TORTURE CODIFIED...FASCISM CODIFIED

There have been a couple days in my "political life" that truly stand out in my mind as real earth changing moments. Sadly, they are two of the worst days of my life: the stolen election in 2000, and the stolen election in 2004 (and the knowledge that our vote was no longer sacred). I don't feel the need to list all the ways that those fears and tears have proven prophetic. Yesterday, was another another one of those moments.

It will be a day that lives in infamy, as we have for the first time (since the "alien and sedition act"), ripped apart the very fabric of our nation. I speak of those founding principles, outlined in our constitution. I'm speaking of those fundamental rights that enshrined our nation as one that upholds and protects individual freedom above all else, and ensures that no individual, or branch of government, can subvert those principles and protections. I speak of Habeus Corpus...that right that if you are arrested by the government you get to challenge your accuser, you get to hear and see the evidence against you, you get to have these charges brought out in the light of day, with judicial review...and you can't be tortured.

This is all over now. The Senate passed, and Bush will sign a law that lays waste to everything we've ever been as a country. That fabric, that foundation, those principles that DID make this country great, have been destroyed. I wish I was overstating what has happened, but I am not. We have already seen the mass torture and incarceration of innocent human beings, not just "terrorists", but innocent human beings. This was happening when there was a Geneva Convention and there was Habeus Corpus...now those don't exist.

Even the definition of torture has been re-written. Now rape and sexual assault, which has been one of our "go to" methods against the human beings that occupy our, and other country's prisons that we "render" them to. We know that as many as 80% of the prisoners at Abu Graihb were released because of lack of evidence. We estimate...estimate because our government doesn't have to even tell us who they have arrested and why anymore, that as many as 10,000 human beings occupy our secret prisons around the world (including Guantanamo). We don't know who they are, they haven't been charged, they have no right to a trial, no consultation with an attorney, and their families have to just wonder, wonder where their loved ones could be...and what is being done to them.

And we should also be very, very clear about this. We're not talking about just "arabs" or "the enemy", because the definition of "enemy combatant" has also been re-written in such a broad manner that I could be one, maybe you could too. So here we are. Our government now, can LEGALLY, arrest anyone in the shadow of night, wisp you away to a dark dank prison, torture and rape you...and then prevent you from mounting a proper defense against those who have done this. You do not have judicial review anymore...these are secret military tribunals that will determine your "guilt". "Evidence" against you can be coerced by and through torture now, and that evidence can be kept from your own eyes. If you don't believe all this could happen, just think of Mr. Arar, a Canadian man who we shipped to Syria (who i thought was our enemy), where he spent 10 months of daily torture. I wonder how he kept from killing himself, or just going insane? What nightmares will he face at night, for the rest of his life? WE did that to him. America did, with our money, and now, its legal...or at least made very much easier to get away with. What was our government's reaction to this injustice? We said that Syria had promised to treat him nice.

Well, now all of this, is okay, as long as our executive branch deems it as such. History tells us that it is much, much more difficult to bring back civil liberties than take them away. We have just changed who we are as a nation in a fundamental way, and it will not be easy to backtrack, and restore what little dignity we have left. To me, this is perhaps the most shameful moment I have witnessed as an American. That we could codify fascism (as this is a pre-requisite for all fascist and authoritarian regimes...they must have the power to arrest anyone in the name of security...torture them...and in secret), we could codify torture...and we could do it all in the guise of protecting us, the people. The same people who could soon be the victims of such crimes by the state. And perhaps sickest of all, we will have the ruling party, the GOP, actually RUN on this subversion of democracy, and make the argument it is a reason that they should be re-elected. That's a sad, sad commentary of the precipice which we now sit, and the fall we are taking.

I will now leave this discussion to others. I only can hope that every one of us thinks long and hard about what we are becoming, about what we can do to stop it, and whether we are 'alright' with the fact that our nation, and our government in particular, no longer abides by those principles that made us special, that were given to us by our founding fathers, and that we have, as of yesterday, thrown away into the trash bin of history.

Watch your back...I certainly will be mine now.

The day was September 28th, 2006.

END

The NY Times writes one of their most powerful editorials to date:

Last week, the White House and three Republican senators announced a terrible deal on this legislation that gave Mr. Bush most of what he wanted, including a blanket waiver for crimes Americans may have committed in the service of his antiterrorism policies. Then Vice President Dick Cheney and his willing lawmakers rewrote the rest of the measure so that it would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error.

SNIP

We don't blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they'll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won't remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration. They'll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation's version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092806D.shtml

Will Pitt writes on "in case he disappears":

I have been told a thousand times at least, in the years I have spent reporting on the astonishing and repugnant abuses, lies and failures of the Bush administration, to watch my back. "Be careful," people always tell me. "These people are capable of anything. Stay off small planes, make sure you aren't being followed." A running joke between my mother and me is that she has a "safe room" set up for me in her cabin in the woods, in the event I have to flee because of something I wrote or said. I always laughed and shook my head whenever I heard this stuff. Extreme paranoia wrapped in the tinfoil of conspiracy, I thought. This is still America, and these Bush fools will soon pass into history, I thought. I am a citizen, and the First Amendment hasn't yet been red-lined, I thought. Matters are different now.

SNIP

So much of this legislation is wretched on the surface. Habeas corpus has been suspended for detainees suspected of terrorism or of aiding terrorism, so the Magna Carta-era rule that a person can face his accusers is now gone. Once a suspect has been thrown into prison, he does not have the right to a trial by his peers. Suspects cannot even stand in representation of themselves, another ancient protection, but must accept a military lawyer as their defender.
Illegally-obtained evidence can be used against suspects, whether that illegal evidence was gathered abroad or right here at home. To my way of thinking, this pretty much eradicates our security in persons, houses, papers, and effects, as stated in the Fourth Amendment, against illegal searches and seizures.

SNIP

If you write a letter to the editor attacking Bush, you could be deemed as purposefully and materially supporting hostilities against the United States. If you organize or join a public demonstration against Iraq, or against the administration, the same designation could befall you. One dark-comedy aspect of the legislation is that senators or House members who publicly disagree with Bush, criticize him, or organize investigations into his dealings could be placed under the same designation. In effect, Congress just gave Bush the power to lock them up.

By writing this essay, I could be deemed an "enemy combatant." It's that simple, and very soon, it will be the law. I always laughed when people told me to be careful. I'm not laughing anymore. In case I disappear, remember this. America is an idea, a dream, and that is all. We have borders and armies and citizens and commerce and industry, but all this merely makes us like every other nation on this Earth. What separates us is the idea, the simple idea, that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are our organizing principles. We can think as we please, speak as we please, write as we please, worship as we please, go where we please. We are protected from the kinds of tyranny that inspired our creation as a nation in the first place. That was the idea. That was the dream. It may all be over now, but once upon a time, it existed. No good idea ever truly dies. The dream was here, and so was I, and so were you.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092906J.shtml

And finally, Molly Ivins writes on the end of Habeus Corpus:

This bill is not a national security issue—this is about torturing helpless human beings without any proof they are our enemies. Perhaps this could be considered if we knew the administration would use the power with enormous care and thoughtfulness. But of the over 700 prisoners sent to Gitmo, only 10 have ever been formally charged with anything. Among other things, this bill is a CYA for torture of the innocent that has already taken place.

SNIP

The version of the detainee bill now in the Senate not only undoes much of the McCain-Warner-Graham work, but it is actually much worse than the administration’s first proposal. In one change, the original compromise language said a suspect had the right to “examine and respond to” all evidence used against him. The three senators said the clause was necessary to avoid secret trials. The bill has now dropped the word “examine” and left only “respond to.” In another change, a clause said that evidence obtained outside the United States could be admitted in court even if it had been gathered without a search warrant. But the bill now drops the words “outside the United States,” which means prosecutors can ignore American legal standards on warrants.

