TODAY'S TOPICS: Health Care, "Blackwatering", No Filibuster!?, Olbermann, Nuke Hypocrisy, E-Voting v. SF, Walmart, FEMA
“I don’t — you know, “quagmire” is an interesting word. If you lived in Iraq and had lived under a tyranny, you’d be saying, god, I love freedom — because that’s what’s happened. And there are killers and radicals and murderers who kill the innocent to stop the advance of freedom. But freedom is happening in Iraq. And we’re making progress.”
-- “President” W. Bush (also known as “idiotic sociopath”), yesterday
"A fat man cannot speak persuasively to a skinny man about the virtues of not overeating."
-- Mahatma Gandhi, poignant on so many levels right now
VIDEO SECTION
Olbermann’s worst persons…O’Reilly again…as well as a couple of the proven women liars about Clinton…yes…they’re baaaaaacckkkk…and if Hillary is the nominee, get ready for another year of phony Clinton scandals (some not too). Oh joy!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/09/countdowns-worst-person-billo-the-crazy-cat-ladies-on-fox-noise/
I sometimes feel like a broken record, but you just got to see the latest, well, insane Republican talk nonsense on the Senate floor. Welcome to the world of global warming denier James Inhofe…please prepare to suspend all reason and rationality at the door:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/09/sen-james-inhofe-makes-bizarre-allegations-about-anderson-cooper/
From Director Robert Greenwald: Most of you are aware, and most likely have been for a while, that under the guise of "news" Fox has offered its viewers a steady stream of bias pertaining to social and political issues since its inception in 1996. From attacking Black America to pushing for war with Iran, from demonizing bloggers to distorting environmental issues, theirs is quite a record of achievement in propagating propaganda that is neither fair nor balanced.
Today we have a surprise (well at least it surprised all of us at BNF). Thanks to the terrific work of the News Hounds, we bring you Fox and ole' Billy O'Reilly attacking decency. Yes, you read that right. The self-righteous, pompous, bloviators who deign to lecture on how we should behave in our personal lives, are in fact exploiting women, pandering to the lowest common denominator and pushing smut out on the airwaves on a daily basis!
http://foxattacks.com/decency?utm_source=rgemail
FEMA…exposed…again:
There are still 50,000 families forced to live in FEMA trailers ever since Hurricane Katrina. Trailers in which the levels of formaldehyde present in the air are so high, CBS has obtained emails that indicate the agency is prohibiting its employees from even briefly stepping inside them, and despite agency claims “that it is still working on the formaldehyde problem,” it isn’t. In July the head of the agency told Congress he was working quickly to deal with the toxic formaldehyde issue.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/fema-protecting-its-employees-not-evacuees/
Retailers such as Wal-Mart put so much pressure on suppliers to produce cheap goods that health, environmental and labor protections get brushed aside. Wal-Mart is the nation's top importer of Chinese-made products. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reports the giant retailer's reliance on cheap goods made in China has cost this country nearly 200,000 jobs since 2001.
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/67432/
Gore on the funny show “30 Rock”…he’s actually pretty damn good:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/67409/
THE “BLACKWATERING” OF HEALTH CARE
It is not a stretch to refer to the invention of a private health insurance industry in America as the "blackwatering" of health care. The insurance industry did not even enter the health business until the 1940s. Before then, they couldn't figure out how to make a profit. Life insurance had a great business plan. Invest the premiums of a customer over a lifetime, and you will earn far more than you will have to pay out in (so to speak) once-in-a-lifetime death benefits.
Likewise, most property does not suffer catastrophic damage requiring hefty insurance payouts. But everyone needs a little health care now and then and a few need a lot of health care all the time. Why, there's no time to invest those premiums. But wait, the insurance executives calculated, if we can exclude the risky and deny enough claims to policy holders, we can earn a profit. Katy bar the door. A new industry was born. Unfortunately, it was an industry that thrives by denying health care. A profiteer's ultimate dream.
The blackwatering of health care - putting the power in the hands of unaccountable, non-medical, private interests - has taken a deadly toll on our health and lives. We have been so long in the blackwater that we forgot what it would be like to breathe the air of a health care system based on empathy and responsibility, a system that puts citizens' health above private profits.
