AND FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
No comments necessary. We know how bad things are, thanks to the Bush Administration and its rubber stamping, cowardly and corrupted lackeys, including Congress. The links below reveal the realities many of us have known for 5 years. LS
TALIBAN REGROUPING IN AFGHANISTAN WHILE PSYCHO BUSH AND HIS GOP ENABLERS SPIN A NIGHTMARE OF A FANTASY WAR IN IRAQ
From the New York Times.com
GOP CUT AND RAN FROM AFGHANISTAN
SENATE COMMITTEE REPORT REVEALS NO LINK BETWEEN SADDAM AND AL-QAIDA.
yawn. what else is new? LS
From TRUTHOUT.ORG
Excerpts:
1. Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qa'ida and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al-Aq'ida to provide material or operational support.
2. Postwar findings have identified only one meeting between representatives of al-Qa'ida and Saddam Hussein's regime reported in prewar intelligence assessments. Postwar findings have identified two occasions, not reported prior to the war, in which Saddam Hussein rebuffed meeting requests from an al-Qa'ida operative.
3. Postwar findings support the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) February 2002 assessment that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was likely intentionally misleading his debriefers when he said that Iraq provided two al-Qa'ida associates with chemical and biological weapons (CBW) training in 2000.... No postwar information has been found that indicates CBW training occurred and the detainee who provided the key prewar reporting about this training recanted his claims after the war.
"SENATE INTEL COMMITTEE BLOODIES BUSH'S NOSE"
FAKING THE FACTS ON A 9/11 CROCKADRAMA
The twisted wing of the GOP must be getting really desperate. Me thinks Rove called the neonut in Hollywood, imploring him to write a distortion on 9/11 and the moran went for it. Worse, so did the Disney owned ABC. I smell burnt toast. LS
A TRIP TO NEOCON FANTASY LAND
From The Huffington Post.
Excerpt:
In fact, "The Path to 9/11" is produced and promoted by a well-honed propaganda operation consisting of a network of little-known right-wingers working from within Hollywood to counter its supposedly liberal bias. This is the network within the ABC network. Its godfather is far right activist David Horowitz, who has worked for more than a decade to establish a right-wing presence in Hollywood and to discredit mainstream film and TV production. On this project, he is working with a secretive evangelical religious right group founded by The Path to 9/11's director David Cunningham that proclaims its goal to "transform Hollywood" in line with its messianic vision.
DESPERATE NEOCONS FAKE THE FACTS ON 9/11
JOE AND JANE AMERICA FINALLY GET IT.
We have been getting poorer while Bush and his GOP buddies have been raking in boatloads of cash, most of which is tax free. The Bush GOP neonuts are freaked that we Joes and Janes know what's up. LS
From Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Whining Over Discontent"
Excerpts:
We are, finally, having a national discussion about inequality, and right-wing commentators are in full panic mode. Statistics, most of them irrelevant or misleading, are flying; straw men are under furious attack. It’s all very confusing — deliberately so. So let me offer a few clarifying comments.
First, why are we suddenly talking so much about inequality? Not because a few economists decided to make inequality an issue. It’s the public — not progressive pundits — that has been telling pollsters the economy is “only fair” or “poor,” even though the overall growth rate is O.K. by historical standards.
Political analysts tried all sorts of explanations for popular discontent with the “Bush boom” — it’s the price of gasoline; no, people are in a bad mood because of Iraq — before finally acknowledging that most Americans think it’s a bad economy because for them, it is. The lion’s share of the benefits from recent economic growth has gone to a small, wealthy minority, while most Americans were worse off in 2005 than they were in 2000.
Some conservatives whine that people didn’t complain as much about rising inequality when Bill Clinton was president. But most people were happy with the state of the economy in the late 1990’s, even though the rich were getting much richer, because the middle class and the poor were also making substantial progress. Now the rich are getting richer, but most working Americans are losing ground.
"WHINING OVER DISCONTENT"
Friday, September 08, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
THE PARTY OF SMEAR AND FEAR
Sorry folks but I've been neglecting my blog to work for a Texas candidate for U.S. Senate 2006. As you can imagine, it is an uphill battle but our grassroots efforts are making extraordinary inroads. Naturally it helps to have a candidate who is principled, informed and passionate about serving. And one who is willing to give up a very high lucrative professional position, well before retirement age, to run for office. Imagine a politician who is not motivated by money. Such is a very rare breed, indeed. Ms. Radnofsky possesses the integrity and commitment to ignore the demands made upon her by big business and greedy lobbyists when they are in conflict with what is beneficial for the state and all Texans. Check out her web site if you don't believe me.
Barbara Ann Radnofsky; Texas Candidate for U.S. Senate 2006
MOVING ON FROM TEXAS
My friend Ken has been keeping me informed about national political events while I am busy with the campaign in Texas. Once again, thank you, Ken, for all that you do in sharing the news none of us would hear about or read in the mainstream media. We are all busy, overcommitted and multi-task way too much. The mainstream media hope we don't notice what an abysmally poor job they do, except where run-away-bride, Mel Gibson and JonBenet Ramsey type stories are concerned. LS
"LET'S LANDSLIDE"
Ken found this extraordinary article on the Huffington Post. LS
This guy knows his stuff. I've put his bio at the bottom.
His Iraq solution is a pip: "...candidates can propose that if Democrats win control of Congress our first act will be to name leaders on national security such as Senator Sam Nunn and General Zinni to meet with the Joint Chiefs and Iraq commanders and develop a rational exit strategy."
This allows every Democrat to repeat, over and over, what apparently the voters know already, that Bush has no exit strategy. It also gives candidates a party-wide Iraq strategy and allows them to not have to nail some date onto the wall for the GOPs to attack. -K
Brent Budowsky
08.23.2006
Lets Landslide: Memo to Democratic Senate and House Candidates and Staff
Mr. Budowsky's bio:
Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit.
BRENT BUDOWSKY: "LET'S LANDSLIDE"
BUSH IS AFRAID OF THE SUPREME COURT'S RULING ON PRISONER INTERROGATIONS AND TORTURE SO HE IS TRYING TO CHANGE THE RULES TO EVADE PUNISHMENT
Another great find from Ken from The Village Voice.com
Excerpt:
The interrogations of prisoners now condemned by the Supreme Court were ordered by policy makers at the highest levels of the administration˜who could be prosecuted under the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996. - Scott Horton, chairman of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on International Law and adjunct professor, Columbia Law School.
"SUPREME COURT STRIKES FEAR" BY MR. NED HENTOFF
"FROM IRAN WITH LOVE"
Another great find from Ken by Joe Conason from Salon.com.
From the botched Iraq war to threatening Iran with "regime change," neoconservative policies have been a boon for Tehran.
Excerpts:
The most obvious example, of course, is the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, which has conveniently eliminated Iran's chief military rival in the region, and replaced Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime with a weak government dominated by Shiite Islamist parties friendly to Tehran. The only certain outcome of our misbegotten effort is that the Iranians have finally gotten what they could not achieve during eight years of war with Iraq, despite the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars. And we delivered the prize to them at no cost -- except what we have lost in thousands of dead and wounded U.S. troops and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Oddly enough, they don't seem any more grateful than the Iraqis.
Remember that the war's chief instigator, aside from the neoconservatives themselves, was their friend and collaborator Ahmed Chalabi, who has since proved to be a more reliable ally of the Iranians than of his former American sponsors. With much help from domestic propagandists, Chalabi oversaw dissemination of the disinformation about Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" that served as the rationale for war. The original neocon plan was to enthrone him in Baghdad as a strongman ruler, at least on a temporary basis. He had promised, among other things, that the new Iraq would grant diplomatic recognition to Israel. Things haven't quite worked out that way.
Could the neocons truly have been so dense and clueless about the consequences of an American invasion of Iraq? Not if one believes their constant flattery of their own seriousness and sagacity. They did do an excellent job of misleading the American public about how the war would proceed, from their promises that the costs would be underwritten by Iraqi oil, to their predictions that a "new democratic Iraq" would radically improve the prospects for regional peace and progress, to their assurances that Shiite domination would prove benign. William Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor whose magazine so assiduously promoted war, brushed aside any concerns about empowering the Shiites during an April 2003 interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross:
"And on this issue of the Shia in Iraq, I think there's been a certain amount of, frankly, Terry, a kind of pop sociology in America that, you know, somehow the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular." For a man who by then had spent almost 10 years arguing for war in Iraq, he was either stunningly ignorant or intentionally deceptive.
It would be easier to believe that Kristol and his fellow war enthusiasts were merely misinformed or stupid if all of their mistakes did not so consistently benefit Tehran. But consider the results of the policies pursued by the White House at their insistence.
"FROM IRAN WITH LOVE" BY JOE CONASON OF SALON.COM
FOR REPUBLICANS, PROFITS OF CORPORATE DONORS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR NATIONAL SECURITY
The Republican Congress will gut the foreign ownership security bill. Remember the firm in Dubai who was/is to be awarded contracts to ensure the safety of our U.S. ports? Read where our Republican lawmakers stand on this issue. LS
By David Sirota of WorkingforChange.com
Excerpts:
Here are the details of the competing proposals in Congress:
"The House bill would force Cfius – which was lambasted for approving the sale of five US port terminals to Dubai-based DP World – to conduct mandatory 90-day investigations of all sensitive acquisitions by foreign state-owned companies. It would also require Cfius to notify relevant congressional committees once investigations into a deal are closed. The Senate proposal, backed by Richard Shelby, banking committee chairman, and criticised by some of his fellow Republicans, would require Congress to be notified of a deal following the initiation of an investigation – even if the deal was not yet public – and could extend an investigation from a maximum of 90 days to 120 days."
Republicans in Congress and the White House have made their position clear: the profits of their corporate donors are more important to them than national security, even in the post-9/11 world. No matter how many times George W. Bush stands behind a podium and babbles on about "freedom" and his supposed commitment to securing America against terrorism, all you have to do is look at what's actually going on in Washington to know that all of that rhetoric is a fraud. Let's hope that in the stretch run of the 2006 election season, Democrats pound this reality home.
"CONGRESS TO GUT FOREIGN OWNERSHIP SECURITY BILL
Barbara Ann Radnofsky; Texas Candidate for U.S. Senate 2006
MOVING ON FROM TEXAS
My friend Ken has been keeping me informed about national political events while I am busy with the campaign in Texas. Once again, thank you, Ken, for all that you do in sharing the news none of us would hear about or read in the mainstream media. We are all busy, overcommitted and multi-task way too much. The mainstream media hope we don't notice what an abysmally poor job they do, except where run-away-bride, Mel Gibson and JonBenet Ramsey type stories are concerned. LS
"LET'S LANDSLIDE"
Ken found this extraordinary article on the Huffington Post. LS
This guy knows his stuff. I've put his bio at the bottom.
His Iraq solution is a pip: "...candidates can propose that if Democrats win control of Congress our first act will be to name leaders on national security such as Senator Sam Nunn and General Zinni to meet with the Joint Chiefs and Iraq commanders and develop a rational exit strategy."
This allows every Democrat to repeat, over and over, what apparently the voters know already, that Bush has no exit strategy. It also gives candidates a party-wide Iraq strategy and allows them to not have to nail some date onto the wall for the GOPs to attack. -K
Brent Budowsky
08.23.2006
Lets Landslide: Memo to Democratic Senate and House Candidates and Staff
Mr. Budowsky's bio:
Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit.
BRENT BUDOWSKY: "LET'S LANDSLIDE"
BUSH IS AFRAID OF THE SUPREME COURT'S RULING ON PRISONER INTERROGATIONS AND TORTURE SO HE IS TRYING TO CHANGE THE RULES TO EVADE PUNISHMENT
Another great find from Ken from The Village Voice.com
Excerpt:
The interrogations of prisoners now condemned by the Supreme Court were ordered by policy makers at the highest levels of the administration˜who could be prosecuted under the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996. - Scott Horton, chairman of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on International Law and adjunct professor, Columbia Law School.
"SUPREME COURT STRIKES FEAR" BY MR. NED HENTOFF
"FROM IRAN WITH LOVE"
Another great find from Ken by Joe Conason from Salon.com.
From the botched Iraq war to threatening Iran with "regime change," neoconservative policies have been a boon for Tehran.
Excerpts:
The most obvious example, of course, is the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, which has conveniently eliminated Iran's chief military rival in the region, and replaced Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime with a weak government dominated by Shiite Islamist parties friendly to Tehran. The only certain outcome of our misbegotten effort is that the Iranians have finally gotten what they could not achieve during eight years of war with Iraq, despite the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars. And we delivered the prize to them at no cost -- except what we have lost in thousands of dead and wounded U.S. troops and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Oddly enough, they don't seem any more grateful than the Iraqis.
Remember that the war's chief instigator, aside from the neoconservatives themselves, was their friend and collaborator Ahmed Chalabi, who has since proved to be a more reliable ally of the Iranians than of his former American sponsors. With much help from domestic propagandists, Chalabi oversaw dissemination of the disinformation about Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" that served as the rationale for war. The original neocon plan was to enthrone him in Baghdad as a strongman ruler, at least on a temporary basis. He had promised, among other things, that the new Iraq would grant diplomatic recognition to Israel. Things haven't quite worked out that way.
Could the neocons truly have been so dense and clueless about the consequences of an American invasion of Iraq? Not if one believes their constant flattery of their own seriousness and sagacity. They did do an excellent job of misleading the American public about how the war would proceed, from their promises that the costs would be underwritten by Iraqi oil, to their predictions that a "new democratic Iraq" would radically improve the prospects for regional peace and progress, to their assurances that Shiite domination would prove benign. William Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor whose magazine so assiduously promoted war, brushed aside any concerns about empowering the Shiites during an April 2003 interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross:
"And on this issue of the Shia in Iraq, I think there's been a certain amount of, frankly, Terry, a kind of pop sociology in America that, you know, somehow the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular." For a man who by then had spent almost 10 years arguing for war in Iraq, he was either stunningly ignorant or intentionally deceptive.
It would be easier to believe that Kristol and his fellow war enthusiasts were merely misinformed or stupid if all of their mistakes did not so consistently benefit Tehran. But consider the results of the policies pursued by the White House at their insistence.
"FROM IRAN WITH LOVE" BY JOE CONASON OF SALON.COM
FOR REPUBLICANS, PROFITS OF CORPORATE DONORS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR NATIONAL SECURITY
The Republican Congress will gut the foreign ownership security bill. Remember the firm in Dubai who was/is to be awarded contracts to ensure the safety of our U.S. ports? Read where our Republican lawmakers stand on this issue. LS
By David Sirota of WorkingforChange.com
Excerpts:
Here are the details of the competing proposals in Congress:
"The House bill would force Cfius – which was lambasted for approving the sale of five US port terminals to Dubai-based DP World – to conduct mandatory 90-day investigations of all sensitive acquisitions by foreign state-owned companies. It would also require Cfius to notify relevant congressional committees once investigations into a deal are closed. The Senate proposal, backed by Richard Shelby, banking committee chairman, and criticised by some of his fellow Republicans, would require Congress to be notified of a deal following the initiation of an investigation – even if the deal was not yet public – and could extend an investigation from a maximum of 90 days to 120 days."
Republicans in Congress and the White House have made their position clear: the profits of their corporate donors are more important to them than national security, even in the post-9/11 world. No matter how many times George W. Bush stands behind a podium and babbles on about "freedom" and his supposed commitment to securing America against terrorism, all you have to do is look at what's actually going on in Washington to know that all of that rhetoric is a fraud. Let's hope that in the stretch run of the 2006 election season, Democrats pound this reality home.
"CONGRESS TO GUT FOREIGN OWNERSHIP SECURITY BILL
Monday, August 21, 2006
AMERICANS FINALLY RECOGNIZE KING KONG WANTS TO DEVOUR THEM
AFTER 6 YEARS OF KING GEORGE W. REIGN, AMERICANS REALIZE RIGGED ELECTIONS ARE TRASHING OUR DEMOCRACY AND ARE FLUSHING JOE AND JANE AMERICA STRAIGHTAWAY INTO THE SEWER OF LACK OF OPPORTUNITY, IF NOT OUTRIGHT POVERTY.
According to the Zogby polls, a whopping 92% of Americans demand the right to see ballots counted. Hell, I vote in Texas so you can be sure I will vote absentee. LS
Found on Raw Story.com
Excerpts:
A new Zogby poll to be released on Tuesday will reveal that 92% of Americans, spanning every party and democraphic group, believe that the public has the right to view and verify the counting of votes, RAW STORY has learned.
When offered a choice between "Citizens have the right to view and obtain information about how election officials count votes" or "Citizens do not have the right to view and obtain information about how elections officials count votes," 92% of those polled agreed with the first statement. Only 6% agreed with the second, while 2% were unsure.
The issue of transparency has become particularly important due to the use of electronic voting systems, most of which employ secret, proprietary code and do not allow public inspection.
RAW STORY PIECE ON ACCOUNTABILITY IN ELECTIONS HERE
ROVE'S FEAR CARD HAS RUN OUT OF STEAM?
Let's hope so, though there are the 20% of greedy and obscenely wealthy, religious fundamentalist extremists, or really uninformed - no - truly stupid - folks who will allow themselves to be scared over and over and over. Rove is counting on them.
Wonderful piece by Mr. Frank Rich of the New York Times who essentially unmasks Rove.
Found on truthout.org
Excerpts:
The results are in for the White House's latest effort to exploit terrorism for political gain: the era of Americans' fearing fear itself is over.