The bill also expands the definition of an unlawful enemy combatant to cover anyone who has “has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” Quick, define “purposefully and materially.” One person has already been charged with aiding terrorists because he sold a satellite TV package that includes the Hezbollah network.
The bill simply removes a suspect’s right to challenge his detention in court. This is a rule of law that goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215. That pretty much leaves the barn door open.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0928-20.htm

And here's a more detailed breakdown of what just happened to our country:

Torturing Democracy

On Wednesday, the House rubber-stamped (253-168) the White House-backed legislation governing the interrogation and trial of terror suspects, "a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation's version of the Alien and Sedition Acts." Yesterday, the Senate passed the measure in a 65-34 vote. This legislation was the result of a supposed "compromise" between conservative lawmakers and the administration. But in reality, the bill was more about making sure President Bush has the opportunity to sign high-profile terrorism legislation before the midterm elections. The bill was drafted in Vice President Cheney's office and gives Bush "the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture," and to deny habeas corpus to detainees. Five years after 9/11, the nation is still debating the procedures to fight terrorism. Courts have struck down the past approaches the administration has taken to interrogate and detain terrorist suspects, and may eventually strike down this approach. This legislation won't protect the nation from terrorists, will put our troops at risk, and will damage American democracy.

PURE PARTISAN PROPAGANDA: After meeting with Republican senators yesterday, Bush stated, "The American people need to know we're working together to win this war on terror." But yesterday's terrorism legislation was less about winning the war on terror and more about winning the November elections. Bush urgently argued that Congress had to act immediately to approve this "top legislative priority," but as the New York Times noted, "That's pure propaganda. Detained terrorists could have been tried and convicted long ago, but President Bush chose not to. ... It was only after the Supreme Court issued the inevitable ruling striking down Mr. Bush's shadow penal system that he adopted his tone of urgency." Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) argued that the conservative push for quick passage was purely for political gain: "There is no new national security crisis. There's only a Republican political crisis." After Wednesday's House vote, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) said that lawmakers who voted against the measure "voted today in favor of more rights for terrorists." House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) added, "It is outrageous that House Democrats, at the urging of their leaders, continue to oppose giving President Bush the tools he needs to protect our country." Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), and John Warner (R-VA), who were initially praised for rising above partisan politics in the interests of American national security, all voted for yesterday's bill. The public trusted these senators to work out a compromise with the Bush administration, but ultimately, the administration's partisan agenda won out.

YOU, TOO, COULD BE AN ENEMY COMBATANT: Congress has handed the Bush administration extraordinary new powers to define who is an "illegal enemy combatant," potentially subjecting legal U.S. residents, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. This request -- and Congress's willingness to grant it --has faced severe criticism since, as Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) points out, in "five years that the President's system of military tribunals has existed, not one terrorist has been tried. Not one has been convicted. Not one has been brought to justice. And in the end, the Supreme Court of the United States found the whole thing unconstitutional, which is why we're here today." The administration can now declare an illegal enemy combatant any "person who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." As Yale University law professor Bruce Ackerman notes, this legislation may also authorize "the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States." Additionally, Georgetown University law professor Marty Lederman states that these powers won't be limited to wartime, since the "illegal enemy combatant" status applies to anyone "who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant."

DEBATING HOW MUCH TORTURE 'WE ARE WILLING TO STOMACH': Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) points out, "This bill undermines the Geneva Conventions by allowing the President to issue Executive Orders to redefine what permissible interrogation techniques happen to be. Have we fallen so low as to debate how much torture we are willing to stomach?" The President is authorized to interpret "the meaning and application" of certain provisions of the Geneva Conventions that bar lesser offenses -- "those falling between cruelty and minor abuse." Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Mark Agrast explains, "The danger is that this will enable the president to continue to misconstrue the Conventions as permitting practices which they clearly prohibit. For example, the bill prohibits 'grave breaches' of the Geneva Conventions but fails to state whether the prohibition applies to the CIA's 'alternative interrogation procedures.' Unless Congress makes clear that such techniques as waterboarding, stress positions and extreme sleep deprivation are categorically prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, the president will resolve the ambiguity by continuing to engage in them." The legislation also chillingly turns back the clock on rape and sexual assault, narrowly defining rape as forced or coerced genital or anal penetration and utterly leaving "out other acts, as well as the notion that sex without consent is also rape, as defined by numerous state laws and federal law." It also defines sexual assault as requiring physical contact, which would "not include ordering a terrified female prisoner to strip and dance, which happened in Rwanda, or compelling a male prisoner to strip and wear women's underwear on his head, or photographing naked prisoners piled together, both of which happened at Abu Ghraib."

A 'BEAT-UP-CHEVY' VERSION OF JUSTICE: Under this bill, unlawful enemy combatants -- which can cover anyone in the United States who is a non-citizen -- will lose their seven century-old right to challenge their imprisonment. Bruce Fein, a senior Justice Department official in the Reagan administration, recently testified against the provision at a Senate hearing. Kenneth W. Starr, a solicitor general under President George H.W. Bush, said in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) that he was concerned the legislation "may go too far in limiting habeas corpus relief." This provision provides the largest opening for the Supreme Court to overturn the law. Agrast notes that the legislation likely violates Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, which provides, "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." Georgetown University law professor Neal Katyal said the bill's creation of a different system of justice for non-citizens may violate the Constitution's 14th amendment, which requires equal protection of the laws to anyone under U.S. jurisdiction. "If you're an American citizen, you get the Cadillac system of justice. If you're a foreigner or a green-card holder, you get this beat-up-Chevy version." Nine retired federal judges recently sent a letter to Congress arguing that "eliminating habeas jurisdiction would raise serious concerns under the Suspension Clause of the Constitution. The writ has been suspended only four times in our Nation's history, and never under circumstances like the present. Congress cannot suspend the writ at will, even during wartime, but only in 'Cases of Rebellion or Invasion [when] the public Safety may require it.'"

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

-- James Madison

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

-- Thomas Jefferson

"Dow Nears All-Time High; Proof Tax Cuts Work?"

-- Fox News Channel on-screen graphic, 9/27/06

VERSUS

A 2005 study by four Federal Reserve Board economists "fail[ed] to find much, if any, imprint of the dividend tax cut news on the value of the aggregate stock market. ... [According to the report, Bush's tax cuts were] a dud when it came to boosting the stock market.”

-- Wall Street Journal, 12/6/05

As I reported yesterday, the NY Post mocked Keith Olbermann for getting a mailing with a powder in it, now they may be under investigation themselves for doing so. Yes, they lied, and yes, they interferred with an official investigation by making it public. Watch Olbermann discuss the matter (what kind of paper mocks people being threatened with murder??? A "paper" owned by Rupert Murdoch, that's who):

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/28/olbermann-the-ny-post-may-have-interfered-with-a-federal-investigation/

Jack Cafferty asks the question that's probably on so many of our minds'...what is happening to our country?

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/28/cafferty-what-are-we-becoming/

And check out Barak Obama speak out (finally) on torture:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/27/barack-obama-so-essentially-the-weaker-the-governments-case-is-against-you-the-fewer-rights-you-have/

Feingold Speaks, Kerry Speaks...from Crooks and Liars:

Feingold

Mr. President, I oppose the Military Commissions Act.

Let me be clear: I welcome efforts to bring terrorists to justice. It is about time. This Administration has too long been distracted by the war in Iraq from the fight against al Qaeda. We need a renewed focus on the terrorist networks that present the greatest threat to this country…read on

Kerry:

Let me be clear about something—something that it seems few people are willing to say. This bill permits torture. It gives the President the discretion to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions. No matter how much well-intended United States Senators would like to believe otherwise, it gives an Administration that lobbied for torture just what it wanted…read on

END

Check out this article on a recent Gore speech outlining specific policy solutions to the climate change crisis. I get the feeling that he may be considering a run...this sounded very "presidential"...and most important, he has lots of good ideas. A couple clips:

Kyoto. Gore argued that the U.S. is obligated to play a lead role in developing a new global treaty on climate change. "Since the [Kyoto] treaty has been so demonized in America's internal debate, it is difficult to imagine the current Senate finding a way to ratify it," he said. "But the United States should immediately join the discussion that is now underway on the new, tougher treaty that will soon be completed. We should plan to accelerate its adoption and phase it in more quickly than is presently planned."

