A secret history of Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)

From Muttering Jam's long time nominee for super-hero elect, Greg Palast - the real story of the war that John McCain would like to see continue for 100 (10,000?) years:

"Conspiracy nuts think Geroge Bush, from the moment he took office, had a secret plan to control Iraq's oil. Their wrong. Bush had two plans. Here they are. One crafted by neo-conservatives at the Pentagon; another fashioned by the State Department and Big Oil. This is the history of the secret cold war between these two power elites that drives the hot water on the Tigres."

Click here to see the time line.

Oh, McCain

Bill Moyers for VP

Here's a great video clip of Bill O'Reilly's pimp ... er.... producer, ambushing Bill Moyers at the National Conference on Media Reform last week. Moyers expertly handles the fool as you might expect.

This is the start of something good!

Rep. Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment

#1: Creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq

#2 Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression

#3 Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War

#4 Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States

#5 Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression

#6 Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114

#7: Invading Iraq without a declaration of war.

#8: Invading Iraq in violation of the U.N. charter and international law.

#9: Failing to provide troops with body armor and vehicle armor.

#10: Falsifying accounts of US troops deaths and injuries for political purposes

#11: Establishment of permanent military bases in Iraq

#12: Initiating a war against Iraq for control of that nation’s natural resources.

#13: Secret task force for directing national energy policy

#14: Misprision of a felony, misuse and exposure of classified information and cover up (Plame outing)

#15: Providing immunity from prosecution for criminal conduct for contractors in Iraq

#16: Reckless misspending and wasted US tax dollar with Iraq contractors

#17: Illegal detention – detaining indefinitely, and without charge, American citizens and foreign captives (suspension of habeus)

#18: Torture – secretly authorizing and encouraging use of torture, as matter of official policy

#19 Rendition

#20 Imprisoning Children Bush is guilty of impeachable offence arcticle 20, imprisoning children. Has personal and acting through agents has held at least 2,500 children in violation of Geneva convention and the rights of children in armed conflict signed by the US in 2002.

#21 Misleading Congress about threats from Iran

#22. HAS ESTABLISHED A BODY OF SECRET LAWS THROUGH THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL. THE YOO MEMORANDUM WAS DECLASSIFIED YEARS AFTER IT SERVED AS LAW UNDER THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH.

#23 Violated Posse Comitatus Act ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS FOR THE USE OF THE MILITARY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT. MUST BE AUTHORIZED BY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CONGRESS SO THAT THE MILTARY CANNOT BECOME A NATIONAL POLICE FORCE.

#24 Spying on citizens violating 4th Amendment

#25 Directing telecoms to collect databases on US citizens.

#26 Announcing intent to violate laws w/signing statements, and then violating those laws.

#27 Failing to comply with congressional subpoenas, and instructing others to do so.

#28 tampering with free and fair election. Corruption with the administration of justice, False allegations of voter fraud in selected districts, immediately preceding elections. Undermining process.

#29: Conspiracy to violate voting rights act of 1965, Ohio Sec of State 2004-06

#30: Misleading congress and american people in an attemtp to destroy medicare.

#31 Katrina and the failures of gross negligence of the administration.

#32: Misleading congress and the American people. Systematically undermining global climate change. Article 2, Section 3: Personally and through subordinates including the VP, for not protecting property of people vis a vis global climate change thru deception. Failure to ratify Kyoto. Editing reports - 294 edits by a lobbyist to add data which called into question the facts by muddying them. Or diminishing scientific findings.

#33: Repeatedly ignored and failed to respond to high level intelligence warnings of planned terrorist attacks in U.S. prior to 9/11.
Clark warned the president in daily briefings of the threat. Clark was unable to conviene a cabinet level position. Tenet met with the president 40 times to warn of threat. Still no meetings of top officials.

#34: Obstruction into the investigation of 9/11.

#35: endangering the health of 9/11 first responders.

BBC Uncovers Lost Iraq Billions

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq. The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding. A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations. The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.

While President George W. Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted. To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.

Here's the video report from the BBC's Panorama:

Bush and the Nazis

"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
-- President George W. Bush, before the Israeli Knesset, 5/15/08, referring obliquely to Barak Obama's willingness to have talk with leaders of Iran, Syria, etc.