In each poll released since the foiling of the trans-Atlantic terror plot - Gallup, Newsweek, CBS, Zogby, Pew - George W. Bush's approval rating remains stuck in the 30's, just as it has been with little letup in the year since Katrina stripped the last remaining fig leaf of credibility from his presidency. While the new Middle East promised by Condi Rice remains a delusion, the death rattle of the domestic political order we've lived with since 9/11 can be found everywhere: in Americans' unhysterical reaction to the terror plot, in politicians' and pundits' hysterical overreaction to Joe Lieberman's defeat in Connecticut, even in the ho-hum box-office reaction to Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center."
It's not as if the White House didn't pull out all the stops to milk the terror plot to further its politics of fear. One self-congratulatory presidential photo op was held at the National Counterterrorism Center, a dead ringer for the set in "24." But Mr. Bush's Jack Bauer is no more persuasive than his Tom Cruise of "Top Gun." By crying wolf about terrorism way too often, usually when a distraction is needed from bad news in Iraq, he and his administration have long since become comedy fodder, and not just on "The Daily Show." June's scenario was particularly choice: as Baghdad imploded, Alberto Gonzales breathlessly unmasked a Miami terror cell plotting a "full ground war" and the destruction of the Sears Tower, even though the alleged cell had no concrete plans, no contacts with terrorist networks and no equipment, including boots.
What makes the foiled London-Pakistan plot seem more of a serious threat - though not so serious it disrupted Tony Blair's vacation - is that the British vouched for it, not Attorney General Gonzales and his Keystone Kops. This didn't stop Michael Chertoff from grabbing credit in his promotional sprint through last Sunday's talk shows. "It was as if we had an opportunity to stop 9/11 before it actually was carried out," he said, insinuating himself into that royal we. But no matter how persistent his invocation of 9/11, our secretary of homeland security is too discredited to impress a public that has been plenty disillusioned since Karl Rove first exhibited the flag-draped remains of a World Trade Center victim in a 2004 campaign commercial. We look at Mr. Chertoff and still see the man who couldn't figure out what was happening in New Orleans when the catastrophe was being broadcast in real time on television.
"FIVE YEARS AFTER 9/11 FEAR FINALLY STRIKES OUT"
WAL-MART IS BECOMING THE POSTER CHILD OF ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH A GOP RUN GOVERNMENT
Invent a fake war to make Halliburton and your buddies richer. Give generous tax breaks to the richest of the rich, most of whom are your family, relatives or friends. Slash all benefits for the poor. Endorse the outsourcing of jobs abroad. Vote against a minimum wage increase, unless, of course, it is tied to one that would allow estate tax "relief" for most wealthy. Vote for legislation that allows for a steady flow of slave laborers to U.S. firms, with no hope of permanent residency or citizenship, and, naturally endorse slave labor in countries where American corporations have a vital interest. The Grand Old Party of Greed, Corruption, and Evil. They are anti-democratic, anti-intellectual, and worst of all, anti-American.
WAL-MART A MIRROR OF GOP ECONOMIC POLICY. From The Boston Globe.com LS
Excerpts:
WAL-MART is usefully becoming the symbol of an America where tens of millions of hard- working families cannot make ends meet.
Its wages and health benefits are so dismal that in several states Wal-Mart displaces worker healthcare costs onto tax-supported Medicaid for the poor. Wal-Mart batters down wages not just in the United States, but in Third World countries, where it plays foreign suppliers against one another to demand the lowest possible wholesale price (and wage).
The New York Times reported recently that Democratic politicians from Senator Joseph Lieberman to his winning opponent in the Connecticut primary, Ned Lamont, are making Wal-Mart their nemesis. This focus is certainly helpful in spotlighting one mega-employer that is symbol and substance of an America where the middle-class dream is vanishing, but the problems go far beyond Wal-Mart.
"MORE THAN JUST WAL-MART" By Robert Kuttner
CONSERVATIVES WITH A BRAIN RENOUNCE BUSH
Too bad it took mayhem, carnage and an unmitigated human catastrophe in Iraq, not to mention the Taliban's regrouping in Afghanistan because our military is stretched too thin, thanks to Bush's sick and twisted fixation on Iraq, for the brainier conservatives to wake up and smell the rotted corpses. Shame, shame, shame. LS
From The Washington Post.com by Mr. Peter Baker.
Excerpts:
Lowry's magazine offers a powerful example. "It is time to say it unequivocally: We are winning in Iraq," Lowry wrote in April 2005, chastising those who disagreed. This month, he published an editorial that concluded that "success in Iraq seems more out of reach than it has at any time since the initial invasion three years ago" and assailed "the administration's on-again-off-again approach to Iraq."
"It is time for the Bush administration to acknowledge that its approach of assuring people that progress is being made and operating on that optimistic basis in Iraq isn't working," the editorial said. Lowry followed up days later in his own column, suggesting that the United States is "losing, or at least not obviously winning, a major war" and asking whether Iraq is "Bush's Vietnam."
Quin Hillyer, executive editor of the American Spectator, cited Lowry's column in his own last week, writing that many are upset "because we seem not to be winning" and urging the White House to take on militia leaders such as Moqtada al-Sadr. Until it does, he said, "there will be no way for the administration to credibly claim that victory in Iraq is achievable, much less imminent."
Bush aides were bothered by a George F. Will column last week mocking neoconservative desires to transform the Middle East: "Foreign policy 'realists' considered Middle East stability the goal. The realists' critics, who regard realism as reprehensibly unambitious, considered stability the problem. That problem has been solved."
"PUNDITS RENOUNCE BUSH"
According to the Zogby polls, a whopping 92% of Americans demand the right to see ballots counted. Hell, I vote in Texas so you can be sure I will vote absentee. LS
Found on Raw Story.com
Excerpts:
A new Zogby poll to be released on Tuesday will reveal that 92% of Americans, spanning every party and democraphic group, believe that the public has the right to view and verify the counting of votes, RAW STORY has learned.
When offered a choice between "Citizens have the right to view and obtain information about how election officials count votes" or "Citizens do not have the right to view and obtain information about how elections officials count votes," 92% of those polled agreed with the first statement. Only 6% agreed with the second, while 2% were unsure.
The issue of transparency has become particularly important due to the use of electronic voting systems, most of which employ secret, proprietary code and do not allow public inspection.
RAW STORY PIECE ON ACCOUNTABILITY IN ELECTIONS HERE
ROVE'S FEAR CARD HAS RUN OUT OF STEAM?
Let's hope so, though there are the 20% of greedy and obscenely wealthy, religious fundamentalist extremists, or really uninformed - no - truly stupid - folks who will allow themselves to be scared over and over and over. Rove is counting on them.
Wonderful piece by Mr. Frank Rich of the New York Times who essentially unmasks Rove.
Found on truthout.org
Excerpts:
The results are in for the White House's latest effort to exploit terrorism for political gain: the era of Americans' fearing fear itself is over.
In each poll released since the foiling of the trans-Atlantic terror plot - Gallup, Newsweek, CBS, Zogby, Pew - George W. Bush's approval rating remains stuck in the 30's, just as it has been with little letup in the year since Katrina stripped the last remaining fig leaf of credibility from his presidency. While the new Middle East promised by Condi Rice remains a delusion, the death rattle of the domestic political order we've lived with since 9/11 can be found everywhere: in Americans' unhysterical reaction to the terror plot, in politicians' and pundits' hysterical overreaction to Joe Lieberman's defeat in Connecticut, even in the ho-hum box-office reaction to Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center."
It's not as if the White House didn't pull out all the stops to milk the terror plot to further its politics of fear. One self-congratulatory presidential photo op was held at the National Counterterrorism Center, a dead ringer for the set in "24." But Mr. Bush's Jack Bauer is no more persuasive than his Tom Cruise of "Top Gun." By crying wolf about terrorism way too often, usually when a distraction is needed from bad news in Iraq, he and his administration have long since become comedy fodder, and not just on "The Daily Show." June's scenario was particularly choice: as Baghdad imploded, Alberto Gonzales breathlessly unmasked a Miami terror cell plotting a "full ground war" and the destruction of the Sears Tower, even though the alleged cell had no concrete plans, no contacts with terrorist networks and no equipment, including boots.
What makes the foiled London-Pakistan plot seem more of a serious threat - though not so serious it disrupted Tony Blair's vacation - is that the British vouched for it, not Attorney General Gonzales and his Keystone Kops. This didn't stop Michael Chertoff from grabbing credit in his promotional sprint through last Sunday's talk shows. "It was as if we had an opportunity to stop 9/11 before it actually was carried out," he said, insinuating himself into that royal we. But no matter how persistent his invocation of 9/11, our secretary of homeland security is too discredited to impress a public that has been plenty disillusioned since Karl Rove first exhibited the flag-draped remains of a World Trade Center victim in a 2004 campaign commercial. We look at Mr. Chertoff and still see the man who couldn't figure out what was happening in New Orleans when the catastrophe was being broadcast in real time on television.
"FIVE YEARS AFTER 9/11 FEAR FINALLY STRIKES OUT"
WAL-MART IS BECOMING THE POSTER CHILD OF ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH A GOP RUN GOVERNMENT
Invent a fake war to make Halliburton and your buddies richer. Give generous tax breaks to the richest of the rich, most of whom are your family, relatives or friends. Slash all benefits for the poor. Endorse the outsourcing of jobs abroad. Vote against a minimum wage increase, unless, of course, it is tied to one that would allow estate tax "relief" for most wealthy. Vote for legislation that allows for a steady flow of slave laborers to U.S. firms, with no hope of permanent residency or citizenship, and, naturally endorse slave labor in countries where American corporations have a vital interest. The Grand Old Party of Greed, Corruption, and Evil. They are anti-democratic, anti-intellectual, and worst of all, anti-American.
WAL-MART A MIRROR OF GOP ECONOMIC POLICY. From The Boston Globe.com LS
Excerpts:
WAL-MART is usefully becoming the symbol of an America where tens of millions of hard- working families cannot make ends meet.
Its wages and health benefits are so dismal that in several states Wal-Mart displaces worker healthcare costs onto tax-supported Medicaid for the poor. Wal-Mart batters down wages not just in the United States, but in Third World countries, where it plays foreign suppliers against one another to demand the lowest possible wholesale price (and wage).
The New York Times reported recently that Democratic politicians from Senator Joseph Lieberman to his winning opponent in the Connecticut primary, Ned Lamont, are making Wal-Mart their nemesis. This focus is certainly helpful in spotlighting one mega-employer that is symbol and substance of an America where the middle-class dream is vanishing, but the problems go far beyond Wal-Mart.
"MORE THAN JUST WAL-MART" By Robert Kuttner
CONSERVATIVES WITH A BRAIN RENOUNCE BUSH
Too bad it took mayhem, carnage and an unmitigated human catastrophe in Iraq, not to mention the Taliban's regrouping in Afghanistan because our military is stretched too thin, thanks to Bush's sick and twisted fixation on Iraq, for the brainier conservatives to wake up and smell the rotted corpses. Shame, shame, shame. LS
From The Washington Post.com by Mr. Peter Baker.
Excerpts:
Lowry's magazine offers a powerful example. "It is time to say it unequivocally: We are winning in Iraq," Lowry wrote in April 2005, chastising those who disagreed. This month, he published an editorial that concluded that "success in Iraq seems more out of reach than it has at any time since the initial invasion three years ago" and assailed "the administration's on-again-off-again approach to Iraq."
"It is time for the Bush administration to acknowledge that its approach of assuring people that progress is being made and operating on that optimistic basis in Iraq isn't working," the editorial said. Lowry followed up days later in his own column, suggesting that the United States is "losing, or at least not obviously winning, a major war" and asking whether Iraq is "Bush's Vietnam."
Quin Hillyer, executive editor of the American Spectator, cited Lowry's column in his own last week, writing that many are upset "because we seem not to be winning" and urging the White House to take on militia leaders such as Moqtada al-Sadr. Until it does, he said, "there will be no way for the administration to credibly claim that victory in Iraq is achievable, much less imminent."
Bush aides were bothered by a George F. Will column last week mocking neoconservative desires to transform the Middle East: "Foreign policy 'realists' considered Middle East stability the goal. The realists' critics, who regard realism as reprehensibly unambitious, considered stability the problem. That problem has been solved."
"PUNDITS RENOUNCE BUSH"
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
HARD RIGHT BUSH CHRISTIANS ARE ADDICTED TO PORN AMONG OTHER SINFUL ACTS?
DROP DEAD NEWS BUT NOT REALLY.
50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admit they are addicted to porn.
Interesting piece from Raw Story.com. One has to wonder about religious extremists and fanatics, not to mention pathological liars, here at home in the good ol' bush lovin' Texas, among other hard right red states. There is so much moral and ethical decrepitude to cover up that the self-righteous Christian sinners, especially the GOP politicians, had to find a fall group on which to transfer their sinful thoughts and deeds. Is this the rational for Bush's term 'Islamic Fascists?” We have our very own home grown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh. But no one called McVeigh a "Christian" terrorist when he blew up the federal building in Oklahoma and killed hundreds of Americans. And what about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco? Remember? The GOP conveniently forgets. LS
Excerpts:
A poll conducted by what bills itself as "the world's most visited Christian website" indicates a surprising number of Christians are addicted to pornography, RAW STORY has learned.
"The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography," said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries.
The group defines "addicted" as applied to pornography as use on an ongoing basis.
"We are seeing an escalation to the problem in both men and women who regularly attend church," said Bill Cooper, President of ChristiaNet.com.
The poll, conducted at ChristiaNet.com, used a self-selected sample, and is therefore not a scientific study. Over 1,000 users responded to the survey.
Additionally, 60% of the women who answered the survey confessed having "significant struggles with lust." 40% admitted to being "involved in sexual sin" in the past year.
"No one is immunized against the vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors," reads a release issued by the site. "The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy."
"There have been dynamic paradigm shifts in the behavior of Christians over the last four years," explained Jones. "Technology has allowed pornography to flood the market place beyond a controllable level." Jones' ministry provides intervention programs for churches and individuals.
BUSH REPUBLICANS ADMIT THEY ARE ADDICTED TO PORN
A DEEP AND MORTIFYING BLUSH OF FIRE ENGINE RED FOR THE MASTER OF LIES AND DISCEPTION.
Here is the… yikes...well,...hell's bells...piece on the dude who bashes gay marriage with a vengeance. I mean he built a political platform on pimping fear about gay marriage in both 2000 and 2004.
The dude doth protest too much?
Bad Karma, Rove?
Translation: A new book has been written about Rove and naturally he is trying to shut it down. He cannot file a lawsuit publicly because it would draw more attention to his close and deep relationship with Abramoff, (which Rove and the WH has publicly denied) among other inconvenient revelations in the book. And so, Rove naturally threatens and bullies the authors into having their publication lawyer meet with his attorney. Of course Rove found a way to get advanced copies of the book’s proofs and so he knows what is about to be published. But the authors won’t budge. Bring on a public lawsuit and out yourself, Turd Blossom. Make our day. LS
ROVE TAKES ISSUE WITH NEW BOOK WRITTEN ABOUT HIM AND HIS UM, ER, PROCLIVITIES
MOVING FROM TEXAS AND THE HARD RIGHT AUTHORITARIAN PARTY ACROSS THE POND TO ONE OF OUR FEW REMAINING ALLIES....
"BUSH IS CRAP" ACCORDING TO BRITISH DEPUTY P.M.
UH OH. We are in deep doo-doo now. We may become altogether isolated and have to literally go it alone. With Bush and the GOP at the helm, that only spells disaster for us at home. Thank you, Brits, for keeping us informed about how the rest of the planet views our fake President. From the UK Independent News. LS
Excerpt:
John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap.
The Deputy Prime Minister's condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair's backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.
The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott's Whitehall office on Tuesday with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing large Muslim communities. Muslim MPs wanted to press home their objections to British foreign policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim communities.
DEPUTY PM IN BRITAIN SAYS BUSH IS CRAP
50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admit they are addicted to porn.
Interesting piece from Raw Story.com. One has to wonder about religious extremists and fanatics, not to mention pathological liars, here at home in the good ol' bush lovin' Texas, among other hard right red states. There is so much moral and ethical decrepitude to cover up that the self-righteous Christian sinners, especially the GOP politicians, had to find a fall group on which to transfer their sinful thoughts and deeds. Is this the rational for Bush's term 'Islamic Fascists?” We have our very own home grown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh. But no one called McVeigh a "Christian" terrorist when he blew up the federal building in Oklahoma and killed hundreds of Americans. And what about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco? Remember? The GOP conveniently forgets. LS
Excerpts:
A poll conducted by what bills itself as "the world's most visited Christian website" indicates a surprising number of Christians are addicted to pornography, RAW STORY has learned.
"The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography," said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries.
The group defines "addicted" as applied to pornography as use on an ongoing basis.
"We are seeing an escalation to the problem in both men and women who regularly attend church," said Bill Cooper, President of ChristiaNet.com.
The poll, conducted at ChristiaNet.com, used a self-selected sample, and is therefore not a scientific study. Over 1,000 users responded to the survey.
Additionally, 60% of the women who answered the survey confessed having "significant struggles with lust." 40% admitted to being "involved in sexual sin" in the past year.
"No one is immunized against the vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors," reads a release issued by the site. "The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy."
"There have been dynamic paradigm shifts in the behavior of Christians over the last four years," explained Jones. "Technology has allowed pornography to flood the market place beyond a controllable level." Jones' ministry provides intervention programs for churches and individuals.
BUSH REPUBLICANS ADMIT THEY ARE ADDICTED TO PORN
A DEEP AND MORTIFYING BLUSH OF FIRE ENGINE RED FOR THE MASTER OF LIES AND DISCEPTION.
Here is the… yikes...well,...hell's bells...piece on the dude who bashes gay marriage with a vengeance. I mean he built a political platform on pimping fear about gay marriage in both 2000 and 2004.