It's not lost on Blackwater that it will make more money the more dangerous our lives become. That's the logic of the arms industry. War is their profit center. And it's not lost on an insurance industry that the increased fear, imagined and real, of ill health leads to higher premiums and more profits when it is allowed to make its money by denying health care to those who need it most.
The health insurance industry has no more incentive to keep us healthy than Blackwater has in helping us avoid wars. And the stories they tell us to convince us otherwise have no more reality to them than the Easter Bunny.
-- By Glenn W. Smith, Rockridge Institute
ARTICLE SECTION: HEALTH CARE MYTHS, NUKE HYPOCRISY
Paul Krugman debunks a few of the most popular defenses of our broken, corporatized health care system. Good info to have on hand when talking to American Neanderthals (my apologies to Neanderthals…unfair to compare them to Republicans):
A few clips:
We're told, for example, that there really aren't that many uninsured American citizens, because some of the uninsured are illegal immigrants, while some of the rest are actually entitled to Medicaid. This misses the point that the 47 million people in this country without insurance are an ever-changing group, so that the experience of being without insurance extends to a much broader group - in fact, more than one in every three people in America under the age of 65 was uninsured at some point in 2006 or 2007.
Oh, and finding out that you're covered by Medicaid when you show up at an emergency room isn't at all the same thing as receiving regular medical care. Beyond that, a large fraction of the population - about one in four nonelderly Americans, according to a Consumer Reports survey - is underinsured, with "coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs."
SNIP
Excuse No. 4: Socialized medicine! Socialized medicine!
Rudy Giuliani's fake numbers on prostate cancer - which, by the way, he still refuses to admit were wrong - were the latest entry in a long, dishonorable tradition of peddling scare stories about the evils of "government run" health care. The reality is that the best foreign health care systems, especially those of France and Germany, do as well or better than the U.S. system on every dimension, while costing far less money.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110907O.shtml
NUKE HYPOCRISY...
And I know you’ve all heard me rail on the mind bending, bizarro universe “nuclear hypocrisy” of the United States on this blog. You know, the fact that the same country that has 10,000 nukes, has used them twice on civilian populations, refuses to enter any international treaties to limit their use, arms Israel with hundreds of their own, AND wants to build more “usable” ones we can use again now - simultaneously threatens and lectures Iran not to even consider, maybe, way in the future, to build ONE! (which evidence suggests they aren’t right now).
We’ll be hearing a lot more of this “Iran as a nuclear menace” nonsense in the coming months. So, I was happy to see someone write a good piece on our nuclear hypocrisy (something I should have done myself) on Alternet.
A few clips:
This time it was not, as it usually is, the divergence between the rules of the game for countries like Iran (nuclear weapons permitted: zero) and for countries like ourselves (nuclear weapons presently possessed: 10,000-plus...with concrete plans already unrolling to design, develop and deploy new and improved nuclear weapon models fully a third of a century down the road). No, this time it was the double standard between our expectations for countries we like and those for countries we don't like.
SNIP
It may well be that Tehran does ultimately aspire to produce not just nuclear electricity, but a small nuclear arsenal -- to deter the aggression that certain other states keep threatening to launch. But no one claims that they are doing so now. Indeed, just the day before Khalilzad and Casey made their remarks, IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei told Wolf Blitzer on CNN: "Have we seen Iran having the nuclear material that can readily be used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponization program? No."
So contrary to Mr. Casey's declaration, the U.S. government is hardly conceding that "any country" meeting his stated criteria is acting in a manner "perfectly acceptable to us." Because what Egypt announced at the end of October was that it intended to start doing exactly the same thing that Iran has already begun to do -- nothing more and nothing less. The Bush administration, instead, subjectively and unilaterally, is assessing the "record, rhetoric, policies and connections" of both Egypt and Iran, and pronouncing, in our wisdom, that the one may proceed down the nuclear road while the other may not.
http://alternet.org/audits/67368/?page=1
DEMS DON'T FILIBUSTER MUKASEY - WELCOME TO "TORTURE LAND"
From constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald on the heart squashing, soul stomping cowardice of the Dems to NOT filibuster!!!! Torture is now officially American policy:
Now, “torture” is not only something we openly debate, but it’s something we do. And the fact that someone is on the wrong side of the “torture debate” doesn’t prevent them from becoming the Attorney General of the United States. It’s just one issue, like any other issue — the capital gains tax, employer mandates for health care, the water bill — and just because someone is “dead wrong” on one little issue (torture) hardly disqualifies them from High Beltway Office.]