Yeah, George W. Bush should know about appeasing Nazis. After all, a sizable portion of his inherited wealth was a direct result of doing business with them. What was once only rumors has been well-documented truth for some time:

"George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

"The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

"His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

"The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

Full story here.

More links:

http://www.rense.com/general42/bshnazi.htm

http://archive.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=319

http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/new_world_order/bush_nazis.html

Thank's, Tom

"The Rant" by Tom Degan: V.P. Clinton? Forget About It!

You've heard me gush previously about my bloggin' buddy Tom Degan. Being somewhat lackadaisical lately when it comes to blog posting, I was so pleased to see that Tom has saved me the trouble of posting on exactly the same subject as he did this past Friday.

Thanks, Tom. Couldn't have said it better.

Iraq Veterans Against War seizes National Archives Building

Veterans demand that Cheney and Bush are charged with war crimes

This is the most stirring 2 minutes of video news I have seen in months. And a sad commentary on our media, as I find out about it 3 days after it happened. What if we all did this one day next week? At Federal buildings all across the country.

McHypocrite

Yup. Alleged war hero (what exactly did he DO in 'Nam other than get shot down, get captured and get tortured?) John McCain supports the troops. Right? As long as it doesn't cost his rich friends any tax dollars.

From Think Progress:

Today, Sen. John McCain spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, MO. He spoke at length about the sacrifice paid by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, acknowledging “how little has been asked of others compared to their service” and declaring that the nation owes veterans “a debt that we can never fully repay.” He also said that veterans should have access to “the highest quality health…care in the world” upon returning:

"As President, I will do everything in my power to ensure that those who serve today and those who have served in the past have access to the highest quality health, mental health and rehabilitative care in the world. The disgrace of Walter Reed must not be forgotten. … Whatever our commitments to veterans cost, we will keep them, as you have kept every commitment to us. The honor of a great nation is at stake."

Not only has McCain refused to support the 21st Century GI Bill, which the Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsed last June, he has consistently voted against increasing funding for the Veterans’ Administration, which oversees all medical care for veterans:

– Voted AGAINST an amendment providing $20 billion to the VA’s medical facilities. [5/4/06]

– Voted AGAINST providing $430 million to the VA for outpatient care “and treatment for veterans,” one of only 13 senators to do so. [4/26/06]

– Voted AGAINST increasing VA funding by $1.5 billion by closing corporate loopholes. [3/14/06]

– Voted AGAINST increasing VA funding by $1.8 billion by ending “abusive tax loopholes.” [3/10/04]

– Voted AGAINST a $650 million increase in veterans’ medical care funding. [8/1/01]

Though McCain has derided progressive universal health care plans as “a government takeover,” he is mum on the success of the VA, a government-run, integrated approach that, as Paul Krugman put it, is “one of the few clear American success stories in the struggle to contain health care costs.”

McCain’s zero-regulation, every-man-for-himself approach to health insurance would in effect “dismantle” the VA — what Krugman calls “a completely wrongheaded approach to health care.”

This is much more important than the story of him calling his wife a "trollop" and a "cunt."

McCain't, part 2

There are a fair number of longtime Democratic voters who have pledged not to support the donkey ticket if their chosen candidate is denied the nomination. Dan Payne, in an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe, was good enough to compile the sad facts of what a disgruntled Dem enabled McCain presidency is likely to mean for our nation. I quote liberally below:

"Look before you jump. Democrats thinking of voting for John McCain should ask themselves if they want a hot-tempered, right-wing Republican in the White House - keeping his foot on the gas in Iraq, sentencing women to illegal abortions, and pouring cement around President Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

"A Republican in Republican's clothing. McCain is, my friends, a Republican, a self-described "foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution." He voted against expanding the children's health insurance program and against an assault rifle ban.

"Stiff the little guy, save the big boys. He's against the federal government helping thousands of people who lost homes in the subprime mortgage debacle. But he's OK with the Federal Reserve lending $30 billion to salvage Bear Stearns.

"He's the eighth-most conservative senator in Congress, after being the second-most conservative senator the preceding session.

"The Washington Post found that he has voted with a majority of his Republican colleagues 88 percent of the time this session. Some maverick.