The dude doth protest too much?
Bad Karma, Rove?
Translation: A new book has been written about Rove and naturally he is trying to shut it down. He cannot file a lawsuit publicly because it would draw more attention to his close and deep relationship with Abramoff, (which Rove and the WH has publicly denied) among other inconvenient revelations in the book. And so, Rove naturally threatens and bullies the authors into having their publication lawyer meet with his attorney. Of course Rove found a way to get advanced copies of the book’s proofs and so he knows what is about to be published. But the authors won’t budge. Bring on a public lawsuit and out yourself, Turd Blossom. Make our day. LS
ROVE TAKES ISSUE WITH NEW BOOK WRITTEN ABOUT HIM AND HIS UM, ER, PROCLIVITIES
MOVING FROM TEXAS AND THE HARD RIGHT AUTHORITARIAN PARTY ACROSS THE POND TO ONE OF OUR FEW REMAINING ALLIES....
"BUSH IS CRAP" ACCORDING TO BRITISH DEPUTY P.M.
UH OH. We are in deep doo-doo now. We may become altogether isolated and have to literally go it alone. With Bush and the GOP at the helm, that only spells disaster for us at home. Thank you, Brits, for keeping us informed about how the rest of the planet views our fake President. From the UK Independent News. LS
Excerpt:
John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap.
The Deputy Prime Minister's condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair's backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.
The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott's Whitehall office on Tuesday with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing large Muslim communities. Muslim MPs wanted to press home their objections to British foreign policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim communities.
DEPUTY PM IN BRITAIN SAYS BUSH IS CRAP
Monday, August 14, 2006
THE NIGHTMARE THAT WON'T GO AWAY
Must we wait another two years for this to end? Can't someone talk W. and Cheney into early retirement? Where is mother Barbara when we need her? All mothers know when their children are making whopping disastrous and dangerous mistakes. Mother dearest, um, the planet is about to explode.
Everyday I pick up a newspaper, log on to on line news sources, blogs or turn on the TV, I see nothing but a world gone insane because of the Bush/Cheney Administration and its rubber stamping, cowardly and lazy (5 weeks vacation after working a mere 80 days?) Congressmen and women.
See BEST RUBBER STAMP IN D.C., SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON. Her profile will pretty much tell you how a lawmaker can make promises to voters, but when back inside the Beltway, will turn around and vote the complete opposite. Lawmakers bank on our not reading their voting records. It will also tell you that most of our lawmakers represent big business and lobbyists, not their constituents. And like sheep, they all blindly follow Bush, even if it means taking the planet straight to hell.
The only reprieves available to us to escape from this hideous reality are immersion in work and sleep. Alas flight from reality is not really possible, I’ve learned, because of the endless chatter by the water cooler about our current state of national and global affairs. Everyone is now talking about the King Kong sized elephant in the room. At night dreams can easily become nightmares. Does W. have his finger on the red nuke button while Americans toss and turn at night?
I read that Bush's closest buddies, after Blair and the Brits, the Israelis, are upset with W. Some are blaming their not so successful military assault on Hezbollah on Bush. Olmert will most likely suffer politically from taking advice from one of the most disingenuous, deceitful and cynical leaders in U.S. history. LS
Mr. Robert Parry wrote a piece in The Consortium News: “Israeli Leaders Fault Bush on War” Found on Truthout.org
Excerpts:
Amid the political and diplomatic fallout from Israel's faltering invasion of Lebanon, some Israeli officials are privately blaming President George W. Bush for egging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into the ill-conceived military adventure against the Hezbollah militia in south Lebanon.
Bush conveyed his strong personal support for the military offensive during a White House meeting with Olmert on May 23, according to sources familiar with the thinking of senior Israeli leaders.
Olmert, who like Bush lacks direct wartime experience, agreed that a dose of military force against Hezbollah might damage the guerrilla group's influence in Lebanon and intimidate its allies, Iran and Syria, countries that Bush has identified as the chief obstacles to U.S. interests in the Middle East.
As part of Bush's determination to create a "new Middle East" - one that is more amenable to U.S. policies and desires - Bush even urged Israel to attack Syria, but the Olmert government refused to go that far, according to Israeli sources.
One source said some Israeli officials thought Bush's attack-Syria idea was "nuts" since much of the world would have seen the bombing campaign as overt aggression.
ROBERT PARRY ON TRUTHOUT.ORG. HERE
BUSH WANTED THE ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH CONFLICT TO BE A DRESS REHEARSAL FOR A WAR BETWEEN U.S. AND IRAN
A war with Iran when we are mired down in Iraq and the Taliban are resurfacing in Afghanistan? With what for troops? This is utterly mad.
Mr. Seymour Hersh wrote a brilliant and well-researched piece for The New Yorker. Top officials in both Britain and Israel are sources for this article. The piece can be found on Truthout.org and on Buzz Flash.com. LS
Excerpts:
According to a Middle East expert with knowledge of the current thinking of both the Israeli and the U.S. governments, Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah - and shared it with Bush Administration officials - well before the July 12th kidnappings. "It's not that the Israelis had a trap that Hezbollah walked into," he said, "but there was a strong feeling in the White House that sooner or later the Israelis were going to do it."
The Middle East expert said that the Administration had several reasons for supporting the Israeli bombing campaign. Within the State Department, it was seen as a way to strengthen the Lebanese government so that it could assert its authority over the south of the country, much of which is controlled by Hezbollah. He went on, "The White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iran's nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel. Bush wanted both. Bush was going after Iran, as part of the Axis of Evil, and its nuclear sites, and he was interested in going after Hezbollah as part of his interest in democratization, with Lebanon as one of the crown jewels of Middle East democracy."
Administration officials denied that they knew of Israel's plan for the air war. The White House did not respond to a detailed list of questions. In response to a separate request, a National Security Council spokesman said, "Prior to Hezbollah's attack on Israel, the Israeli government gave no official in Washington any reason to believe that Israel was planning to attack. Even after the July 12th attack, we did not know what the Israeli plans were." A Pentagon spokesman said, "The United States government remains committed to a diplomatic solution to the problem of Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program," and denied the story, as did a State Department spokesman.
The United States and Israel have shared intelligence and enjoyed close military coöperation for decades, but early this spring, according to a former senior intelligence official, high-level planners from the U.S. Air Force - under pressure from the White House to develop a war plan for a decisive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities - began consulting with their counterparts in the Israeli Air Force.
Seymour Hersh "Watching Lebanon"
WHILE BUSH AND CHENEY ARE TRYING FABRICATE AND RIG A WAR BETWEEN THE U.S. AND IRAN, A TOP MILITARY COMMANDER IN IRAQ SAYS THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT IRAN IS STIRRING UP TROUBLE IN IRAQ
I know who I believe and it certainly isn’t Bush or Cheney. LS
From Yahoo News.com
TOP MILITARY COMMANDER: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IRAN IS INVOLVED IN THE CONFLICT WITH IRAQ
BUSH OBVIOUSLY THINKS HE IS KING GEORGE W.
Bush obviously doesn’t give a lick about opinion polls, no matter who conducts them. Clearly the majority – and that’s the mainstream of the American population – thinks the war in Iraq is a bad idea and we should pull out. Naturally Bush doesn’t want to hear this so he attacks the majority of mainstream America, saying we want to “cut and run.”
The reality is that Bush is cutting and running from the truth and the American people.
Joe Conason wrote a great piece below on how Democrats can counter the Bush/Cheney cut and run rhetoric. LS Found on Truthdig.com.
Excerpts:
To be “strong on national security” does not mean supporting the misconceived and incompetently executed policies of the Bush administration. American security in years to come will depend on undoing this government’s grave mistakes, which have weakened this country’s military posture and undermined support for us around the world. Terrorism experts across the spectrum, from conservative Republican to liberal Democrat, agree that the “struggle against violent extremism” has suffered from the foolish decision to invade and occupy Iraq.
Evidently, the neoconservatives hope to escape responsibility for their debacle by complaining that the rest of us lack sufficient zeal. So they now pretend that Democrats and progressives, who overwhelmingly supported the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban and still do, want to abandon that effort. This is another partisan lie invented by the likes of William Kristol, who will answer to history for his role in promoting the Iraq war.
There have been times in recent years when war was unavoidable, in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. For the neoconservatives, however, the answer to every international conflict is shock and awe, so long as they remain safely distant from the carnage. The American people are turning away from that mindless and dangerous attitude, which is leading us toward disaster. Politicians of both parties should do likewise.
JOE CONASON: "War Critics Are Mainstream, Not Fringe"
Everyday I pick up a newspaper, log on to on line news sources, blogs or turn on the TV, I see nothing but a world gone insane because of the Bush/Cheney Administration and its rubber stamping, cowardly and lazy (5 weeks vacation after working a mere 80 days?) Congressmen and women.
See BEST RUBBER STAMP IN D.C., SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON. Her profile will pretty much tell you how a lawmaker can make promises to voters, but when back inside the Beltway, will turn around and vote the complete opposite. Lawmakers bank on our not reading their voting records. It will also tell you that most of our lawmakers represent big business and lobbyists, not their constituents. And like sheep, they all blindly follow Bush, even if it means taking the planet straight to hell.
The only reprieves available to us to escape from this hideous reality are immersion in work and sleep. Alas flight from reality is not really possible, I’ve learned, because of the endless chatter by the water cooler about our current state of national and global affairs. Everyone is now talking about the King Kong sized elephant in the room. At night dreams can easily become nightmares. Does W. have his finger on the red nuke button while Americans toss and turn at night?
I read that Bush's closest buddies, after Blair and the Brits, the Israelis, are upset with W. Some are blaming their not so successful military assault on Hezbollah on Bush. Olmert will most likely suffer politically from taking advice from one of the most disingenuous, deceitful and cynical leaders in U.S. history. LS
Mr. Robert Parry wrote a piece in The Consortium News: “Israeli Leaders Fault Bush on War” Found on Truthout.org
Excerpts:
Amid the political and diplomatic fallout from Israel's faltering invasion of Lebanon, some Israeli officials are privately blaming President George W. Bush for egging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into the ill-conceived military adventure against the Hezbollah militia in south Lebanon.
Bush conveyed his strong personal support for the military offensive during a White House meeting with Olmert on May 23, according to sources familiar with the thinking of senior Israeli leaders.
Olmert, who like Bush lacks direct wartime experience, agreed that a dose of military force against Hezbollah might damage the guerrilla group's influence in Lebanon and intimidate its allies, Iran and Syria, countries that Bush has identified as the chief obstacles to U.S. interests in the Middle East.
As part of Bush's determination to create a "new Middle East" - one that is more amenable to U.S. policies and desires - Bush even urged Israel to attack Syria, but the Olmert government refused to go that far, according to Israeli sources.
One source said some Israeli officials thought Bush's attack-Syria idea was "nuts" since much of the world would have seen the bombing campaign as overt aggression.
ROBERT PARRY ON TRUTHOUT.ORG. HERE
BUSH WANTED THE ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH CONFLICT TO BE A DRESS REHEARSAL FOR A WAR BETWEEN U.S. AND IRAN
A war with Iran when we are mired down in Iraq and the Taliban are resurfacing in Afghanistan? With what for troops? This is utterly mad.
Mr. Seymour Hersh wrote a brilliant and well-researched piece for The New Yorker. Top officials in both Britain and Israel are sources for this article. The piece can be found on Truthout.org and on Buzz Flash.com. LS
Excerpts:
According to a Middle East expert with knowledge of the current thinking of both the Israeli and the U.S. governments, Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah - and shared it with Bush Administration officials - well before the July 12th kidnappings. "It's not that the Israelis had a trap that Hezbollah walked into," he said, "but there was a strong feeling in the White House that sooner or later the Israelis were going to do it."
The Middle East expert said that the Administration had several reasons for supporting the Israeli bombing campaign. Within the State Department, it was seen as a way to strengthen the Lebanese government so that it could assert its authority over the south of the country, much of which is controlled by Hezbollah. He went on, "The White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iran's nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel. Bush wanted both. Bush was going after Iran, as part of the Axis of Evil, and its nuclear sites, and he was interested in going after Hezbollah as part of his interest in democratization, with Lebanon as one of the crown jewels of Middle East democracy."
Administration officials denied that they knew of Israel's plan for the air war. The White House did not respond to a detailed list of questions. In response to a separate request, a National Security Council spokesman said, "Prior to Hezbollah's attack on Israel, the Israeli government gave no official in Washington any reason to believe that Israel was planning to attack. Even after the July 12th attack, we did not know what the Israeli plans were." A Pentagon spokesman said, "The United States government remains committed to a diplomatic solution to the problem of Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program," and denied the story, as did a State Department spokesman.
The United States and Israel have shared intelligence and enjoyed close military coöperation for decades, but early this spring, according to a former senior intelligence official, high-level planners from the U.S. Air Force - under pressure from the White House to develop a war plan for a decisive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities - began consulting with their counterparts in the Israeli Air Force.
Seymour Hersh "Watching Lebanon"
WHILE BUSH AND CHENEY ARE TRYING FABRICATE AND RIG A WAR BETWEEN THE U.S. AND IRAN, A TOP MILITARY COMMANDER IN IRAQ SAYS THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT IRAN IS STIRRING UP TROUBLE IN IRAQ
I know who I believe and it certainly isn’t Bush or Cheney. LS
From Yahoo News.com
TOP MILITARY COMMANDER: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IRAN IS INVOLVED IN THE CONFLICT WITH IRAQ
BUSH OBVIOUSLY THINKS HE IS KING GEORGE W.
Bush obviously doesn’t give a lick about opinion polls, no matter who conducts them. Clearly the majority – and that’s the mainstream of the American population – thinks the war in Iraq is a bad idea and we should pull out. Naturally Bush doesn’t want to hear this so he attacks the majority of mainstream America, saying we want to “cut and run.”
The reality is that Bush is cutting and running from the truth and the American people.
Joe Conason wrote a great piece below on how Democrats can counter the Bush/Cheney cut and run rhetoric. LS Found on Truthdig.com.
Excerpts:
To be “strong on national security” does not mean supporting the misconceived and incompetently executed policies of the Bush administration. American security in years to come will depend on undoing this government’s grave mistakes, which have weakened this country’s military posture and undermined support for us around the world. Terrorism experts across the spectrum, from conservative Republican to liberal Democrat, agree that the “struggle against violent extremism” has suffered from the foolish decision to invade and occupy Iraq.
Evidently, the neoconservatives hope to escape responsibility for their debacle by complaining that the rest of us lack sufficient zeal. So they now pretend that Democrats and progressives, who overwhelmingly supported the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban and still do, want to abandon that effort. This is another partisan lie invented by the likes of William Kristol, who will answer to history for his role in promoting the Iraq war.
There have been times in recent years when war was unavoidable, in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. For the neoconservatives, however, the answer to every international conflict is shock and awe, so long as they remain safely distant from the carnage. The American people are turning away from that mindless and dangerous attitude, which is leading us toward disaster. Politicians of both parties should do likewise.
JOE CONASON: "War Critics Are Mainstream, Not Fringe"
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
MOST AMERICANS FINALLY GET IT: BUSH IS A NIGHTMARE
The rest of the country is catching up with something many well-informed folks have known for some time. The Bush Administration is a freaking nightmare and unmitigated disaster. And it may be likely that Bush is stark raving mad as is most of his rubber stamping enablers, specifically SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON
POLLS SHOW CONGRESS COULD CHANGE IN 2006
Of course the Republicans will try to rig the election as they always do. My advice, vote absentee. LS
Excerpts:
Most Americans believe the GOP-controlled Congress has been a failure and say they plan to vote for Democrats in November, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Fifty-three percent of registered voters polled by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN said they were supporting Democrats, while 40 percent said they were leaning Republican. The remaining 7 percent either planned to support another party or had no opinion.
AMERICANS FINALLY REALIZE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS A CATEGORICAL NIGHTMARE
ROVE MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT HIS JOB. HE HAS OFFERED TO HELP LIEBERMAN. LOL......
Enter the Rovian world of the sick and twisted. Of course he is trying to manipulate a civil war within the Democratic Party. In his desperation to be relevant, Rove will try to spin a fake "rift" in our party, scare us about another impending 9/11 attack, and blah, blah, blah, yawn and ho-hum, but sadly and cynically and contemptuously, at the expense of truth, our democracy, our national security and our stature in the world. Rove obviously possesses no morals, nor a shred of principle or integrity. He is merely fixated like a robot on winning. We need to get the Rove types out the political process. It should be rather obvious that his ilk represents a great threat to our democracy and national security. LS
Excerpts:
According to a close Lieberman adviser, the President's political guru, Karl Rove, has reached out to the Lieberman camp with a message straight from the Oval Office: "The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do."
But in a year where even some Republican candidates are running away from the President on the campaign trail, does this offer have any value to Lieberman? Still smarting from all that coverage of "the kiss" at last year's State of the Union, the Lieberman camp isn't looking for an explicit endorsement. That could create more problems than it solves.
TWISTED ROVE WANTS TO HELP LIEBERMAN
LOU DOBBS OF CNN CALLS BUSH ON HIS FAKE PLEDGE ON BORDER SECURITY
CNN DOBBS CALLS BUSH ON HIS FAKE PLEDGE ON NATIONAL SECURITY
UH OH! You know we are in deep you know what when James Baker enters the scene. Now we know for certain, not that many of us had a moment's doubt from Day One, that Iraq is an unmitigated disaster and human catastrophe.
“A Higher Power: James Baker Puts Bush's Iraq Policy Into Rehab.”
From Truthout.org via The Washington Monthly, written by Mr. Robert Dreyfuss.