Over and over again this year, Republican filibusters were depicted (both by Senate Democrats and the media) as nothing more the routine need to obtain the “60 votes required” for passage of any measure in the Senate. That “requirement” was said to apply to everything, including immigration (”The Senate voted 52-44 for the DREAM Act, but 60 votes were required to end debate“); Iraq withdrawal timetables (”Support is expected to top 50 votes but fall short of the 60 required“); troop leave requirements (”Webb’s Iraq bill inches closer to 60...Winning at least three of those Republicans over could give the Democrats the 60 votes they need“); and warrantless surveillance (”Democratic-sponsored bill failed to reach the 60-vote majority“).
SNIP
But it isn’t true that there is a “60-vote requirement,” because only Republicans are willing to impose it. Democrats won’t, even on what they claim are the gravest of matters, such as confirming someone as Attorney General who is “dead wrong on torture” and who won’t even “tell the president that he cannot ignore the laws passed by Congress.”
The so-called “60-vote requirement” applies only when it is time to do something to limit the Bush administration. It is merely the excuse Senate Democrats use to explain away their chronic failure/unwillingness to limit the President, and it is what the media uses to depict the GOP filibuster as something normal and benign. There obviously is no “60-vote requirement” when it comes to having the Senate comply with the President’s demands, as the 53-vote confirmation of Michael Mukasey amply demonstrates. But as Mukasey is sworn in as the highest law enforcement officer in America, the Democrats want you to know that they most certainly did stand firm and “register their displeasure.”
-- Glenn Greenwald
SAN FRANCISCO SUES E-VOTING MACHINE VENDOR
San Francisco has notified the manufacturer of its electronic voting systems that it will go to court to seek a multi-million dollar refund unless the company replaces hundreds of defective machines and reimburses the city for costs related to Tuesday's election.
San Francisco's dispute with ES&S dates back to this summer, when California Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified the optical-scan voting machine model used by the city because it failed to read some pen marks made by voters on paper ballots. In September, Bowen issued a directive saying ES&S should fix the machines and pay the city for the costs of doing so. In October, ES&S replied there was nothing wrong with its machines and refused to do so. That prompted San Francisco to borrow other optical scan voting machines from nearby counties, which were used Tuesday. That option will not exist during February's presidential primary.
SNIP
The city wants ES&S to cover all the costs of certifying the $3.5 million worth of machines purchased by the city, to pay for $300,000 in costs associated with borrowing 600 machines from nearby counties for Tuesday's election, and to permanently replace any uncertified machines before the 2008 elections.
End
"An internal investigation into a fake news conference staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency during last month's California wildfires found that the agency's press secretary directed aides to pose as reporters, secretly coached them during the briefing and ended the event after a final, scripted question was asked, according to a senior FEMA official."
Friday, November 09, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS: Zinn, Olbermann, AT&T Whistleblower, Impeachment, Election Fraud, Moore, Pakistan, Saunders, Boxer
“The war on terrorism is a sham. Terrorism is an idea that exists all over. You can’t make war on it. If terrorism is the killing of innocent people for some presumed important purpose, then making a war on people is terrorism. War is terrorism. The terrorism of our war in Iraq has killed far, far more people than were killed in the twin towers.
If you know some history that is outside the establishing view of history, you will not be fooled by the things you hear from the White House, or from members of Congress, or from leaders of political parties.
What’s being told is that we are fighting in Iraq for democracy. We are occupying in order to bring democracy and freedom to the Iraqi people. If you look at the history of American occupations, look at the history of U.S. interventions in other parts of the world - where have we brought democracy? There’s no evidence of America bringing democracy to the countries that we occupy.”
-- Howard Zinn in a recent speech
As I said, I’m the forgiving type. I get it: Hillary can’t apologize for her Iraq vote. It would make her look weak. As she said in September 2006 on ABC News, “I can only look at what I knew at the time because I don’t think you get do-overs in life. I think you have to take responsibility. And hopefully, learn from it and go forward. I regret very much the way the president used the authority he was given because I think he misled the Congress, and he misled the country.”
