TODAY'S TOPICS: E-Voting Ban?, Suing Machine Vendors?, Giuliani Lies, Disaster Capitalism, Mukasey, Rumsfeld, Gore Poll
"Iraqi civilian deaths have also declined in recent months."
-- Gen. Raymond Odierno, 11/1/07
VERSUS
"The number of Iraqis killed in insurgent and sectarian attacks rose in October, according to government figures obtained on Thursday."
-- AFP, 11/1/07
VIDEO SECTION
I feel almost a little guilty in covering these GOP closeted homosexuals...but its not the gay part that needs to be exposed...its the gross hypocrisy and soulless corruption that is the Republican Party. So, I give you another sordid tale of a right wing, anti-gay, christian conservative, closeted gay, drag queen, hooker connoisseur:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/02/republican-richard-curtis-sex-scandal-cody-catagna-discusses-the-wallet-incident/
Three cheers for MoveOn and Code Pink (very different groups though)!! Our sociopath "President" has actually been reduced to whining about bloggers and advocacy groups....even mentioning my friends at Code Pink. It must be an honor to be attacked by this guy...nice publicity too.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/01/bush-playing-the-9-11-card-to-force-the-mukasey-nomination-through-attacks-bloggers/
Daily Show delves into the mind bending “torture double talk” coming out of the mouths of various GOP terrorists (I mean "terrorists" in the sense that they meet the actual definition of "terrorist"):
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/02/the-daily-show-the-strife-aquatic/
Real shocker...Feinstein and Schumer cave in...and say they will vote for torture advocate Mukasey for Attorney General:
Glenn Greenwald:
It is absolutely the case that Mukasey is a True Believer in all of the most extreme positions of the Bush administration regarding presidential power. That has been clear from the beginning. It is why he was chosen. After all, as a federal judge, he ruled that the President has the power to detain American citizens on U.S. soil indefinitely without ever having to charge them with a crime — a position he more or less repeated on the first day of his confirmation hearing.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/02/breaking-feinstein-schumer-cave-will-vote-for-mukasey-for-ag/
Wow...Rumsfeld's memos have been released, and Olbermann covers what they say...what a sick group of "people" they are:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/02/rumsfeld-is-catching-snowflakes-on-countdown/
ARTICLE SECTION: DISASTER CAPITALISM, GIULIANI LIES, BANNING DRE'S
Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" and "Disaster Capitalism" thesis gets stronger by the day. Read her latest piece detailing the rise of the disaster industry...making money off crises...but only for the rich.
A few clips:
I used to worry that the United States was in the grip of extremists who sincerely believed that the Apocalypse was coming and that they and their friends would be airlifted to heavenly safety. I have since reconsidered. The country is indeed in the grip of extremists who are determined to act out the biblical climax-the saving of the chosen and the burning of the masses - but without any divine intervention. Heaven can wait. Thanks to the booming business of privatized disaster services, we're getting the Rapture right here on earth.
SNIP
Like so many private disaster companies, Sovereign Deed is selling escape from climate change and the failed state - by touting the security clearance and connections its executives amassed while working for that same state. So Mills, speaking recently in Pellston, explained, "The reality of FEMA is that it has no infrastructure, and a lot of our National Guard is elsewhere." Sovereign Deed, on the other hand, claims to have "direct access and special arrangements with several national and international information centers. These proprietary arrangements allow our Emergency Operations Center to...give our Members that critical head start in times of crisis." In this secular version of the Rapture, God's hand is unnecessary. Not when you have retired ex-CIA agents and ex-Special Forces lifting the chosen to safety - no need to pray, just pay. And who needs a celestial New Jerusalem when you can have Pellston, with its flexible local politicians and its surprisingly modern regional airport?
Sovereign Deed could soon find itself competing with Blackwater USA, whose CEO, Erik Prince, wrote recently of his plans to offer "full spectrum" services, including humanitarian aid in disasters.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110207E.shtml
Paul Krugman details the latest of a literal avalanche of blatant, straight out lies by Giuliani (with Romney not far behind) on nearly every issue under the sun. In this case, Krugman exposes the recent "tragedy whore's" lies on health care. Now, for those that work on this issue, such as myself, this ad nearly knocked me down with its sheer brazenness. But most simply wouldn't know how deceptive it was...hence the role of the media!! But do they correct it? Of course not...instead, if they cover this kind of substance at all, its discussed in the "he said, she said" frame...rather than just fact checking it, and saying, let's say something like this: "Giuliani's recent ads on health care are factually incorrect." Period!
A few clips:
"My chance of surviving prostate cancer - and thank God I was cured of it - in the United States? Eighty-two percent," says Rudy Giuliani in a new radio ad attacking Democratic plans for universal health care. "My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine."… Let's start with the facts: Mr. Giuliani's claim is wrong on multiple levels - bogus numbers wrapped in an invalid comparison embedded in a smear. You see, the actual survival rate in Britain is 74.4 percent. That still looks a bit lower than the U.S. rate, but the difference turns out to be mainly a statistical illusion. The details are technical, but the bottom line is that a man's chance of dying from prostate cancer is about the same in Britain as it is in America.
SNIP
By rights, then, Mr. Giuliani's false claims about prostate cancer - which he has, by the way, continued to repeat, along with some fresh false claims about breast cancer - should be a major political scandal. As far as I can tell, however, they aren't being treated that way…To be fair, there has been some news coverage of the prostate affair. But it's only a tiny fraction of the coverage received by Hillary's laugh and John Edwards's haircut. And much of the coverage seems weirdly diffident. Memo to editors: If a candidate says something completely false, it's not "in dispute." It's not the case that "Democrats say" they're not advocating British-style socialized medicine; they aren't.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110207H.shtml
VOTING MACHINES VENDORS TO BE SUED??!!
This is an excellent summary of all the recent HUGE revelations coming out about e-voting vendors lies, coverups, and crimes against democracy that literally has led to millions of lost and stolen votes in this country. From Dan Rather to Debra Bowen, the facts are laid out...and the prize is clear: we need to get these criminals under oath...and sue them for so much money that they, and their syndicate enterprises will be destroyed...and the truth will be known.
A few clips:
Voting machine manufacturers should be investigated by Congress and sued by state and local governments across America for knowingly selling defective products to taxpayers, a growing number of voting rights attorneys and activists are saying. If successful, these advocates say the legal action could lead to multimillion-dollar refunds.
The new advocacy comes against a backdrop of recent disclosures about the nation's electronic voting systems. This summer, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen completed a major review of security flaws in the various voting systems deployed in her state. That review prompted Bowen to restrict the use of several makes and models in the state's February 2008 presidential primary. Under Bowen's early August directives, thousands of electronic voting machines will be pulled from use.
Then, in mid-August, ex-CBS anchorman Dan Rather, now with HD.net, presented an investigative report on the shoddy overseas manufacture of one widely used electronic voting system, the iVotronic made by Election Systems and Software (ES&S). He went to Manila, in the Philippines, where employees assembling ES&S machines spoke of using defective screens and rebuffed efforts to tell management about quality control problems. As many as 15,000 machines may have had defective screens, Bonifaz said, which correlates with election incident reports of voters saying they selected one candidate, but another choice would register on their electronic ballot. Rather also produced a second report on how the paper used for Florida's punch-card ballots in 2000 -- leading to the notorious "hanging chad" problem -- was known to be of dubious quality by Sequoia Voting Systems before 2000's presidential vote. ES&S said the problems with its machines were found and fixed, while Sequoia disputed Rather's findings.
SNIP
In 2003, when Harris and March sued Diebold in California's whistleblower laws, they found the state's attorney general would only go so far. The pair alleged Diebold was selling voting systems with uncertified software to 17 California counties. That meant the software had not been inspected and approved by federal testing labs. In all, the counties spent $106 million on Diebold voting systems, March said. However, then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer settled the case -- against their wishes -- for $2.6 million without gathering any evidence under oath, although Marsh said the lawsuit could be reopened if Diebold delivered more uncertified voting systems to California counties.
The pair also had another claim alleging Diebold did not tell the federal testing labs that key components of their systems had not been certified, but Marsh said Lockyer did not want to pursue that more complex allegation. "We had Diebold e-mails telling their employees to lie to the federal testing labs," he said.
http://alternet.org/rights/66752/
BILL TO BAN DRE (TOUCH-SCREEN) VOTING MACHINES FINALLY INTRODUCED IN SENATE!
This is very good news...and literally paramount to the larger effort to secure our broken election system. As the more hard core followers of the e-voting and election fraud issue know, the Holt bill, which started as something pretty good, ended up being unacceptable...first and foremost because it doesn't ban touch screen machines. As usual, too many Democrats caved in to the machine vendors, and sought a toothless compromise. The good news is, the strength and effectiveness of the election integrity movement, that I was a part of at its very birth, has proven strong. And, more and more Democrats are withholding their support fo the Holt Bill and instead seeking to do the only rational thing: ban these democracy abominations!
More from Brad:
Nelson and Co-Sponsor Whitehouse Rewrite Originally Introduced Bill to Do Away with Discredited Systems by 2012 and 'Any Subsequent Year'
After months of being told over and over by Rep. Rush Holt's (D-NJ) office, People for the American Way (PFAW) and many of the other most ardent supporters of Holt's flawed Election Reform Bill (HR811) that "there is no support in Congress for a ban on DREs", it looks like they must have been wrong. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and co-sponsor Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) filed such a bill today.
Here's the complete bill [PDF] which we've yet to read in full. But note this item from page 41, Line 7:
RESTRICTION ON USE OF DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS
-A direct recording electronic voting system may not be used to administer any election for Federal office held in 2012 or any subsequent year.
A ban on such machines, finally? Yes! By 2012? Unfortunately, yes. But let's overlook that last point for a moment to look at the bigger, and more important picture...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5238
SHOULD GORE REALLY RUN? COULD HE WIN?
Due to my strong support for John Edwards, i frankly was glad to see that Gore wasn't going to run, and instead was going to keep his focus on awakening people to the climate crisis. I also know that the media would love nothing more than to destroy the man...just as they did in 2000...cuz God knows they love to tear someone down that has been built up.
This probably makes no difference, as I see no way he will run, but I got to tell you, as every poll comes out showing Hillary leading (sickeningly and shockingly) by more and more, polls like these have started to make me think: "damn, maybe we do need to convince Gore to run???"
see here:
Zogby: Gore Leads 'Top-Tier' Democratic Candidates by Huge Margin in New 'Blind Bio' Poll
Also, Vast Majority of Dem Voters Would Consider a New Candidate Based on Iraq/Global Warming Positions of Current Crop...