Excerpts:
Since March, Baker, backed by a team of experienced national-security hands, has been busily at work trying to devise a fresh set of policies to help the president chart a new course in - or, perhaps, to get the hell out of - Iraq. But as with all things involving James Baker, there's a deeper political agenda at work as well. "Baker is primarily motivated by his desire to avoid a war at home - that things will fall apart not on the battlefield but at home. So he wants a ceasefire in American politics," a member of one of the commission's working groups told me. Specifically, he said, if the Democrats win back one or both houses of Congress in November, they would unleash a series of investigative hearings on Iraq, the war on terrorism, and civil liberties that could fatally weaken the administration and remove the last props of political support for the war, setting the stage for a potential Republican electoral disaster in 2008. "I guess there are people in the [Republican] party, on the Hill and in the White House, who see a political train wreck coming, and they've called in Baker to try to reroute the train."
The fact that Baker is involved has sent the Washington rumor mill buzzing with the theory that the commission is really a Trojan Horse for the views of Baker's friend and former boss, George H.W. Bush. It has been widely speculated that the former president never agreed with his son's decision to invade Iraq, and the son appears to have repaid that perceived dissent by largely refusing to reach out to his father for advice on national security, despite the elder Bush's knowledge and experience. In any case, for reasons that may be Oedipal or that may have to do with neoconservatives' disdain for realists associated with Bush 41, or both, Bush 43 has so far kept the 41 circle at arm's length - including Baker; his confrere Brent Scowcroft; and even, during his ill-fated tenure as secretary of state, Colin Powell. But with the situation in Iraq sliding towards irretrievable chaos, a moment of receptivity may have arrived.
It's hard to know what the commission is really up to because its inner workings are nearly as secretive as those of the White House. Baker has imposed an ironclad gag order on all of its participants. The 60 people involved in the effort have been instructed, in the strongest of terms, not to comment to reporters on the task force's work. Every one of the participants I spoke to flatly refused to comment for the record, and several did not want to talk even off the record. Some were palpably nervous. "We're not allowed to talk about it," said one person involved. "We get about every month a warning: 'Do not discuss in any context the substance of what is happening in this group.' You know how bad it is? Initially they wanted us to end all of our contacts with the media, make no statements, write no op-eds - in other words, become monks. Then they realized, how can you take the entire community of Iraq experts in the United States and have them all stop talking?"
Baker's commission - officially called the Iraq Study Group - was created in March by Congress at the instigation of Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican. After his third trip to Iraq last year, Wolf started contacting members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, urging the creation of a high-powered, private task force to take a fresh look at the mess in Iraq. "If you had a very serious illness...and you weren't completely comfortable that everything was going the way you hoped, you'd certainly want to get a second opinion," Wolf told me. At least 30 members of Congress supported the idea, including Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.). According to participants in the task force, a key silent partner with Wolf in putting it together was his Virginia Republican colleague, Sen. John Warner, the chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services committee.
THINGS ARE SO BAD FOR BUSH THAT BAKER IS CALLED IN TO FIX THE MESS IN IRAQ
POLLS SHOW CONGRESS COULD CHANGE IN 2006
Of course the Republicans will try to rig the election as they always do. My advice, vote absentee. LS
Excerpts:
Most Americans believe the GOP-controlled Congress has been a failure and say they plan to vote for Democrats in November, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Fifty-three percent of registered voters polled by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN said they were supporting Democrats, while 40 percent said they were leaning Republican. The remaining 7 percent either planned to support another party or had no opinion.
AMERICANS FINALLY REALIZE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS A CATEGORICAL NIGHTMARE
ROVE MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT HIS JOB. HE HAS OFFERED TO HELP LIEBERMAN. LOL......
Enter the Rovian world of the sick and twisted. Of course he is trying to manipulate a civil war within the Democratic Party. In his desperation to be relevant, Rove will try to spin a fake "rift" in our party, scare us about another impending 9/11 attack, and blah, blah, blah, yawn and ho-hum, but sadly and cynically and contemptuously, at the expense of truth, our democracy, our national security and our stature in the world. Rove obviously possesses no morals, nor a shred of principle or integrity. He is merely fixated like a robot on winning. We need to get the Rove types out the political process. It should be rather obvious that his ilk represents a great threat to our democracy and national security. LS
Excerpts:
According to a close Lieberman adviser, the President's political guru, Karl Rove, has reached out to the Lieberman camp with a message straight from the Oval Office: "The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do."
But in a year where even some Republican candidates are running away from the President on the campaign trail, does this offer have any value to Lieberman? Still smarting from all that coverage of "the kiss" at last year's State of the Union, the Lieberman camp isn't looking for an explicit endorsement. That could create more problems than it solves.
TWISTED ROVE WANTS TO HELP LIEBERMAN
LOU DOBBS OF CNN CALLS BUSH ON HIS FAKE PLEDGE ON BORDER SECURITY
CNN DOBBS CALLS BUSH ON HIS FAKE PLEDGE ON NATIONAL SECURITY
UH OH! You know we are in deep you know what when James Baker enters the scene. Now we know for certain, not that many of us had a moment's doubt from Day One, that Iraq is an unmitigated disaster and human catastrophe.
“A Higher Power: James Baker Puts Bush's Iraq Policy Into Rehab.”
From Truthout.org via The Washington Monthly, written by Mr. Robert Dreyfuss.
Excerpts:
Since March, Baker, backed by a team of experienced national-security hands, has been busily at work trying to devise a fresh set of policies to help the president chart a new course in - or, perhaps, to get the hell out of - Iraq. But as with all things involving James Baker, there's a deeper political agenda at work as well. "Baker is primarily motivated by his desire to avoid a war at home - that things will fall apart not on the battlefield but at home. So he wants a ceasefire in American politics," a member of one of the commission's working groups told me. Specifically, he said, if the Democrats win back one or both houses of Congress in November, they would unleash a series of investigative hearings on Iraq, the war on terrorism, and civil liberties that could fatally weaken the administration and remove the last props of political support for the war, setting the stage for a potential Republican electoral disaster in 2008. "I guess there are people in the [Republican] party, on the Hill and in the White House, who see a political train wreck coming, and they've called in Baker to try to reroute the train."
The fact that Baker is involved has sent the Washington rumor mill buzzing with the theory that the commission is really a Trojan Horse for the views of Baker's friend and former boss, George H.W. Bush. It has been widely speculated that the former president never agreed with his son's decision to invade Iraq, and the son appears to have repaid that perceived dissent by largely refusing to reach out to his father for advice on national security, despite the elder Bush's knowledge and experience. In any case, for reasons that may be Oedipal or that may have to do with neoconservatives' disdain for realists associated with Bush 41, or both, Bush 43 has so far kept the 41 circle at arm's length - including Baker; his confrere Brent Scowcroft; and even, during his ill-fated tenure as secretary of state, Colin Powell. But with the situation in Iraq sliding towards irretrievable chaos, a moment of receptivity may have arrived.
It's hard to know what the commission is really up to because its inner workings are nearly as secretive as those of the White House. Baker has imposed an ironclad gag order on all of its participants. The 60 people involved in the effort have been instructed, in the strongest of terms, not to comment to reporters on the task force's work. Every one of the participants I spoke to flatly refused to comment for the record, and several did not want to talk even off the record. Some were palpably nervous. "We're not allowed to talk about it," said one person involved. "We get about every month a warning: 'Do not discuss in any context the substance of what is happening in this group.' You know how bad it is? Initially they wanted us to end all of our contacts with the media, make no statements, write no op-eds - in other words, become monks. Then they realized, how can you take the entire community of Iraq experts in the United States and have them all stop talking?"
Baker's commission - officially called the Iraq Study Group - was created in March by Congress at the instigation of Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican. After his third trip to Iraq last year, Wolf started contacting members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, urging the creation of a high-powered, private task force to take a fresh look at the mess in Iraq. "If you had a very serious illness...and you weren't completely comfortable that everything was going the way you hoped, you'd certainly want to get a second opinion," Wolf told me. At least 30 members of Congress supported the idea, including Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.). According to participants in the task force, a key silent partner with Wolf in putting it together was his Virginia Republican colleague, Sen. John Warner, the chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services committee.
THINGS ARE SO BAD FOR BUSH THAT BAKER IS CALLED IN TO FIX THE MESS IN IRAQ
Thursday, August 03, 2006
UNDER BUSH GOP - ADVOCATES OF TRUTH ARE ATTACKED
Republican Senator Hagel says Iraq is a replay of Vietnam and he is a Vietnam War veteran so he should know. But Karl Rove has most likely already called the Senator and has threatened him in one form or another. Alas, let us watch. Within a few days Senator Hagel will probably retract his statement, apologize and send a please don’t eat me, I didn’t mean it card to Bush.
THINK PROGRESS: HAGEL ON IRAQ
Radnofsky Democrats in Texas (folks with political leanings that range from moderate to progressive to liberal) are exchanging ideas with conservative Republicans on a Dallas blog. We have met a group of folks who refuse to understand truth. When the ideologues hear what they do not wish to hear, or if they cannot defend the facts about our abysmally underperforming Senator Hutchison, they go on the personal assault route, pretty much the same way as the Kerry Swift Boaters did.
Right now Murtha is being Swift Boated by a group of neonut vets. Why? Because he tells the truth about Iraq. A Gallup poll revealed today that 55% of Americans want out of Iraq. And yet, Murtha’s character is assassinated by ideologues that represent a small minority – most of whom are neoconservative. They sure as hell don’t swim in the mainstream pond with the rest of us.
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: GALLUP POLL HERE
For information on Senator Murtha, check out the MSNBC Chris Matthews on Hardball archives for 8/3/06.
Two top Generals testified today that Iraq is possibly slipping into a civil war. Rumsfeld must be desperate because he told a huge whooper when testifying before the Senate. He said he has never been overly optimistic about Iraq. Really!? Well, who was it that told us we’d be greeted as liberators? And there were WMD in Iraq? And what about Saddam Hussein and his ties to Al-Qaeda? It was the media's fault for showing "the same vase being stolen over and over and over again" when the media's cameras revealed the infant stages of anarchy and the insurrection that lay ahead.
MY WAY: GENERALS WARN OF CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ
Um – why are we there? Anyone have a clue?
According to the BBC News today, Blair was warned that Iraq is headed toward a civil war. In public officials say all is peachy keen and AOK in Iraq. Privately they tell another story.
BBC NEWS: IRAQ CIVIL WAR WARNING FOR BLAIR
The Bush Administration does its best to shut down anyone who disagrees with its ideology. Those who veer off message or stray from the flock, especially if they hold office or positions in government, including the CIA and the military, are routinely attacked and their careers ruined. Hate groups raise millions of dollars to purchase TV ads to do their evil work. TV stations are all too willing to take their filthy dollars. This is one reason I do not watch much TV.
Never in my life have I witnessed such evil, criminal, cynical and calloused behavior on the part of our government and its enabling Republican Congress. Some Democrats share the blame, too. Never in our history has the characters of war veterans, CIA officers and elected officials been so routinely assassinated for merely disagreeing with an administration’s belief system. Never before has a Vice President outed a CIA agent because her spouse disagreed with party policy.
History will tell us we are inching toward fascism under the Bush Administration.
Change has never been so desperately needed to save the shreds of our democracy. LS
THINK PROGRESS: HAGEL ON IRAQ
Radnofsky Democrats in Texas (folks with political leanings that range from moderate to progressive to liberal) are exchanging ideas with conservative Republicans on a Dallas blog. We have met a group of folks who refuse to understand truth. When the ideologues hear what they do not wish to hear, or if they cannot defend the facts about our abysmally underperforming Senator Hutchison, they go on the personal assault route, pretty much the same way as the Kerry Swift Boaters did.
Right now Murtha is being Swift Boated by a group of neonut vets. Why? Because he tells the truth about Iraq. A Gallup poll revealed today that 55% of Americans want out of Iraq. And yet, Murtha’s character is assassinated by ideologues that represent a small minority – most of whom are neoconservative. They sure as hell don’t swim in the mainstream pond with the rest of us.
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: GALLUP POLL HERE
For information on Senator Murtha, check out the MSNBC Chris Matthews on Hardball archives for 8/3/06.
Two top Generals testified today that Iraq is possibly slipping into a civil war. Rumsfeld must be desperate because he told a huge whooper when testifying before the Senate. He said he has never been overly optimistic about Iraq. Really!? Well, who was it that told us we’d be greeted as liberators? And there were WMD in Iraq? And what about Saddam Hussein and his ties to Al-Qaeda? It was the media's fault for showing "the same vase being stolen over and over and over again" when the media's cameras revealed the infant stages of anarchy and the insurrection that lay ahead.
MY WAY: GENERALS WARN OF CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ
Um – why are we there? Anyone have a clue?
According to the BBC News today, Blair was warned that Iraq is headed toward a civil war. In public officials say all is peachy keen and AOK in Iraq. Privately they tell another story.
BBC NEWS: IRAQ CIVIL WAR WARNING FOR BLAIR
The Bush Administration does its best to shut down anyone who disagrees with its ideology. Those who veer off message or stray from the flock, especially if they hold office or positions in government, including the CIA and the military, are routinely attacked and their careers ruined. Hate groups raise millions of dollars to purchase TV ads to do their evil work. TV stations are all too willing to take their filthy dollars. This is one reason I do not watch much TV.
Never in my life have I witnessed such evil, criminal, cynical and calloused behavior on the part of our government and its enabling Republican Congress. Some Democrats share the blame, too. Never in our history has the characters of war veterans, CIA officers and elected officials been so routinely assassinated for merely disagreeing with an administration’s belief system. Never before has a Vice President outed a CIA agent because her spouse disagreed with party policy.
History will tell us we are inching toward fascism under the Bush Administration.
Change has never been so desperately needed to save the shreds of our democracy. LS
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
9/11 COMMISSION SUSPECTS DECEPTION BY THE PENTAGON
This very disturbing piece was sent to me today from my friend Ken. I am glad he noticed it because the national media seems to be fixated solely on the Middle East, except for Iraq, of course, where the country seems to be engaged in a full scale civil war.
Excerpts from Washington Post piece today: (An explosive article on this issue also follows on Vanity Fair below.)
Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.
"We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."
In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft -- American Airlines Flight 11 -- long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center.
Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold and Col. Alan Scott told the commission that NORAD had begun tracking United 93 at 9:16 a.m., but the commission determined that the airliner was not hijacked until 12 minutes later. The military was not aware of the flight until after it had crashed in Pennsylvania.
9/11 COMMISSION SUSPECTS DECEPTION FROM PENTAGON
THERE IS ALSO AN EXPLOSIVE ARTICLE IN VANITY FAIR ON THE 9/11 COMMISSION'S SUSPICION
VANITY FAIR ON 9/11 COMMISSION
BUSH WANTS TO EXPAND AUTHORITY OF MILITARY COURTS
HI HO, HI HO, CLOSER TO FASCISM WE GO
Another stunning and highly disturbing piece sent by Ken from the Washington Post today.
Excerpts:
A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such "commissions" to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.
The plan, which would replace a military trial system ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in June, would also allow the secretary of defense to add crimes at will to those under the military court's jurisdiction. The two provisions would be likely to put more individuals than previously expected before military juries, officials and independent experts said.
The draft proposed legislation, set to be discussed at two Senate hearings today, is controversial inside and outside the administration because defendants would be denied many protections guaranteed by the civilian and traditional military criminal justice systems.
Under the proposed procedures, defendants would lack rights to confront accusers, exclude hearsay accusations, or bar evidence obtained through rough or coercive interrogations. They would not be guaranteed a public or speedy trial and would lack the right to choose their military counsel, who in turn would not be guaranteed equal access to evidence held by prosecutors.
Detainees would also not be guaranteed the right to be present at their own trials, if their absence is deemed necessary to protect national security or individuals.
BUSH WANTS TO EXPAND POWER OF MILITARY COURTS
EDITORIAL BOARDS AROUND THE NATION CRITICIZE BUSH FOR VIOLATING THE SEPARATION OF POWERS
Found on the Washington Post.com via Buzz Flash.com. This article provides links to the various newspaper editorials throughout the country that have a huge problem with Bush's abuse of power. Newspapers rail against Bush in both red and blue states: Lexington, KY., Melbourne, FL., Appleton, WI., Yakima, WA., Huntsville, AL and Loveland, CO. to name a few.
Excerpts:
There's no doubt that President Bush's unprecedented use of signing statements to flout the will of Congress has fired up policy wonks, constitutional lawyers and other inside-the-Beltway types.
But is this one of those issues that the average voter couldn't care less about?
Well, judging from the recent outpouring of editorials at small- and medium-sized newspapers across the country, there may be something about violating the Constitution that riles up Americans no matter where they live or where they stand on the political spectrum.
Bush's use of signing statements finally -- and briefly -- made the headlines last week, when a bipartisan American Bar Association task force dramatically established how the president's assertion of his right to ignore certain statutes passed by Congress undermines the rule of law and the constitutional system of separation of powers.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) then proposed a bill that would give Congress the ability to challenge those statements in federal court.
"SIGNING STATEMENTS STRIKE A NERVE"
Excerpts from Washington Post piece today: (An explosive article on this issue also follows on Vanity Fair below.)
Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.
"We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."
In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft -- American Airlines Flight 11 -- long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center.
Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold and Col. Alan Scott told the commission that NORAD had begun tracking United 93 at 9:16 a.m., but the commission determined that the airliner was not hijacked until 12 minutes later. The military was not aware of the flight until after it had crashed in Pennsylvania.
9/11 COMMISSION SUSPECTS DECEPTION FROM PENTAGON
THERE IS ALSO AN EXPLOSIVE ARTICLE IN VANITY FAIR ON THE 9/11 COMMISSION'S SUSPICION
VANITY FAIR ON 9/11 COMMISSION
BUSH WANTS TO EXPAND AUTHORITY OF MILITARY COURTS
HI HO, HI HO, CLOSER TO FASCISM WE GO
Another stunning and highly disturbing piece sent by Ken from the Washington Post today.