Except…except…she did get a do-over. The same president who misled her, Congress and the country, asked for her vote on yet another resolution based on phony intelligence that starts us down the path to war–this time against Iran. She had a chance to prove that she’d learned her lesson. She voted yes. Again.
President Hillary won’t close Gitmo. She won’t stop torturing. She won’t stop listening to our phone calls. She won’t stop the war in Iraq, much less in Afghanistan. Heck, she might even start a new one.
Fool you once, shame on Bush. Fool you twice, I stop thinking how cool it would be for the United States to finally elect a woman president.
--Ted Rall
VIDEO SECTION
Olbermann interviews an AT&T whistleblower…so let’s all be clear now…the government isn’t eavesdropping on terrorists, they are listening in on ALL calls and emails, inside this country, by Americans. Period. What a perfect way to know what your real “enemies” are up to…as in peace activists, democrats, and people of conscience.
Olbermann: “In talking to Congress today what did you hear? Did you get the sense that anybody is ready to go after not just the telecom execs, but the government officials who ordered this?”
Klein: “I couldn’t tell, I’m not a politician and they play their cards close to the vest. All I can do is emphasize again, that they’re copying everything, this is a violation of the Constitution, it’s domestic traffic, it’s phone calls as well as e-mail and something should be done to stop it and Congress should not kill the judicial process.”
Update: In yesterday’s New York Times, Senator Russ Feingold points out the obvious: “Telecom companies that cooperate with a government wiretap request are already immune from lawsuits, as long as they get a court order or a certification from the attorney general that the wiretap follows all applicable statutes.”
Throwing around the terms Orwellian and Big Brother is no longer hyperbole my friends...its here:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/countdown-att-whistleblower-speaks-out-against-immunity-for-telcoms/
Another one of the "good ones", Barbara Boxer (who our idiot Governor may challenge in 2010), calls out the administration on the latest "editing" of testimony on global warming. Insane:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/boxer-bush-administration-hiding-global-warming-data-from-americans/
Michael Moore breaks down health care on Olbermann's show...again...its the private insurance industry that needs to be put in Guantanamo...
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/67195/
Jeremy Scahill visits Bill Maher to talk about our own little corporate Christian army: Blackwater...its bigger, darker, and deeper then you can imagine:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/67106/
There aren’t too many things on TV more enjoyable than watching Olbermann destroy and belittle O’Reilly. Talk about an intellectual mismatch of cosmic proportions!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/bill-oreilly-swings-at-msnbcand-misses/
Olbermann and Maddow talk impeachment...and the Democrats putting their tales between their legs and running for the doors (not all though...see further down the post):
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/07/countdown-impeachment-impediment/
And my man Senator Bernie Saunders (along with Feingold my favorite politician in the country today) is interviewed by Truthout...enjoy, let's see, what do you call it??? Oh yeah, THE TRUTH:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110507J.shtml
ARTICLE SECTION
Okay, we just had a mini election across the country. The good news is it seems, as one would expect, Democrats are doing well. The bad news is, also as expected, the GOP crime family is testing their various election theft strategies...from e-voting "malfunctions" to the new modern day "poll tax", otherwise known as voter ID cards.
A few clips first:
In Michigan, the NAACP said the voter ID problems appeared to be falling into two categories: people whose ID was being rejected, and poll worker confusion over whether or not voters were given the opportunity -- as required by the state's law -- to sign a sworn affidavit attesting to their identity. Voters who signed that affidavit are supposed to get a regular ballot; however, the NAACP's Hollowell said people instead were being given provisional ballots, which are counted separately and require additional validation.
SNIP
Georgia's voter ID law is tougher than Michigan's. In that state, voters whose names are not on local precinct lists are not offered an affidavit to attest to their identity. Later this fall, the Supreme Court will review a challenge to Indiana's voter ID law to determine if the photo ID requirement disenfranchises voters. The experience in Tuesday's Election Day is expected to be raised by attorneys on both sides of that issue.
SNIP
By Tuesday evening, there were numerous media reports of glitches affecting electronic voting systems. In Marion County, Indiana, where Indianapolis is located, 66 of the the city's 529 machines did not start properly and were out of use for several hours. In Greeley, Colorado, the electronic voting machines initially displayed the wrong ballots on their computer screens. In Fulton County, Georgia, poll worker confusion or unfamiliarity with the technology created delays. In most of these locations, local media reports said paper ballots were used instead.
http://alternet.org/rights/67161/
And Robert Scheer explains the mind bending ludicrousness of who we choose as "friends" and who we create as "enemies". With "friends" like military dictator Musharraf in Pakistan and the Saudi's who needs enemies? The contradictions of our foreign policy are endless...and would be almost funny if it weren't so f******** tragic.