Last week we reported that a CBS poll finds Al Gore trailing Hilary Clinton by just 5% in the Presidential Primary race and is ahead of all of the others, even though he's not officially on the ballot.
Yesterday, Zogby released the results of their Democratic "blind bio" poll, showing that Al Gore is, hands down, in front of the pack with 35% support. His closest rival was Hillary Clinton at 24%.
Also in the poll, 60% of Dem voters would consider voting for someone other than the current slate of candidates, based on dissatisfaction with the positions on the Iraq War by the current official crop. 65% said they'd be open to supporting a new candidate based on the current candidates' global climate change positions...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5236
Friday, November 02, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS: Edwards, Wellstone Remembered, Consumer Safety, Giuliani Investigation?, Net Neutrality
Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine.It is the easier path.
It is the path of the status quo. But, it is a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failed to deliver the change the American people demand, but has divided America into two -- one America for the very greedy, and one America for everybody else. And it is that divided America -- the direct result of this corrupt system -- which may very well lead to the suicide Lincoln warned us of -- the poison that continues to seep into our system while none notice.
Or we can choose a different path. The path that generations of Americans command us to take. And be the guardians that kept the faith.
-- John Edwards speech
If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them.
- the late Paul Wellstone
VIDEO SECTION
Daily show nails the media's obsession with creating a self fulfililng political narrative…brilliant:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/01/daily-show-the-manufactured-narrative-of-inevitable-hillary/
Daily Show covers my man Henry Waxman…and his continued grilling of the White House (he’s got 16 investigations in the pipeline):
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/the-daily-show-condi-in-thehouse-of-wax-man/
Olbermann’s worst person…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-fascist-fraidy-cats-edition/
A New York city councilman is finally asking the tough questions about what Giuliani REALLY did, and didn't do, before 9/11, during, and after. This is one of the greatest lies the Matrix has ever created...turning an inept, corrupt, and stone cold liar into an American hero. The question is how hard will it be to penetrate the minds of the public, and re-write the false narrative that was so comforting for them to believe?
Check it out:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/66710/
ARTICLE SECTION: Wellstone Remembered
Will Pitt remembers a true hero in the Senate: Paul Wellstone. It’s been just over 5 years since his tragic death in a plane wreck (which incidentally gave back control of the Senate to the Republicans AND took away the Democrats most progressive and principled advocate as well as war critic).
One thing about the Democratic Party is that we sure are diverse…ranging from passionate advocates and courageous fighters like Wellstone, to our more modern day corporate sellouts, war appeasers, and cowards. Of course, its hard to just blame the Democratic Party leaders, as it’s the legions of Democratic voters that have Hillary polling at double her nearest competition…what a disgrace. In light of the fact that we are preparing to invade yet another innocent and sovereign nation - with the tacit approval of Ms. Clinton yet again – it is difficult to believe that Wellstone was a member of the same party.
As we remember him, we should also remember what we should expect from our representatives, and indeed, what we must demand from them if our nation is to be saved from itself.
In honoring him, we should also honor those Democrats remaining that continue to fight, and need to keep hearing from us that “yes, we have your back…” I of course speak of the Feingold’s, the Lee’s, the Kucinich’s, the Woolsey’s, the Waxman’s, and others…but not nearly enough of them.
A few clips from Pitt:
What can be said, on the other hand, about the Senate he served so well? What about the Democrats who now enjoy majority control but flee the very thought of representing the will of the American people? They called Wellstone "The conscience of the Senate," and that honorable title seems more true today than ever. Since that conscience died, the Democrats - time after time after time again - have performed unconscionable acts of cowardice, ambivalence and betrayal.
SNIP
The Bush administration was trying to spy on Americans back when 9-1-1 was only the telephone number for the police. Since the September 11 attacks, the administration has folded, spindled and mutilated the Constitution and Bill of Rights in a rampage of unchecked anti-American activities, ranging from illegal domestic surveillance, to legislative "signing statements" that gut the meaning from duly passed laws, to brazen defiance of legally served subpoenas, to wild-eyed arguments against gossamer FISA-court oversight of their cloak-and-dagger actions.
The tempo of this behavior appears poised to increase… And yet this Democratic Senate majority, with a slim few notable exceptions, fully intends to immunize the telecom companies who aided in the illegal and warrantless surveillance of Americans by Bush's big ears at NSA, thus derailing the last and best way to determine, via lawsuits and investigations, exactly how dirty the Bush administration is regarding this illegal spying program. The Democratic senators pushing hardest for telecom immunity also enjoy the financial largess of that very same industry.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110107A.shtml
STAND UP FOR NET NEUTRALITY
Comcast has given us a glimpse of a world without Net Neutrality, and it's a chilling sight. An investigation by the Associated Press caught the cable giant secretly inspecting online communications and crippling users' ability to share information with one another. This is a gross violation of Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that ensures a free and open Internet.
Today, Free Press filed a legal complaint demanding that the FCC take action to protect the free flow of information on the Internet. By joining our complaint, you can help stop Comcast and other gatekeepers.
The future of the Internet is far more than Web sites and e-mail. People are now using new peer-to-peer technologies to upload and share videos, photographs and music. They are innovating without permission from Internet gatekeepers. Comcast is trying to shut down these innovations and treat the Internet like cable TV -- where they get to pick the channels you can watch. They're stifling the free exchange of ideas that makes the Internet so revolutionary.
Phone and cable lobbyists have called Net Neutrality "a solution in search of a problem." Well, here's the problem. In the past three months, incidents of censorship and blocking by Verizon, AT&T and now Comcast have made headlines around the world. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Tell the FCC: Save the Free and Open Internet’
White House Withholding 600 pages of Abramoff Docs
Steve Benen: Rep. Waxman has told the White House it has two choices: claim executive privilege or fork over the docs.
END
"Twenty-one states will run out of money for children's health insurance in the coming year, and at least nine of those states will exhaust their allotments in March if Congress simply continues spending at current levels." President Bush yesterday threatened to veto Congress's SCHIP legislation.
Stonewalling Consumer Safety...the epitomy of how our government is now run...
Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill strengthening the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) by raising its budget, increasing its staff, and granting it "broad new powers to police the marketplace" in the name of consumer safety. The vote came over the opposition of an unlikely foe: the head of the CPSC, Nancy Nord. The New York Times reported that Nord objected to "provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws." According to her spokesman, Nord worried that the new regulations would "put the agency in court" rather than strengthen enforcement. Nord's opposition comes after half a million toys imported from China were recalled earlier this month, adding to the millions that have already been recalled for containing dangerous levels of lead and other safety concerns. Though parents are worried about their children's safety, the CPSC brushed off the latest recall. "A lot of what is being recalled is because it violates the law, not that there is an imminent health risk," CSPC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said. The CPSC's stonewalling of effective reforms plays along with the White House's determination to move towards even greater deregulation across government agencies at a time when the questionable safety of products demands increasing oversight. Straight from conservative ideology, Bush's determination to "leave it to the market" -- even at the expense of safety -- has failed the American public.
CRONIES IN POWER: Bush's first CPSC chair, Harold Stratton, assured the business world that he would "break the barrier of fear" by making it more difficult to order product recalls. After Stratton stepped down last year, Bush nominated Michael Baroody, the executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), to head the CPSC. NAM is "a trade group that opposes aggressive product safety regulation" and "has called for weakening the Consumer Product Safety Commission." With NAM, Baroody opposed asbestos regulations, highway safety reform, and government action to combat global warming. Consumer groups, including Public Citizen, Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America, cried foul, "saying he could not possibly be an advocate for consumer safety having represented industries the agency regulates." "It's sort of astonishing that the administration would pick someone from a regulated industry," Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America said. Facing mounting criticism -- which only increased when it was revealed Baroody would receive a $150,000 severance package from NAM upon taking up his new government post -- Baroody was forced to withdraw his nomination on May 23, the day before his Senate confirmation hearing.
UNFIT FOR THE JOB: After Baroody's withdrawal, Bush appointed Nancy Nord to serve as acting head of the CPSC. Unfortunately, Nord is cut from the same political cloth as Baroody. She had been a lobbyist for Eastman Kodak, the executive director of the American Corporate Counsel Association, and the Director of Consumer Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Given her background, it is unsurprising that Nord does not recognize the challenges facing her agency or the American consumer," a report released yesterday by the Campaign for America's Future noted. Nord's current resistance to legislative reforms -- which would increase the CPSC's budget and staff -- has perplexed lawmakers. Yesterday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for Nord's resignation. "Any commission chair who does not, in the face of the facts that are so clear, say we don't need any more authority or any more resources to do our job, does not understand the gravity of the situation," she said. "I call on the president of the United States to ask for her resignation." This is not the first time Nord has rubbed lawmakers the wrong way. Last month, when she was asked to testify about the safety of toys imported from China, she said she would "rather go to the dentist." The Washington Post's Dana Milbank noted that "instead of showing contrition, Nord treated the lawmakers as if they were impertinent children."
FAILURE OF CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES: The politicization of the agency, coupled with the Bush administration's adherence to a flawed conservative ideology, has crippled the CPSC. In its first year of operation in 1974, the CPSC had a staff of 786 and a budget equivalent to $146.6 million in today's dollars. Today it operates with a budget of only $62.3 million and 420 full-time employees. Now is not the time to scale back regulation of product safety, as imports of consumer goods from overseas have reached an all-time high. For example, the Toy Industry Association estimates that 80 percent of all toys sold in the United States are imported from China. Because of this deregulation, millions of children going trick-or-treating tonight to celebrate Halloween will be at greater risk than ever before from products made outside the United States, including tainted costumes and plastic candy buckets. Even when faced with safety risks to kids, conservatives would rather allow the markets to regulate themselves and consumers to fend for themselves. "As this point, when it comes to imported products, American are basically on their own," notes the Campaign for America's Future. "[T]hey can't rely on what they need -- active and efficient government regulation and inspection that can protect our children and insure that our safety standards are met. It is past time for that to change."
Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine.It is the easier path.
It is the path of the status quo. But, it is a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failed to deliver the change the American people demand, but has divided America into two -- one America for the very greedy, and one America for everybody else. And it is that divided America -- the direct result of this corrupt system -- which may very well lead to the suicide Lincoln warned us of -- the poison that continues to seep into our system while none notice.
Or we can choose a different path. The path that generations of Americans command us to take. And be the guardians that kept the faith.