Excerpts:
A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such "commissions" to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.
The plan, which would replace a military trial system ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in June, would also allow the secretary of defense to add crimes at will to those under the military court's jurisdiction. The two provisions would be likely to put more individuals than previously expected before military juries, officials and independent experts said.
The draft proposed legislation, set to be discussed at two Senate hearings today, is controversial inside and outside the administration because defendants would be denied many protections guaranteed by the civilian and traditional military criminal justice systems.
Under the proposed procedures, defendants would lack rights to confront accusers, exclude hearsay accusations, or bar evidence obtained through rough or coercive interrogations. They would not be guaranteed a public or speedy trial and would lack the right to choose their military counsel, who in turn would not be guaranteed equal access to evidence held by prosecutors.
Detainees would also not be guaranteed the right to be present at their own trials, if their absence is deemed necessary to protect national security or individuals.
BUSH WANTS TO EXPAND POWER OF MILITARY COURTS
EDITORIAL BOARDS AROUND THE NATION CRITICIZE BUSH FOR VIOLATING THE SEPARATION OF POWERS
Found on the Washington Post.com via Buzz Flash.com. This article provides links to the various newspaper editorials throughout the country that have a huge problem with Bush's abuse of power. Newspapers rail against Bush in both red and blue states: Lexington, KY., Melbourne, FL., Appleton, WI., Yakima, WA., Huntsville, AL and Loveland, CO. to name a few.
Excerpts:
There's no doubt that President Bush's unprecedented use of signing statements to flout the will of Congress has fired up policy wonks, constitutional lawyers and other inside-the-Beltway types.
But is this one of those issues that the average voter couldn't care less about?
Well, judging from the recent outpouring of editorials at small- and medium-sized newspapers across the country, there may be something about violating the Constitution that riles up Americans no matter where they live or where they stand on the political spectrum.
Bush's use of signing statements finally -- and briefly -- made the headlines last week, when a bipartisan American Bar Association task force dramatically established how the president's assertion of his right to ignore certain statutes passed by Congress undermines the rule of law and the constitutional system of separation of powers.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) then proposed a bill that would give Congress the ability to challenge those statements in federal court.
"SIGNING STATEMENTS STRIKE A NERVE"
Monday, July 31, 2006
ON CENSORSHIP, PROPAGANDA AND DISTORTED REALITIES
LIFE IS TOUGH IN TEXAS WHEN YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH FOLKS WHO HAVE CLEARLY DEPARTED FROM REALITY INTO A TWILIGHT ZONE OF MENDACITY AND DISTORTION, NOT TO MENTION CENSORSHIP AND PROPAGANDA.
Hurricanes don't happen in South Texas, there are no earthquakes in California and Dr. Hansen of NASA, the global warming specialist's findings, have been censored by the Bush Administration. All science policy is reviewed by a Bush appointed conservative lawyer who has no background in science. Scientific findings are fixed around neocon policy, just like the intelligence on Iraq was cherry picked. Check out the archives on 60 Minutes for 7/30/06.
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES VIA TRUTHOUT.ORG
"FOOLING THE VOTERS"
Excerpts:
One of the bills was a pension reform measure. The other was a grab bag that contains three main items: an extension of the expired tax credit for corporate research; a $2.10 an hour increase in the minimum wage, to be phased in over three years; and a multibillion-dollar estate-tax cut. That's the deal House Republicans are really offering - a few more dollars for 6.6 million working Americans; billions more for some 8,000 of the wealthiest families.
It is cynical in the extreme. Extending the research tax credit is noncontroversial, yet pressing. A minimum wage increase is compelling - morally, politically and financially - but Republicans generally oppose it. And the estate-tax cut has already failed to pass the Senate twice this summer. So House Republicans linked it to the research credit and the minimum wage, hoping to flip a handful of senators from both parties who have voted against estate-tax cuts in the past. Democrats who vote against the estate tax, Republicans think, can be painted as voting against a higher minimum wage.
This is an attempt at extortion. There is no way to justify providing yet another enormous tax shelter to the nation's wealthiest heirs in the face of huge budget deficits, growing income inequality and looming government obligations for Social Security and Medicare.
As for the House's pension bill, it is not the overhaul that Congress has long been promising. The promised bill would have meshed House and Senate versions of pension reform into a single bill that would have almost certainly passed each chamber. But the conference was fatally derailed last Thursday when House Republican negotiators, including the majority leader, John Boehner, refused to attend a meeting called by Senate Republicans to settle a few remaining differences. Mr. Boehner and his followers avoided having to vote - and lose - on items that other negotiators wanted in the final bill.
"FOOLING THE VOTERS"
MR. LOU DOBBS OF CNN ASKS WHY BUSH IS IGNORING OUR LAWS
Mr. Dobbs is a moderate Republican, by the way. We are supposed to be a nation of laws not men. Not under W.
From CNN.com via Truthout.org.
WHY IS BUSH IGNORING OUR LAWS
BUSH POLICY A DISASTER IN THE MIDDLE EAST, ACCORDING TO GOP FORMER POLICY PLANNING DIRECTOR FOR THE STATE DEPT.
From the Washington Post.com
Excerpts:
"The arrows are all pointing in the wrong direction," said Richard N. Haass, who was President Bush's first-term State Department policy planning director. "The biggest danger in the short run is it just increases frustration and alienation from the United States in the Arab world. Not just the Arab world, but in Europe and around the world. People will get a daily drumbeat of suffering in Lebanon and this will just drive up anti-Americanism to new heights."
The White House recognizes the danger but thinks the missiles flying both ways across the Israel-Lebanon border carry with them a chance to finally break out of the stalemate of Middle East geopolitics. Bush and his advisers hope the conflict can destroy or at least cripple Hezbollah and in the process strike a blow against the militia's sponsor, Iran, while forcing the region to move toward final settlement of the decades-old conflict with Israel.
CRISIS IN MIDDLE EAST COULD UNDERCUT BUSH'S LONG TERM GOALS
THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF NEWS ON IRAQ
Powerful argument made by Mr. Frank Rich of The New York Times yesterday. The link below is from The Progressive American.
Excerpts:
The steady falloff in Iraq coverage isn't happenstance. It's a barometer of the scope of the tragedy. For reporters, the already apocalyptic security situation in Baghdad keeps getting worse, simply making the war more difficult to cover than ever. The audience has its own phobia: Iraq is a bummer. "It is depressing to pay attention to this war on terror," said Fox News's Bill O'Reilly on July 18. "I mean, it's summertime." Americans don't like to lose, whatever the season. They know defeat when they see it, no matter how many new plans for victory are trotted out to obscure that reality.
The specter of defeat is not the only reason Americans have switched off Iraq. The larger issue is that we don't know what we — or, more specifically, 135,000 brave and vulnerable American troops — are fighting for. In contrast to the Israel-Hezbollah war, where the stakes for the combatants and American interests are clear, the war in Iraq has no rationale to keep it afloat on television or anywhere else. It's a big, nightmarish story, all right, but one that lacks the thread of a coherent plot.
Certainly there has been no shortage of retrofitted explanations for the war in the three-plus years since the administration's initial casus belli, to fend off Saddam's mushroom clouds and vanquish Al Qaeda, proved to be frauds. We've been told that the war would promote democracy in the Arab world. And make the region safer for Israel. And secure the flow of cheap oil. If any of these justifications retained any credibility, they have been obliterated by Crisis in the Middle East. The new war is a grueling daily object lesson in just how much the American blunders in Iraq have undermined the one robust democracy that already existed in the region, Israel, while emboldening terrorists and strengthening the hand of Iran.
But it's the collapse of the one remaining (and unassailable) motivation that still might justify staying the course in Iraq — as a humanitarian mission on behalf of the Iraqi people — that is most revealing of what a moral catastrophe this misadventure has been for our country. The sad truth is that the war's architects always cared more about their own grandiose political and ideological ambitions than they did about the Iraqis, and they communicated that indifference from the start to Iraqis and Americans alike. The legacy of that attitude is that the American public cannot be rallied to the Iraqi cause today, as the war reaches its treacherous endgame.
The Bush administration constantly congratulates itself for liberating Iraq from Saddam's genocidal regime. But regime change was never billed as a primary motivation for the war; the White House instead appealed to American fears and narcissism — we had to be saved from Saddam's W.M.D. From "Shock and Awe" on, the fate of Iraqis was an afterthought. They would greet our troops with flowers and go about their business.
Donald Rumsfeld boasted that "the care" and "the humanity" that went into our precision assaults on military targets would minimize any civilian deaths. Such casualties were merely "collateral damage," unworthy of quantification. "We don't do body counts," said Gen. Tommy Franks. President Bush at last started counting those Iraqi bodies publicly — with an estimate of 30,000 — some seven months ago. (More recently, The Los Angeles Times put the figure at, conservatively, 50,000.) By then, Americans had tuned out.
The contempt our government showed for Iraqis was not just to be found in our cavalier stance toward their casualties, or in the abuses at Abu Ghraib. There was a cultural condescension toward the Iraqi people from the get-go as well, as if they were schoolchildren in a compassionate-conservatism campaign ad. This attitude was epitomized by Mr. Rumsfeld's "stuff happens" response to the looting of Baghdad at the dawn of the American occupation. In "Fiasco," his stunning new book about the American failure in Iraq, Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post's senior Pentagon correspondent, captures the meaning of that pivotal moment perfectly: "The message sent to Iraqis was far more troubling than Americans understood. It was that the U.S. government didn't care — or, even more troubling for the future security of Iraq, that it did care but was incapable of acting effectively."
WHY THE MSM IS NOT REPORTING ON IRAQ
A GLIMPSE INTO THE GRASSROOTS EFFORTS IN TEXAS TO BEAT BACK THE LIES, THE PROPAGANDA AND THE DISTORTED REALITIES. See how down and dirty the GOP gets when you tell them the truth and inform them of facts. Check out Rove's hand book in real time play, i.e. keep on telling the lies and eventually the lies will become perceived as truth. This is where the GOP has stooped since Bush W. stole the office of the Presidency.
GRASSROOTS DEMS TAKE ON NEONUTS IN BUSH LAND
Hurricanes don't happen in South Texas, there are no earthquakes in California and Dr. Hansen of NASA, the global warming specialist's findings, have been censored by the Bush Administration. All science policy is reviewed by a Bush appointed conservative lawyer who has no background in science. Scientific findings are fixed around neocon policy, just like the intelligence on Iraq was cherry picked. Check out the archives on 60 Minutes for 7/30/06.
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES VIA TRUTHOUT.ORG
"FOOLING THE VOTERS"
Excerpts:
One of the bills was a pension reform measure. The other was a grab bag that contains three main items: an extension of the expired tax credit for corporate research; a $2.10 an hour increase in the minimum wage, to be phased in over three years; and a multibillion-dollar estate-tax cut. That's the deal House Republicans are really offering - a few more dollars for 6.6 million working Americans; billions more for some 8,000 of the wealthiest families.
It is cynical in the extreme. Extending the research tax credit is noncontroversial, yet pressing. A minimum wage increase is compelling - morally, politically and financially - but Republicans generally oppose it. And the estate-tax cut has already failed to pass the Senate twice this summer. So House Republicans linked it to the research credit and the minimum wage, hoping to flip a handful of senators from both parties who have voted against estate-tax cuts in the past. Democrats who vote against the estate tax, Republicans think, can be painted as voting against a higher minimum wage.
This is an attempt at extortion. There is no way to justify providing yet another enormous tax shelter to the nation's wealthiest heirs in the face of huge budget deficits, growing income inequality and looming government obligations for Social Security and Medicare.
As for the House's pension bill, it is not the overhaul that Congress has long been promising. The promised bill would have meshed House and Senate versions of pension reform into a single bill that would have almost certainly passed each chamber. But the conference was fatally derailed last Thursday when House Republican negotiators, including the majority leader, John Boehner, refused to attend a meeting called by Senate Republicans to settle a few remaining differences. Mr. Boehner and his followers avoided having to vote - and lose - on items that other negotiators wanted in the final bill.
"FOOLING THE VOTERS"
MR. LOU DOBBS OF CNN ASKS WHY BUSH IS IGNORING OUR LAWS
Mr. Dobbs is a moderate Republican, by the way. We are supposed to be a nation of laws not men. Not under W.
From CNN.com via Truthout.org.
WHY IS BUSH IGNORING OUR LAWS
BUSH POLICY A DISASTER IN THE MIDDLE EAST, ACCORDING TO GOP FORMER POLICY PLANNING DIRECTOR FOR THE STATE DEPT.
From the Washington Post.com
Excerpts:
"The arrows are all pointing in the wrong direction," said Richard N. Haass, who was President Bush's first-term State Department policy planning director. "The biggest danger in the short run is it just increases frustration and alienation from the United States in the Arab world. Not just the Arab world, but in Europe and around the world. People will get a daily drumbeat of suffering in Lebanon and this will just drive up anti-Americanism to new heights."
The White House recognizes the danger but thinks the missiles flying both ways across the Israel-Lebanon border carry with them a chance to finally break out of the stalemate of Middle East geopolitics. Bush and his advisers hope the conflict can destroy or at least cripple Hezbollah and in the process strike a blow against the militia's sponsor, Iran, while forcing the region to move toward final settlement of the decades-old conflict with Israel.
CRISIS IN MIDDLE EAST COULD UNDERCUT BUSH'S LONG TERM GOALS
THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF NEWS ON IRAQ
Powerful argument made by Mr. Frank Rich of The New York Times yesterday. The link below is from The Progressive American.
Excerpts:
The steady falloff in Iraq coverage isn't happenstance. It's a barometer of the scope of the tragedy. For reporters, the already apocalyptic security situation in Baghdad keeps getting worse, simply making the war more difficult to cover than ever. The audience has its own phobia: Iraq is a bummer. "It is depressing to pay attention to this war on terror," said Fox News's Bill O'Reilly on July 18. "I mean, it's summertime." Americans don't like to lose, whatever the season. They know defeat when they see it, no matter how many new plans for victory are trotted out to obscure that reality.
The specter of defeat is not the only reason Americans have switched off Iraq. The larger issue is that we don't know what we — or, more specifically, 135,000 brave and vulnerable American troops — are fighting for. In contrast to the Israel-Hezbollah war, where the stakes for the combatants and American interests are clear, the war in Iraq has no rationale to keep it afloat on television or anywhere else. It's a big, nightmarish story, all right, but one that lacks the thread of a coherent plot.
Certainly there has been no shortage of retrofitted explanations for the war in the three-plus years since the administration's initial casus belli, to fend off Saddam's mushroom clouds and vanquish Al Qaeda, proved to be frauds. We've been told that the war would promote democracy in the Arab world. And make the region safer for Israel. And secure the flow of cheap oil. If any of these justifications retained any credibility, they have been obliterated by Crisis in the Middle East. The new war is a grueling daily object lesson in just how much the American blunders in Iraq have undermined the one robust democracy that already existed in the region, Israel, while emboldening terrorists and strengthening the hand of Iran.
But it's the collapse of the one remaining (and unassailable) motivation that still might justify staying the course in Iraq — as a humanitarian mission on behalf of the Iraqi people — that is most revealing of what a moral catastrophe this misadventure has been for our country. The sad truth is that the war's architects always cared more about their own grandiose political and ideological ambitions than they did about the Iraqis, and they communicated that indifference from the start to Iraqis and Americans alike. The legacy of that attitude is that the American public cannot be rallied to the Iraqi cause today, as the war reaches its treacherous endgame.
The Bush administration constantly congratulates itself for liberating Iraq from Saddam's genocidal regime. But regime change was never billed as a primary motivation for the war; the White House instead appealed to American fears and narcissism — we had to be saved from Saddam's W.M.D. From "Shock and Awe" on, the fate of Iraqis was an afterthought. They would greet our troops with flowers and go about their business.
Donald Rumsfeld boasted that "the care" and "the humanity" that went into our precision assaults on military targets would minimize any civilian deaths. Such casualties were merely "collateral damage," unworthy of quantification. "We don't do body counts," said Gen. Tommy Franks. President Bush at last started counting those Iraqi bodies publicly — with an estimate of 30,000 — some seven months ago. (More recently, The Los Angeles Times put the figure at, conservatively, 50,000.) By then, Americans had tuned out.
The contempt our government showed for Iraqis was not just to be found in our cavalier stance toward their casualties, or in the abuses at Abu Ghraib. There was a cultural condescension toward the Iraqi people from the get-go as well, as if they were schoolchildren in a compassionate-conservatism campaign ad. This attitude was epitomized by Mr. Rumsfeld's "stuff happens" response to the looting of Baghdad at the dawn of the American occupation. In "Fiasco," his stunning new book about the American failure in Iraq, Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post's senior Pentagon correspondent, captures the meaning of that pivotal moment perfectly: "The message sent to Iraqis was far more troubling than Americans understood. It was that the U.S. government didn't care — or, even more troubling for the future security of Iraq, that it did care but was incapable of acting effectively."
WHY THE MSM IS NOT REPORTING ON IRAQ
A GLIMPSE INTO THE GRASSROOTS EFFORTS IN TEXAS TO BEAT BACK THE LIES, THE PROPAGANDA AND THE DISTORTED REALITIES. See how down and dirty the GOP gets when you tell them the truth and inform them of facts. Check out Rove's hand book in real time play, i.e. keep on telling the lies and eventually the lies will become perceived as truth. This is where the GOP has stooped since Bush W. stole the office of the Presidency.