Here's Scheer:
Not that anyone bothered to remember, but Musharraf seized power in Pakistan, ending democratic rule, two years before the 9/11 attacks and did nothing to end his nation’s support of the Taliban rulers next door, who were harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida. Before that he was part of a military elite that had, as the 9/11 Commission report would later conclude, been one of the main sponsors of the Taliban. Nor did Musharraf as dictator-president do anything to undermine the nut cases that he continued to diplomatically recognize as the legitimate rulers of the neighboring country. “On terrorism, Pakistan helped nurture the Taliban,” the 9/11 Commission reported, adding: “Many in the government have sympathized with or provided support to the extremists. Musharraf agreed that Bin Laden was bad. But before 9/11, preserving good relations with the Taliban took precedence.”
SNIP
As for nukes (the real WMD), although Iraq didn’t have them, Pakistan did-at least 70 ready to explode-as well as the airplanes and missiles that could deliver them. Worse, the “father of the Islamic bomb,” Abdul Qadeer Khan, whom the 9/11 Commission called Pakistan’s most revered nuclear weapons expert, “was leading the most dangerous nuclear smuggling ring ever disclosed.” It was Khan who provided the key technology, uranium enrichment materials crucial to the nuke programs of Libya, Iran and North Korea. And it was Musharraf who pardoned him, made him to this day unavailable to U.S. intelligence agents and, after a very loose form of house arrest, recently announced that he was now, as in the slogan of Southwest Airlines, free to move about the country.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/07/5068/
MORE ELECTION FRAUD INFO...AND IMPEACHMENT DEVELOPMENTS
Election Day 'Glitches' 'Hiccups' 'Snags' and 'Snafus' Return
Voting Machines Failures Reported (So Far) in Indiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Colorado & Maryland...
UPDATE: Naturally, Ohio Joins the Group of States with Voting Failures...
Voter turnout was light, in many parts of the country, yesterday. Ironically enough, that's the good news...
COMPLETE STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5259
Wexler Will Urge House Judiciary Committee to 'Schedule Impeachment Hearings Immediately'
Letter Calling for Action Sent to Constituents After Kucinich Resolution to Impeach Cheney is Referred to Committee
Says 'Vice President Cheney must answer for his deceptive actions in office'
As reported in full by David Swanson, in the wake of yesterday's wild ride (and game of chicken) on the House floor concerning the privileged resolution filed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), calling for the Impeachment of Dick Cheney.
The following is from a letter sent to constituents today by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, where the matter has been sent again. Wexler is now calling for the committee "to schedule impeachment hearings immediately and not let this issue languish as it has over the last six months."...
FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5263
Bill to Oulaw 'Voter Caging' Introduced in U.S. Senate!!
Measure, Co-Sponsored by 13 Dems, Would Prohibit 'Voter Supression' Tactic as Used in Florida in 2004 by Former Rove Associate, Interim US Attorney Tim Griffin...
Thirteen Democratic Senators have introduced a bill that would outlaw "voter caging", the practice of sending mail marked "Do Not Forward" to a targeted list of voters in hopes of using the returned mailings as a basis to challenge the right of the voter to vote.
The tactic was used by Republican operatives in both the 2000 and 2004 election, despite the Republican party having agreed in two consent decrees in 1981 and 1986 to end the practice...
COMPLETE COVERAGE, PRESS RELEASE FROM CO-SPONSOR JOHN KERRY:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5248
DEMOCRAT VICTORIES...
Chris Cillizza:
Kentucky: The biggest news of the night was in the Bluegrass State where former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear (D) crushed Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) 59 percent to 41 percent. Fletcher had long been seen as a dead man walking politically; ethics problems in his first four years in office had badly hamstrung his reelection chances. Beshear restores Democratic control to the Kentucky governorship, an office that the party has held for all but four years since 1967.