"Can't tell Shi'ite from Shinola. Our foreign policy expert, while in Iraq, said over and over that Iran was training Al Qaeda in Iraq. No such thing is happening. Iran, a Shi'ite country, has been training and financing Shi'ite extremists, not Al Qaeda, who are Sunni insurgents. No wonder McCain says we'll have to be in Iraq for 100 years. He doesn't know who's fighting whom.

"Roll over, Darwin. On teaching 'intelligent design,' he said: 'I think that there has to be all points of view presented. . . . There's nothing wrong with teaching different schools of thought.'

"John Hagee, McCain's cross to bear. If Obama has to answer for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., McCain should have to answer for John Hagee.

"Last month, McCain said: "I was pleased to have the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee," who runs a 19,000-member church in Texas.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said: 'Hagee has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it "The Great Whore," an "apostate church," the "anti-Christ," and a "false cult system."

"Hagee has preached that God is going to use Muslim terrorists to create 'bloodbaths' to punish us for our sinful policies toward Israel.

"He felt that New Orleans had it coming when Hurricane Katrina struck. 'New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God.' How would he know?

"The Supremes. The day the next president takes office, five of the nine Supreme Court justices will be over 70. John Paul Stevens will be 88; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75; Anthony Kennedy, 71; Stephen Breyer, 70; and, I smile as I write this, Antonin Scalia is 72.

"The next president will probably pick one or two of their replacements; maybe more, if he or she is reelected. McCain, who favors the repeal of Roe v. Wade, promises conservative audiences, 'We're going to have justices like [John] Roberts and [Samuel] Alito.'

"Throwing lobbyists into the bus. McCain chairs the Senate committee that oversees the telecommunications industry. Charlie Black, McCain's lead strategist, admits to lobbying on his cellphone for his telecommunications clients on McCain's so-called Straight Talk Express bus. Campaign manager Rick Davis also on the bus, founded a lobbying firm that carries water for major telecommunications clients. At last count, a whopping 59 lobbyists are raising money for McCain." -- Dan Payne, "So, You Want o be a McCain Democrat?", Boston Globe, 4/3/08

Now, if all of this is just all right with you, I sincerely doubt that you really are a Democrat in the first place.

The two Naomis

It's easy to get Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf confused. Their most recent books came out at roughly the same time; they have the same first name; and both write from a perspective one would deem progressively left. The Wolf book, "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot," is more a polemic, full of passion, but not a great deal of scholarship. It outlines the ten warning signs of a nation slinking towards fascism, and delivers a loud call for mobilization before the slide becomes irrevocable. I read it quickly, then passed it on to my daughter. This is by no means a dismissal. The book is a wake-up call to anyone who naively believes that it cannot happen here.


"The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," by Naomi Klein, is, on the other hand, a work of of ... well, shockingly detailed scholarship, a book that cannot be read at one sitting, not because it isn't readable (Klein is a superb writer), but because it is necessary to periodically cogitate on what Ms. Klein has just told you before continuing. The central thesis is this: the "free market" principles devised by the late Milton Friedman and his Chicago School of Economics in the 50's and 60's, and which are the primary philosophic under-pinning of the neoconservative agenda, have always been conjoined with policies of "shock and awe" (a phrase, by the way, that originated with Friedman). In other words, traumatize the populace, either by taking advantage of a natural disaster or scaring the shit out of them with propaganda, and then shove neoliberal market reforms down their throats (including massive privatization of public works) that ultimately benefit multinational corporations and corrupt politicians and their cronies, but strangle democracy and destroy the local economy. With furious prose, copiously backed up with references, Klein reveals the connections between the rise and fall of the "Asian tigers," the breakup of the Soviet Union, Chile under Pinochet, Argentina under the fascist junta, Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans, the SE Asian tsunami, and, of course, Iraq. This extraordinary book will lift the veil from your eyes. It is, as the SF Chronicle called it, "the central narrative of our time."

The talented Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein made a short film graphically illustrating some of the central tenets of her book.

The "Not-So-Straight-talk Express"

Winter Soldiers

I've been listening to their stories. These are stories from hell from men and women who've been there and back. The hell created on the sands of Mesopotamia by the Legion of Chickenhawks in the Oval Office and their equally spineless droids on Capitol Hill. Do you want to understand why record numbers of returning vets are committing suicide? Do you want to find out what our combat troops were expected to do in the line of duty? In your name? These are the real heroes.

Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan

Sub-primes and Spitzer

“When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners the Bush administration will not be judged favorably.”
-- Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer

Is there any connection to the finance industry's meltdown and Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace? Greg Palast thinks so, and frankly, when Greg spins, I listen. He's been right more times then he's been wrong (actually, I don't know when he has EVER been wrong).

Yeah, so Bad Boy Eliot got caught doing what Sen. David Ritter (R-LA) and God knows how many other "family values" Republicans have done. But Spitzer is down for the count while Vitter continues to do the hellish work of the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate.

"This week, Bernanke’s Fed, for the first time in its history, loaned a selected coterie of banks one-fifth of a trillion dollars to guarantee these banks’ mortgage-backed junk bonds. The deluge of public loot was an eye-popping windfall to the very banking predators who have brought two million families to the brink of foreclosure.

"Up until Wednesday, there was one single, lonely politician who stood in the way of this creepy little assignation at the bankers’ bordello: Eliot Spitzer."

-- Greg Palast, Eliot’s Mess

A tale of two scumbags

What exactly is the difference between David Vitter, Republican Senator from Louisiana and Eliot Spitzer, Democratic now-former Governor of New York?

Mostly just two. Spitzer is a liberal Dem. And Venter is still in office.

So, the lesson here, kids, is this. It is a far greater sin to be a whore-mongering liberal Democrat than a whore-mongering right-wing Republican.

Only in America...

... is it easier to impeach someone for having sex than for lying to justify war, torture and multiple violations of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

My country 'tis of thee
Sweet land of hypocrisy ...

El Stupido Gallery

For a president who has stayed out of the public eye as studiously as George W. Bush, stepping out in front of the Iron Curtain of his administration only for carefully choreographed photo ops, there are an extraordinary number of photos of Dubya looking ... well, fairly stupid. As we watch the Decider slowly fade into history's no doubt harsh verdict on his appointed presidency, a review seems in order.
But lest you think that that class clown, with all of its intonations of harmlessness, is the true face of George W. Bush, the following perhaps reveal more accurately the soul in the heart of the beast.

Quote of the year

"George W. Bush, when you get right down to it, is a fucker. That's why I don't like him. He's a fucker who does fucked-up things. He's a privileged little shit who doesn't give a damp hell for the opinions of the people he was elected to govern. He buys into the toxic economic theories of unreconstructed capitalism, despite never having had to earn an honest living in his life, and he supports a worldview that cuts out anyone who hasn't had his good fortune -- the worldview of a murderous plutocracy stained with swaths of luck and cruelty where first is first and second is nobody. He's stupid in the truest sense of the word: willfully ignorant and determined to surround himself with people who keep him that way, not only resistant to different ideas but actively hostile towards them. He is neurologically incapable of thinking ahead, and he consigns the consequences of his actions to the status of dreams. And he forced his country into a pointless, unnecessary, unconscionably wasteful war that will poison every aspect of American life for generations."
-- Mister Leonard Pierce, Alternet

McCain't

I'm a little worried.

It looks like the GOP may have found its great white hope. It is telling that the first two Republican governors to endorse John McCain were California's' Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida's Charlie Christ, the two party "centrists" that put the greatest distance between themselves and the Bush mob early on. Mark my words, everything that comes out of the mouths of the remaining Republican candidates will continue to evoke the nostalgia of the ultimate anti-Bush, the Alzheimer's Presidency of Ronald Reagan, the man who christened the corporatist ship-of-state, who with his avuncular, B-movie actor's charm, convinced a sizable share of America that government was the problem, not the solution (and never asking what that made him by association) while giving the CIA leave to smuggle and sell crack to fund the Contras. Yes, we can be entertained at least until "super" Tuesday (Super Bowl, super rich, super size me - what is it with us friggin' Americanos?) by McCain, Romney and Huckabee all trying to out-Reagan each other, while Ron Paul does his strange, Libertarian version of Dennis Kucinich. My guess is the nomination is McCain's to lose.

Whatever lingering respect I had for John McCain was lost when I watched him climb in George W. Bush's lap after being eviscerated by the Rovian slime machine during the 2000 primary season. It was at that point, in his hunger to one day occupy the Oval Office, that McCain stopped being his own man.