GRASSROOTS DEMS TAKE ON NEONUTS IN BUSH LAND
Saturday, July 29, 2006
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CAN'T STAND ITSELF ANYMORE
Things must be really, really bad within the party right now when a life time and three generation member of the GOP , Mr. Pete McCloskey, supports Dem candidates.
Alas, even a Reagan conservative blasts the Bush Administration. Richard Viguerie, a conservative icon and key architect of Ronald Reagan's 1980 victory, isn't happy either. The piece on Viguerie from Raw Story.com is posted below.
Below the Viguerie story is a link to The Dallas Blog in which volunteers for the Barbara Ann Radnofsky campaign for Texas U.S. Senate have been dueling with neonut supporters of the incumbent, Mr. Tom DeLay's best buddy, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
THE REVOLT OF THE ELDERS
A great piece on the Huffington Post.com
Excerpts:
It has been difficult, nevertheless, to conclude as I have, that the Republican House leadership has been so unalterably corrupted by power and money that reasonable Republicans should support Democrats against DeLay-type Republican incumbents in 2006. Let me try to explain why.
We had become appalled at the House Republican leadership's decision in early 2005 to effectively emasculate the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct by changing the rules to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay had been admonished three times by the Committee for abuse of power and unethical conduct. It was our hope to persuade Speaker Hastert and the Republican leadership, of which Northern California Congressman Richard Pombo and John Doolittle were prominent members, to rescind the rules changes and to act in accord with the promise of high ethical standards contained in Speaker Gingrich's Contract With America which brought the Republicans majority control in 1994. We failed. Letters to the Speaker from an increasing number of former Republican Members were ignored and remained unanswered. Then, only a few weeks ago, the House leadership refused to allow even a vote on what could have become an effective independent ethics monitor. Instead of repudiating the infamous “Pay to Playâ€? program put in place by DeLay to extract maximum corporate campaign contributions to “Retain Our Majority Partyâ€? (ROMP), DeLay's successor as Majority Leader called for a continuance of the free luxury airline trips, mammoth campaign contributions to the so-called “Leadership PACsâ€? and the continuing stalemate on the Ethics Committee. Strangely, even after the guilty pleas of Abramoff, Duke Cunningham and a number of former House staffers who had been sent to work for Abramoff and other lobbyists. The Republican House leaders don't see this as corruption worthy of investigation or change. That their former staff members and Abramoff were granted preference in access to the legislative process is not seen as a problem if it helps Republicans retain control of the House. It reminds one of the contentions of Haldeman and Ehrlichman long ago that the national security justified wire-tapping and burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate. Republicans are happy with this new corporate lobby/House complex, which is far more dangerous that the Industry/Defense complex we were long ago warned about by President Eisenhower.
There is another strong reason, I believe, for Republicans to work this fall for Democrat challengers against the DeLay-type Republicans like Pombo and Doolittle. That is the clear abdication by the House over the past five years of the Congress' constitutional power and duty to exercise oversight over abuses of power, cronyism, incompetence and excessive secrecy on the part of the Executive Branch. When does anyone remember House Committee hearings to examine into the patent failures of the Bush Administration to adhere to laws like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, or to the arrogant refusal of the President to accept the congressionally-enacted limits on torture of prisoners? When can anyone remember the House's use of the subpoena power to compel answers from Administration officials? Why have there been no oversight hearings into the Cunningham bribery affair or Abramoff's Indian gaming and exploitation of women labor in the Marianas?
"REPUBLICAN SAYS WE NEED A DEM CONGRESS"
REAGAN CONSERVATIVE LASHES OUT AT THE EXTREMIST NEOCONS
“DeLay is singlehandedly the primary person responsible for the most expansion of the government since [Democratic President] Lyndon Johnson,” he remarks. Subsequent research by RAW STORY revealed that, according to the CATO Institute, President Bush has exceeded Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.
Citing the recent bribery conviction of Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), Viguerie says the real threat to government isn’t illegal activity – which he believes will eventually be caught by the law – but legal “plunder.”
“What really affects our life is the legal stuff, the legal thefts, the legal plunder of people like Tom DeLay, for the sole, in my opinion immoral, purpose of holding onto power,” the Texas politico said. “They are engaged in this illegal theft, spending money that doesn’t belong to them to hold onto power. And that’s corrupt and immoral. And people who are engaged in that are in no way worthy of the label conservative.”
REAGAN CONSERVATIVE RAILS AGAINST HIJACKERS OF CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT
ENABLERS OF CORRUPTION ARE ALIVE IN WELL IN THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS
HEY! I've just posted two pieces by REPUBLICANS who say Tom DeLay is the most corrupt creature on the politcal planet. But our senior Senator from Texas,Kay Bailey Hutchison, is his best friend and chaired a fund raising event for his legal defense fund. This is what we are stuck with in Texas. The corrupt and the enablers of corruption. Wonderful.
AND WHEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERS FOR U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY RAISE ISSUES ABOUT THE INCUMBENT, CHECK OUT BELOW WHAT THE INCUMBENTS' SUPPORTERS HAVE TO SAY. TALK ABOUT A TWISTED TWILIGHT ZONE OF MENDACITY AND DISTORTION.
Note: Ms. Carolyn Shore Aresu, Mr. Christopher Bates, Mr. George Chamberlain, Ms. Carolyn Moon, Mr. Evan Norman, and yours truly are obviously volunteers for the Radnofsky for Texas U.S. Senate campaign.
GRASSROOTS DEMS DUKE IT OUT WITH THE PARTY OF CORRUPTION IN TEXAS
Alas, even a Reagan conservative blasts the Bush Administration. Richard Viguerie, a conservative icon and key architect of Ronald Reagan's 1980 victory, isn't happy either. The piece on Viguerie from Raw Story.com is posted below.
Below the Viguerie story is a link to The Dallas Blog in which volunteers for the Barbara Ann Radnofsky campaign for Texas U.S. Senate have been dueling with neonut supporters of the incumbent, Mr. Tom DeLay's best buddy, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
THE REVOLT OF THE ELDERS
A great piece on the Huffington Post.com
Excerpts:
It has been difficult, nevertheless, to conclude as I have, that the Republican House leadership has been so unalterably corrupted by power and money that reasonable Republicans should support Democrats against DeLay-type Republican incumbents in 2006. Let me try to explain why.
We had become appalled at the House Republican leadership's decision in early 2005 to effectively emasculate the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct by changing the rules to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay had been admonished three times by the Committee for abuse of power and unethical conduct. It was our hope to persuade Speaker Hastert and the Republican leadership, of which Northern California Congressman Richard Pombo and John Doolittle were prominent members, to rescind the rules changes and to act in accord with the promise of high ethical standards contained in Speaker Gingrich's Contract With America which brought the Republicans majority control in 1994. We failed. Letters to the Speaker from an increasing number of former Republican Members were ignored and remained unanswered. Then, only a few weeks ago, the House leadership refused to allow even a vote on what could have become an effective independent ethics monitor. Instead of repudiating the infamous “Pay to Playâ€? program put in place by DeLay to extract maximum corporate campaign contributions to “Retain Our Majority Partyâ€? (ROMP), DeLay's successor as Majority Leader called for a continuance of the free luxury airline trips, mammoth campaign contributions to the so-called “Leadership PACsâ€? and the continuing stalemate on the Ethics Committee. Strangely, even after the guilty pleas of Abramoff, Duke Cunningham and a number of former House staffers who had been sent to work for Abramoff and other lobbyists. The Republican House leaders don't see this as corruption worthy of investigation or change. That their former staff members and Abramoff were granted preference in access to the legislative process is not seen as a problem if it helps Republicans retain control of the House. It reminds one of the contentions of Haldeman and Ehrlichman long ago that the national security justified wire-tapping and burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate. Republicans are happy with this new corporate lobby/House complex, which is far more dangerous that the Industry/Defense complex we were long ago warned about by President Eisenhower.
There is another strong reason, I believe, for Republicans to work this fall for Democrat challengers against the DeLay-type Republicans like Pombo and Doolittle. That is the clear abdication by the House over the past five years of the Congress' constitutional power and duty to exercise oversight over abuses of power, cronyism, incompetence and excessive secrecy on the part of the Executive Branch. When does anyone remember House Committee hearings to examine into the patent failures of the Bush Administration to adhere to laws like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, or to the arrogant refusal of the President to accept the congressionally-enacted limits on torture of prisoners? When can anyone remember the House's use of the subpoena power to compel answers from Administration officials? Why have there been no oversight hearings into the Cunningham bribery affair or Abramoff's Indian gaming and exploitation of women labor in the Marianas?
"REPUBLICAN SAYS WE NEED A DEM CONGRESS"
REAGAN CONSERVATIVE LASHES OUT AT THE EXTREMIST NEOCONS
“DeLay is singlehandedly the primary person responsible for the most expansion of the government since [Democratic President] Lyndon Johnson,” he remarks. Subsequent research by RAW STORY revealed that, according to the CATO Institute, President Bush has exceeded Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.
Citing the recent bribery conviction of Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), Viguerie says the real threat to government isn’t illegal activity – which he believes will eventually be caught by the law – but legal “plunder.”
“What really affects our life is the legal stuff, the legal thefts, the legal plunder of people like Tom DeLay, for the sole, in my opinion immoral, purpose of holding onto power,” the Texas politico said. “They are engaged in this illegal theft, spending money that doesn’t belong to them to hold onto power. And that’s corrupt and immoral. And people who are engaged in that are in no way worthy of the label conservative.”
REAGAN CONSERVATIVE RAILS AGAINST HIJACKERS OF CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT
ENABLERS OF CORRUPTION ARE ALIVE IN WELL IN THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS
HEY! I've just posted two pieces by REPUBLICANS who say Tom DeLay is the most corrupt creature on the politcal planet. But our senior Senator from Texas,Kay Bailey Hutchison, is his best friend and chaired a fund raising event for his legal defense fund. This is what we are stuck with in Texas. The corrupt and the enablers of corruption. Wonderful.
AND WHEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERS FOR U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY RAISE ISSUES ABOUT THE INCUMBENT, CHECK OUT BELOW WHAT THE INCUMBENTS' SUPPORTERS HAVE TO SAY. TALK ABOUT A TWISTED TWILIGHT ZONE OF MENDACITY AND DISTORTION.
Note: Ms. Carolyn Shore Aresu, Mr. Christopher Bates, Mr. George Chamberlain, Ms. Carolyn Moon, Mr. Evan Norman, and yours truly are obviously volunteers for the Radnofsky for Texas U.S. Senate campaign.
GRASSROOTS DEMS DUKE IT OUT WITH THE PARTY OF CORRUPTION IN TEXAS
Thursday, July 13, 2006
SUPPRESSION IN THE TEXAS MEDIA?
One would never know it, but the Democratic Party is alive and well in Texas. Despite the fact that our great state has been gerrymandered to smithereens by the likes of soon to be jailbird Tom DeLay, we Democrats do have more than a mere pulse.
The national media covered a debate between Democratic opponents in teeny Connecticut, but some how one of the largest states in the U.S. that also happens to house the fourth largest and most diverse city in the U.S, mysteriously falls off the radar screen.
Wake up mainstream media. Wake up or find some courage local media.
Our state's newspapers and dumbed down TV news are obviously married to or are cowards and are therefore terrified of the Republican Party machine.
Or they are simply lazy and don't do their homework.
Or a little of both
Texan Democrats are well informed. We know the facts and we have the figures. And we know that bully Rove no longer has any clothes. Indeed, he is completely naked and is an embarrassing buffoon. And of course there is the added distraction that Mr. Overly Fed Naked Boy must face with yet another trial.
Ms. Valerie Plame Wilson, the outed CIA agent, sued Rove, Cheney and Scooter boy yesterday.
Truth is on our side. Maybe when the press and media get it, they will grow some courage and do what they are hired to do.
PROOF OF MEDIA FEAR AND/OR SUCKING UP TO THE GOP
A volunteer for the TEXAS U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY campaign submitted a letter to the editor of the Houston Chronicle. The letter was published, (6/27/06), however an entire paragraph that had asked for a debate between Ms. Radnofsky and her opponent was conveniently omitted.
Letter Submitted to the Houston Chronicle by Carolyn:
To Whom It May Concern:
The election for the US Senate seat in Texas is four months away and all we hear is Karl Rove's cheap campaign rhetoric. I am sick of spin. I want to know about real policy issues and hear the candidates debate them.
We are at war on two fronts: Afghanistan and Iraq. We face nuclear threats from North Korea and possibly Iran. Our southern border is hemorrhaging, yet firms are never penalized for hiring illegals. Our public schools are next to last in the nation. Our deficit is in the trillions. We owe our souls to the Chinese. We are less safe than ever.
And yet our Congress has met a mere 76 times this year.
I want to hear what Ms. Radnofsky has to propose on Iraq, border security, immigration and the deficit. I also want to know why, during her two terms in office, her opponent has done so little to solve the grave problems that confront us.
I am tired of Rovian rhetoric. Voters deserve real debates, dialogue and discussion.
Sincerely yours,
Carolyn of Houston
EDITED VERSION OF CAROLYN'S LETTER PUBLISHED BY THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE:
The election for the US Senate seat in Texas is four months away and all I hear is Karl Rove’s cheap campaign rhetoric. I am sick of spin. I want to know about real policy issues and hear the candidates debate them.
We are at war on two fronts: Afghanistan and Iraq. We face nuclear threats from North Korea and possibly Iran. Our southern border is hemorrhaging, yet firms are seldom penalized for hiring illegals. Our public schools are next to last in the nation. Our deficit is in the trillions. We owe our souls to the Chinese. We are less safe than ever.
And yet our Congress has met a mere 76 times this year.
I am tired of Rovian rhetoric. Voters deserve real debates, dialogue and discussion.
Sincerely yours,
Carolyn of Houston
THANKS TO ALTERNATIVE MEDIA SOURCES, WE KNOW ABOUT THE PLAME-WILSON LAWSUIT
From Raw Story.com
OUTED CIA AGENT VALERIE PLAME WILSON SUES CHENEY, LIBBY AND ROVE
TEXAS INDIAN TRIBE FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST ABRAMOFF AND SAINTLY REED
Remember, our senior Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison , is busy hosting fundraising events for Abramoff instead of going to work for Texans at U.S. Appropriations Committee Hearings.
Excerpt:
The Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston, Texas, alleged the defendants defrauded the tribe, the people of Texas and the Legislature to benefit another of Abramoff's clients — the Louisiana Coushatta tribe — and "line their pockets with money."
"Ultimately, the defendants' greed and corruption led to the Alabama-Coushatta tribe permanently shutting its casino. The funding for economic programs evaporated, over 300 jobs were lost in Polk County and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe has spent years struggling to recover and revitalize its economy through other means," the tribe said in its lawsuit, obtained by The Associated Press.
The lawsuit also names Abramoff's ex-business partner Michael Scanlon, a former aide to former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Neil Volz, a former aide to Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio; and Jon Van Horne, Abramoff's former colleague at his law and lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig.
TEXAS TRIBE NAMES ABRAMOFF AND REED IN LAWUIT
GOP DOES ALL IT CAN TO HINDER VOTING RIGHTS ACT RENEWA SO IT WILL NOT BE IN PLACE FOR THE 2006 ELECTIONS
This is the party that likes to wear white sheets and ride at night.
From Truthout.org.
TRUTHOUT.ORG: "CHANCES OF VOTING RIGHTS RENEWAL DIM"
DO NO RE-ELECT STREETWALKER TYPE POLITICIANS WHO DO NOT WORK FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BUT PREFER INSTEAD TO PANDER TO CORPORATIONS AND LOBBYISTS.
Libby Shaw will be on vacation until the end of the month. If anyone should happen upon this blog who would like to help win back our government, state by state, please visit TEXAS U.S. CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE, MS. BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY'S BLOG and make a donation.
No donation is too small.
By the way, Ms. Radnofsky does not accept money from corporations or lobbyists. She will not be beholden to the big dudes calling all shots.
Get a grip folks and step up to the plate. We Texan Democrats don’t do $10,000 per plate dinners like the elitist, smug and obviously proven corrupt GOP.
We are the party of the people and stand on principle. LS
The national media covered a debate between Democratic opponents in teeny Connecticut, but some how one of the largest states in the U.S. that also happens to house the fourth largest and most diverse city in the U.S, mysteriously falls off the radar screen.
Wake up mainstream media. Wake up or find some courage local media.
Our state's newspapers and dumbed down TV news are obviously married to or are cowards and are therefore terrified of the Republican Party machine.
Or they are simply lazy and don't do their homework.
Or a little of both
Texan Democrats are well informed. We know the facts and we have the figures. And we know that bully Rove no longer has any clothes. Indeed, he is completely naked and is an embarrassing buffoon. And of course there is the added distraction that Mr. Overly Fed Naked Boy must face with yet another trial.
Ms. Valerie Plame Wilson, the outed CIA agent, sued Rove, Cheney and Scooter boy yesterday.
Truth is on our side. Maybe when the press and media get it, they will grow some courage and do what they are hired to do.
PROOF OF MEDIA FEAR AND/OR SUCKING UP TO THE GOP
A volunteer for the TEXAS U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY campaign submitted a letter to the editor of the Houston Chronicle. The letter was published, (6/27/06), however an entire paragraph that had asked for a debate between Ms. Radnofsky and her opponent was conveniently omitted.
Letter Submitted to the Houston Chronicle by Carolyn:
To Whom It May Concern:
The election for the US Senate seat in Texas is four months away and all we hear is Karl Rove's cheap campaign rhetoric. I am sick of spin. I want to know about real policy issues and hear the candidates debate them.