Elsewhere on the ballot, state Auditor Crit Luallen (D) was reelected with 59 percent, a margin sure to stoke speculation of a challenge to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) in 2008.
Virginia: Republicans appear to have lost control of the state Senate, as at least three Republican incumbents and a GOP-held open seat have gone to Democrats. The race we were watching most closely — the 34th district battle between state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R) and Chap Peterson (D) — turned into a rout, with the Democrat unseating the incumbent 56 percent to 44 percent. Democrats’ gains are yet more evidence of the rapidly shifting demographics in the Commonwealth. Sen. Mark Warner (D) anyone?…read on
ROUNDUP...
"Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants," according to a new study by a nonpartisan group.
The ACLU reports the existence of a third secret torture memo, authored by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in May 2005. "The memos are believed to have authorized the CIA to use extremely harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding."
"The inspector general of the Department of Education has said he will examine whether federal money was inappropriately used by three states to buy educational products from a company owned by Neil Bush, the president's brother."
The House voted 361 to 54 yesterday to override President Bush's veto of "a popular water projects measure." "If the Senate follows suit," it will be the first time Bush has a veto overturned.
“The war on terrorism is a sham. Terrorism is an idea that exists all over. You can’t make war on it. If terrorism is the killing of innocent people for some presumed important purpose, then making a war on people is terrorism. War is terrorism. The terrorism of our war in Iraq has killed far, far more people than were killed in the twin towers.
If you know some history that is outside the establishing view of history, you will not be fooled by the things you hear from the White House, or from members of Congress, or from leaders of political parties.
What’s being told is that we are fighting in Iraq for democracy. We are occupying in order to bring democracy and freedom to the Iraqi people. If you look at the history of American occupations, look at the history of U.S. interventions in other parts of the world - where have we brought democracy? There’s no evidence of America bringing democracy to the countries that we occupy.”
-- Howard Zinn in a recent speech
As I said, I’m the forgiving type. I get it: Hillary can’t apologize for her Iraq vote. It would make her look weak. As she said in September 2006 on ABC News, “I can only look at what I knew at the time because I don’t think you get do-overs in life. I think you have to take responsibility. And hopefully, learn from it and go forward. I regret very much the way the president used the authority he was given because I think he misled the Congress, and he misled the country.”
Except…except…she did get a do-over. The same president who misled her, Congress and the country, asked for her vote on yet another resolution based on phony intelligence that starts us down the path to war–this time against Iran. She had a chance to prove that she’d learned her lesson. She voted yes. Again.
President Hillary won’t close Gitmo. She won’t stop torturing. She won’t stop listening to our phone calls. She won’t stop the war in Iraq, much less in Afghanistan. Heck, she might even start a new one.
Fool you once, shame on Bush. Fool you twice, I stop thinking how cool it would be for the United States to finally elect a woman president.
--Ted Rall
VIDEO SECTION
Olbermann interviews an AT&T whistleblower…so let’s all be clear now…the government isn’t eavesdropping on terrorists, they are listening in on ALL calls and emails, inside this country, by Americans. Period. What a perfect way to know what your real “enemies” are up to…as in peace activists, democrats, and people of conscience.
Olbermann: “In talking to Congress today what did you hear? Did you get the sense that anybody is ready to go after not just the telecom execs, but the government officials who ordered this?”
Klein: “I couldn’t tell, I’m not a politician and they play their cards close to the vest. All I can do is emphasize again, that they’re copying everything, this is a violation of the Constitution, it’s domestic traffic, it’s phone calls as well as e-mail and something should be done to stop it and Congress should not kill the judicial process.”
Update: In yesterday’s New York Times, Senator Russ Feingold points out the obvious: “Telecom companies that cooperate with a government wiretap request are already immune from lawsuits, as long as they get a court order or a certification from the attorney general that the wiretap follows all applicable statutes.”
Throwing around the terms Orwellian and Big Brother is no longer hyperbole my friends...its here:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/countdown-att-whistleblower-speaks-out-against-immunity-for-telcoms/
Another one of the "good ones", Barbara Boxer (who our idiot Governor may challenge in 2010), calls out the administration on the latest "editing" of testimony on global warming. Insane:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/boxer-bush-administration-hiding-global-warming-data-from-americans/
Michael Moore breaks down health care on Olbermann's show...again...its the private insurance industry that needs to be put in Guantanamo...