So why I am worried? Because I don't think Hillary Clinton can defeat John McCain. If Clinton is crowned as the candidate of the Democratic party, I fear that many young people, for whom Barak Obama represents their future, will sit this one out. I fear that some progressives, who see a palpable difference between Barak and Hilary, but not necessarily between her and McCain, may too. And the independents, who loathe the Clintons almost as much as their Republican half-siblings, will rationalize their votes for McCain. And meanwhile, the GOP war machine, aided and abetted by Rupert Murdoch, engineered by Karl Rove, will do what they do best. They may not even have to steal this one.

And what would a McCain presidency portend for the nation? Less jobs. More wars. The real McCain?

Congressman Robert Wexler, American Hero

As it becomes ever clearer that many of our Democratic leaders in congress have been at least tangentially complicit in some of the abuses of the Bush administration, whether by failure to act, actual knowledge, or direct participation, one Florida Congressman and two colleagues seems to have found the courage to get behind the Hon. Dennis Kucinich's legislation to begin impeachment proceeding against VP Darth Vad ... er, I mean Dick Cheney.

From the Daily Kos post by Dave Lindorff:

"Faced with an obstructionist leadership in the House, and a mainstream media that have forsaken their role as a Fourth Estate monitor of government abuse, three Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee are calling on the public to demand that the Congress initiate impeachment hearings immediately against Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Speaking at a telephone press conference Friday organized by Democrats.com, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) said that following a bi-partisan vote Nov. 7 by the full House to send Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s Cheney impeachment bill (H Res 799, formerly H Res 333) to the Judiciary Committee, it was time for those hearings to 'immediately' get underway.

"Scoffing at the argument that has been made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others in the Democratic leadership that impeachment might hurt Democratic chances in the November ’08 elections, or that it could deter Democrats from their Congressional agenda, Wexler says, 'I believe that there is a constitutional obligation for the Congress to hold this administration accountable, and it should not depend on what people think the impact might be on an election. The only question should be: Did Vice President Cheney abuse his powers?'"

"He adds, 'If the American people believe that the democrats are holding a legitimate inquiry into serious issues of constitutional importance, they will not hold it against them. And besides, initial polling would indicate that this is not some off-the-reservation idea.'

"The Florida legislator, who had not been among the 22 co-sponsors of the impeachment bill submitted last April 24 by Rep. Kucinich, says that by beginning impeachment hearings in the House, 'We would create our own fate, and we shouldn’t be afraid of that fate.'

"Noting that the Democratic congressional leadership has been opposing impeachment by saying that they were sent to Washington 'to act on issues like insuring children and ending the war,' Wexler says, 'We have followed that strategy for a year now, and what we have been met with is a president who will not sign any of these measures and a Senate mired in filibusters. We have nothing to lose by starting impeachment.'

"A major problem in challenging the Democratic leadership, however, has arisen in the form of a national media that simply ignores the growing national impeachment movement and the growing calls for impeachment within the Congress. Wexler reports that an opinion article penned by himself and two Judiciary Committee colleagues, Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), which was sent to a number of leading newspapers, including the Miami Herald, the Washington Post and the New York Times, was rejected for publication—an astonishing act of censorship for a document authored by three members of congress on an issue of such significance as impeachment of the vice president.

"In that article, Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin write: 'The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.

'Now that former White House press secretary Scott McClellan has indicated that the Vice President and his staff purposefully gave him false information about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent to report to the American people, it is even more important for Congress to investigate what may have been an intentional obstruction of justice. Congress should call Mr. McClellan to testify about what he described as being asked to "unknowingly [pass] along false information." In addition, recent revelations have shown that the Administration including Vice President Cheney may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence about weapons of mass destruction -- this time about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.'

"Asked why he thought leading publications had refused to publish the op-ed piece calling for an immediate start to impeachment hearings, Wexler says, 'I think the mainstream media, at least thus far, have bought the notion that impeachment hearings are outside the bounds of what Congress ought to be doing.'

"He adds that there may be a fear, on the part of corporate media executives and editors, and on the part of Democratic Party congressional leaders, of having been 'complicit' in many of the administration’s constitutional crimes. 'There may be some significant conflicts of interest,' he says, that could make them feel uncomfortable about the idea of impeachment hearings.