SNIP

He also proposed a new Carbon Neutral Mortgage Association -- a wonky idea redeemed by a cute nickname, "Connie Mae" -- to help finance more efficient buildings and eventually zero-energy, zero-emission architecture. Builders often bypass efficient features like thicker insulation and better windows, Gore noted, because these investments elevate construction costs on the front end, even though they pay for themselves within a few years. "It should be possible to remove the purchase-price barrier for such improvements through the use of innovative mortgage finance instruments," he said.

http://alternet.org/envirohealth/41910/

Robert scheer breaks down the NIE report and our losing "war on terror" (which is like saying "war on murder"...its meaningless and we shouldn't be using that frame):

If the Bush administration were serious about protecting us from terrorist attacks, it would end the ineffectual "war on terror" model and instead treat terrorism as a pathology that needs to be clinically and relentlessly excised. If terror groups such as Al Qaeda are a cancer in the world's body politic, as the intelligence estimate suggests, then the goal should be to surgically isolate and neutralize the malignant cells.

SNIP

Of course, unlike McCain, the retired generals can speak the truth because they are not running for office based on a record of six years of lousy GOP leadership. But those not wedded to the short-term fortunes of the Republican Party in an election year should welcome the nonpartisan sanity being offered by the intelligence agencies and military brass. With his security policy, Bush's alleged strong suit, exposed as a clear failure, it is time for the nation's political middle to make a corrective move and give Congress back to the opposition to provide a check and balance on this arrogant administration.

http://alternet.org/columnists/story/42222/

will pitt continues the discussion of the day...terrorism, the NIE report, and the collapse of reason. That old adage "you reap what you sow" is becoming more and more relevant to our present day predicament:

The talking point that has failed most spectacularly because of the NIE is one you've heard a million times: better to have them all in one place than spread out, "over there" instead of "over here." So much for that. Iraq is now the training ground for global terrorism, according to the new NIE, and the extremism fueling and funding that training process has an ever-swelling cadre of fighters to call on. Those who conduct attacks against our troops in Iraq have proven themselves to be effective fighters, simply because they know the ground far better than our soldiers do, because they were born there. Those who conduct these attacks are learning the tricks of the trade, and can now spread their fight into the wider world.

SNIP

So, here we have Reagan arming Iran against Iraq, while at the same time arming Iraq against Iran. The war between these two nations lasted eight years, killed upwards of one million people, and almost completely annihilated the Iraqi economy. Many observers believe it was the ravages of this war that ultimately compelled Hussein to undertake an invasion of Kuwait three years later. As all of this was unfolding, Reagan was also arming, funding and training Afghan mujeheddin fighters in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet invasion of that nation. Central to this policy was the recruiting of Islamic extremists, who saw this as a war to defend an Islamic nation against a godless enemy.

In the fullness of time, after the defeat of the Soviets and the subsequent Afghan civil war, these American-recruited extremists morphed into the Taliban and al Qaeda. One key actor in this war, Osama bin Laden, was given the opportunity to see first-hand how best to undermine and ultimately subsume a global superpower through guerrilla and terror tactics. Bin Laden has since applied these lessons against America to good effect.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092806J.shtml

And look at the continuing revelations coming out on the e-voting crisis. Kerry's on board the paper vote protection issue (doesn anyone really still believe he doesn't know what happened to him in 04' still???) now...I'm really liking the new dynamic duo of Kerry and Feingold. Kerry has made the right choice of which side of the Democratic party he want to be on. But first, watch RFK on Hardball:

VIDEO - RFK Jr. on 'MSNBC Hardball' Says Hacking an Election on E-Voting Machines 'Easy', Endorses Emergency Paper Ballot Legislation, Recommends BRAD BLOG!
UPDATED: Complete Video Now Linked!

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Mathews earlier this afternoon to discuss his recent Rolling Stone piece on Diebold's duplicity in their voting systems.
Kennedy spoke about how easy it now is to hack an election with an Electronic Voting Machine ("in just 60 seconds") as based on recent studies by Princeton, NYU's Brennan Center and the non-partisan GAO office.

He also discussed the new Congressional Emergency Paper Ballot legislation, and even recommended your friendly neighborhood BRAD BLOG as a good source for information on all of the above!

COMPLETE VIDEO LINKED HERE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3540

EMERGENCY PAPER BALLOT LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN HOUSE BY HOLT, NEW 'SENSE OF THE SENATE' RESOLUTION FILED BY FEINGOLD, KERRY!

Kerry Joins Original Senate Bill as Co-Sponsor, Joins with Feingold in Filing New Senate Resolution as Well!

Feingold Says, 'Back-up Paper Ballots Essential to Preventing Disasters', Kerry Calls Situation 'Disgrace, National Scandal, Requiring Emergency Action Now'!

-- By Brad Friedman

Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) has now filed a U.S. House version of the Emergency Paper Ballot legislation introduced yesterday by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) in the Senate.

Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) joined the Senate legislation as co-sponsors late last evening.

Additionally, Kerry and Feingold both have now co-sponsored and introduced a new "Sense of the Senate Resolution" calling on States around the country to act immediately to put back-up plans in place to have "Emergency Paper Ballots" at the polling places this November to avoid voters being turned away when voting machines fail to work. Thousands, so far this year, have been turned away in one state primary after another due to machine malfunction or unavailability.

The language in the Holt bill filed in the House late last night is identical to the bill filed by Boxer, except that it notes, explicitly, that the "contigency paper ballots" the Federal government will reimburse states for are to be counted as regular ballots — not as provisional ballots which often go completely uncounted, and must be vetted first to determine a voter's registration status.

Feingold and Kerry issued a press release today (posted in full at the end of this article) calling on Congress to act immediately in the face of what they describe as "a national disgrace," in reference to voters being turned away at the polling place for lack of voting system on which to vote. Holt's bill, which can be downloaded here [PDF], differs from the Senate bill by stating that jurisdictions who wish to reimbursed by the Federal government for such contingency paper ballots must treat "each such contingency paper ballot cast by a voter as a regular ballot cast in the election and counts it accordingly, and does not treat it as a provisional ballot."

Kerry and Feingold, who are now co-sponsors of the Boxer/Dodd Senate bill filed yesterday, also issued a non-binding "Sense of the Senate" resolution this morning. Pamela Leavy originally reported the news earlier today at Democratic Daily.

In a press release issued earlier along with that resolution today, Feingold said, "We cannot allow the American people to lose faith in the most fundamental aspect of our democratic system ­the right to vote." He added, "Some of the problems we saw this year, like voters in Maryland being told to come back later because the machines weren’t working, are simply unacceptable. A back-up plan as simple as having emergency paper ballots on hand is essential to preventing election day disasters."

Kerry, who has been criticized for not taking enough action to ensure that votes were counted accurately, or at all, in Ohio after the 2004 Presidential Election, had even stronger words, calling the lack of action by Congress and the White House on these matters, "a disgrace" and a "national scandal".

"It’s a disgrace that a Congress and an Administration which talks about exporting democracy around the world ignores the challenges of our own democracy right here at home," says Kerry in this morning's news release. "We have seen American citizens disenfranchised in our elections for the simple reason that no effective back up system was in place. That’s a national scandal." Kerry called for "emergency action" and points to the recent meltdown in Maryland's September 12th primary election, which resulted in the Republican Governor there, calling for a similar measure to scrap the machines, and allow all voters in the state to use paper ballots this November.

"[H]ere we are, 42 days away from another election," Kerry said, "and Congress has again dragged its feet even after we mobilized 35,000 citizens to demand a hearing for our Count Every Vote Act, even after what we saw just this month in Montgomery County [Maryland]. We need emergency action now. That is why I am co-sponsoring the Dodd-Boxer legislation to provide emergency paper ballots and that is why Russ Feingold and I are introducing our resolution today demanding election day back-up plans."

"We have a duty to ensure that no citizen will be denied the right to vote in 2006," Kerry concluded.

The BRAD BLOG began the call for Emergency Paper Ballot legislation just over a week ago.
The SoS Project has set up a page where citizens can contact Congress Members to demand they pass this legislation in the few days left before breaking for the Election Recess.

We urge all democracy loving citizens to use this link and contact Congress immediately.

FULL STORY & COMPLETE TEXT OF FEINGOLD/KERRY NEW RELEASE:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3539

ZOGBY POLL: Voters Question Outcome of 2004 Presiential Election
Just 45% of Voters 'Very Confident' Bush Won Election Fair and Square

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3537

CNN's Lou Dobbs: Congressman Wexler Takes E-Voting Machines To The Supreme Court, Kitty Pilgrim reports on Florida and their failure to provide recountable ballots for half of the voters in the state. Congressman Wexler wants to do something about that and he has now taken his case to the US Supreme Court.