-- John Edwards speech
If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them.
- the late Paul Wellstone
VIDEO SECTION
Daily show nails the media's obsession with creating a self fulfililng political narrative…brilliant:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/01/daily-show-the-manufactured-narrative-of-inevitable-hillary/
Daily Show covers my man Henry Waxman…and his continued grilling of the White House (he’s got 16 investigations in the pipeline):
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/the-daily-show-condi-in-thehouse-of-wax-man/
Olbermann’s worst person…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-fascist-fraidy-cats-edition/
A New York city councilman is finally asking the tough questions about what Giuliani REALLY did, and didn't do, before 9/11, during, and after. This is one of the greatest lies the Matrix has ever created...turning an inept, corrupt, and stone cold liar into an American hero. The question is how hard will it be to penetrate the minds of the public, and re-write the false narrative that was so comforting for them to believe?
Check it out:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/66710/
ARTICLE SECTION: Wellstone Remembered
Will Pitt remembers a true hero in the Senate: Paul Wellstone. It’s been just over 5 years since his tragic death in a plane wreck (which incidentally gave back control of the Senate to the Republicans AND took away the Democrats most progressive and principled advocate as well as war critic).
One thing about the Democratic Party is that we sure are diverse…ranging from passionate advocates and courageous fighters like Wellstone, to our more modern day corporate sellouts, war appeasers, and cowards. Of course, its hard to just blame the Democratic Party leaders, as it’s the legions of Democratic voters that have Hillary polling at double her nearest competition…what a disgrace. In light of the fact that we are preparing to invade yet another innocent and sovereign nation - with the tacit approval of Ms. Clinton yet again – it is difficult to believe that Wellstone was a member of the same party.
As we remember him, we should also remember what we should expect from our representatives, and indeed, what we must demand from them if our nation is to be saved from itself.
In honoring him, we should also honor those Democrats remaining that continue to fight, and need to keep hearing from us that “yes, we have your back…” I of course speak of the Feingold’s, the Lee’s, the Kucinich’s, the Woolsey’s, the Waxman’s, and others…but not nearly enough of them.
A few clips from Pitt:
What can be said, on the other hand, about the Senate he served so well? What about the Democrats who now enjoy majority control but flee the very thought of representing the will of the American people? They called Wellstone "The conscience of the Senate," and that honorable title seems more true today than ever. Since that conscience died, the Democrats - time after time after time again - have performed unconscionable acts of cowardice, ambivalence and betrayal.
SNIP
The Bush administration was trying to spy on Americans back when 9-1-1 was only the telephone number for the police. Since the September 11 attacks, the administration has folded, spindled and mutilated the Constitution and Bill of Rights in a rampage of unchecked anti-American activities, ranging from illegal domestic surveillance, to legislative "signing statements" that gut the meaning from duly passed laws, to brazen defiance of legally served subpoenas, to wild-eyed arguments against gossamer FISA-court oversight of their cloak-and-dagger actions.
The tempo of this behavior appears poised to increase… And yet this Democratic Senate majority, with a slim few notable exceptions, fully intends to immunize the telecom companies who aided in the illegal and warrantless surveillance of Americans by Bush's big ears at NSA, thus derailing the last and best way to determine, via lawsuits and investigations, exactly how dirty the Bush administration is regarding this illegal spying program. The Democratic senators pushing hardest for telecom immunity also enjoy the financial largess of that very same industry.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110107A.shtml
STAND UP FOR NET NEUTRALITY
Comcast has given us a glimpse of a world without Net Neutrality, and it's a chilling sight. An investigation by the Associated Press caught the cable giant secretly inspecting online communications and crippling users' ability to share information with one another. This is a gross violation of Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that ensures a free and open Internet.
Today, Free Press filed a legal complaint demanding that the FCC take action to protect the free flow of information on the Internet. By joining our complaint, you can help stop Comcast and other gatekeepers.
The future of the Internet is far more than Web sites and e-mail. People are now using new peer-to-peer technologies to upload and share videos, photographs and music. They are innovating without permission from Internet gatekeepers. Comcast is trying to shut down these innovations and treat the Internet like cable TV -- where they get to pick the channels you can watch. They're stifling the free exchange of ideas that makes the Internet so revolutionary.
Phone and cable lobbyists have called Net Neutrality "a solution in search of a problem." Well, here's the problem. In the past three months, incidents of censorship and blocking by Verizon, AT&T and now Comcast have made headlines around the world. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Tell the FCC: Save the Free and Open Internet’
White House Withholding 600 pages of Abramoff Docs
Steve Benen: Rep. Waxman has told the White House it has two choices: claim executive privilege or fork over the docs.
END
"Twenty-one states will run out of money for children's health insurance in the coming year, and at least nine of those states will exhaust their allotments in March if Congress simply continues spending at current levels." President Bush yesterday threatened to veto Congress's SCHIP legislation.
Stonewalling Consumer Safety...the epitomy of how our government is now run...
Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill strengthening the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) by raising its budget, increasing its staff, and granting it "broad new powers to police the marketplace" in the name of consumer safety. The vote came over the opposition of an unlikely foe: the head of the CPSC, Nancy Nord. The New York Times reported that Nord objected to "provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws." According to her spokesman, Nord worried that the new regulations would "put the agency in court" rather than strengthen enforcement. Nord's opposition comes after half a million toys imported from China were recalled earlier this month, adding to the millions that have already been recalled for containing dangerous levels of lead and other safety concerns. Though parents are worried about their children's safety, the CPSC brushed off the latest recall. "A lot of what is being recalled is because it violates the law, not that there is an imminent health risk," CSPC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said. The CPSC's stonewalling of effective reforms plays along with the White House's determination to move towards even greater deregulation across government agencies at a time when the questionable safety of products demands increasing oversight. Straight from conservative ideology, Bush's determination to "leave it to the market" -- even at the expense of safety -- has failed the American public.
CRONIES IN POWER: Bush's first CPSC chair, Harold Stratton, assured the business world that he would "break the barrier of fear" by making it more difficult to order product recalls. After Stratton stepped down last year, Bush nominated Michael Baroody, the executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), to head the CPSC. NAM is "a trade group that opposes aggressive product safety regulation" and "has called for weakening the Consumer Product Safety Commission." With NAM, Baroody opposed asbestos regulations, highway safety reform, and government action to combat global warming. Consumer groups, including Public Citizen, Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America, cried foul, "saying he could not possibly be an advocate for consumer safety having represented industries the agency regulates." "It's sort of astonishing that the administration would pick someone from a regulated industry," Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America said. Facing mounting criticism -- which only increased when it was revealed Baroody would receive a $150,000 severance package from NAM upon taking up his new government post -- Baroody was forced to withdraw his nomination on May 23, the day before his Senate confirmation hearing.
UNFIT FOR THE JOB: After Baroody's withdrawal, Bush appointed Nancy Nord to serve as acting head of the CPSC. Unfortunately, Nord is cut from the same political cloth as Baroody. She had been a lobbyist for Eastman Kodak, the executive director of the American Corporate Counsel Association, and the Director of Consumer Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Given her background, it is unsurprising that Nord does not recognize the challenges facing her agency or the American consumer," a report released yesterday by the Campaign for America's Future noted. Nord's current resistance to legislative reforms -- which would increase the CPSC's budget and staff -- has perplexed lawmakers. Yesterday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for Nord's resignation. "Any commission chair who does not, in the face of the facts that are so clear, say we don't need any more authority or any more resources to do our job, does not understand the gravity of the situation," she said. "I call on the president of the United States to ask for her resignation." This is not the first time Nord has rubbed lawmakers the wrong way. Last month, when she was asked to testify about the safety of toys imported from China, she said she would "rather go to the dentist." The Washington Post's Dana Milbank noted that "instead of showing contrition, Nord treated the lawmakers as if they were impertinent children."
FAILURE OF CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES: The politicization of the agency, coupled with the Bush administration's adherence to a flawed conservative ideology, has crippled the CPSC. In its first year of operation in 1974, the CPSC had a staff of 786 and a budget equivalent to $146.6 million in today's dollars. Today it operates with a budget of only $62.3 million and 420 full-time employees. Now is not the time to scale back regulation of product safety, as imports of consumer goods from overseas have reached an all-time high. For example, the Toy Industry Association estimates that 80 percent of all toys sold in the United States are imported from China. Because of this deregulation, millions of children going trick-or-treating tonight to celebrate Halloween will be at greater risk than ever before from products made outside the United States, including tainted costumes and plastic candy buckets. Even when faced with safety risks to kids, conservatives would rather allow the markets to regulate themselves and consumers to fend for themselves. "As this point, when it comes to imported products, American are basically on their own," notes the Campaign for America's Future. "[T]hey can't rely on what they need -- active and efficient government regulation and inspection that can protect our children and insure that our safety standards are met. It is past time for that to change."
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS: Edwards, Kucinich, War Profiteers, Springsteen Banned, Election Chief Grilled, Repub Drag Queen
No time again today...suffice to say, Edwards and Kucinich really stood out in last night's debate...and hopefully people are starting to see through Hillary...
'If he does not believe that waterboarding is illegal, then that would really put doubts in my own mind because I don't think you have to have a lot of knowledge about the law to understand this technique violates' the Geneva Convention and other statutes."
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 10/28/07, on Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey
VERSUS
"The letter shows that he understands mainstream legal reasoning. There's nothing off base here."
-- Graham, 10/30/07, after Mukasey again refused to state that waterboarding is illegal
“I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his (Bush) mental health. There’s something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact.”[..] You cannot be a president of the United States who’s wanton in his expression of violence. There’s a lot of people who need care. He might be one of them. If there isn’t something wrong with him, then there’s something wrong with us. This, to me, is a very serious question.”
-- Dennis Kucinich
"She says she'll stand up to George Bush on Iran. She just said it again. And in fact, she voted to give George Bush the first step in moving militarily on Iran, and he's taken it.... I was surprised by Senator Clinton's vote, I'll be honest about that, and then I saw an explanation of it in The New York Times for her vote, which basically said she was moving from primary mode to general election mode. I think that our responsibility as presidential candidates is to be in tell-the-truth mode all the time."
-- John Edwards
And more from Edwards incredible speech this week:
The hubris of greed knows no bounds. Days after the homeland security bill passed, staffers from the homeland security department resigned and became homeland security consultants trying to cash in. And, where was the outrage? There was none, because that's how it works in Washington now. It is not a Republican revolving door or a Democratic revolving door -- it is just the way it's done.
Someone called it a government reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get rich when you leave the government.