"To push back against this unseemly resistance Rep. Wexler and his two House colleagues have decided to go public with their message. Wexler has set up a website, called WexlerWantsHearings. He is urging Americans from across the country to go to the sign and sign on to his call for an immediate start to hearings. 'I want to be able to go to my colleagues in the house and say I have 55,000 people calling for hearings,' he says." [Avram notes: he already has almost 60,000 as of today].



I wish my congresswoman, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, showed a little of this moxie herself.

Henry Kravis makes $51,369 PER HOUR. You pay more taxes.

What would Jesus do?

Put it back on the table, people

Honestly, I am starting to wonder if there is an opposition party any more that represents the horror so many of us feel about the current administration. As far as I can see, the reluctance on the part of the Democratic party leadership to put impeachment "on the table" is nothing but pure, political contrivance, rather than what is good for this country. The question than comes down to this - who is the worst Nero, George W. Bush or the Democratic Party?

Way to go, Dennis!

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive."

Dear Mr. Jefferson: What would you have to say were you to suddenly find yourself in the 21st century United States of America? Would you believe your ears? Your eyes? Mr. Jefferson, our current president is an individual of the servile privileged class (those who get rich by patronage rather than ingenuity), who managed to turn a life of indulgence, failure and superficiality into a disputed claim to the highest elective office in the land, twice no less.

"Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

What would you make of a president who espouses a doctrine of preemptive war, who places our nation squarely on the path of fiscal insolvency, who doles out billions of dollars from the peoples' treasury into the hands of cronies and criminals, whose noblest expression is a sneer, whose tongue darts quickly out from between pursed lips when he lies, which is often?

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."

Could you imagine your nation in the hands of one so petulant, so brazenly incapable of admitting wrong, a man so shallow that he seems to grieve for not a single one of the thousands dead at his own hand, a man with the audacity to claim guidance - if not governance - by the hand of God? A man who must surround himself with no one but sycophants, lest he waver in the faith of his own assuredness?

"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government..."

"It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape."

What would you say, Mr. Jefferson, about an allegedly elected government that governs with imperial disdain for the constitution, that revolutionary document that you loved so dearly, who casts such a veil of secrecy over its conduct and pursuit of the "peoples' business" that some would say our nation has never been so cast into darkness? A government that spies on its own citizens, that takes prisoners against the rule of law and tortures them in prisons outside its own borders?

"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference."

"If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest."

"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be."

Can you imagine, Mr. Jefferson, your nation spending more on its defense than all of the other nations on earth combined? Can you conceive of the politicization of our military so that it becomes the instrument of a unitary chief executive held in sway by a hegemonic philosophy of global supremacy? Can you even remotely imagine your nation debased around the globe for its policies of injustice and empire? We have become a conquerer nation on borrowed funds.

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt."

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country. "

And your nation? Corpulent consumers of crap from China we have become, for our nation manufactures next to nothing. We are the maw of the world, with an insatiable appetite for distraction and adulation of celebrity (especially when the fall from grace). I know how much you valued books, Mr. Jefferson, and we have largely become a nation of non-readers. Our newspapers, along with the airwaves, are controlled by fewer and fewer interests. More and more, the sources of our information are the same corporations that want to sell us so many things we neither need nor really want, but they have perfected the art and act of selling such that appetites are created with sublime finesse.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

Could you ever have dreamed, Mr. Jefferson, that propaganda would be proffered as truth in your country, and moreover, that so much of the populace would willingly accept it as so? That the nation would idly watch the national treasury looted for the gain of a few?

"Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence."

Take that, Rupert!

Tired of EVERY media outlet in the world becoming part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation? Well, take action against further media consolidation, and meanwhile have some vicarious fun with this:

Secretary of Hypocrisy?

In case you were wondering whether we had a Secretary of State any more under the Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice made another one of her occasional orchestrated photo ops, this one in Russia on Saturday Oct. 13, as she met with Russian human rights activists.

In what has to be one of the most incredible examples of this administration's complete lack of self-consciousness, she was quoted as making the following statement:

"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development," Rice said. "I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament.