FULL TRANSCRIPT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3536

Some Estate Tax Facts, and debunking the newest, mind boggling GOP talking point: "Black people are hurt most by the Estate Tax":

Next thing you know, along come 18 super-rich families with a vested interest in repealing the estate tax. They are collectively worth $186 billion. They stand to gain $72 billion if the estate tax is repealed. It’s worth their while to exploit family businesses by using them as poster children for repealing it. But it’s all cynical nonsense. They’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars to spread deception about the estate tax. As a result of their efforts, many Americans think they will be subject to the tax when they die. Not true. Only one-quarter of one percent of the deceased will pay this year. That means that over 99 percent of us can leave everything to our heirs tax-free.

Since the majority of African American families have $21,000 or less in net worth, most blacks won’t even come close to owing the estate tax after they pass away. Compare the $21,000 black median wealth with the $2 million exemption from the estate tax, and you’ll see that the typical black family has barely a penny on the dollar of the minimum taxable amount.

People think they will lose half their estate to the tax (also untrue). The effective rate on big fortunes is about 20 percent. The idea that the estate tax forces lots of African Americans to sell their family businesses is just the latest myth. People this rich have the capacity to do basic financial planning. We know how to buy the insurance necessary to pay the estate tax so our heirs won’t be affected.

The reason to care about keeping an estate tax in place is simple. Wealthy people of all races have benefited from government investment­-education, infrastructure, loans, public contracts­-to create our fortunes. It’s only right that we pay something back, so the ladder of opportunity can be extended to those coming after us.

What could persuade the rich to give back, if the government didn’t mandate it? Human benevolence alone is not going to cut it. Make no mistake – we need the $20 billion to $30 billion the estate tax generates each year. Unemployment ravages the African American community. Medicare will soon be required to support the baby boomers. Kids are dropping out, with too little encouragement from government-funded after-school programs. Which is more important, spending on these needs or a tax break for multi-millionaire heirs? Repealing the estate tax would help squeeze the middle class into a permanent underclass. For some of us, there has been a rich gravy train in this country. So if you’ve enjoyed the ride, now pay the fare.

by Darius Ross is a New York City real estate developer, entrepreneur and fourth-generation Southern landowner

MINIMUM WAGE -- HOUSE MEMBERS WILL RESIST ADJOURNMENT UNTIL MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE CONSIDERED: Yesterday, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), ranking member on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, tried and failed to convince the conservative House leadership to take up the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour over two years. A discharge petition filed in February, which would force a vote on the Act, is 26 signatures shy of the required 218. Miller and three others yesterday urged 48 members, all Republicans who have publicly stated their support for the bill, to "stop this charade" and sign the discharge petition. If Congress doesn’t act to raise the minimum wage by Dec. 1, “it will be the longest stretch without an increase since the minimum wage was enacted in 1938.” In their second letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), the House minority leadership vowed to "actively resist adjournment" until Miller's minimum wage bill and four other key issues are addressed.

Think Fast

The New York Times calls the "compromise" military commissions legislation about to be approved by Congress "a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation's version of the Alien and Sedition Acts." "

A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged" and "poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks." U.S. construction giant Parsons Corp., which oversaw the project, received $1 billion in federal contracts in Iraq and managed the Big Dig "disaster" in Boston.

"Most of the 9 million uninsured children in the U.S. live in homes where at least one parent works full time," a new Families USA report finds. "In more than one-quarter of the cases, there are two working parents."

70: The percentage of Americans who oppose the use of U.S. ground troops in Iran. Only nine percent favored U.S. air strikes on selected targets in Iran, while 45 percent said the U.S. should increase diplomatic our efforts with allies. A report from the UK Ministry of Defense says the Iraq war has acted as a "recruiting sergeant" for Islamic extremists, and describes the west as being "in a fix."

"Scientists have uncovered evidence that levels of the greenhouse gas methane will rise sharply in the next few years, warming the planet faster than previously expected."

John E. Jones III, the district judge who "struck down a Dover, Penn., school board's decision to teach intelligent design in public schools said he was stunned by the reaction, which included death threats and a week of protection from federal marshals."

When will we stop talking about taking action (and that action will have to be massive)?

"Earth is now reaching and passing through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period. That means that further global warming of 1 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today. But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know. The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters (80 feet) higher than today."

-- James Hansen, Ph.D., Atmospheric Physicist, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, commenting on the following:

Global average temperature is within one degree Celsius of the maximum temperature of the past million years.

Video Clips of the Day:

Al Franken versus the morbidly obese liar that is Tony Blankley:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/27/franken-has-fun-with-tony-blankley/

And Jack Cafferty comments on our new family value of torture:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/26/torture-a-family-value/

I have a second, so here's a brief update from Brad Friedman on the continuing progression of the new voting rights movement...and the electronic democratic crisis. Good news is we got Boxer, Feingold, Dodd, the NY Times, Lou Dobbs, and more shouting to the skies that we need paper ballot protection now!!

NY TIMES COVERS EMERGENCY PAPER BALLOT LEGISLATION!
Your Friendly Neighborhood BRAD BLOGGER Quoted as Part of Coverage…
[UPDATE: NYTimes Late Edition, Russ Feingold Joins as Co-Sponsor!]

In an article by Ian Urbina, The New York Times' now has their story up about the Senate's Emergency Paper Ballot legislation as filed earlier today by Senators Boxer and Dodd.
UPDATE: An updated version of the NYTimes article, now linked above, has added Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) as a co-sponsor of the legislation as well!

The BRAD BLOG broke the story earlier today in a bit more detail, and along with the actual bill filed. We originally called on Congress in article published here a week ago today, to introduce and pass such a bill before their Election Recess coming up at the end of this week.

Urbina offers several additional points worth checking out in his Times coverage. Including this quote from Boxer concerning her reasons for not making the paper ballot initiative mandatory, but rather allowing it to remain optional to states and local jurisdictions [emphasis ours]:

"I think Big Brother dictating something to local jurisdictions is a big mistake, because they will balk at it," she said. "What we’re saying here is that you run your own elections, and we are going to help you run it properly. If local officials don’t take advantage of the option to take precautions, then they’re the ones on the line."

…As well, "Brad Friedman, a liberal blogger" is mentioned in the Times article...

MORE, FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3535

CNN's Lou Dobbs: 'No standards, no testing, relying on the manufacturers. It's just inconceivable.'
Kitty Pilgrim Covers the Fallout from the Recent Lawsuit Against the E-Voting Systems in Colorado…

DOBBS: "[M]any state governments across the country are finally awakening to the threat that electronic voting machines pose to our upcoming midterm elections — and our democracy."

FULL STORY, TRANSCRIPT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3532

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda [by the Clinton administration]."

-- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 9/25/06

VERSUS

"As the Clinton administration drew to a close, [Richard] Clarke and his staff developed a policy paper of their own [which] incorporated the CIA's new ideas from the Blue Sky memo, and posed several near-term policy options. Clarke and his staff proposed a goal to 'roll back' al Qaeda over a period of three to five years...[including] covert aid to the Northern Alliance, covert aid to Uzbekistan, and renewed Predator flights in March 2001. A sentence called for military action to destroy al Qaeda command-and control targets and infrastructure and Taliban military and command assets. The paper also expressed concern about the presence of al Qaeda operatives in the United States."

-- 9/11 Commission report

And more on the NIE documents...did you see what Bush released??? its hardly any better than the disastrous news that was leaked. Plus, talk about vague and meaningless, the big positive they point to is that it says, essentially, that IF we were to bring democracy to Iraq it could be a good thing for the region. Well, yes, and pigs may fly someday also, that doesn't make it something we want to bet our entire economy and security on...or certainly the lives of Iraqi's and Americans. Of course if these things happened then it would be good, the whole point is they're not going to happen and never were going to happen...because its based on a lie, it was illegal, it was unjust, and it was poorly planned.

