselves in a war that
will last generations and empty our Treasury coffers
She was a Texas liberal, which would seem to be an oxymoron these days, but her writing proved that such
a person could exist. The world of liberal thought and punditry will be weaker such a strong and
forthright individual as
Molly Ivins
This administration has spent half a trillion dollars on their war in Iraq. Forget that
they once said that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the whole thing way back when. Now
we need to give them more, but
auditors are finding millions, perhaps billions were
squandered over the last few years in Iraq.
George Bush thinks Americans are too stupid to compete in the global economy. He thinks the
best thing for America is to get some
more smart Indians over here by increasing the H1b visa quota. I strongly suspect that this "alleged"
brain shortage in America is another "lack of intelligence". Really what this administration and its corporate
backers want are more COMPLIANT, not more competent workers. Obviously, a true patriot would believe that the
best thing for America would to train her own workers if they are unable to compete. However, the point is the American
workers believe in freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. High tech workers are constantly being pressured
now to assist this administration's desire for ever more spying on Americans. Getting foreigners in here would
prevent whistle blower embarassments, like the revelation of a secret room provided by ATT so the government could
pursue its illegal wiretapping program.
Bush/Cheney have
hired a legion of private mercenaries to help fight their war in Iraq. Private
mercenary armies
are taking a lead role in our country's military operations worldwide. Delaying
America's withdrawal helps continue the flow of taxpayer dollars into the coffers of
professional soldiering companies. When a nation begins to hire
mercenaries
to do its dirty work, can they claim any moral high ground. After all what allegiance do these
mercenaries
have? I can see why the Geneva Convention is considered quaint by this administration.
When I wrote,
Kerry Will in in a Landslide,
I was basing it upon an electoral landslide. By my way
of looking at things in 2004, Florida would not go to Bush again, because the
2000 recount had proven he lost Florida the first time.
Things were worse in Florida in 2004 than in 2000. Also, one of the states having the worst problems with its
economy since 2000 was Ohio, which Bush just barely carried in 2000, so one had to figure all things
being equal, Ohio and Florida would end up for Kerry. This would have led to a huge margin in the electoral college.
Needless to say, I was very surprised, angry and dismayed by the 2004 outcome. However, I desperately wanted to believe
the election was not rigged, because it meant democracy was dead in America. I tried to
ignore
the exit polling data,
but eventually it became clear there were some serious irregularities in Ohio, especially.
Now we have
actual convictions of election officials in Ohio.
Many believe that the Ohio prosecutor should now contact Patrick Fitzgerald to help us all connect the
dots and reclaim our country through the RULE OF LAW. Clearly, these orchestrated efforts to swing key states by
gaming the results in specific counties point to officials higher up the food chain, not these little fish, being scapegoated now.
.
Bush's illegal war has destabilized the world and our moral standing depends on accepting we have been sold a bill of goods.
This Marine, David MacMichael, argues that
honor requires us to begin the withdrawal from Iraq.
With the books closed on the first 100 hours, the lobbyists are going to start attacking this Congress. The
new Democrats will be targets for corporate lobbyist pressure.
The H1b visas that Corporate America wants so badly have been promised by the politicians to their corporate benefactors for
years now. Ever since the horrible job market that began this president's administration forced Congress to allow a sunset on the H1b visa increase that
Microsoft and others had helped sponsor with the help of that famous chaperone, Jack Abramoff,
Corporate America has wanted to bring back
another increase. The people of America have been so opposed to giving away their jobs that even when Congress has tried to sneak something through buried in an unrelated bill of a
bill or in the middle of the night various American worker groups,
like the Programmers Guild,
have whipped up the people to defend themselves. Bush got his nuclear treaty with India wrapped up by allegedly promising to deliver
on an increase on the H1b visa quota, and his inability to deliver has caused the
Indians to begin to drag their feet on the deal.
The neo-conservatives have pissed away half a trillion dollars and pushed our military to
the very brink. This foolish military adventurism has revealed weaknesses in our military
capabilities and emboldened our enemies. The
Chinese have just tested a "satellite killer" missile.
The Chinese own so much of our debt they know we cannot even engage in a space arms race. Was this the day
that America's superpower status was revoked?????!!!!!!
Lest we forget, John Paul the 2nd, told Bush that if he went into Iraq, "You go without God."
This administration has always seemed to be "touched by the dark side" and all the pious talk from the Oval Office
is beginning to wear thin with the truly devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
Will the trial of the Marines for the Haditha killings be another case of the little guys
taking the fall? I imagine it will be.
Their attorney is complaining that they have already been cleared.
The Haditha incident may be the final straw for the American people. Our men in uniform
deserve a fighting chance to accomplish a clear mission. The soldiers have neither because of incompetence or
worse in the White House. In the essay,
Pity the Boys of Haditha I urge my fellow Americans to live up to their patriotic responsibilities and to put the true criminals on trial.