Recently, I was dismayed to see headlines in the Wall Street Journal stating that Senate Democrats were backing down to lobbyists for hedge funds who have opposed efforts to make millionaire and billionaire hedge fund managers pay the same tax rate as every hard-working American. Now, tax loopholes the wealthy hedge fund managers do not need or deserve are not going to be closed, all because Democrats -- our party -- wanted their campaign money.
SNIP
I believe you cannot be for change and take money from the lobbyists who prevent change. You cannot take on the entrenched interests in Washington if you choose to defend the broken system. It will not work. And I believe that, if Americans have a choice, and candidate who takes their money -- Democrat or Republican -- will lose this election.
For us to continue down this path all we have to do is suspend all that we believe in. As Democrats, we continue down this path only if we believe the party of the people is no more.
-- John Edwards
VIDEO SECTION
Yes! NY governor Elliot Spitzer puts the hammer down on Lou Dobbs…whose slow descent into madness has been hard to watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/elliot-spitzer-says-lou-dobbs-spreads-venom-and-hate-on-cnn/
Kucinich rocks! Watch as he calls for impeachment in last night's debate:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/democrats-debate-in-philly-kucinich-calls-for-reality-in-iraq-and-impeachment-of-president-bush/
John Edwards nails it again...he and Kucinich are far and away the best we have:
http://johnedwards.com/watch/debate/
Kucinich again…this time having the courage to ask what no one seems brave enough to ask: is the President mentally stable? As I’ve said for a long time here, no, he’s not. He’s a sociopath for one…and bordering on demented too. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/kucinich-questions-bushs-mental-health/
Olbermann on Bush’s recent “hissy fits”…once again, we need to start figuring out a way to take this killer down…before he brings the world down with him:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/countdown-bushs-hissy-fit/
Classic line by Biden in the debate about Rudy “tragedy whore” Giuliani:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/biden-says-rudy-is-the-most-under-qualified-candidate-noun-verb-911-giuliani-vocabulary/
ARTICLE SECTION: WAR PROFITEERING
Robert Scheer writes on the outlandish profits being made by the military industrial complex. Who says this war hasn’t been a success???
A few clips:
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s top weapons manufacturer, reaped a 22 percent increase in profits, while rivals for the defense buck, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, increased profits by 62 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Boeing’s profits jumped 61 percent, spiked this quarter by its commercial division, but Boeing’s military division, like the others, has been doing very well indeed since the terrorist attacks. As Newsweek International put in August: "Since 9/11 and the U.S.-led wars that followed, shares in American defense companies have outperformed both the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s stock indices by some 40 percent. Prior to the recent cascade of stock prices worldwide, Boeing’s share prices had tripled over the past five years while Raytheon’s had doubled."
SNIP
Thanks to bin Laden and Bush’s exploitation of "war on terror" hysteria, the taxpayers have been hoodwinked into paying for a sophisticated military arsenal to fight a Soviet enemy that no longer exists. The Institute for Policy Studies calculated last year that the top 34 CEOs of the defense industry have earned a combined billion dollars since 9/11; they should give bin Laden his cut.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/103107H.shtml
ELECTION FRAUD SECTION…
I posted Brad’s video of this two weeks back…and look at this! Especially watch the cross examinations by two of the Dems…Remember, Tanner is a key cog in the election theft machinery…a major advocate for how to steal the 2008 election: national voter ID’s!
Esp. watch Ellison (only muslim in congress) go after him…to think this is the civil rights chief...
Must-See WaPo VIDEO: John Tanner is 'One Sorry Man'
Gives Details to BRAD BLOG Alleging Testimony from Chief of DoJ Civil Rights Division Voting Section 'Not Believable', Full of 'Evasion and Prevarication'
'He Lost No Time in Twisting the Truth,' Says 'Anonymous' Staffer in E-Mailed Rebuttal...
ADDITIONAL VIDEO SPANKINGS: Reps. Davis and Ellison's Q&A's in Full...
Wow. Snap. Washington Post covered yesterday's House Judiciary subcommittee hearings in two separate articles today and via one hell of an online video to boot. Dana Milbank covered on page 2, opening with "John Tanner is one sorry man." Dan Eggen covered the "political uproar" that we kicked off here at The BRAD BLOG several weeks ago, on page 4.
But it's Milbank's online "video sketch" that cuts to the bone, offering the best first-hand encapsulated coverage of the hearings we've seen to date (far better, even, than the PBS News Hour's version last night)...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5225
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN…ANOTHER CLOSETED HYPOCRITE
Meanwhile, way on the other side of the country, up in Washington another I'm-Not-Gay-Republican-- yawn-- Washington Rep. Richard Curtis is all caught up in some extortion business with a gay prostitute. KREM, a Spokane TV station, reported that Curtis and the male hooker had "a sexual encounter and were seen together at various spots around the city." Spokane is just up the road apiece from Idaho and Curtis said, "I am not gay. I have not had sex with a guy." A.P. is reporting that Curtis and the hooker met at one of those porno video shops (the Hollywood Erotic Boutique) at 12:45am and then went back to Curtis' hotel room at 3:30am for sex. They don't say who did what to whom but the trick, Cody Castagna, demanded a grand to not blab that Curtis, who is married, is also enjoying the company of young men, and Curtis called the cops.
Before you start feeling too sorry for this chump, keep this in mind: he's a self-righteous right-wing turd who he voted against domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. Last year, he opposed a gay rights bill that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Flush another Republican hypocrite down the toilet. I've lost count.
UPDATE: THE REPUBLICAN IS A DRAG QUEEN!
KXLY reports that GOP Rep. Curtis was not just into picking up young men for sex, he was also into wearing lady's clothing. My God! What is wrong with these Republicans? This guy voted no on employment equality for gay men and women while he was wearing frilly undies! (He insists he's not gay. Maybe the Republicans have their own words for things that are different from normal people's vocabularies. The KXLY Report is completely graphic (anal sex, etc).
State Representative Richard Curtis says he's not gay, but police reports and court records indicate the Republican lawmaker from southwestern Washington dressed up in women's lingerie and met a Medical Lake man in a local erotic video store which led to consensual sex at a downtown hotel and a threat to expose Curtis' activities publicly. \
GAO: REDUCTION IN VIOLENCE DUE TO 'ETHICALLY CLEANSED NEIGHBORHOODS': The Bush administration has been quick to jump on reports of reduced violence in Iraq, with President Bush declaring that violence is "down significantly from last year." In a hearing yesterday before the House Appropriations Committee, however, Joe Christoff of the Government Accountability Office stated that recent reductions in violence should be taken with a grain of salt, as they coincide with increased sectarian cleansing and massive refugee displacement. "You know, we look at the attack data going down, but it's not taking into consideration that there might be fewer attacks because you have ethnically cleansed neighborhoods, particularly in the Baghdad area," Christoff said. His comments confirm the conclusions of ret. Gen. James Jones, whose report depicted the reality of ethnic cleansing in Baghdad in a stark visual presentation. A report released yesterday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction confirmed that sectarian strife still reigns throughout Iraq, noting, "Despite reduced violence, [Provincial Reconstruction Team] officials are pessimistic that lasting reconciliation is occurring."
CLEAR CHANNEL REFUSES TO AIR SPRINGSTEEN'S ANTI-WAR ALBUM: Bruce Springsteen's new album, "Magic," became the number one selling album in America when it was released three weeks ago, and his current U.S. tour is selling out stadiums across the country. But despite the album's popularity, Clear Channel Communications, which owns over 1,100 radio stations in the United States, has refused to air any of its songs. Clear Channel recently circulated a memo to its classic rock stations "not to play tracks from 'Magic.' But it's OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as 'Dancing in the Dark,' 'Born to Run' and 'Born in the USA.'" Springsteen, whose songs have consistently contained anti-war messages, is more explicit in "Magic" about his opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The album includes a song entitled "Last To Die" which features the lyrics: "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake/The last to die for a mistake/Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break/Who'll be the last to die for a mistake." Last month, Clear Channel also refused to air a commercial by a veteran critical of the Iraq war during Rush Limbaugh's program because the ad presented information that "would conflict with the listeners who have chosen to listen to Rush Limbaugh." Clear Channel is also the company responsible for ostracizing the Dixie Chicks after they made comments critical of President Bush in 2003.
No time again today...suffice to say, Edwards and Kucinich really stood out in last night's debate...and hopefully people are starting to see through Hillary...
'If he does not believe that waterboarding is illegal, then that would really put doubts in my own mind because I don't think you have to have a lot of knowledge about the law to understand this technique violates' the Geneva Convention and other statutes."
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 10/28/07, on Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey
VERSUS
"The letter shows that he understands mainstream legal reasoning. There's nothing off base here."
-- Graham, 10/30/07, after Mukasey again refused to state that waterboarding is illegal
“I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his (Bush) mental health. There’s something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact.”[..] You cannot be a president of the United States who’s wanton in his expression of violence. There’s a lot of people who need care. He might be one of them. If there isn’t something wrong with him, then there’s something wrong with us. This, to me, is a very serious question.”
-- Dennis Kucinich
"She says she'll stand up to George Bush on Iran. She just said it again. And in fact, she voted to give George Bush the first step in moving militarily on Iran, and he's taken it.... I was surprised by Senator Clinton's vote, I'll be honest about that, and then I saw an explanation of it in The New York Times for her vote, which basically said she was moving from primary mode to general election mode. I think that our responsibility as presidential candidates is to be in tell-the-truth mode all the time."
-- John Edwards
And more from Edwards incredible speech this week:
The hubris of greed knows no bounds. Days after the homeland security bill passed, staffers from the homeland security department resigned and became homeland security consultants trying to cash in. And, where was the outrage? There was none, because that's how it works in Washington now. It is not a Republican revolving door or a Democratic revolving door -- it is just the way it's done.
Someone called it a government reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get rich when you leave the government.
Recently, I was dismayed to see headlines in the Wall Street Journal stating that Senate Democrats were backing down to lobbyists for hedge funds who have opposed efforts to make millionaire and billionaire hedge fund managers pay the same tax rate as every hard-working American. Now, tax loopholes the wealthy hedge fund managers do not need or deserve are not going to be closed, all because Democrats -- our party -- wanted their campaign money.
SNIP
I believe you cannot be for change and take money from the lobbyists who prevent change. You cannot take on the entrenched interests in Washington if you choose to defend the broken system. It will not work. And I believe that, if Americans have a choice, and candidate who takes their money -- Democrat or Republican -- will lose this election.