The media, as always, covered this as a "he said, she said" again, saying "well, there are some that say this report backs up the President, and some that say it doesn't." Blah, blah, blah. Here's the bottom line...and it says this clearly: Iraq is a disaster, its created a breeding ground for terrorists, and its helping their cause, and its made the world a more dangerous place, for us, and for EVERYBODY. Period. Dot. And this was the stuff the administration cherry picked!!

Losing the War On Terrorism

America is losing the war on terrorism, and the war in Iraq bears a large part of the blame. An April National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) -- the key findings of which the Bush administration declassified yesterday -- reveals that Islamic extremists are "are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion." A big reason why: "the Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement." Worse, the NIE found that "the underlying factors fueling the spread of the movement outweigh its vulnerabilities." One of the main factors fueling terrorists: "the Iraq jihad." Meanwhile, the Bush administration has insisted that "America is winning the war on terror,""America is safer" and the idea that Iraq is fueling terrorism "doesn't hold water." Nevertheless, nothing in the NIE will come as a surprise to the nation's national security experts. A bipartisan survey of 100 national security experts conducted by American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine found that overwhelming majorities believed: 1) we are losing the war on terror (84 percent), 2) the Iraq War is making the terror threat worse (87 percent) and 3) we are not safer (86 percent). Staying the course means putting America at risk.

THE NUMBERS GAME: In 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo that famously asked the question, "Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?" The NIE definitively answers this question: "a large body of all-source reporting indicates that activists identifying themselves as jihadists...are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion." The Bush administration's response to the NIE was puzzling. White House homeland security official Fran Townsend sought to undermine the conclusions of the administration's intelligence services: "It's difficult to count how many have been added. ... It would be very difficult to count them." Townsend also said of the new jihadists: "it's not clear that those are people willing to commit murder."A ROSY SCENARIO: As grim as the April NIE is, there is evidence that, if anything, it's overly optimistic. The report says that if leaders like Musab al-Zarqawi were killed, "the resulting splinter groups would, at least for a time, pose a less serious threat to US interests than does al-Qaida." Zarqawi was killed in June. Since that time, violence in Iraq has increased sharply.

CHERRY PICKING INTELLIGENCE: The White House released only three pages from a document that is reportedly 30 pages long. What are they trying to hide? Yesterday, Jane Harman, the ranking member on the House intelligence committee said that "the body of the NIE provides additional information to support the key judgments, and I see no reason why it cannot also be declassified."

THE OTHER NIE: There is another NIE being created by the intelligence community that focuses specifically on Iraq. Yesterday, Harman "called for it to be shared with the American public -- before the November elections." Thus far, it hasn't even been shared with Congress. Yesterday, Townsend acknowledged it's existence but said it wouldn't be ready for distribution, conveniently, until Jan. 2007.

Think Fast

Another one of those "duhs". So let's get this straight: Americans want us out of Iraq (by about 60%), Iraqi's want us out (by about 75%), and American TROOPS want us out (something like 70%). So the question to ask is what the F*** are we doing there???? What a warped and twisted example of bringing "democracy"....by subverting it...ah Orwell...what didn't you know??

New polls show a "strong majority" of Iraqis want "U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence." Nearly 75 percent of Baghdad residents said they would feel safer if U.S. forces left Iraq.

The journal Nature reports that Bush administration officials "blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes," the third such cover-up accusation in the last two weeks.

And things that make you go hmmmm...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai tried to persuade oil-giant Chevron to invest in Afghanistan. "The rules are simple: Just come and look for oil, and then we'll see what we can do with you," Karzai said. "Are security threats a factor? No. You won't even know about them until you turn on CNN." Meanwhile, attacks in Afghanistan are growing more frequent and lethal.

Since 2000, "workers' health insurance premiums have risen a total of 84 percent, while their wages have increased 20 percent and inflation has risen 18 percent." "

Three Senate Democrats proposed emergency legislation on Tuesday to reimburse states for printing paper ballots in case of problems with electronic voting machines on Nov. 7," but "Republican leadership aides were skeptical about [its] prospects."

The House yesterday passed a bill making it a federal crime to accompany a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion without parental consent. "This law will put those teenagers at risk who live in abusive and dysfunctional homes and would not dare disclose a pregnancy to a parent for fear of further abuse," noted the Center for Reproductive Rights.

$1.4 million: The amount Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has spent on the CIA leak investigation. The relatively low cost "establishes him as remarkably frugal in the ranks of recent special investigators." (Ken Starr spent $71.5 million over eight years.)

CONTRACT CORRUPTION -- PR GROUP THAT PUSHED PENTAGON PROPAGANDA IN IRAQ RECEIVES MAJOR NEW CONTRACT: The Lincoln Group, a Washington DC-based public relations firm, has won a two-year federal contract to handle PR and strategic communications in Iraq valued between $6 million and $20 million. The firm takes over from the Rendon Group, "a controversial, secretive firm that has been criticized as ineffective and too expensive," and received more than $56 million by the government since the 9/11 attacks. The Rendon Group personally set up the Iraqi National Congress and helped install its leader Ahmed Chalabi, whose main goal -- "pressure the United States to attack Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein" -- Rendon helped facilitate. But it's unclear whether the Lincoln Group will be any better. A 2004 Chicago Tribune report found that Lincoln's PR workers in Iraq were conservative campaign operatives with no apparent experience in Iraq. Lincoln was also behind the campaign to help the U.S. military secretly pay "Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the US mission in Iraq." In Oct. 2004, Lincoln (then called Iraqex) "was awarded a one-year $6 million contract from the Pentagon to do PR work for the military in Iraq;" Lincoln negotiated a new deal in early 2005 worth roughly $100 million.

SUDAN -- SUPPORT FOR DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGNS CUT FROM BILL: In a defeat for anti-genocide activists, Congress approved the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act last week without a key provision that would have endorsed state and local campaigns to divest from companies doing business with Sudan. The omission is a victory for the business lobby and the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), which led a quiet campaign against the provision. The NFTC is currently engaged in a lawsuit against the state of Illinois for its law divesting public pension funds from Sudan. While U.N. negotiations with the Sudanese government to accept the presence of U.N. advisers nears a breakthrough, the African Union (AU) has agreed to extend the stay of their troops in the genocide-torn region until the end of the year. Yesterday, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), ranking member on the International Relations Committee and a Holocaust survivor, introduced a bill to further increase the pressure on Khartoum by authorizing President Bush to provide addition assistance to the AU forces, blocking assistance to countries that violate the U.N. sanctions on Sudan, and imposing new sanctions to punish military and government officials directly responsible for the genocide. In an op-ed yesterday, Lantos warned that Sudanese officials "must be made to understand that there will be severe consequences for a further genocidal assault on the people of Darfur."

END

And is it really a shock that Keith Olbermann is now receiving death threats? hell, just go to youtube and look at some of the comments from the right wing. No facts, but lots of hate and violent threats. Well, he was threatened, and what is more insidious than that, is the right wing "rag" the New York Post made light of it. This from crooks and liars:

Olbermann death threat powered letter made fun of by Murdoch’s NY Post

What would the conservative media be saying if Limbaugh was sent a letter like this? The NY Post: "POWDER PUFF SPOOKS KEITH"

Keith Olbermann flipped out when he opened his home mail yesterday. The acerbic host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" was terrified when he opened a suspicious-looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out. A note inside warned Olbermann, who’s a frequent critic of President Bush’s policies, that it was payback for some of his on-air shtick. The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called 911 at about 12:30 a.m., sources told The Post’s Philip Messing. An NYPD HazMat unit rushed to Olbermann’s pad on Central Park South, but preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn’t enough to satisfy Olbermann, who insisted on a checkup. He asked to be taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where doctors looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out isn’t known. Olbermann had no comment.

You can be sure that it would be front page news for The Post with pictures of Limbaugh going to the hospital–including interviews with the police and anyone one else they could find to make a statement. Then there would be a tidal wave on FOX News–you know the drill.

This is a new low for the right wing media of this country. Since Keith didn’t go public with the story, obviously he was doing what the police wanted and made sure not to cause a scene. He took the correct measures to ensure his safety as anyone of us would. It’s an outrage that in these times, a public figure would get a threatening letter and take it seriously, and then the right wing media would make a joke of it.

Paula Froelich only serves to encourage the wackos on so that they’ll continue this behavior. What a total disgrace.