The message of the November elections seems lost on this administration. It is government for he people AND BY the
people. The President must be bound by the rule of law. In December, Bush issued a signing statement declaring it OK
to open US mail without a warrant. Now there is this new
Army manual with altered wording that removes much of the restraint
on the military being used as an intelligence gathering service within the US borders. It really appears as if
this administration is daring Pelosi to mount an impeachment against it as they continue in their autocratic ways. There
is no such this as the "unitary executive" in America. We are a government of checks and balances to prevent the concentration
of power that Dubya and Cheney have been exercising the last 6 years.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, James Earl Ray was almost immediately picked up and fingered
as the shooter. He even confessed, but later recanted. He claimed he had been "coerced" into the confession.
A civil court at the end of the last century
concluded there had been a conspiracy to kill King. If Ray did not kill King, then who did and why? I think we should take a moment and consider that MLK may have been "removed" because he had become a threat to the status quo.
George Bush promised to stuff a bunch of coal into the stockings of our military and he has come through BIG.
Now citizen soldiers have had
their active duty caps raised
well beyond the original agreement they signed up for. Happy New Year from Bush/Cheney.
If you are afraid all the time, it is difficult to be conceive of being free. This essay on the Viral Fear infecting America today seems very spot on. When one is afraid all the
time, one searches for protection or places to hide. Citizens of a free society must be brave. We must bravely
acknowledge that it is we that protect the president, not the other way around. Without fear the neo-cons probably could not have sold their war of occupation in Iraq. George Bush is so afraid to pull out of Iraq and admit failure of his grand illusion that he would rather have more blood on his hands in a desperate attempt to salvage his presidency's place in history, than
do the right thing and begin withdrawing from this foolhardy attempt to subjugate Iraq based upon the falsehood that Saddam had something to do with 9/11.
On his way out of office, December of 1992, after he knew he would not be returning, Bush Sr. decided to
leave a mess for Clinton. He sent a bunch of troops to Somalia. Fortunately, for America, we saw no real victory possible there. We got out of Somalia,
but now Dubya has us back in there again! Bush and Cheney are forcing the people and the Congress to rein them in. Now they are getting us tied up in an African civil war on top of the tragic foolishness they have already saddled this country with by their unchecked military adventurism.
Proof that this administration has been appointing some pretty extreme judges came as four of them
requested their names be pulled from consideration. The power of controlling the courts forced through abortion
rights legislation among other things, which generated a strong push by Republicans to pack the courts with conservatives. The ultimate prize for this came when Cheney's hunting buddy handed Dubya the White House in 2000.
I doubt Democrats will be able to push through judges with such a unifying issue, but they have scared away some of the most extreme for the moment.
At this point, all the plaintiff was asking for was that the law requiring
this ID check be made public. A free society cannot exist when there are secret laws. How can a free citizen know when one is violating a secret law? The Supreme Court has refused to force the government to show the law
that requires this ID check...WHY!!!!???????
Despite the clear message of the November election, this administration continues to flaunt the Constitution.
President Bush signed a little-noticed statement last month asserting the authority to open U.S. mail
without judicial warrants in emergencies or foreign intelligence cases, prompting warnings yesterday from Democrats and privacy advocates that the administration is attempting to circumvent legal restrictions on its powers.
A "signing statement" attached to a postal reform bill on Dec. 20 says the Bush administration "shall construe" a section of that law to allow the opening of sealed mail to protect life, guard against hazardous materials or conduct "physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection."
The Bush/Cheney Administration was able to run wild and unchecked by a submissive Republican Congress. The true
message to the Democrats of the November election is to clean house. If men and women were sent to war, killed and
maimed for false pretenses, then the perpetrators must be punished. If America is to reclaim her heritage of
freedom and liberty, then the 'power of the people' constitutionally created in the House of Representatives must
be exercised. Madam Speaker, I can believe that you love your children and your grandchildren. The truth must
be what your children and grandchildren will read as the "history of these times".
This hero of 9/11 won't stop speaking out against Bush.
He is but a poor citizen, powerless unless you represent him. He fears for his life as he continues to speak out,
Called to assist the 9/11 Commission as an eyewitness to the tragedy at the twin towers, he
became disillusioned. Mr Rodriguez soon felt his evidence was being covered up, when he became the only person to be interviewed behind closed doors. And his account was omitted from the final report. He claims evidence he collected from scores of other witnesses was overlooked.
The final straw came when he was asked to give a public address on why Iraq should be invaded. "I said no - 9/11 was nothing to do with Iraq. I helped organise the families, and we voted against the President using us for his political motive. That's when the thrust changed, and the invasion suddenly became about weapons of mass destruction."
These days, Mr Rodriguez fears for his life - and says his plight is relevant in the wake of the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-KGB spy many believe was poisoned by the Russians.
One of the most important things about America has been her civilian police force. Police forces had to answer
to the civilian authorities. Policemen had to honor the Bill of Rights. The destruction of
citizen protection from police harassment is bad enough, as in
this poor fellow's run in with the Missouri police.