Now, just substitute "White House" for "Kremlin" in the first line of the previous paragraph, and "Congress" for "Duma." Now, try and imagine if those words were uttered with the slightest bit of irony.

Yeh, buddy. War is peace. Truth is lies. Occupation is liberation.

This is your moment, Al Gore

First of all, congratulations Mr. Gore, for the global recognition of your leadership in the form of the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, more than ever, an America (and world) in the shackles of the worst executive administration in history needs a President with vision, morals, and a belief in positive change. Now, more than ever, we need an Al Gore presidency. Declare your candidacy, and I (and millions of others) will work tirelessly to make it happen in our communities.

To the naysayers in the progressive community who cite the mistakes made in 2000 (e.g., VP Lieberman, for one), the sad fact is that at that time, a candidate had no choice but to play politics with the Dem leadership of that time who were empowered by Bill's 2 terms (and most of whom have lined up with Hillary). Howard Dean has transformed the structure of the Democratic Party - the grass roots can and will make the difference. I believe that a candidate Gore would not make those blunders again.

And lastly, to the character assassins of the far right, the Rush and Coulter zombies, the brain-shrunken sycophants of the Darth Vader presidency, the chicken hawk warmongers, I merely say, in the only language that you seem to understand (based on your Internet ravings): FUCK YOU!

And today's Ann Coulter Fascist Fashion Award Winner is ...

Michelle Malkin. Proof positive that right wing harlots don't just come in the anorexic blonde variety. In case you don't watch Fox News, Michelle the Mullet harassed a 12 year old recipient (and his family) of one of the SCHIP grants for uninsured children - y'know, the program whose extension W recently vetoed.

Now let's watch Michelle the Malevolent weasel out of Ezra Klein's debate challenge.

Rudy Giuliani, 9-11 whore

A supporter of Rudy Giuliani's threw a party at his Palo Alto, CA home on Wednesday that aims to raise $9.11 per person for the Republican's presidential campaign.

According to the invitation, "$9.11 for Rudy" is an "independent, non-denominational grass-roots campaign to raise $10,000 in small increments to show how many individual, everyday Americans support `America's Mayor.'"

What a concept. I mean isn't that the only issue of his campaign?

The Ghost of Anbar (and the lies just keep on coming)

Shortly after the W's visit to the killing fields of Mesopotamia, our alleged ally in Anbar Province, "Shiek" Abu Risha, to whom the sharp decrease if not end of Sunni hostilities towards our troops is largely credited, was assassinated. Abu Risha's death "is a tragic loss," said Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "It's a terrible loss for Anbar province and all of Iraq. It shows how significant his importance was, and it shows al-Qaeda in Iraq remains a very dangerous and barbaric enemy." Bush, in an address to the nation on September 13, noted the death of "one of the brave tribal sheiks who helped lead the revolt" against al-Qaeda in Iraq and said his fellow Sunni leaders fighting the extremists "can count on the continued support of the United States."

According to Greg Palast, the Shiek was not all he was cracked up to be:
"1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik.
"2. He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda.
"3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik - and a murderous deceit."

Palast's daredevil cameraman, Rick Rowley made an amazing film expose of just who this guy was, which was shown on Al-Jazeeri English channel. Check it out:
Part One




Part Two


Here is some more of Palast's commentary: "Why was 'sheik' Abu Risha so important? As the New York Times put it ... , 'Abu Risha had become a charismatic symbol of the security gains in Sunni areas that have become a cornerstone of American plans to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq though much of next year.'

"In other words, Abu Risha was the PR hook used to sell the 'success' of the surge.

"The sheik wasn't a sheik. He was a fake. While proclaiming to Rick that he was 'the leader of all the Iraqi tribes,' Abu lead no one. But for a reported sum in the millions in cash for so-called, 'reconstruction contracts,' Abu Risha was willing to say he was Napoleon and Julius Caesar and do the hand-shakie thing with Bush on camera.

"Notably, Rowley and his camera caught up with Abu Risha on his way to a 'business trip' to Dubai, money laundering capital of the Middle East.

"There are some real sheiks in Anbar, like Ali Hathem of the dominant Dulaimi tribe, who told Rick Abu Risha was a con man. Where was his tribe, this tribal leader? 'The Americans like to create characters like Disney cartoon heros.' Then Ali Hathem added, 'Abu Risha is no longer welcome' in Anbar.