For us to continue down this path all we have to do is suspend all that we believe in. As Democrats, we continue down this path only if we believe the party of the people is no more.
-- John Edwards
VIDEO SECTION
Yes! NY governor Elliot Spitzer puts the hammer down on Lou Dobbs…whose slow descent into madness has been hard to watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/elliot-spitzer-says-lou-dobbs-spreads-venom-and-hate-on-cnn/
Kucinich rocks! Watch as he calls for impeachment in last night's debate:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/democrats-debate-in-philly-kucinich-calls-for-reality-in-iraq-and-impeachment-of-president-bush/
John Edwards nails it again...he and Kucinich are far and away the best we have:
http://johnedwards.com/watch/debate/
Kucinich again…this time having the courage to ask what no one seems brave enough to ask: is the President mentally stable? As I’ve said for a long time here, no, he’s not. He’s a sociopath for one…and bordering on demented too. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/kucinich-questions-bushs-mental-health/
Olbermann on Bush’s recent “hissy fits”…once again, we need to start figuring out a way to take this killer down…before he brings the world down with him:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/31/countdown-bushs-hissy-fit/
Classic line by Biden in the debate about Rudy “tragedy whore” Giuliani:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/biden-says-rudy-is-the-most-under-qualified-candidate-noun-verb-911-giuliani-vocabulary/
ARTICLE SECTION: WAR PROFITEERING
Robert Scheer writes on the outlandish profits being made by the military industrial complex. Who says this war hasn’t been a success???
A few clips:
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s top weapons manufacturer, reaped a 22 percent increase in profits, while rivals for the defense buck, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, increased profits by 62 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Boeing’s profits jumped 61 percent, spiked this quarter by its commercial division, but Boeing’s military division, like the others, has been doing very well indeed since the terrorist attacks. As Newsweek International put in August: "Since 9/11 and the U.S.-led wars that followed, shares in American defense companies have outperformed both the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s stock indices by some 40 percent. Prior to the recent cascade of stock prices worldwide, Boeing’s share prices had tripled over the past five years while Raytheon’s had doubled."
SNIP
Thanks to bin Laden and Bush’s exploitation of "war on terror" hysteria, the taxpayers have been hoodwinked into paying for a sophisticated military arsenal to fight a Soviet enemy that no longer exists. The Institute for Policy Studies calculated last year that the top 34 CEOs of the defense industry have earned a combined billion dollars since 9/11; they should give bin Laden his cut.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/103107H.shtml
ELECTION FRAUD SECTION…
I posted Brad’s video of this two weeks back…and look at this! Especially watch the cross examinations by two of the Dems…Remember, Tanner is a key cog in the election theft machinery…a major advocate for how to steal the 2008 election: national voter ID’s!
Esp. watch Ellison (only muslim in congress) go after him…to think this is the civil rights chief...
Must-See WaPo VIDEO: John Tanner is 'One Sorry Man'
Gives Details to BRAD BLOG Alleging Testimony from Chief of DoJ Civil Rights Division Voting Section 'Not Believable', Full of 'Evasion and Prevarication'
'He Lost No Time in Twisting the Truth,' Says 'Anonymous' Staffer in E-Mailed Rebuttal...
ADDITIONAL VIDEO SPANKINGS: Reps. Davis and Ellison's Q&A's in Full...
Wow. Snap. Washington Post covered yesterday's House Judiciary subcommittee hearings in two separate articles today and via one hell of an online video to boot. Dana Milbank covered on page 2, opening with "John Tanner is one sorry man." Dan Eggen covered the "political uproar" that we kicked off here at The BRAD BLOG several weeks ago, on page 4.
But it's Milbank's online "video sketch" that cuts to the bone, offering the best first-hand encapsulated coverage of the hearings we've seen to date (far better, even, than the PBS News Hour's version last night)...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5225
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN…ANOTHER CLOSETED HYPOCRITE
Meanwhile, way on the other side of the country, up in Washington another I'm-Not-Gay-Republican-- yawn-- Washington Rep. Richard Curtis is all caught up in some extortion business with a gay prostitute. KREM, a Spokane TV station, reported that Curtis and the male hooker had "a sexual encounter and were seen together at various spots around the city." Spokane is just up the road apiece from Idaho and Curtis said, "I am not gay. I have not had sex with a guy." A.P. is reporting that Curtis and the hooker met at one of those porno video shops (the Hollywood Erotic Boutique) at 12:45am and then went back to Curtis' hotel room at 3:30am for sex. They don't say who did what to whom but the trick, Cody Castagna, demanded a grand to not blab that Curtis, who is married, is also enjoying the company of young men, and Curtis called the cops.
Before you start feeling too sorry for this chump, keep this in mind: he's a self-righteous right-wing turd who he voted against domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. Last year, he opposed a gay rights bill that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Flush another Republican hypocrite down the toilet. I've lost count.
UPDATE: THE REPUBLICAN IS A DRAG QUEEN!
KXLY reports that GOP Rep. Curtis was not just into picking up young men for sex, he was also into wearing lady's clothing. My God! What is wrong with these Republicans? This guy voted no on employment equality for gay men and women while he was wearing frilly undies! (He insists he's not gay. Maybe the Republicans have their own words for things that are different from normal people's vocabularies. The KXLY Report is completely graphic (anal sex, etc).
State Representative Richard Curtis says he's not gay, but police reports and court records indicate the Republican lawmaker from southwestern Washington dressed up in women's lingerie and met a Medical Lake man in a local erotic video store which led to consensual sex at a downtown hotel and a threat to expose Curtis' activities publicly. \
GAO: REDUCTION IN VIOLENCE DUE TO 'ETHICALLY CLEANSED NEIGHBORHOODS': The Bush administration has been quick to jump on reports of reduced violence in Iraq, with President Bush declaring that violence is "down significantly from last year." In a hearing yesterday before the House Appropriations Committee, however, Joe Christoff of the Government Accountability Office stated that recent reductions in violence should be taken with a grain of salt, as they coincide with increased sectarian cleansing and massive refugee displacement. "You know, we look at the attack data going down, but it's not taking into consideration that there might be fewer attacks because you have ethnically cleansed neighborhoods, particularly in the Baghdad area," Christoff said. His comments confirm the conclusions of ret. Gen. James Jones, whose report depicted the reality of ethnic cleansing in Baghdad in a stark visual presentation. A report released yesterday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction confirmed that sectarian strife still reigns throughout Iraq, noting, "Despite reduced violence, [Provincial Reconstruction Team] officials are pessimistic that lasting reconciliation is occurring."
CLEAR CHANNEL REFUSES TO AIR SPRINGSTEEN'S ANTI-WAR ALBUM: Bruce Springsteen's new album, "Magic," became the number one selling album in America when it was released three weeks ago, and his current U.S. tour is selling out stadiums across the country. But despite the album's popularity, Clear Channel Communications, which owns over 1,100 radio stations in the United States, has refused to air any of its songs. Clear Channel recently circulated a memo to its classic rock stations "not to play tracks from 'Magic.' But it's OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as 'Dancing in the Dark,' 'Born to Run' and 'Born in the USA.'" Springsteen, whose songs have consistently contained anti-war messages, is more explicit in "Magic" about his opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The album includes a song entitled "Last To Die" which features the lyrics: "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake/The last to die for a mistake/Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break/Who'll be the last to die for a mistake." Last month, Clear Channel also refused to air a commercial by a veteran critical of the Iraq war during Rush Limbaugh's program because the ad presented information that "would conflict with the listeners who have chosen to listen to Rush Limbaugh." Clear Channel is also the company responsible for ostracizing the Dixie Chicks after they made comments critical of President Bush in 2003.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS (quick post): Police State, Romney Exposed, Olbermann, Spinocrats, Blackwater Immunity
It's numbers like these that make me want to give up on this country:
A majority of likely voters – 52% – would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows.
VIDEO SECTION
A Mark Fiore cartoon short: the “Spinocrats”…in need of a new drug that gives the spineless a spine…if only...funny though:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2007/10/17/fiorespine.DTL
Olbermann covers the story of the year: Dumbledore being gay! You can imagine how he’s going to flip this one…watch out O’Reilly:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/66323/
Olbermann’s “worst in the world…”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-irrational-haters-edition/
More from that Edwards speech:
And a few weeks ago, around the sixth anniversary of 9/11, a leading presidential candidate held a fundraiser that was billed as a Homeland Security themed event in Washington, D.C. targeted to homeland security lobbyists and contractors for $1,000 a plate. These lobbyists, for the price of a ticket, would get a special "treat" -- the opportunity to participate in small, hour long breakout sessions with key Democratic lawmakers, many of whom chair important sub committees of the homeland security committee. That presidential candidate was Senator Clinton.
Senator Clinton's road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington -- and history tells us that when that bus stops there it is the middle class that loses. When I asked Hillary Clinton to join me in not taking money from Washington lobbyists -- she refused. Not only did she say that she would continue to take their money, she defended them.
Today Hillary Clinton has taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any candidate from either party -- more money than any Republican candidate. She has taken more money from the defense industry than any other candidate from either party as well. She took more money from Wall Street last quarter than Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama combined. The long slow slide of our democracy into the corporate abyss continues unabated regardless of party, regardless of the best interests of America. We have a duty -- a duty to end this.
-- John Edwards speech
Cheney's Plan: Have Israel Strike First
Matt Taibbi writes another rip roaring expose of a republican nominees…this time he follows Mitt Romney around the country to get the straight dope. He really gets right to the heart of these guys…with lots of humor too…which is saying something being he’s had to actually listen to these people talk, everyday, over and over again. Sounds like some kind of nightmare scenario from an old Twilight Zone episode:
Taibbi on Romney...a few clips:
For this is the great strength of Mitt Romney: When the former governor of Massachusetts and current Republican front-runner in Iowa is on his game, voters walk out of his campaign events thinking he's the candidate of blue sky and sunshine, of cute newborn puppies, of the crack of the bat in spring training, of the first bite of a warm oatmeal cookie. The most common thing you hear from voters after a Romney event is how impressed they are by his demeanor and delivery, his obvious vitality, by the fact that he looks like he could do this twenty-four hours a day and twice on Sunday, taking off only twenty-six minutes once a week to make monogamous, missionary-position love to his baby-factory wife. And that's precisely the way Romney wants it: He wants voters focused on him the man, this unblemished, in-control Example for All who, unlike his Republican rivals, is in no danger of collapsing onstage, or getting caught on camera with his cock in some bruise-covered stripper or Jack Russell terrier.