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/67195/
Jeremy Scahill visits Bill Maher to talk about our own little corporate Christian army: Blackwater...its bigger, darker, and deeper then you can imagine:
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/67106/
There aren’t too many things on TV more enjoyable than watching Olbermann destroy and belittle O’Reilly. Talk about an intellectual mismatch of cosmic proportions!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/08/bill-oreilly-swings-at-msnbcand-misses/
Olbermann and Maddow talk impeachment...and the Democrats putting their tales between their legs and running for the doors (not all though...see further down the post):
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/07/countdown-impeachment-impediment/
And my man Senator Bernie Saunders (along with Feingold my favorite politician in the country today) is interviewed by Truthout...enjoy, let's see, what do you call it??? Oh yeah, THE TRUTH:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110507J.shtml
ARTICLE SECTION
Okay, we just had a mini election across the country. The good news is it seems, as one would expect, Democrats are doing well. The bad news is, also as expected, the GOP crime family is testing their various election theft strategies...from e-voting "malfunctions" to the new modern day "poll tax", otherwise known as voter ID cards.
A few clips first:
In Michigan, the NAACP said the voter ID problems appeared to be falling into two categories: people whose ID was being rejected, and poll worker confusion over whether or not voters were given the opportunity -- as required by the state's law -- to sign a sworn affidavit attesting to their identity. Voters who signed that affidavit are supposed to get a regular ballot; however, the NAACP's Hollowell said people instead were being given provisional ballots, which are counted separately and require additional validation.
SNIP
Georgia's voter ID law is tougher than Michigan's. In that state, voters whose names are not on local precinct lists are not offered an affidavit to attest to their identity. Later this fall, the Supreme Court will review a challenge to Indiana's voter ID law to determine if the photo ID requirement disenfranchises voters. The experience in Tuesday's Election Day is expected to be raised by attorneys on both sides of that issue.
SNIP
By Tuesday evening, there were numerous media reports of glitches affecting electronic voting systems. In Marion County, Indiana, where Indianapolis is located, 66 of the the city's 529 machines did not start properly and were out of use for several hours. In Greeley, Colorado, the electronic voting machines initially displayed the wrong ballots on their computer screens. In Fulton County, Georgia, poll worker confusion or unfamiliarity with the technology created delays. In most of these locations, local media reports said paper ballots were used instead.
http://alternet.org/rights/67161/
And Robert Scheer explains the mind bending ludicrousness of who we choose as "friends" and who we create as "enemies". With "friends" like military dictator Musharraf in Pakistan and the Saudi's who needs enemies? The contradictions of our foreign policy are endless...and would be almost funny if it weren't so f******** tragic.
Here's Scheer:
Not that anyone bothered to remember, but Musharraf seized power in Pakistan, ending democratic rule, two years before the 9/11 attacks and did nothing to end his nation’s support of the Taliban rulers next door, who were harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida. Before that he was part of a military elite that had, as the 9/11 Commission report would later conclude, been one of the main sponsors of the Taliban. Nor did Musharraf as dictator-president do anything to undermine the nut cases that he continued to diplomatically recognize as the legitimate rulers of the neighboring country. “On terrorism, Pakistan helped nurture the Taliban,” the 9/11 Commission reported, adding: “Many in the government have sympathized with or provided support to the extremists. Musharraf agreed that Bin Laden was bad. But before 9/11, preserving good relations with the Taliban took precedence.”
SNIP
As for nukes (the real WMD), although Iraq didn’t have them, Pakistan did-at least 70 ready to explode-as well as the airplanes and missiles that could deliver them. Worse, the “father of the Islamic bomb,” Abdul Qadeer Khan, whom the 9/11 Commission called Pakistan’s most revered nuclear weapons expert, “was leading the most dangerous nuclear smuggling ring ever disclosed.” It was Khan who provided the key technology, uranium enrichment materials crucial to the nuke programs of Libya, Iran and North Korea. And it was Musharraf who pardoned him, made him to this day unavailable to U.S. intelligence agents and, after a very loose form of house arrest, recently announced that he was now, as in the slogan of Southwest Airlines, free to move about the country.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/07/5068/
MORE ELECTION FRAUD INFO...AND IMPEACHMENT DEVELOPMENTS
Election Day 'Glitches' 'Hiccups' 'Snags' and 'Snafus' Return
Voting Machines Failures Reported (So Far) in Indiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Colorado & Maryland...