We are at war on two fronts: Afghanistan and Iraq. We face nuclear threats from North Korea and possibly Iran. Our southern border is hemorrhaging, yet firms are never penalized for hiring illegals. Our public schools are next to last in the nation. Our deficit is in the trillions. We owe our souls to the Chinese. We are less safe than ever.
And yet our Congress has met a mere 76 times this year.
I want to hear what Ms. Radnofsky has to propose on Iraq, border security, immigration and the deficit. I also want to know why, during her two terms in office, her opponent has done so little to solve the grave problems that confront us.
I am tired of Rovian rhetoric. Voters deserve real debates, dialogue and discussion.
Sincerely yours,
Carolyn of Houston
EDITED VERSION OF CAROLYN'S LETTER PUBLISHED BY THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE:
The election for the US Senate seat in Texas is four months away and all I hear is Karl Rove’s cheap campaign rhetoric. I am sick of spin. I want to know about real policy issues and hear the candidates debate them.
We are at war on two fronts: Afghanistan and Iraq. We face nuclear threats from North Korea and possibly Iran. Our southern border is hemorrhaging, yet firms are seldom penalized for hiring illegals. Our public schools are next to last in the nation. Our deficit is in the trillions. We owe our souls to the Chinese. We are less safe than ever.
And yet our Congress has met a mere 76 times this year.
I am tired of Rovian rhetoric. Voters deserve real debates, dialogue and discussion.
Sincerely yours,
Carolyn of Houston
THANKS TO ALTERNATIVE MEDIA SOURCES, WE KNOW ABOUT THE PLAME-WILSON LAWSUIT
From Raw Story.com
OUTED CIA AGENT VALERIE PLAME WILSON SUES CHENEY, LIBBY AND ROVE
TEXAS INDIAN TRIBE FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST ABRAMOFF AND SAINTLY REED
Remember, our senior Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison , is busy hosting fundraising events for Abramoff instead of going to work for Texans at U.S. Appropriations Committee Hearings.
Excerpt:
The Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston, Texas, alleged the defendants defrauded the tribe, the people of Texas and the Legislature to benefit another of Abramoff's clients — the Louisiana Coushatta tribe — and "line their pockets with money."
"Ultimately, the defendants' greed and corruption led to the Alabama-Coushatta tribe permanently shutting its casino. The funding for economic programs evaporated, over 300 jobs were lost in Polk County and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe has spent years struggling to recover and revitalize its economy through other means," the tribe said in its lawsuit, obtained by The Associated Press.
The lawsuit also names Abramoff's ex-business partner Michael Scanlon, a former aide to former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Neil Volz, a former aide to Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio; and Jon Van Horne, Abramoff's former colleague at his law and lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig.
TEXAS TRIBE NAMES ABRAMOFF AND REED IN LAWUIT
GOP DOES ALL IT CAN TO HINDER VOTING RIGHTS ACT RENEWA SO IT WILL NOT BE IN PLACE FOR THE 2006 ELECTIONS
This is the party that likes to wear white sheets and ride at night.
From Truthout.org.
TRUTHOUT.ORG: "CHANCES OF VOTING RIGHTS RENEWAL DIM"
DO NO RE-ELECT STREETWALKER TYPE POLITICIANS WHO DO NOT WORK FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BUT PREFER INSTEAD TO PANDER TO CORPORATIONS AND LOBBYISTS.
Libby Shaw will be on vacation until the end of the month. If anyone should happen upon this blog who would like to help win back our government, state by state, please visit TEXAS U.S. CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE, MS. BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY'S BLOG and make a donation.
No donation is too small.
By the way, Ms. Radnofsky does not accept money from corporations or lobbyists. She will not be beholden to the big dudes calling all shots.
Get a grip folks and step up to the plate. We Texan Democrats don’t do $10,000 per plate dinners like the elitist, smug and obviously proven corrupt GOP.
We are the party of the people and stand on principle. LS
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
ENABLERS OF CHICKEN HAWKS AND FAKE COWBOYS
I am not a native of Texas, but I have lived here for 29 years. My husband's and my only child was born here, so that should make us, at the very least, legitimate Texans. We came to Houston, many moons ago, when my better half was offered a teaching position at a private academic institution. We thought we would stick around for a few years and then move back to the Pacific Northwest or perhaps return to my roots in New York City.
But we stayed here.
As with many newcomers to Texas, it took us a few years to appreciate both the poetry and hard-edged beauty of the Texas culture.
Texans work very hard. We care deeply about our children and our families. We take commitment and responsibility seriously. We believe in accountability. No one and I mean no one is above the law. Numerous summons to state and local jury panels have clearly reinforced this message, at least to me, as both a yankee and a westerner. Whether one is a farmer, rancher, urban dweller, teacher, lawyer, religious leader, engineer, scientist, accountant, yard man, maid, roughneck, longshoreman, banker, clerk, bookkeeper, student, horse trainer, dog trainer, vet, military, airline pilot, travel agent, hotel clerk, waiter, waitress, to name just a few professions, we all share a common belief in a work ethic, personal intregrity and accountability.
And so, my question tonight is, why are Texans who work hard and play by the rules saddled with elected leaders who do an abysmally poor job of representing their constituents?
Are our elected officials lazy? Are they above the law? Do they work for corporate donors and lobbyists, or worse, are they merely sheep that are herded by a bunch of fake and cowardly cowboys? Or are they all of the above?
I choose all of the above.
The senior Senator from Texas, it seems, fails to show up for work on absolutely crucial days when her committee has a very important agenda. Her committee? That would be the powerful Appropriations Committee in which billions of our taxpayer dollars are divided up among various programs throughout the states. Our Senator left us with absolutely no representation on that significant meeting day last week. In short, Texas got zip.
Why did the senior Senator fail to attend such an important meeting?
Was she:
1. Moving her home from Texas to McLean, Virginia?
2. Chairing fundraiser events for Tom Delay’s legal defense fund?
3. Hosting fundraisers for Abramoff’s lobbying firms?
4. Having her hair done?
We surely deserve better.
And we will get a jewel in the end if we do what we do best. Work hard and maintain our principles. And go to the polls in November.
Our salvation for the future?
That would be US Senator for Texas, BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY OF TEXAS FOR U.S. SENATE 06
Ms. Radnofsky has the right stuff to represent Texas: an unflinching value system; a keen intellect that understands all issues on every level and a real and deep commitment to serve Texans. Radnofsky is about substance, unlike her opponent who is merely a puppet for poisonous partisan ideology and rhetoric.
Thank goodness for Barbara Ann Radnfosky’s volunteers who are organizing Meet and Greets throughout the state; George and Ann in Grand Prairie, Evan in Austin, “Spinmeister” in Dallas, Carolyn in Houston. Vik in Kilgore will be involved through writing letters and flyer distribution. Randy has a firm grasp on the facts and figures and keeps lefty liberals like yours truly in check and honest. Susan is working with ranchers’ wives on both school-related and political issues. Carolyn in South Texas is helping, too. Janet Z., probably our youngest newcomer, is helping with Internet resources and Sharon; the lone liberal in Wise County is going it alone against the neocons with great success. Clark makes us laugh with his extraordinary wit. No one will ever forget his joke about W. riding the electric horse at Wal-Mart while Laura inserts the coins. There are many, many others…..
MOVING ON TO NATIONALLY HERDED SHEEP
SHOCKING DISCOVERY!
CONSERVATIVES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE HERDED BY AUTHORITRIAN LEADERS.
LOL..What the hell else is new?
John Dean gave a smashing interview on Keith Olbermann the other night on this topic which is included in his recent book "CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT CONSCIENCE." I ran off to Barnes and Noble today to purchase a copy. Now I am torn between starting The One Percent Solution or Conservatives Without a Conscience. Thank goodness for vacations and down time.
CONSERVATIVES AND THE HERDED SHEEP COMPLEX
ON RAISING ROVE.
YEARNING TO RETURN TO THE DAYS OF SLAVERY, GOP WON'T INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE, THOUGH IT HAS NOT BEEN CHANGED IN 10 YEARS, BUT ROVE SOMEHOW GETS A RAISE.
Why do our tax dollars pay a political hack's salary? Shouldn't the GOP campaign wing pay Rove? He does not work for the people. He works for the propaganda arm of the GOP.
ROVE GETS A RAISE WHEN MINIMUM WAGE STAYS THE SAME
"MINIMUM STANDARDS"
By Mr. Will Rivers Pitt of Truthout.org.
This is a wonderful article written about accountability or lack thereof.
Excerpt:
We caught a glimpse of the mind-set behind this whole process on Tuesday afternoon. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Hamden v. Rumsfeld Supreme Court ruling, the one that has ostensibly turned the Bush administration's war doctrine on its ear and has motivated them to grant minimum Geneva protections to prisoners.
Senator Patrick Leahy was grilling Steven Bradbury, acting head of Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, on the legal and ethical basis for Guantanamo in general and the treatment of prisoners specifically. Pressed into a corner by Leahy's questioning as to whether Bush was right or wrong in his decisions on the matter, Bradbury finally stated, "The president is always right."
Mr. Bradbury, it appears, did not get the memo.
Tuesday's Washington Post laid out the myriad ways in which, all of a sudden, the president is being forced to admit that he has been, almost comprehensively, always wrong. "Accustomed to having its way on matters related to the nation's security," reported the Post, "the administration is being forced to respond to criticism that it once brushed aside. The high court ruling rejected the White House's assertion that the president has nearly unlimited executive powers during a time of war, and now executive branch lawyers are reviewing whether other rules adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon will have to be revised, especially those concerning the Geneva Conventions."
Much of this is, in the end, short-term analysis and observation. After picking through the detritus left behind in arguments over executive power, the inside baseball of political positioning, and the strange absolutism of Justice Department attorneys, we come around again to looking at long-term ramifications.
Granting minimum protection standards under Geneva to prisoners cannot and must not have anything to do with the exact circumstances of the detention of a prisoner, or the modern elastic definitions of war, or the desires of an administration to establish unlimited power. While the need to gather necessary intelligence and information on the disposition of terrorist elements is undeniable, the need for adherence to the rule of law on this issue goes far beyond constitutional platitudes.
WILL RIVERS PITT: "MINIMUM STANDARD"
But we stayed here.
As with many newcomers to Texas, it took us a few years to appreciate both the poetry and hard-edged beauty of the Texas culture.
Texans work very hard. We care deeply about our children and our families. We take commitment and responsibility seriously. We believe in accountability. No one and I mean no one is above the law. Numerous summons to state and local jury panels have clearly reinforced this message, at least to me, as both a yankee and a westerner. Whether one is a farmer, rancher, urban dweller, teacher, lawyer, religious leader, engineer, scientist, accountant, yard man, maid, roughneck, longshoreman, banker, clerk, bookkeeper, student, horse trainer, dog trainer, vet, military, airline pilot, travel agent, hotel clerk, waiter, waitress, to name just a few professions, we all share a common belief in a work ethic, personal intregrity and accountability.
And so, my question tonight is, why are Texans who work hard and play by the rules saddled with elected leaders who do an abysmally poor job of representing their constituents?
Are our elected officials lazy? Are they above the law? Do they work for corporate donors and lobbyists, or worse, are they merely sheep that are herded by a bunch of fake and cowardly cowboys? Or are they all of the above?
I choose all of the above.
The senior Senator from Texas, it seems, fails to show up for work on absolutely crucial days when her committee has a very important agenda. Her committee? That would be the powerful Appropriations Committee in which billions of our taxpayer dollars are divided up among various programs throughout the states. Our Senator left us with absolutely no representation on that significant meeting day last week. In short, Texas got zip.
Why did the senior Senator fail to attend such an important meeting?
Was she:
1. Moving her home from Texas to McLean, Virginia?
2. Chairing fundraiser events for Tom Delay’s legal defense fund?
3. Hosting fundraisers for Abramoff’s lobbying firms?
4. Having her hair done?
We surely deserve better.
And we will get a jewel in the end if we do what we do best. Work hard and maintain our principles. And go to the polls in November.
Our salvation for the future?
That would be US Senator for Texas, BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY OF TEXAS FOR U.S. SENATE 06
Ms. Radnofsky has the right stuff to represent Texas: an unflinching value system; a keen intellect that understands all issues on every level and a real and deep commitment to serve Texans. Radnofsky is about substance, unlike her opponent who is merely a puppet for poisonous partisan ideology and rhetoric.
Thank goodness for Barbara Ann Radnfosky’s volunteers who are organizing Meet and Greets throughout the state; George and Ann in Grand Prairie, Evan in Austin, “Spinmeister” in Dallas, Carolyn in Houston. Vik in Kilgore will be involved through writing letters and flyer distribution. Randy has a firm grasp on the facts and figures and keeps lefty liberals like yours truly in check and honest. Susan is working with ranchers’ wives on both school-related and political issues. Carolyn in South Texas is helping, too. Janet Z., probably our youngest newcomer, is helping with Internet resources and Sharon; the lone liberal in Wise County is going it alone against the neocons with great success. Clark makes us laugh with his extraordinary wit. No one will ever forget his joke about W. riding the electric horse at Wal-Mart while Laura inserts the coins. There are many, many others…..
MOVING ON TO NATIONALLY HERDED SHEEP
SHOCKING DISCOVERY!
CONSERVATIVES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE HERDED BY AUTHORITRIAN LEADERS.
LOL..What the hell else is new?
John Dean gave a smashing interview on Keith Olbermann the other night on this topic which is included in his recent book "CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT CONSCIENCE." I ran off to Barnes and Noble today to purchase a copy. Now I am torn between starting The One Percent Solution or Conservatives Without a Conscience. Thank goodness for vacations and down time.
CONSERVATIVES AND THE HERDED SHEEP COMPLEX
ON RAISING ROVE.
YEARNING TO RETURN TO THE DAYS OF SLAVERY, GOP WON'T INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE, THOUGH IT HAS NOT BEEN CHANGED IN 10 YEARS, BUT ROVE SOMEHOW GETS A RAISE.
Why do our tax dollars pay a political hack's salary? Shouldn't the GOP campaign wing pay Rove? He does not work for the people. He works for the propaganda arm of the GOP.
ROVE GETS A RAISE WHEN MINIMUM WAGE STAYS THE SAME
"MINIMUM STANDARDS"
By Mr. Will Rivers Pitt of Truthout.org.
This is a wonderful article written about accountability or lack thereof.
Excerpt:
We caught a glimpse of the mind-set behind this whole process on Tuesday afternoon. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Hamden v. Rumsfeld Supreme Court ruling, the one that has ostensibly turned the Bush administration's war doctrine on its ear and has motivated them to grant minimum Geneva protections to prisoners.
Senator Patrick Leahy was grilling Steven Bradbury, acting head of Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, on the legal and ethical basis for Guantanamo in general and the treatment of prisoners specifically. Pressed into a corner by Leahy's questioning as to whether Bush was right or wrong in his decisions on the matter, Bradbury finally stated, "The president is always right."
Mr. Bradbury, it appears, did not get the memo.
Tuesday's Washington Post laid out the myriad ways in which, all of a sudden, the president is being forced to admit that he has been, almost comprehensively, always wrong. "Accustomed to having its way on matters related to the nation's security," reported the Post, "the administration is being forced to respond to criticism that it once brushed aside. The high court ruling rejected the White House's assertion that the president has nearly unlimited executive powers during a time of war, and now executive branch lawyers are reviewing whether other rules adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon will have to be revised, especially those concerning the Geneva Conventions."
Much of this is, in the end, short-term analysis and observation. After picking through the detritus left behind in arguments over executive power, the inside baseball of political positioning, and the strange absolutism of Justice Department attorneys, we come around again to looking at long-term ramifications.
Granting minimum protection standards under Geneva to prisoners cannot and must not have anything to do with the exact circumstances of the detention of a prisoner, or the modern elastic definitions of war, or the desires of an administration to establish unlimited power. While the need to gather necessary intelligence and information on the disposition of terrorist elements is undeniable, the need for adherence to the rule of law on this issue goes far beyond constitutional platitudes.
WILL RIVERS PITT: "MINIMUM STANDARD"
Monday, July 10, 2006
WHEN CHICKEN HAWKS ARE ALSO FAKE COWBOYS
There is a lot of buzz going on here in Texas about W. and his so-called ranch. It seems that W. does not own horses, nor does he ride them. Worse, he is supposedly afraid of horses.
Clark, a volunteer for the Radnofsky for U.S. Senate campaign, suggested that Bush does indeed ride. According to Clark, our cowboy president rides the electric horse at Wal-Mart while wife Laura inserts the coins.
Randy, another volunteer, who also happens to be a professional airline pilot for a well-known U.S. carrier, told our group that Dub was also afraid to fly jets and planes while "serving" in the National Guard.
Chicken pilot, fake cowboy. This is the dude that duped this great land into war.
Sharon, a rare gem of a liberal in Wise County Texas, works day and night for Democratic candidates. Unlike W., Sharon owns a horse, and she rides. More impressively, she can actually rope. Alas, Sharon has little time for either because she is committed to getting rid “of the rot in this state.” All of the rot started in Texas, according to Sharon.
These are just a few of the folks who are seriously committed to re-establishing the real party of the people in Texas. LS
ARE REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS REALLY UNNERVED BY BUSH'S NEO NUT AUTHORITARIAN POLICIES OR ARE THEY MERELY WORRIED ABOUT THEIR OWN DERRIERES DURING AN ELECTION YEAR?
I think you know the answer to that.
From The Washington Post.com via Buzz Flash.com
Excerpts:
Hoekstra's four-page letter of May 18 was posted yesterday on the New York Times' Web site. His staff confirmed the letter's authenticity but said it was meant to remain private. Spokesman Jamal D. Ware said Hoekstra "has raised these concerns, and they are being addressed. He will continue to push for full disclosure so the committee can conduct vigorous oversight."