"I'll set an example," he tells his New Hampshire audience. "I believe in people going to church, I believe in people being faithful to one's spouse, I believe in kids and I believe in families." Once you've heard this kind of drivel enough times, it's not hard to see how this flag-waving conservative actually won the governorship in Ted Kennedy's home state, or propelled his Mormon magic-underwear-wearing self to near-front-runner status in a party that is overwhelmingly, intolerantly Christian.
SNIP
The perception of Romney as a successful businessman who has made a vast fortune is seductive enough that it works for most audiences on the Republican campaign trail, even if they don't really understand how exactly he made all that money. But if Romney makes it through the nomination process to face the Democrats, they will be sure to turn his career into a referendum on modern business practices. In many ways, Romney is a symbol of modern capitalism, a turbopowered Wall Street dice-roller who made his fortune by coldbloodedly gambling on the successes and failures of the companies he bought and sold from afar. Romney's "business" wasn't turning labor into product, it was turning money into money -- and more than a few of his investments were of the scorched-earth variety, buying up companies and cashing out within three to five years, often after closing factories or laying off workers to beef up the bottom line.
SNIP
Even more telling was Romney's interest in a medical-testing firm called Damon Corp., which Bain bought in 1989. The company was eventually fined a record $119 million for defrauding the federal government out of $25 million, but Bain still tripled its investment on the Damon deal. And Romney, who was sitting on the Damon board at the time of the fraud (his claim that he was the one who called for an internal investigation has never been substantiated), made a personal profit of $473,000 on the deal.
In a delicious detail that says a lot about the nature of Romney's morality, the investor had no problem making piles of cash off companies that executed mass layoffs or defrauded the government, but he balked when asked to invest in a Bain deal to acquire a video distribution company called Artisan Entertainment. "I didn't want to profit from a studio that made R-rated movies," he huffed.
http://alternet.org/story/66068/
Chris Hedges writes another masterful piece on our burgeoning police state, as he runs through the litany of people our government has targeted as terrorists, going as far as sending them to Syria for torture to banning all donations to Palestinian relief groups.
I just don’t have time or energy today, so I’ll let chris take it:
The Bush administration, which froze the foundation’s finances three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and indicted its officials three years later on charges that they provided funds for the militant group Hamas, has ensured that the foundation and all other Palestinian charities will never reopen in the United States. Any organized support for Palestinians from within the U.S. has been rendered impossible. The goal of the Israeli government and the Bush administration-despite the charade of peace negotiations to be held at Annapolis-is to grind defiant Palestinians into the dirt. Israel, which has plunged the Gaza Strip into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, has now begun to ban fuel supplies and sever electrical service. The severe deprivation, the Israelis hope, will see the overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza and the reinstatement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has become the Marshal Pétain of the Palestinian people.
SNIP
Dr. al-Arian, who was supposed to have been released and deported in April, is still in a Virginia prison because he will not testify in a separate case before a grand jury. The professor, broken by the long ordeal of his trial and unable to raise another million dollars in legal fees for a retrial, pleaded guilty to a minor charge in the hopes that his persecution would end. It has not. Or take the case of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who in 2002 was spirited away by Homeland Security from JFK Airport to Syria, where he spent 10 months being tortured in a coffin-like cell. He was, upon his release, exonerated of terrorism. Arar testified before a House panel this month about how he was abducted by the U.S. and interrogated, stripped of his legal rights and tortured. But he couldn’t testify in person. He spoke to the House members on a video link from Canada. He is forbidden by Homeland Security to enter the United States because he allegedly poses a threat to national security.
Those accused of being involved in conspiracies and terrorism plots, as in all police states, become nonpersons. There is no rehabilitation. There is no justice.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/29/4876/
AND THIS…
The U.N.investigator on human rights in the fight against terrorism, "said in a report released Monday that he's concerned about U.S. detention practices, military courts and interrogation techniques." He urged the United States to end extraordinary rendition and close Guantanamo.
STATE DEPT. GRANTED DISGRACED BLACKWATER GUARDS IMMUNITY AFTER SHOOTOUT: Following the deadly September shootout in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA, the Bush administration rushed to the security firm's defense and even awarded the firm a new $92 million contract. Yesterday, the AP reported that the State Department "promised" legal immunity to Blackwater guards after the shooting incident. The administration's efforts to protect Blackwater are hampering the investigations into the shootings. Earlier this month, the FBI took over the case after Justice Department prosecutors realized they "could not bring charges against Blackwater guards based on their statements to the Diplomatic Security investigators." Prosecutors now "will have to prove that any evidence they use in bringing charges against Blackwater employees was uncovered without using the guards' statements to State Department investigators." The revelations occur as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently revoked an order granting "immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts." In her recent congressional testimony, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice neglected to mention that she granted the Blackwater guards prosecutorial immunity after the shootings.
The largest dam in Iraq is "in serious danger of an imminent collapse" that could lead to "as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water." A "U.S. reconstruction project to help shore up the dam in northern Iraq has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement."
It's numbers like these that make me want to give up on this country:
A majority of likely voters – 52% – would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows.
VIDEO SECTION
A Mark Fiore cartoon short: the “Spinocrats”…in need of a new drug that gives the spineless a spine…if only...funny though:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2007/10/17/fiorespine.DTL
Olbermann covers the story of the year: Dumbledore being gay! You can imagine how he’s going to flip this one…watch out O’Reilly:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/66323/
Olbermann’s “worst in the world…”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/30/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-irrational-haters-edition/
More from that Edwards speech:
And a few weeks ago, around the sixth anniversary of 9/11, a leading presidential candidate held a fundraiser that was billed as a Homeland Security themed event in Washington, D.C. targeted to homeland security lobbyists and contractors for $1,000 a plate. These lobbyists, for the price of a ticket, would get a special "treat" -- the opportunity to participate in small, hour long breakout sessions with key Democratic lawmakers, many of whom chair important sub committees of the homeland security committee. That presidential candidate was Senator Clinton.
Senator Clinton's road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington -- and history tells us that when that bus stops there it is the middle class that loses. When I asked Hillary Clinton to join me in not taking money from Washington lobbyists -- she refused. Not only did she say that she would continue to take their money, she defended them.
Today Hillary Clinton has taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any candidate from either party -- more money than any Republican candidate. She has taken more money from the defense industry than any other candidate from either party as well. She took more money from Wall Street last quarter than Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama combined. The long slow slide of our democracy into the corporate abyss continues unabated regardless of party, regardless of the best interests of America. We have a duty -- a duty to end this.
-- John Edwards speech
Cheney's Plan: Have Israel Strike First
"In the scenario concocted by Cheney's strategists, Washington's first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear facilities in Iran. This information was leaked by an official close to the vice president. Cheney himself hasn't denied engaging in such war games. For years, in fact, he's been open about his opinion that an attack on Iran, a member of US President George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil," is inevitable."
ARTICLE SECTION...Taibbi and HedgesMatt Taibbi writes another rip roaring expose of a republican nominees…this time he follows Mitt Romney around the country to get the straight dope. He really gets right to the heart of these guys…with lots of humor too…which is saying something being he’s had to actually listen to these people talk, everyday, over and over again. Sounds like some kind of nightmare scenario from an old Twilight Zone episode:
Taibbi on Romney...a few clips:
For this is the great strength of Mitt Romney: When the former governor of Massachusetts and current Republican front-runner in Iowa is on his game, voters walk out of his campaign events thinking he's the candidate of blue sky and sunshine, of cute newborn puppies, of the crack of the bat in spring training, of the first bite of a warm oatmeal cookie. The most common thing you hear from voters after a Romney event is how impressed they are by his demeanor and delivery, his obvious vitality, by the fact that he looks like he could do this twenty-four hours a day and twice on Sunday, taking off only twenty-six minutes once a week to make monogamous, missionary-position love to his baby-factory wife. And that's precisely the way Romney wants it: He wants voters focused on him the man, this unblemished, in-control Example for All who, unlike his Republican rivals, is in no danger of collapsing onstage, or getting caught on camera with his cock in some bruise-covered stripper or Jack Russell terrier.
"I'll set an example," he tells his New Hampshire audience. "I believe in people going to church, I believe in people being faithful to one's spouse, I believe in kids and I believe in families." Once you've heard this kind of drivel enough times, it's not hard to see how this flag-waving conservative actually won the governorship in Ted Kennedy's home state, or propelled his Mormon magic-underwear-wearing self to near-front-runner status in a party that is overwhelmingly, intolerantly Christian.
SNIP
The perception of Romney as a successful businessman who has made a vast fortune is seductive enough that it works for most audiences on the Republican campaign trail, even if they don't really understand how exactly he made all that money. But if Romney makes it through the nomination process to face the Democrats, they will be sure to turn his career into a referendum on modern business practices. In many ways, Romney is a symbol of modern capitalism, a turbopowered Wall Street dice-roller who made his fortune by coldbloodedly gambling on the successes and failures of the companies he bought and sold from afar. Romney's "business" wasn't turning labor into product, it was turning money into money -- and more than a few of his investments were of the scorched-earth variety, buying up companies and cashing out within three to five years, often after closing factories or laying off workers to beef up the bottom line.
SNIP
Even more telling was Romney's interest in a medical-testing firm called Damon Corp., which Bain bought in 1989. The company was eventually fined a record $119 million for defrauding the federal government out of $25 million, but Bain still tripled its investment on the Damon deal. And Romney, who was sitting on the Damon board at the time of the fraud (his claim that he was the one who called for an internal investigation has never been substantiated), made a personal profit of $473,000 on the deal.
In a delicious detail that says a lot about the nature of Romney's morality, the investor had no problem making piles of cash off companies that executed mass layoffs or defrauded the government, but he balked when asked to invest in a Bain deal to acquire a video distribution company called Artisan Entertainment. "I didn't want to profit from a studio that made R-rated movies," he huffed.
http://alternet.org/story/66068/
Chris Hedges writes another masterful piece on our burgeoning police state, as he runs through the litany of people our government has targeted as terrorists, going as far as sending them to Syria for torture to banning all donations to Palestinian relief groups.
I just don’t have time or energy today, so I’ll let chris take it:
The Bush administration, which froze the foundation’s finances three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and indicted its officials three years later on charges that they provided funds for the militant group Hamas, has ensured that the foundation and all other Palestinian charities will never reopen in the United States. Any organized support for Palestinians from within the U.S. has been rendered impossible. The goal of the Israeli government and the Bush administration-despite the charade of peace negotiations to be held at Annapolis-is to grind defiant Palestinians into the dirt. Israel, which has plunged the Gaza Strip into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, has now begun to ban fuel supplies and sever electrical service. The severe deprivation, the Israelis hope, will see the overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza and the reinstatement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has become the Marshal Pétain of the Palestinian people.