Here’s a public email if you want to send Paula your thoughts

paula.froelich@nypost.com (please show more class than Paula)

I wonder if Keith will be speaking out about this tonight?

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power...Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power… is power."

-- George Orwell, 1984

Very little time today, but I simply can't miss sending ANOTHER Keith Olbermann classic!!! And its a perfect demonstration of what I suspected might come out of Clinton's on target attack of GOP talking points regarding 9/11, and their revised history...

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/25/olbermanns-special-comment-are-yours-the-actions-of-a-true-american/

And to demonstrate the explosion of media coverage of the Clinton smackdown, (granted, some is terrible (obviously fox)) check out these video clips. The point isn't just how this one confrontation is covered however, the point is that Clinton has opened the doors for EVERYONE to start calling a spade a spade, and stop giving Bush a big free pass on perhaps his greatest failure of all: 9/11 itself!! And ironically enough, one of Clinton's more dogged pursuits while in office. Olbermann took the cue and came clean for journalists too. Now we will see this kind of truth and rhetoric from many more Dems, more "left" pundits (because they are barely left on mainstream TV), and even more journalists...who will at least now be forced to entertain that question...what IS the truth about which administration took terrorism seriously, and which administration has used their collossal failures as some kind of twisted success??

So check these out:

The Daily Show take:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/26/daily-show-rips-cable-news-for-clinton-coverage/

An interview with one of the 9/11 commissioners on the Cole incident that Clinton outlined:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/26/what-did-bush-do-about-the-cole/

Tim Ryan delivers another knockout on the floor:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/26/tim-ryan-the-bush-administration-has-made-us-less-safe/

Hillary gets interviewed on the subject:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/26/hillary-comes-out-in-defense-of-her-husbands-actions-against-bin-laden/

And on another note, there are accusations now that known racist Senator George Allen also cut off a deers head and put it in a black family's mailbox. This comes from his former white football teamates too:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/26/macaca-allen-and-the-deer-head/

I hope you can stand this hypocrisy:

Preying On Our Troops

Predatory lending is seriously harming our military. A Defense Department report issued last month found that as many as one in five U.S. service members “are being preyed on by loan centers set up near military bases,” which can charge annual interest rates of 400 percent or more. Increasingly, soldiers have debt levels so high they are barred from serving overseas; others suffer from “bankruptcies, divorces and ruined careers” due to the strain and stress of debt. The Pentagon has joined consumer, military, and veterans groups in backing a bipartisan amendment from Sens. Jim Talent (R-MO) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) that places a cap of 36 percent on high interest rates for short-term payday loans to military members. But two conservatives -- Reps. Geoff Davis (R-KY) and Steve Buyer (R-IN) -- have been working to block Congress from making this bill law. Take a moment to call their offices -- use the toll-free congressional switchboard: (866) 808-0065 -- and tell them to support the Talent/Nelson amendment.

THE PAYDAY LENDING TRAP: Payday lenders offer high-cost, short-term loans "marketed as cash advances on the borrower’s next paycheck to cover an emergency need." Lenders charge roughly $15 to $25 per $100 loan for two weeks, and "most loans are extended for several weeks" because the borrower is unable to pay back the original loan amount. The average loan "is $350 and has an annual interest rate of 390 percent to 780 percent," meaning the average borrower "pays back $834 for a $339 loan." Between 13 percent and 19 percent of U.S. servicemembers -- roughly 175,000 people -- took out such loans last year. "Because of the high-risk terms, borrowers often get caught in a vicious cycle of chronic debt. When they cannot afford to pay back the fees plus the principal at the end of the two week period, borrowers are forced to pay another high fee to roll over the loan for an additional two weeks or take out another loan to pay off the first loan, thereby getting trapped in a costly and often devastating cycle of 'back-to-back' loans."

PREDATORY LENDERS WEAKENING OUR MILITARY: Payday lenders systematically target military families, who are "an ideal demographic for payday lenders because they usually have a steady government paycheck with little to spare at an average of $1,200 a month for new recruits." A 2005 report found that in 19 of 20 states studied, payday lenders were "located in counties and ZIP codes adjacent to military bases in significantly greater numbers and densities than other areas." The Pentagon states that payday lending "undermines military readiness, harms the morale of troops and their families, and adds to the cost of fielding an all volunteer fighting force," problems already exacerbated by the war in Iraq. Debt can distract service members from their duties or cause them to become security risks open to compromise. The Navy and Marine Corps denied security clearance to about 2,000 service members nationwide last year because of concerns that their indebtedness could compromise key operations. The Pentagon report outlines current efforts to combat abusive practices through education and credit counseling for service members, but also acknowledges that education is only part of the solution. The report states unequivocally that our men and women in uniform can only be adequately protected by strong legislative action.

LENDING AND BANKING INDUSTRIES CHOOSE PROFITS OVER U.S. TROOPS: Lending and banking industry lobbyists have moved aggressively to try to block a national cap on payday loans. The lending industry's main lobbying group, the Community Financial Services Association, called the Defense Department report "nothing but a re-hash of flawed data, biased analysis and anti-business philosophy pushed by fringe activists." One member of Congress, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), has taken up their cause. Davis recently proposed language, praised by the payday lending industry, that would gut the Talent/Nelson amendment and set no real limits on predatory lenders. One of Davis’s aides admitted that he consulted on the legislation with “CNG Financial of Mason, Ohio, one of his top campaign donors and owner of national payday lender Check ‘n Go." After facing intense local criticism for aiding and abetting predatory lenders, Davis yesterday announced that he no longer opposes the 36 percent cap on payday loans. But few have seen Davis's "compromise" language, which is being negotiated behind closed doors, and the Center for Responsible Lending says it will "remain worried about loopholes until we see the actual language and get a final vote."

THE NATIONWIDE DEBT CRISIS: U.S. service members are not the only Americans suffering from predatory lending abuses. As American Progress analyst Almas Sayeed has written, the payday industry "has exploded in the last decade, reporting $10 billion in sales in 2000 to $40 billion, including $6 billion in interest rates and fees, in 2003." The industry's growth has paralleled a growing debt crisis in America, in which health care, education, and housing costs have soared while real wages have fallen. The nation's working poor have been hit the hardest, having to "pay much more than moderate- and high-income households for life's essentials." Rising costs, a proliferation of credit cards, and an increasing reliance on payday loans have left people with few savings and mountains of debt. According to a poll sponsored by the Center for American Progress, the public is "more worried about falling into debt, particularly from medical bills, than about being the victim of a terrorist attack or natural disaster." The average savings rate in 2005 was negative 0.5 percent, "the lowest since the Great Depression."

And a couple "no brainers", but specific tools to make our arguments nonetheless:

HEALTH CARE--CITIZEN'S WORKING GROUP CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL COVERAGE: A report released by the Citizens Healthcare Working Group on Monday finds "overwhelming support for a [health care] plan that covers all Americans." The report is based on a series of 84 meetings, organized in conjunction with community organizations across the country, where the committee heard from over 6,500 people. The committee also received 14,000 responses to an Internet poll solicited for the study. Citing spiraling costs, decreasing efficiency, and rising numbers of uninsured, the Working Group asserts that "Americans should have a health care system in which everyone participates, regardless of their financial resources or health status, with...access to appropriate high-quality care without endangering individual or family financial security." The group demands this policy be "established immediately and implemented by 2012." The group also calls for financial protection against high health care costs, fostering of integrated community health care networks, and a "non-partisan public/private group, staffed by experts, to define America's core benefits and services and update them on an ongoing basis." The Working Group was established as a part of the 2003 Prescription Drug Bill. Its membership includes Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and 14 other representatives from consumer and disabilities groups, business leaders, organized labor, and health care providers.