"'Not welcome' from a sheik in Anbar is roughly the same as a kiss on both cheeks from the capo di capi. Within days, when Abu Risha returned from Dubai to Dulaimi turf in Ramadi, Bush's hand-sheik was whacked. "On Thursday, Bush said Abu Risha was killed, 'fighting Al Qaeda' - and the White House issued a statement that the sheik was 'killed by al Qaeda.'

"Bullshit.

"There ain't no Easter Bunny and 'Al Qaeda' ain't in Iraq, Mr. Bush. It was very cute, on the week of the September 11 memorials, to tie the death of your Anbar toy-boy to bin Laden's Saudi hijackers. But it's a lie. Yes, there is a group of berserkers who call themselves 'Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.' But they have as much to do with the real Qaeda of bin Laden as a Rolling Stones "tribute" band has to do with Mick Jagger.

"Who got Abu Risha? Nothing - NOTHING - moves in Ramadi without the approval of the REAL tribal sheiks. They were none-too-happy, as Hathem noted, about the millions the US handed to Risha. The sheiks either ordered the hit - or simply gave the bomber free passage to do the deed.

"So who are these guys, the sheiks who lead the Sunni tribes of Anbar - the potentates of the Tamimi, Fallaji, Obeidi, Zobal and Jumaili tribes? Think of them as the Sopranos of Arabia. They are also members of the so-called 'Awakening Council' - getting their slice of the millions handed out - which they had no interest in sharing with Risha.

"But creepy and deadly or not, these capi of the desert were effective in eliminating 'Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.' Indeed, as US military so proudly pointed out to Rick, the moment the sheiks declared their opposition to Al Qaeda - i.e. got the payments from the US taxpayers - Al Qaeda instantly disappeared.

"This miraculous military change, where the enemy just evaporates, has one explanation: the sheiks ARE al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Just like the Sopranos extract 'protection' payments from New Jersey businesses, the mobsters of Anbar joined our side when we laid down the loot.

"What's wrong with that? After all, I'd rather send a check than send our kids from Columbus to fight them.

"But there's something deeply, horribly wrong with dealing with these killers. They still kill. With new US protection, weapons and cash, they have turned on the Shia of Anbar. Fifteen thousand Shia families from a single district were forced at gunpoint to leave Anbar. Those moving too slowly were shot. Kids and moms too.

"Do the Americans know about the ethnic cleansing of Anbar by our erstwhile 'allies'? Rick's film shows US commanders placing their headquarters in the homes abandoned by terrorized Shia.

"Rick's craziest move was to go and find these Shia refugees from Anbar. They were dumped, over a hundred thousand of them, in a cinder block slum with no running water in Baghdad. They are under the 'protection' of the Mahdi Army, another group of cutthroats. But at least these are Shia cutthroats.

"So the great 'success' of the surge is our arming and providing cover for ethnic cleansing in Anbar. Nice, Mr. Bush. And with the US press 'embedded,' we won't get the real story. Even Democrats are buying into the Anbar 'awakening' fairy tale.

"An Iraqi government official frets that giving guns and cover to the Anbar gang is like adopting a baby crocodile. 'A crocodile is not a pet,' he told Rick. It will soon grow to devour you. But what could the puppet do but complain about his strings?

"This Iraqi got it right: the surge is a crock."

Bush-owned Justice Department to Telecoms: "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours"

What a surprise! After re-monopoly AT&T (and perhaps Verizon and Comcast) happily cooperated with the NSA's illegal incursions into the private life of American citizens by willingly handing over Internet traffic records, that wholly-owned subsidiary of Bush Inc. formerly known as the Justice Department (checks and balances - what a quaint concept) has weighed in on Big Telecom's side concerning net neutrality. The Justice Department last Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic. The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality," the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user.

More articles on this issue:
AT&T forwards all Internet traffic into NSA
NSA to spy on 38% of world telecom traffic
AT&T Seeks to Hide Spy Docs
Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T

Nobody says it better than George Carlin

Comedians may be the only spokespeople capable of penetrating the miasmal fog of delusion that so many of our fellow citizens wrap themselves up in when it comes to the true nature of 21st century America. Here, in less than 5 minutes, is the truth.