The letter is significant because few congressional Republicans have complained publicly about Bush's surveillance programs, which include warrantless wiretaps of some Americans' international phone calls and e-mails as well as the massive collection of telephone records involving U.S. homes and businesses.
WAPO: "BUSH IS PRESSED ON REPORTING DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE"
THINGS MUST BE REALLY BAD WHEN A NEWSPAPER IN BRIGHT RED MISSISSIPPI PUBLISHES A LETTER FROM A DISGRUNTLED CITIZEN WHO IS CRITICAL OF THE GOP.
IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY IN TEXAS. AU CONTRAIRE, MOST LETTERS CRITICAL TO THE BUSHIES ARE PUT THROUGH THE BUZZ SAW.
Maybe we all ought to send our letters to Mississippi! LS
Another great find on Buzz Flash.com
"WORKING CLASS HURT BY REPUBLICAN POLICIES"
MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE GOP CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IS ALIVE, WELL, AND GETTING RICHER BY THE SECOND
From The Washington Post.com via Truthout.org.
Excerpt:
No wonder Americans hate the nation's capital. Federal employees are prohibited from supplementing their incomes with money from private sources, especially from lobbyists who have business before the government. Shockey says his payment was justified and within the rules. But experienced lobbyists around town question both its economics and its propriety.
The situation is an example of a common occurrence - the spinning of the "revolving door" between the public and private sectors. Shockey is deputy chief of staff of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Before that he was a partner for five years in a lobbying firm that made its living extracting goodies from the same committee. And before that he worked for Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who was then a member of the committee and is now its chairman.
Along the way, Shockey made millions. As a lobbyist in 2004 he earned $2 million, which is double what the city's top lobbyists were said to earn just a few years ago. Shockey, in fact, was on track to make $3 million in 2005, the year he returned to government as the No. 2 staffer for the Appropriations Committee.
Lobby shops often give parting gifts to colleagues who go into public service as a way to maintain strong relations. But the amount tends to be nominal and strictly tied to past performance to avoid even the appearance of paying a federal official in exchange for favorable treatment - an exchange that would be illegal.
Why, then, would Shockey's former firm pay him so much? The reason, several seasoned lobbyists speculated, must have been the firm's desire to keep its communications with Shockey and the appropriations panel absolutely seamless. "There would be no need to pay out that amount of money unless you needed to maintain a superlative relationship with that person after he leaves," one veteran lobbyist said.
Spokesmen for Shockey's old firm say the company already had deep connections with Lewis and didn't need any more. Still, who can blame skeptics for thinking that $2 million might buy more than merely goodwill?
"$2 MILLION TO HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CHIEF OF STAFF QUESTIONED"
TRUE TO THE TALIBAN WING OF THE GOP, BUSH WILL VETO BI-PARTISAN STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL
Excerpt:
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del. If the Senate approves the bill it would go to the president's desk.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who backs the bill, has said he will try to bring it up for a Senate vote soon.
"It is something we would, frankly, like to avoid," Rove said when asked if the White House would welcome, or dread, vetoing legislation passed by a Republican Congress, especially on so emotional an issue as embryonic stem cell research.
But Rove said that he believes the legislation will pass the Senate with more than 60 votes this month, "and as a result the president would, as he has previously said emphatically, veto the Castle bill."
"I'm appalled that Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to veto a bill that could help 110 million people and their families," DeGette said today after being informed of Rove's remarks.
Um, congress folks should be well beyond "being appalled" by Bush. They should have stood up to him many moons ago. LS
BUSH TO VETO STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL
Clark, a volunteer for the Radnofsky for U.S. Senate campaign, suggested that Bush does indeed ride. According to Clark, our cowboy president rides the electric horse at Wal-Mart while wife Laura inserts the coins.
Randy, another volunteer, who also happens to be a professional airline pilot for a well-known U.S. carrier, told our group that Dub was also afraid to fly jets and planes while "serving" in the National Guard.
Chicken pilot, fake cowboy. This is the dude that duped this great land into war.
Sharon, a rare gem of a liberal in Wise County Texas, works day and night for Democratic candidates. Unlike W., Sharon owns a horse, and she rides. More impressively, she can actually rope. Alas, Sharon has little time for either because she is committed to getting rid “of the rot in this state.” All of the rot started in Texas, according to Sharon.
These are just a few of the folks who are seriously committed to re-establishing the real party of the people in Texas. LS
ARE REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS REALLY UNNERVED BY BUSH'S NEO NUT AUTHORITARIAN POLICIES OR ARE THEY MERELY WORRIED ABOUT THEIR OWN DERRIERES DURING AN ELECTION YEAR?
I think you know the answer to that.
From The Washington Post.com via Buzz Flash.com
Excerpts:
Hoekstra's four-page letter of May 18 was posted yesterday on the New York Times' Web site. His staff confirmed the letter's authenticity but said it was meant to remain private. Spokesman Jamal D. Ware said Hoekstra "has raised these concerns, and they are being addressed. He will continue to push for full disclosure so the committee can conduct vigorous oversight."
The letter is significant because few congressional Republicans have complained publicly about Bush's surveillance programs, which include warrantless wiretaps of some Americans' international phone calls and e-mails as well as the massive collection of telephone records involving U.S. homes and businesses.
WAPO: "BUSH IS PRESSED ON REPORTING DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE"
THINGS MUST BE REALLY BAD WHEN A NEWSPAPER IN BRIGHT RED MISSISSIPPI PUBLISHES A LETTER FROM A DISGRUNTLED CITIZEN WHO IS CRITICAL OF THE GOP.
IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY IN TEXAS. AU CONTRAIRE, MOST LETTERS CRITICAL TO THE BUSHIES ARE PUT THROUGH THE BUZZ SAW.
Maybe we all ought to send our letters to Mississippi! LS
Another great find on Buzz Flash.com
"WORKING CLASS HURT BY REPUBLICAN POLICIES"
MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE GOP CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IS ALIVE, WELL, AND GETTING RICHER BY THE SECOND
From The Washington Post.com via Truthout.org.
Excerpt:
No wonder Americans hate the nation's capital. Federal employees are prohibited from supplementing their incomes with money from private sources, especially from lobbyists who have business before the government. Shockey says his payment was justified and within the rules. But experienced lobbyists around town question both its economics and its propriety.
The situation is an example of a common occurrence - the spinning of the "revolving door" between the public and private sectors. Shockey is deputy chief of staff of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Before that he was a partner for five years in a lobbying firm that made its living extracting goodies from the same committee. And before that he worked for Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who was then a member of the committee and is now its chairman.
Along the way, Shockey made millions. As a lobbyist in 2004 he earned $2 million, which is double what the city's top lobbyists were said to earn just a few years ago. Shockey, in fact, was on track to make $3 million in 2005, the year he returned to government as the No. 2 staffer for the Appropriations Committee.
Lobby shops often give parting gifts to colleagues who go into public service as a way to maintain strong relations. But the amount tends to be nominal and strictly tied to past performance to avoid even the appearance of paying a federal official in exchange for favorable treatment - an exchange that would be illegal.
Why, then, would Shockey's former firm pay him so much? The reason, several seasoned lobbyists speculated, must have been the firm's desire to keep its communications with Shockey and the appropriations panel absolutely seamless. "There would be no need to pay out that amount of money unless you needed to maintain a superlative relationship with that person after he leaves," one veteran lobbyist said.
Spokesmen for Shockey's old firm say the company already had deep connections with Lewis and didn't need any more. Still, who can blame skeptics for thinking that $2 million might buy more than merely goodwill?
"$2 MILLION TO HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CHIEF OF STAFF QUESTIONED"
TRUE TO THE TALIBAN WING OF THE GOP, BUSH WILL VETO BI-PARTISAN STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL
Excerpt:
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del. If the Senate approves the bill it would go to the president's desk.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who backs the bill, has said he will try to bring it up for a Senate vote soon.
"It is something we would, frankly, like to avoid," Rove said when asked if the White House would welcome, or dread, vetoing legislation passed by a Republican Congress, especially on so emotional an issue as embryonic stem cell research.
But Rove said that he believes the legislation will pass the Senate with more than 60 votes this month, "and as a result the president would, as he has previously said emphatically, veto the Castle bill."
"I'm appalled that Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to veto a bill that could help 110 million people and their families," DeGette said today after being informed of Rove's remarks.
Um, congress folks should be well beyond "being appalled" by Bush. They should have stood up to him many moons ago. LS
BUSH TO VETO STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL
Sunday, July 09, 2006
WHY CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL POLICIES HURT US
Do conservative political principles help us or harm us?
The engine driving conservative policy is an uncompromising belief in a free market economy. This ideology endorses outsourcing jobs. It supports a continuous influx of low-wage workers, legal or not. It encourages high gas prices and Internet usage fees at the expense of the consumer. It neglects border security, undocumented migration and national natural disasters.
Democracy is imposed by the barrel of a gun, not through diplomacy or good example. There are no strategies following an invasion other than campaign-style rhetoric. War merely paves a path for private contractors to set up shop and serves as a mechanism to impose a free market economy on foreign soil.
In the 1950’s President Eisenhower cautioned against the intrinsic dangers of a powerful military industrial complex. Unfortunately, conservative policy ignores the warning.
War drives up our federal deficit. Enormous deficits and tax cuts for the wealthy mean less funding for veterans’ benefits, public schools and college scholarships.
Spreading “democracy” by military means instead of diplomacy makes us less safe. While invading one part of the planet, we neglect another. And then there is a problem with nukes and rogue nations.
Folks ought to ignore poisonous partisan rhetoric and study the real facts.
CENSORSHIP IN TEXAS?
Down here in Texas the Rovian wing of the Republican Party is alive and well, as is the obvious censorship of news that is critical of the Bush Administration and its Republican elected officials.
The media's sin of suppression is one of omission more so than it is of commission.
Democrats are fighting an uphill battle and we are more or less "going it alone." We have a brilliant candidate who shows great promise and who is also gaining in the polls, as is Ned Lamont in Connecticut. But Ned somehow rates national media coverage.
Texans do not?
Our candidate of promise is Barbara Ann Radnofsky. All of her efforts and that of her campaign have been at the grassroots level. The response to Ms. Radnofsky's stand on issues by the Texans she has met has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic and gratifying. When Ms. Radnofsky walks into a room, people yell and cheer. Why? Because Ms. Radnofsky's policies are more consistent with those of most Americans, and therefore Texans, according to recent national polls.
But the Republican machine needs and breeds Bush rubber stamps, not those who are intelligent and who will work for Joe and Jane Texas.
Local newspapers throughout the state will not publish most of our letters asking for debates between candidates for U.S. Seante. When they do, editors will sometimes omit sentences or entire paragraphs that mention Ms. Radnofsky's name. The senior Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison arrogantly ignores every request made for a debate. Her excuse is that she is too busy but we know better. The senior Senator is busy, but not in doing the work of the people who elected her. No, she is” busy” doing things like chairing fundraisers for Tom Delay’s legal defense fund and for Abramoff's lobbying interests.
Alas, I am an optimist and know that Ms. Radnofsky and her group of supporters will do all it takes to prevail in the end. We have great faith in the American dream, our collective conscience and our culture as a people. LS
WHY?
WELL, BECAUSE FOLKS IN KANSAS FINALLY GET IT.
Ken sent this article today from The Kansas City Star via Raw Story.com.
Excerpts:
Kent Goyen, Pratt
Age: 55
Occupation: Farmer and substitute teacher
Running for: 114th District House seat
Switched parties because: The Republican Party has gotten a little far away from where it ought to be. It's probably just a little too far right. Philosophically, they're trying to control too many things in people's lives that they shouldn't be controlling
Goyen also was advised that winning the primary would be tougher than winning the general election. A late decider, Goyen said his switch was based partly on practicalities. As a busy farmer, running in the GOP primary just wasn't feasible. He needed more time to mount his campaign.
Any regrets? I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.
District registration: 59 percent Republican, 23 percent Democratic and 18 percent independent.
My chances are 75 percent or better, the way I read it. The formula: Build a coalition of Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents.
I‚m fairly well known. Hopefully that‚s a positive. I think people ought to vote the person, not the party.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cindy Neighbor, Shawnee
Age: 57
Occupation: Marketing, public relations, patient care and human relations for a dental practice
Running for: 18th District House seat
Switched parties because: Several things in the (Republican) platform were not what I thought I could agree with. They‚re supporting (school) vouchers and tax credits and the teaching of creationism over evolution.
All of that just went against what I really had grown up with, I think, as being a moderate Republican. I said I thought the Republican Party left me. I didn‚t leave it.
Any regrets? It was actually a feeling of relief. (The reaction) has been very positive. I haven‚t had any negative comments.
When I talk to them (Democrats), they don‚t say if you disagree with us you don‚t count.
District registration: 47 percent Republican, 25 percent Democratic and 27 percent independent.
You put your independents and Democrats together and that counterbalances the Republicans.
Neighbor rejected the idea that party switchers carry a stigma „because people are seeing that people don‚t have anywhere else to go.
Registering as an independent didn‚t seem plausible because then people wouldn‚t know what you stand for, Neighbor said.
The engine driving conservative policy is an uncompromising belief in a free market economy. This ideology endorses outsourcing jobs. It supports a continuous influx of low-wage workers, legal or not. It encourages high gas prices and Internet usage fees at the expense of the consumer. It neglects border security, undocumented migration and national natural disasters.
Democracy is imposed by the barrel of a gun, not through diplomacy or good example. There are no strategies following an invasion other than campaign-style rhetoric. War merely paves a path for private contractors to set up shop and serves as a mechanism to impose a free market economy on foreign soil.
In the 1950’s President Eisenhower cautioned against the intrinsic dangers of a powerful military industrial complex. Unfortunately, conservative policy ignores the warning.
War drives up our federal deficit. Enormous deficits and tax cuts for the wealthy mean less funding for veterans’ benefits, public schools and college scholarships.
Spreading “democracy” by military means instead of diplomacy makes us less safe. While invading one part of the planet, we neglect another. And then there is a problem with nukes and rogue nations.
Folks ought to ignore poisonous partisan rhetoric and study the real facts.
CENSORSHIP IN TEXAS?
Down here in Texas the Rovian wing of the Republican Party is alive and well, as is the obvious censorship of news that is critical of the Bush Administration and its Republican elected officials.
The media's sin of suppression is one of omission more so than it is of commission.
Democrats are fighting an uphill battle and we are more or less "going it alone." We have a brilliant candidate who shows great promise and who is also gaining in the polls, as is Ned Lamont in Connecticut. But Ned somehow rates national media coverage.
Texans do not?
Our candidate of promise is Barbara Ann Radnofsky. All of her efforts and that of her campaign have been at the grassroots level. The response to Ms. Radnofsky's stand on issues by the Texans she has met has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic and gratifying. When Ms. Radnofsky walks into a room, people yell and cheer. Why? Because Ms. Radnofsky's policies are more consistent with those of most Americans, and therefore Texans, according to recent national polls.
But the Republican machine needs and breeds Bush rubber stamps, not those who are intelligent and who will work for Joe and Jane Texas.
Local newspapers throughout the state will not publish most of our letters asking for debates between candidates for U.S. Seante. When they do, editors will sometimes omit sentences or entire paragraphs that mention Ms. Radnofsky's name. The senior Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison arrogantly ignores every request made for a debate. Her excuse is that she is too busy but we know better. The senior Senator is busy, but not in doing the work of the people who elected her. No, she is” busy” doing things like chairing fundraisers for Tom Delay’s legal defense fund and for Abramoff's lobbying interests.
Alas, I am an optimist and know that Ms. Radnofsky and her group of supporters will do all it takes to prevail in the end. We have great faith in the American dream, our collective conscience and our culture as a people. LS
WHY?
WELL, BECAUSE FOLKS IN KANSAS FINALLY GET IT.
Ken sent this article today from The Kansas City Star via Raw Story.com.
Excerpts:
Kent Goyen, Pratt
Age: 55
Occupation: Farmer and substitute teacher
Running for: 114th District House seat
Switched parties because: The Republican Party has gotten a little far away from where it ought to be. It's probably just a little too far right. Philosophically, they're trying to control too many things in people's lives that they shouldn't be controlling
Goyen also was advised that winning the primary would be tougher than winning the general election. A late decider, Goyen said his switch was based partly on practicalities. As a busy farmer, running in the GOP primary just wasn't feasible. He needed more time to mount his campaign.
Any regrets? I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.
District registration: 59 percent Republican, 23 percent Democratic and 18 percent independent.
My chances are 75 percent or better, the way I read it. The formula: Build a coalition of Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents.
I‚m fairly well known. Hopefully that‚s a positive. I think people ought to vote the person, not the party.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cindy Neighbor, Shawnee
Age: 57
Occupation: Marketing, public relations, patient care and human relations for a dental practice
Running for: 18th District House seat
Switched parties because: Several things in the (Republican) platform were not what I thought I could agree with. They‚re supporting (school) vouchers and tax credits and the teaching of creationism over evolution.
All of that just went against what I really had grown up with, I think, as being a moderate Republican. I said I thought the Republican Party left me. I didn‚t leave it.
Any regrets? It was actually a feeling of relief. (The reaction) has been very positive. I haven‚t had any negative comments.
When I talk to them (Democrats), they don‚t say if you disagree with us you don‚t count.
District registration: 47 percent Republican, 25 percent Democratic and 27 percent independent.
You put your independents and Democrats together and that counterbalances the Republicans.
Neighbor rejected the idea that party switchers carry a stigma „because people are seeing that people don‚t have anywhere else to go.
Registering as an independent didn‚t seem plausible because then people wouldn‚t know what you stand for, Neighbor said.
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