SNIP
Dr. al-Arian, who was supposed to have been released and deported in April, is still in a Virginia prison because he will not testify in a separate case before a grand jury. The professor, broken by the long ordeal of his trial and unable to raise another million dollars in legal fees for a retrial, pleaded guilty to a minor charge in the hopes that his persecution would end. It has not. Or take the case of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who in 2002 was spirited away by Homeland Security from JFK Airport to Syria, where he spent 10 months being tortured in a coffin-like cell. He was, upon his release, exonerated of terrorism. Arar testified before a House panel this month about how he was abducted by the U.S. and interrogated, stripped of his legal rights and tortured. But he couldn’t testify in person. He spoke to the House members on a video link from Canada. He is forbidden by Homeland Security to enter the United States because he allegedly poses a threat to national security.
Those accused of being involved in conspiracies and terrorism plots, as in all police states, become nonpersons. There is no rehabilitation. There is no justice.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/29/4876/
AND THIS…
The U.N.investigator on human rights in the fight against terrorism, "said in a report released Monday that he's concerned about U.S. detention practices, military courts and interrogation techniques." He urged the United States to end extraordinary rendition and close Guantanamo.
STATE DEPT. GRANTED DISGRACED BLACKWATER GUARDS IMMUNITY AFTER SHOOTOUT: Following the deadly September shootout in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA, the Bush administration rushed to the security firm's defense and even awarded the firm a new $92 million contract. Yesterday, the AP reported that the State Department "promised" legal immunity to Blackwater guards after the shooting incident. The administration's efforts to protect Blackwater are hampering the investigations into the shootings. Earlier this month, the FBI took over the case after Justice Department prosecutors realized they "could not bring charges against Blackwater guards based on their statements to the Diplomatic Security investigators." Prosecutors now "will have to prove that any evidence they use in bringing charges against Blackwater employees was uncovered without using the guards' statements to State Department investigators." The revelations occur as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently revoked an order granting "immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts." In her recent congressional testimony, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice neglected to mention that she granted the Blackwater guards prosecutorial immunity after the shootings.
The largest dam in Iraq is "in serious danger of an imminent collapse" that could lead to "as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water." A "U.S. reconstruction project to help shore up the dam in northern Iraq has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement."
Monday, October 29, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS: Edwards, Krugman, "Islamofascism", Psycho President, Moyers, SCHIP, Costco v. Walmart, Kucinich
Corporate executives at United Airlines and US Airways receive millions in compensation for taking their companies into bankruptcy, while their employees are forced to take cuts in pay. Companies like Wal-Mart lobby against inspecting containers entering our nation's ports, even though expert after expert agrees that the likeliest way for a dirty bomb to enter the United States is through a container, because they believe their profits are more important than our safety.
What has become of America when America's largest company lobbies against protecting America? Trade deals cost of millions of jobs. What do we get in return? Millions of dangerous Chinese toys in our children's cribs laden with lead. This is the price we are made to pay when trade agreements are decided based on how much they pad the profits for multinational corporations instead of what is best for America's workers or the safety of America's consumers. We have even gotten to the point where our children's safety is potentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumed by our children comes from apples grown in China. And Americans are kept in the dark because the corporate lobbyists have pushed back country of origin labeling laws again and again.
This is not the America I believe in.
-- John Edwards speech (more parts of this speech coming in next few days...awesome!)
VIDEO SECTION
Bill Moyers discusses wiretapping and torture and the Constitution...no better guy to give context and insights on an issue as loaded as this:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/29/when-the-president-does-it-that-means-that-it-is-not-illegal/
As I reported last week, FEMA held a fake press conference with employees posing as journalists...asking soft ball questions. Amazingly, one corporate media reporter covered it...and nailed it. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/28/bob-schieffer-commentary-slams-fema-for-phony-press-conference/
And watch Chris Dodd give an impassioned speech on the Senate Floor about wiretapping, telecomm immunity, and the constitution. Great stuff:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/27/dodds-speech-on-the-constitution-rule-of-law/
ARTICLE SECTION
I'm not the only one! Bush is discussed from a psychological perspective in this LA times editorial. The verdict: "he's a psycho".
A few clips:
Exhibit A: We're in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration's interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it's a great time to start another war.
SNIP
But all this creates a conundrum. What's a constitutional democracy to do when the president and vice president lose their marbles? The U.S. is full of ordinary people with serious forms of mental illness -- delusional people with violent fantasies who think they're the president, or who think they get instructions from the CIA through their dental fillings. The problem with Bush is that he is the president -- and he gives instructions to the CIA and military, without having to go through his dental fillings.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks24oct25,0,4977361.column?coll=la-tot-opinion
As I'm sure everyone was aware, but we just finished Islamofascism Awareness Week!! I hope you all learned as much as I did about something that doesn't exist. Thankfully, someone in the media is challenging the use of the term "Islamofascism"...as it's not a real word, and it clearly holds with it racist undertones....as well as the usu. right wings invocation of Hitler as the boogieman (even if not explicitly).
Who better than Paul Krugman to debunk this group of knuckle draggers:
[T]here isn’t actually any such thing as Islamofascism — it’s not an ideology; it’s a figment of the neocon imagination. The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn’t. And Iran had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 — in fact, the Iranian regime was quite helpful to the United States when it went after Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.
Beyond that, the claim that Iran is on the path to global domination is beyond ludicrous. Yes, the Iranian regime is a nasty piece of work in many ways, and it would be a bad thing if that regime acquired nuclear weapons. But let’s have some perspective, please: we’re talking about a country with roughly the G.D.P. of Connecticut, and a government whose military budget is roughly the same as Sweden’s. […]
Mike Huckabee, whom reporters like to portray as a nice, reasonable guy, says that if Hillary Clinton is elected, “I’m not sure we’ll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country’s ever faced in Islamofascism.” Yep, a bunch of lightly armed terrorists and a fourth-rate military power — which aren’t even allies — pose a greater danger than Hitler’s panzers or the Soviet nuclear arsenal ever did. All of this would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/opinion/29krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
SCHIP FACTS…
Based on analysis performed by Peter Harbage, Cummings layed out the fate of potentially all children currently enrolled in Healthy Families if the President had his way and funded SCHIP with only the $5 billion increase:
* 260,000 children would need to be disenrolled immediately 11/1 (next week);
OR,* 433,000 children would need to be disenrolled by 1/1/08;
OR,* Healthy Families would shut down, and disenroll all 830,000 children 7/1/08.
WALMART VERSUS COSTCO
(kind of blows the big lie out of the water that big chain stores HAVE to pay people close to nothing, cut corners, use slave labor, pollute, etc. in order for them to offer us all the cheap shit we can ever want!):
Wages:
Costco's average pay is $17.25/hour.
Walmart's is $10.77/hour (in CA).
Health Coverage:
Costco: 8-10 percent of premiums. Comprehensive coverage
Walmart: High-deductible, sliding scale. ($5/month for a $2,0000 deductible or $62/month for a $500 deductible).
Waiting periods:
Costco: 90 days for full-time, 6 months for part-time
Walmart: 6 months for full time, one year for part-time.
Percent of employees with health coverage
Costco: 87%
Wal-Mart: 47%
Employee Turnover (estimate)
Costco: 17-24%
Wal-Mart: 50%
END
I was heartened to read this:
Elizabeth Kucinich Says Political System 'Rigged, Fake, Undemocratic'
The BRAD BLOG Speaks with Dennis and His Wife About Voting Rights, Election Reform, Impeachment, and the Need for an Outcry from the American People
Rep. Kucinich Vows to Use 'Privileged Resolution' to Force Vote on Impeachment of Cheney in U.S. House...
The BRAD BLOG's Emily Levy sat down with Dennis Kucinich on Sunday, just before serving as a hand-counter for votes in the first Democratic San Mateo County Presidential Straw Poll. Results of that poll are below.
Kucinich spoke about his plans to force a vote in the U.S. House on the Impeachment of Dick Cheney; on having officially removed his name as co-sponsor of Rep. Rush Holt's flawed Election Reform Bill; his interest in hand-counted paper ballots; and concerns about e-voting systems. As it turns out, however, his wife Elizabeth may have stolen the show with an impassioned speech on what America must do to restore "a rigged and a fake political system," which, she told Levy, is "very, very undemocratic."
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5196
EXCLUSIVE (this could be interesting...I'll be watching): FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Will Now Tell All - and Faces Charges if Necessary - to Any Major Television Network That Will Let Her
She's Prepared to Name Names, Including Those of Two 'Well-Known' Congress Members Involved in Criminal Corruption
The 'Most Gagged Person in U.S. History' Tells The BRAD BLOG She's Now Exhausted All Other Channels...
Attention CBS 60 Minutes : we've got a huge scoop for you. If you want it.
Remember the exclusive story you aired on Sibel Edmonds , originally on October 27th, 2002, when she was not allowed to tell you everything that she heard while serving as an FBI translator after 9/11 because she was gagged by the rarely-invoked "States Secret Privilege"? Well, she's still gagged. In fact, as the ACLU first described her, she's "the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America".
But if you'll sit down and talk with her for an unedited interview, she has told The BRAD BLOG during an exclusive interview, she will now tell you everything she knows -- including naming the names of two "well-known Congress" members whose names just happened to come up during the course of translating FBI criminal wiretaps -- and even face the prospect of going to jail in the bargain.
"People say, 'why doesn't she just come forward and spill the beans?' I have gone all the way to the Supreme Court and was shut down, I went to Congress and now consider that shut down," she told The BRAD BLOG last week.
"Here's my promise to the American Public: If anyone of the major networks --- ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX --- promise to air the entire segment, without editing, I promise to tell them everything that I know."