MEDIA -- PROGRESSIVE RADIO HOSTS MORE ACCEPTING OF DISSENTING VIEWS THAN CONSERVATIVE HOSTS: Research 2000 recently conducted a survey testing whether progressive or conservative talk radio shows are more open to callers with dissenting points of view. The organization made 15 calls (with a point of view that was not compatible with the host) to six radio shows -- three progressive (Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz) and three conservative (Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh). The survey found that all the progressive hosts were more willing to take calls from dissenters than were the conservative hosts. Progressive host Ed Schultz was the most accessible to dissenting callers. His screeners asked callers for their names and location only. Following Schultz, in order of accessibility, were Rhodes, Miller, Ingraham, Limbaugh, and Hannity. Not a single caller with a dissenting point of view was allowed on the air by Hannity. Eleven of the 15 were told by Hannity's screeners "either 'I will pass it on' or 'call our liberal hotline' and then disconnected." Only two dissenters managed to get on Limbaugh's show, but only after going through three screeners. Ingraham, Miller, and Rhodes showed "no significant differences" in getting on the air, but the wait time for Ingraham's show was the longest of the three -- 40 minutes to one hour and 15 minutes. t bill passed in the Congress of the United States, I hope you know that."

END

Let's hear it for the "straight shooter", John "the hypocrite sellout fraud" McCain!
Look, it’s despicable and the United Nations should not be used as that kind of forum."

-- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), 9/24/06, reacting to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's reference to President Bush as the devil

VERSUS

"I think he was joking. I’m -- from what I was told, he was laughing."

-- McCain, 9/24/06, reacting to Rev. Jerry Falwell's reference to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as Lucifer

Think Fast...

“In a new sign of mounting strain from the war in Iraq,” the Pentagon said that 3,800 U.S. soldiers will be staying in Iraq about six weeks beyond their one-year combat tours. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew to the tiny nation of Montenegro “with hopes of tapping a new source of troops for Iraq and Afghanistan.”

6: The United States’ position on the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness rankings, a fall from first last year. “The U.S. lost its position as the world’s most competitive economy to Switzerland as budget and trade deficits prompted a slide.”

The Earth’s temperature “has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, warming that has begun to affect plants and animals,” the National Academy of Sciences reported. “This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made pollution,” NASA’s James Hansen said.

Larry J. Sabato, “one of Virginia’s most-quoted political science professors and a classmate of Allen’s in the early 1970s,” yesterday confirmed that he heard Allen use a racial slur to refer to blacks, a charge the senator has denied.

The African Union will add 4,000 troops to its mission in Darfur, bringing the number of police and soldiers to 11,000. Sudan has refused to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force into the region. Approximately 200,000 people have died since violence flared in 2003.

END

A few excellent articles, but no time to intro and clip them:

Norm Solomon on the media's subtle war machine language (and not so subtle) and treatment of the "enemy of the day". Get ready Iran...here we come...the media double standard is in full force:

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0925-31.htm

Molly Ivins breaks down disturbing headline after headline...the question is what will be left of our country when they're finished???

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0926-24.htm

More on the chilling possibility, even likelihood of an air assault on Iran. I don't even like to think of the consequences of such an action, but it appears it may be time to do so. Here's Gary hart on what could be the all time nightmare of an October surprise:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092506Z.shtml

And finally, and I hate to be the bearer of so much bad news, and so much injustice, but these issues and stories cry out to be understood by us all...and as you all know, we aren't getting the full story in the news, so I feel compelled. This is such outrageous behavior by our government it literally makes my heart ache. Yes, torture and imprisonment of not terrorists, but people that know the truth. Read this expose by Bob Herbert of the NY Times:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092506L.shtml

Oboy...one more doozie...one note first, its already been overwhelmingly accepted in the scientific community that global warming will result in an increased number and intensity of hurricanes. There's not nearly the "debate" that the media, and obviously the administration tries to say there is. Pretty simple really...warmer ocean temperatures cause more storms/precipitation/etc.. Duhh.

For instance, notice a typical straw man argument used by administrations and paid "skeptics": "Other factors cause stronger hurricanes too. So you can't say its just global warming." Well, NO ONE is saying there aren't all kinds of factors in storms, and no one is saying global warming is the only one at any given time. Scientists are simply saying they are one of the factors, a factor that throws off the natural balance and cycles of the planet...as its HUMAN INDUCED!! This is not rocket science for Christ's sake. Its one of the factors, and a dangerous one if we continue to increase C02 levels, which will in turn increase the warmth of the ocean, and therefore increase our impact on storm strength and number.

It feels like we're going to just continue to "debate" aspects of this crisis that are meaningless until we just destroy our species due to inaction. Fun stuff...

White House said to bar hurricane report
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday. The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

In the new case, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — part of the Commerce Department — in February set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report on the views of agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes. According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may be having an effect. In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report needed to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature reported.

SNIP

Leetmaa, head of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John said he had no details of the report.


SNIP

A series of studies over the past year or so have shown an increase in the power of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a strengthening that many storm experts say is tied to rising sea-surface temperatures. Just two weeks ago, researchers said that most of the increase in ocean temperature that feeds more intense hurricanes is a result of human-induced global warming, a study one researcher said "closes the loop" between climate change and powerful storms like Katrina.

Not all agree, however, with opponents arguing that many other factors affect storms, which can increase and decrease in cycles.

SNIP

The possibility of global warming affecting hurricanes is politically sensitive because the administration has resisted proposals to restrict release of gases that can cause warming conditions. In February, a NASA political appointee who worked in the space agency's public relations department resigned after reportedly trying to restrict access to Jim Hansen, a NASA climate scientist who has been active in global warming research.

I forgot, check out the UNBELIEVABLE revelations continuing to pour out on the Electronic voting crisis (those of us that dedicated a significant part of our lives to uncovering this knew all of this of course, and warned about it for over 2 years...but at least its starting to hit the mainstream...talk about slow!! Where still is more media coverage!!!??):

Diebold Tells NYTimes Access to Their Voting Machines 'Analogous to Launching a Nuclear Missile' 'We Must Restrict Access to the Buttons' Says Diebold as They Allow Faulty, Hackable Machines to be Used Everywhere in the Country this November!

Company Refuses to Supply Latest Machine for Testing to Either Princeton OR the US Elections Assistance Commission! If Diebold actually made nuclear missiles, would they allow the government to actually test them before using them?...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3523

Columbia Journalism Review Criticizes Media for Failing to Report Electoral Issues
BRAD BLOG Criticizes Columbia Journalism Review for Being Two Years Late and More Than Two Dollars Short…

Someone's got to be the watchdog watchdog watchdog. Guess it's our turn...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3520

Sunday NYTimes: Elections Officials Get 'Cold Feet' About E-Voting (The 'Paper of Record' Reports Years too Late!)

UPDATE: Story Hints 'LET AMERICA VOTE ACT' Being 'Considered on the Federal Level'!
PLUS: Vermont's Sec. of State Makes Jerk of Herself…

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3518

CNN's Lou Dobbs: Problems With E-Voting Machines Are Now Nationwide

Dobbs continues to be the only national media outlet (aside from yours truly, of course) to give this story the continuous coverage it deserves!...

LATEST TRANSCRIPT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3517

And perhaps seeing is believing. Watch the video of the Princeton Review demonstrate the e-voting virus they easily created:

http://getintheirface.blogspot.com/2006/09/princeton-university-creates-virus.html

"The human race has steadfastly turned away from the gravity of it's own warnings, the integrity of it's own enlightenment and the beauty of it's own worth."

-- "Pilgrim", in a book by Timothy Findley

How could people still want to vote for this guy??? Oh yeah, he's a movie star, and image is indeed everything in today's politics. Yet, ignorant voters, who have never seen angelides in person call him a "loser"...just because that's what the media tells them. They don't know his policies, don't know his background, and don't understand how extraordinarily more qualifed he is than our current, corporate slut, steroid using, woman groping and abusing, grade B action movie star of a governor.

Here's another example of what's at stake:

"I think that we had to go in. There was a threat of terrorism. I think that it was the right thing to do."

-- Arnold Scwharzenegger demonstrating his depth of understanding on why we went to Iraq

Versus...

"I will do everything in my power as governor of the state of California to bring our National Guard troops home,"Schwarzenegger has let our troops down by not speaking out against the war."

-- Phil Angelides

Letter from Lamont to Lieberman on the new report that Iraq has INCREASED the threat of terrorism...and what crazy left wing group did the study???? Why its our own government (the National Intelligence Estimate)! All I can say about this new study is "Duuuuuhhhhhh..."