However, the
rise of private police forces
and
prisons for profit,
has put us on a road a hateful oligarchy of money. I urge the newly elected Congress to address the fact that
America imprisons more of its populace than any other nation, including China and Russia. A return to the
ideals of the "permissive" society need to be revisited.
The first Muslim in Congress will take the oath of office using the Koran. There was much yelling and gnashing of teeth
about his choice. It was described as unAmerican by many Republicans. Ellison had the perfect answer
by
taking the oath on a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson. Our Founding Fathers were not a monolithic group of devout Christians though many
Republican Historical Revisionists would have us believe otherwise. Republicans often refuse to believe that the word GOD
does not appear anywhere in our Constitution, but the document is there for anyone to read on their own.
Iraqi PM
al-Maliki has expressed a desire to end his term early. Honestly, I cannot really blame him. He has a big target
on is forehead right now. Bush/Cheney have created a disaster in the Mid-East that will haunt us for generations.
The first test of the true nature and power of the "New Democrats" coming soon.
British sources are expecting Bush to send more troops to Iraq. Many high-ranking military commanders have expressed
doubts at the success of such a troop surge. Will the Democrats be able to block this? I suspect that
"Tailgunner Joe" Lieberman may have already cut a deal with the White House to vote against any Democratic attempt
to halt the surge. "Tailgunner Joe" can cause a 50/50 split and give the decision for more troops to Cheney's
tie-breaking vote. The British believe a troop surge deal has already been sealed.
Saddam's execution is a footnote to this horrific period in human history. Just as
Howard Dean said back in 2003, the capture of Saddam did not make America safer, and
his execution does not either.
Dean was villified
for those comments by his fellow Democrats and Republicans as well, of course. Dean as part of the
Democratic party machinery now holds his tongue, but Saddam's execution seems even less germane than his capture
to the safety of America and her troops in 2005. However, Saddam's death did
push the revelations on Gerry Ford's disgust with this administration's invasion of Iraq out of the headlines.
My cynicism grows.
Warning!
I am not a Democrat nor do I have views that conform to what Americans have
begun to call "liberal". I do not believe the Democratic Party is a good
representative of liberal thought, which is why I have started this site. I
have been a Libertarian for nearly 20 years and continue to maintain my
registration to that party, though I may disagree with some of the
conservatives within my party.
What is Liberalism to me?
Liberalism to me is the melding of two diverse socio-political points
of view. I call my version of Liberalism, Libertarian-Socialism. I
think it accurately defines a way of looking at the world that is pragmatic,
yet idealistic in its protection of the rights of the individual.
Thomas Jefferson is famous for saying the Constitution and the Bill
of Rights were designed to create a system where 100 guilty men might go free
rather than imprison one innocent man. We once believed that a free
citizen need not submit to random searches without evidence of a crime. We once
believed that the government needed a warrant to wiretap people.
Does anyone today believe in these things anymore? I wonder sometimes.
Most of the time when I bring up these traditional American ideals I am branded a bleeding heart liberal.
However, nowadays most 'Democrats' or 'liberals',( since they have become interchangeable in our
current political lexicon) do not believe in these ideals either.
Most of the time, they just turn up
their noses with disdain for my naivete. .
Every once in awhile an old style classical American liberal, schooled in the
20th century arguments on the dignity of the common man will come to my defense.
We stand together, 'fellow liberals', without being fellow Democrats.
Really,
the true, reasoned, early 20th century American liberal brought about great progressive change in American society.
And so I have embraced
the appellation in an effort to get out my message on the power of individual liberty and freedom. ~Anthony
Watson
Before I embraced
Liberalism, I still opposed Bush.
My opposition to Dubya was and continues to be quite vigorous. Look into my
past at www.AnyoneButBushIn2004.com
In the beginning, America was not
a Christian nation - preserved in treaty!
In light of today's strife with Islam, the treaty John
Adams, the second U.S. President, signed with the Islamic state of Tripoli
seems particularly ironic. During Adams' presidency the Senate ratified the Treaty
of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli, which states in Article XI that:
As the government of the United States
of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion - as it
has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility
of Musselmen, - and as the said States never have entered into any war or act
of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that
no pretext arrising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption
of the harmony existing between the two countries.
(Charles I. Bevans, ed. Treaties and Other International Agreements of the
United States of America 1776-1949. Vol. 11: Philippines-United Arab Republic.
Washington D.C.: Department of State Publications, 1974, p. 1072).
This treaty with the Islamic state of Tripoli had been
written and concluded by Joel Barlow during Washington's Administration. The
U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on June 7, 1797; President Adams signed it on
June 10, 1797 and it was first published in the Session Laws of the Fifth
Congress, first session in 1797. Quite clearly, then, at this very early stage
of the American Republic, the U.S. government did not consider the United
States a Christian nation.
Buy a Bumper Sticker and Speak Out
An Anti-War Stance Does Not Mean We Should Not Help
Americans That Are Suffering at the Hands of the Neo-Con's Military Adventures
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