"I can tell the American public exactly what it is, and what it is that they are covering up," she continued...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5197
FEMA OFFICIAL INVOLVED IN FAKE PRESS CONFERENCE RESIGNS: On Tuesday, while wildfires raged in California, FEMA staged a live press conference at which agency staffers posed as journalists and lobbed softball questions. On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called FEMA's fake press conference "one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government," and promised "appropriate disciplinary action" for those involved. The White House also condemned the fake presser. Last week, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino denied having previous knowledge of the presser and said, "It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House. ... FEMA is responsible." Yet one of the FEMA staffers who asked questions at the staged event and took responsibility for the charade, Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin, has since resigned. He has instead landed an "amazing opportunity" to head public affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
ELBARADEI: MILITARY STRIKE ON IRAN 'WOULD LEAD ABSOLUTELY A DISASTER': Yesterday on CNN, International Atomic Energy chairman Mohammad ElBaradei sounded alarms about the Bush administration's increasingly hawkish rhetoric in regards to Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions. "We have the time" to use diplomacy, ElBaradei urged. "I very much have concern about confrontation...because that would lead absolutely to a disaster. I see no military solution," he said. While ElBaradei did not rule out Iran having an "intent" to obtain nuclear weapons, he explained that there is no evidence that Iran is currently pursuing such a program: "I have not received any information that there is a concrete, active nuclear weapon program going on right now. ... [H]ave we seen having the nuclear material that can be readily used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponization program? No," he declared. ElBaradei urged the United States to halt its fiery rhetoric and directly engage Iran: "The earlier we go into negotiation, the earlier we follow the North Korean model, the better for everybody." Bush's hawkish Iran rhetoric "escalates the danger of a military confrontation," said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
"Dozens of construction projects launched by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the New Orleans region from the most catastrophic floods are behind schedule by an average of nearly eight months, an internal audit shows."
Corporate executives at United Airlines and US Airways receive millions in compensation for taking their companies into bankruptcy, while their employees are forced to take cuts in pay. Companies like Wal-Mart lobby against inspecting containers entering our nation's ports, even though expert after expert agrees that the likeliest way for a dirty bomb to enter the United States is through a container, because they believe their profits are more important than our safety.
What has become of America when America's largest company lobbies against protecting America? Trade deals cost of millions of jobs. What do we get in return? Millions of dangerous Chinese toys in our children's cribs laden with lead. This is the price we are made to pay when trade agreements are decided based on how much they pad the profits for multinational corporations instead of what is best for America's workers or the safety of America's consumers. We have even gotten to the point where our children's safety is potentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumed by our children comes from apples grown in China. And Americans are kept in the dark because the corporate lobbyists have pushed back country of origin labeling laws again and again.
This is not the America I believe in.
-- John Edwards speech (more parts of this speech coming in next few days...awesome!)
VIDEO SECTION
Bill Moyers discusses wiretapping and torture and the Constitution...no better guy to give context and insights on an issue as loaded as this:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/29/when-the-president-does-it-that-means-that-it-is-not-illegal/
As I reported last week, FEMA held a fake press conference with employees posing as journalists...asking soft ball questions. Amazingly, one corporate media reporter covered it...and nailed it. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/28/bob-schieffer-commentary-slams-fema-for-phony-press-conference/
And watch Chris Dodd give an impassioned speech on the Senate Floor about wiretapping, telecomm immunity, and the constitution. Great stuff:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/27/dodds-speech-on-the-constitution-rule-of-law/
ARTICLE SECTION
I'm not the only one! Bush is discussed from a psychological perspective in this LA times editorial. The verdict: "he's a psycho".
A few clips:
Exhibit A: We're in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration's interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it's a great time to start another war.
SNIP
But all this creates a conundrum. What's a constitutional democracy to do when the president and vice president lose their marbles? The U.S. is full of ordinary people with serious forms of mental illness -- delusional people with violent fantasies who think they're the president, or who think they get instructions from the CIA through their dental fillings. The problem with Bush is that he is the president -- and he gives instructions to the CIA and military, without having to go through his dental fillings.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks24oct25,0,4977361.column?coll=la-tot-opinion
As I'm sure everyone was aware, but we just finished Islamofascism Awareness Week!! I hope you all learned as much as I did about something that doesn't exist. Thankfully, someone in the media is challenging the use of the term "Islamofascism"...as it's not a real word, and it clearly holds with it racist undertones....as well as the usu. right wings invocation of Hitler as the boogieman (even if not explicitly).
Who better than Paul Krugman to debunk this group of knuckle draggers:
[T]here isn’t actually any such thing as Islamofascism — it’s not an ideology; it’s a figment of the neocon imagination. The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn’t. And Iran had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 — in fact, the Iranian regime was quite helpful to the United States when it went after Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.
Beyond that, the claim that Iran is on the path to global domination is beyond ludicrous. Yes, the Iranian regime is a nasty piece of work in many ways, and it would be a bad thing if that regime acquired nuclear weapons. But let’s have some perspective, please: we’re talking about a country with roughly the G.D.P. of Connecticut, and a government whose military budget is roughly the same as Sweden’s. […]
Mike Huckabee, whom reporters like to portray as a nice, reasonable guy, says that if Hillary Clinton is elected, “I’m not sure we’ll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country’s ever faced in Islamofascism.” Yep, a bunch of lightly armed terrorists and a fourth-rate military power — which aren’t even allies — pose a greater danger than Hitler’s panzers or the Soviet nuclear arsenal ever did. All of this would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/opinion/29krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
SCHIP FACTS…
Based on analysis performed by Peter Harbage, Cummings layed out the fate of potentially all children currently enrolled in Healthy Families if the President had his way and funded SCHIP with only the $5 billion increase:
* 260,000 children would need to be disenrolled immediately 11/1 (next week);
OR,* 433,000 children would need to be disenrolled by 1/1/08;
OR,* Healthy Families would shut down, and disenroll all 830,000 children 7/1/08.
WALMART VERSUS COSTCO
(kind of blows the big lie out of the water that big chain stores HAVE to pay people close to nothing, cut corners, use slave labor, pollute, etc. in order for them to offer us all the cheap shit we can ever want!):
Wages:
Costco's average pay is $17.25/hour.
Walmart's is $10.77/hour (in CA).
Health Coverage:
Costco: 8-10 percent of premiums. Comprehensive coverage
Walmart: High-deductible, sliding scale. ($5/month for a $2,0000 deductible or $62/month for a $500 deductible).
Waiting periods:
Costco: 90 days for full-time, 6 months for part-time
Walmart: 6 months for full time, one year for part-time.
Percent of employees with health coverage
Costco: 87%
Wal-Mart: 47%
Employee Turnover (estimate)
Costco: 17-24%
Wal-Mart: 50%
END
I was heartened to read this:
Elizabeth Kucinich Says Political System 'Rigged, Fake, Undemocratic'
The BRAD BLOG Speaks with Dennis and His Wife About Voting Rights, Election Reform, Impeachment, and the Need for an Outcry from the American People
Rep. Kucinich Vows to Use 'Privileged Resolution' to Force Vote on Impeachment of Cheney in U.S. House...
The BRAD BLOG's Emily Levy sat down with Dennis Kucinich on Sunday, just before serving as a hand-counter for votes in the first Democratic San Mateo County Presidential Straw Poll. Results of that poll are below.
Kucinich spoke about his plans to force a vote in the U.S. House on the Impeachment of Dick Cheney; on having officially removed his name as co-sponsor of Rep. Rush Holt's flawed Election Reform Bill; his interest in hand-counted paper ballots; and concerns about e-voting systems. As it turns out, however, his wife Elizabeth may have stolen the show with an impassioned speech on what America must do to restore "a rigged and a fake political system," which, she told Levy, is "very, very undemocratic."
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5196
EXCLUSIVE (this could be interesting...I'll be watching): FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Will Now Tell All - and Faces Charges if Necessary - to Any Major Television Network That Will Let Her
She's Prepared to Name Names, Including Those of Two 'Well-Known' Congress Members Involved in Criminal Corruption
The 'Most Gagged Person in U.S. History' Tells The BRAD BLOG She's Now Exhausted All Other Channels...
Attention CBS 60 Minutes : we've got a huge scoop for you. If you want it.
Remember the exclusive story you aired on Sibel Edmonds , originally on October 27th, 2002, when she was not allowed to tell you everything that she heard while serving as an FBI translator after 9/11 because she was gagged by the rarely-invoked "States Secret Privilege"? Well, she's still gagged. In fact, as the ACLU first described her, she's "the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America".
But if you'll sit down and talk with her for an unedited interview, she has told The BRAD BLOG during an exclusive interview, she will now tell you everything she knows -- including naming the names of two "well-known Congress" members whose names just happened to come up during the course of translating FBI criminal wiretaps -- and even face the prospect of going to jail in the bargain.
"People say, 'why doesn't she just come forward and spill the beans?' I have gone all the way to the Supreme Court and was shut down, I went to Congress and now consider that shut down," she told The BRAD BLOG last week.
"Here's my promise to the American Public: If anyone of the major networks --- ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX --- promise to air the entire segment, without editing, I promise to tell them everything that I know."
"I can tell the American public exactly what it is, and what it is that they are covering up," she continued...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5197
FEMA OFFICIAL INVOLVED IN FAKE PRESS CONFERENCE RESIGNS: On Tuesday, while wildfires raged in California, FEMA staged a live press conference at which agency staffers posed as journalists and lobbed softball questions. On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called FEMA's fake press conference "one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government," and promised "appropriate disciplinary action" for those involved. The White House also condemned the fake presser. Last week, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino denied having previous knowledge of the presser and said, "It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House. ... FEMA is responsible." Yet one of the FEMA staffers who asked questions at the staged event and took responsibility for the charade, Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin, has since resigned. He has instead landed an "amazing opportunity" to head public affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
ELBARADEI: MILITARY STRIKE ON IRAN 'WOULD LEAD ABSOLUTELY A DISASTER': Yesterday on CNN, International Atomic Energy chairman Mohammad ElBaradei sounded alarms about the Bush administration's increasingly hawkish rhetoric in regards to Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions. "We have the time" to use diplomacy, ElBaradei urged. "I very much have concern about confrontation...because that would lead absolutely to a disaster. I see no military solution," he said. While ElBaradei did not rule out Iran having an "intent" to obtain nuclear weapons, he explained that there is no evidence that Iran is currently pursuing such a program: "I have not received any information that there is a concrete, active nuclear weapon program going on right now. ... [H]ave we seen having the nuclear material that can be readily used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponization program? No," he declared. ElBaradei urged the United States to halt its fiery rhetoric and directly engage Iran: "The earlier we go into negotiation, the earlier we follow the North Korean model, the better for everybody." Bush's hawkish Iran rhetoric "escalates the danger of a military confrontation," said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
"Dozens of construction projects launched by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the New Orleans region from the most catastrophic floods are behind schedule by an average of nearly eight months, an internal audit shows."
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