Dear Senator Lieberman:

As I am sure you have seen, the New York Times today reported that the National Intelligence Estimate in April concludes “that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.” The NIE represents the consensus view of the U.S. government’s 16 major intelligence agencies. The Times notes that the Iraq War is a major “reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology” and cites one intelligence official acknowledging that the NIE “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse.”

Let me put this news in terms that you can clearly understand: Our own intelligence agencies now confirm that the Iraq War is undermining America’s security and credibility at our nation’s peril. With this report being released on the eve of your major address on Iraq, I and thousands of other citizens in Connecticut expect to hear your response to this news in your speech, considering you have echoed President Bush’s claim that the Iraq War has made our country safer, and that staying the course will help keep us safe. As the NIE now shows, that is absolutely not the case – in fact, the Iraq War has and continues to unnecessarily endanger U.S. national security. Never again can a political leader claim otherwise, lest they deliberately ignore the concrete facts presented to us by our intelligence agencies...

http://nedlamont.com/news/1540/

Watch this excellent discussion on Bill Maher's show about the film Jesus Camp...with some good panelists...including Fox news producer...a jesus freak...who would have guest???

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/bill-maher-and-the-panel-on-jesus-camp/

Yep, you heard Bush correctly, Iraq will just be a "comma" in the history books. So suck it up Iraqi's, suck it up american pawns...I mean troops, and suck it up american taxpayers who are footing the bill, and suck it americans who now are under a greater threat from terrorism becaue of this mass slaughter...its only a comma!!! Watch...if you can:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/bush-dismisses-bloodshed-in-iraq-as-just-a-comma/

CLINTON: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: Why didn't you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke?"

WALLACE: "We asked — we asked."

--President Bill Clinton responding to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, 9/24/06

VERSUS

Since 2001, Chris Wallace has interviewed the top national security officials from the Bush administration -- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hadley -- 42 times. According to a database search, none of them have been asked about the USS Cole or why Clarke was demoted.

--ThinkProgress.org, 9/23/06, 9/23/06

And you gotta watch Bill Clinton give a major league smackdown of a Fox news propaganda shoulder, or a "reporter" as they call them at fox. The absolute historical assualt under way on 9/11, particularly of the role Clinton (reality: did more than any president to take on terrorism...before it was sheak) played versus Bush (reality: demoted richard clark, stopped even meeting on terrorism, ignored all warnings about 9/11...perhaps purposely...certainly Cheney anyway, and then read My Pet Goat practically in tears while we were being attacked), as demonstrated by that 9/11 mockudrama, and everything that comes out of the GOP's mouth, needs to be confronted in precisely this manner. I like it when Clinton gets fiery instead of bending over backwards to be "moderate". Check it out:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/fox-clinton-interview-part-1-osama-bin-laden/

This is a good interview with Clinton by Olbermann too. Don't get me wrong, I have issues with Clinton, always have, but seeing what he's done since leaving office, and knowing what he did compared to Bush while in office, then realizing just how much he understands the issues confronting the world, and that he speaks in full, thought out sentences, is quite astonishing. If nothing else, Clinton being all over the news, doing these important things for the planet with his global initiative, speaking so articulately about the big issues of the day, should remind voters of just how low we've stooped, and perhaps it will help people realize we need a change in power this november.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/23/clinton-gives-olbermann-some-hypothetical-advice-for-bush/

More on our burgeoning love of torture...of innocent people from crooks and liars. Remember, its not just about "would you torture a terrorist?" Its do you torture innocent people too? abu graihb was made up of 70% innocent Iraqi's we now know. And this canadian guy we sent off to Syria for 10 months of torture was also innocent...just try and think about what that was like, and then get back to me on whether its okay to make it easier for our government to do this

Salon (watch a short ad for day pass)

Glenn Greenwald weighs in:

After a two-year investigation, the Canadian government issued a report this week regarding the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was abducted by the Bush administration during a layover at JFK Airport on his way home to Canada, and then brought to Syria to be "interrogated." He was kept in a tiny cell for the next 10 months in Syria and was repeatedly tortured. All along, he was guilty of nothing and had no ties of any kind to terrorism. [..]Despite the stonewalling and coverup by the Bush administration, the Canadian report was able to conclude "categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense."

It also found that both the American government and the Syrian government lied to Canada about Arar’s whereabouts because they knew the Canadians would object to their citizen being brought to Syria to be tortured. Put another way, our government abducted a completely innocent Canadian citizen and deliberately caused him to subjected, in Syria, to the most brutal and inhumane treatment imaginable (where, among other things, he confessed under torture to training in an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan even though he was never in that country).

Read on…

More on the NIE Study...as much as it is obvious, its a big tool to use this election against Republican lies:

The Hornet's Nest

Last April, intelligence analysts completed a report entitled, "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States," a classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that "represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government." The NIE "found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism," and the "Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse." "It paints a fairly stark picture of what we all know, and that this is a movement that is spreading and gaining momentum around the world," said one official who has seen the document. "Things like the Iraq war have given the terrorists recruiting tools and places to ply their trade and a training ground." Although it cites several factors that fuel extremism, "the reference to Iraq was the main one." The CIA's former Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program told Harper's recently, "Iraq has galvanized jihadists; our presence is what is attracting them. We need to get out of there." A Center for American Progress/Foreign Policy Magazine survey found 87 percent of terrorism experts from across the political spectrum believed the war in Iraq has had a negative impact on our national security. The first step toward a more successful counterterrorism strategy should be a change of course in Iraq.

STATING THE OBVIOUS: "It's stating the obvious," one intelligence official said of the NIE. Back in Jan. 2005, the National Intelligence Council released a report that found Iraq had "replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of 'professionalized' terrorists." Iraq, the report found, was a "magnet for international terrorist activity" and gave terrorists "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills." Former CIA Director Porter Goss admitted the following month that "Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists." "Our policies in the Middle East fuel Islamic resentment," the former Defense Intelligence Agency director added. Other CIA and State Department studies from 2005 confirmed that "Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the prime training ground for foreign terrorists." In 2004, former terrorism czar Richard Clarke wrote in his book, Against All Enemies, "Nothing America could have done would have provided al Qaeda and its new generation of cloned groups a better recruitment device than our unprovoked invasion of an oil-rich Arab country."

AFTER RECEIVING NIE, WHITE HOUSE MISLED AMERICANS: Since April 2006, the Bush administration has ignored the NIE and has consistently argued its Iraq policies have made the American people safer from terrorism. "The world is safer," Bush argued last month, "the Iraqi people are better, the cause for liberty is more advanced because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power." "America is safer. ... We are safer because we are on the offensive against our enemies overseas." "I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived [in Iraq]," Bush said last month, "and kind of 'we're going to stir up the hornet's nest' theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned." When confronted with a poll showing most Americans think our actions overseas are creating more terrorists, Dick Cheney said, "I can't buy that." (Cheney also has dismissed the suggestion "that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, we simply stirred up a hornet's nest.") "We will replace violent dictatorships with peaceful democracies," Bush said in Atlanta recently. "We'll make America, the Middle East, and the world more secure."

VIOLENCE MORE LIKE AN EXCLAMATION POINT: "I like to tell people when throwing the final history is written on Iraq," Bush told CNN's Wolf Blitzer yesterday, the violence "will look like just a comma." The ongoing violence belies Bush's dismissive tone. A recent U.N. report found the "number of civilians slain in Iraq reached an unprecedented level in July and August, which saw 6,599 violent deaths." "The official start to Ramadan on Monday was punctuated with violent attacks around Iraq, including an assault on a police station and the discovery of more apparent victims of sectarian death squads in the capital." The U.S. death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan now equals the number killed in the 9/11 attacks. (2,973 as of last Friday.) More than 20,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq. As Bush continues to spin an overly optimistic view of Iraq, it is "today a broken, war-torn country." "Violence, not growing democracy, is the dominant feature of Iraqi life," the New York Times wrote this weekend. "Every Iraqi knows this. Americans need to know it too."

A new GOP tactic...pose as liberal bloggers...make outrageous statements...and blame it on the left...how low can they go is the question? Particularly in light of their current troubles as a party??

“Liberal bloggers in New Hampshire busted an aide to Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.) who was posing as a liberal blogger on such blogs as Blue Granite, NH-02 Progressive and others.” Bass’s office said the staffer would be “appropriately disciplined.”