UPDATE: Naturally, Ohio Joins the Group of States with Voting Failures...
Voter turnout was light, in many parts of the country, yesterday. Ironically enough, that's the good news...
COMPLETE STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5259
Wexler Will Urge House Judiciary Committee to 'Schedule Impeachment Hearings Immediately'
Letter Calling for Action Sent to Constituents After Kucinich Resolution to Impeach Cheney is Referred to Committee
Says 'Vice President Cheney must answer for his deceptive actions in office'
As reported in full by David Swanson, in the wake of yesterday's wild ride (and game of chicken) on the House floor concerning the privileged resolution filed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), calling for the Impeachment of Dick Cheney.
The following is from a letter sent to constituents today by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, where the matter has been sent again. Wexler is now calling for the committee "to schedule impeachment hearings immediately and not let this issue languish as it has over the last six months."...
FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5263
Bill to Oulaw 'Voter Caging' Introduced in U.S. Senate!!
Measure, Co-Sponsored by 13 Dems, Would Prohibit 'Voter Supression' Tactic as Used in Florida in 2004 by Former Rove Associate, Interim US Attorney Tim Griffin...
Thirteen Democratic Senators have introduced a bill that would outlaw "voter caging", the practice of sending mail marked "Do Not Forward" to a targeted list of voters in hopes of using the returned mailings as a basis to challenge the right of the voter to vote.
The tactic was used by Republican operatives in both the 2000 and 2004 election, despite the Republican party having agreed in two consent decrees in 1981 and 1986 to end the practice...
COMPLETE COVERAGE, PRESS RELEASE FROM CO-SPONSOR JOHN KERRY:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5248
DEMOCRAT VICTORIES...
Chris Cillizza:
Kentucky: The biggest news of the night was in the Bluegrass State where former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear (D) crushed Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) 59 percent to 41 percent. Fletcher had long been seen as a dead man walking politically; ethics problems in his first four years in office had badly hamstrung his reelection chances. Beshear restores Democratic control to the Kentucky governorship, an office that the party has held for all but four years since 1967.
Elsewhere on the ballot, state Auditor Crit Luallen (D) was reelected with 59 percent, a margin sure to stoke speculation of a challenge to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) in 2008.
Virginia: Republicans appear to have lost control of the state Senate, as at least three Republican incumbents and a GOP-held open seat have gone to Democrats. The race we were watching most closely — the 34th district battle between state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R) and Chap Peterson (D) — turned into a rout, with the Democrat unseating the incumbent 56 percent to 44 percent. Democrats’ gains are yet more evidence of the rapidly shifting demographics in the Commonwealth. Sen. Mark Warner (D) anyone?…read on
ROUNDUP...
"Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants," according to a new study by a nonpartisan group.
The ACLU reports the existence of a third secret torture memo, authored by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in May 2005. "The memos are believed to have authorized the CIA to use extremely harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding."
"The inspector general of the Department of Education has said he will examine whether federal money was inappropriately used by three states to buy educational products from a company owned by Neil Bush, the president's brother."
The House voted 361 to 54 yesterday to override President Bush's veto of "a popular water projects measure." "If the Senate follows suit," it will be the first time Bush has a veto overturned.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS: Krugman, Rich, Edwards, V for Vendetta, Olbermann, Giuliani Lies, Kucinich/Impeachment, Conyers
Q: Is it ever reasonable to restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism?
PERINO: In our opinion, no.
-- White House spokesperson Dana Perino, 11/5/07, on the recent anti-democratic crackdown in Pakistan
VERSUS
"A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately."
-- CNN, 8/17/06
I do know a lot about intensive questioning and intensive questioning techniques…Now, intensive questioning works. If I didn’t use intensive questioning, there would be a lot of mafia guys running around New York right now and crime would be a lot higher in New York than it is. Intensive question has to be used.
-- tragedy whore and liar Rudy Giuliani…defending torture...and somehow implying he used it against the mob...riiiiiggghhhht
I've written about how the lunatic fringe of the GOP has taken over the party. Well, the takeover is so complete that those looking to lead the party have come to the conclusion that the only way they can win is to compete for the 24 percent of the country that does not think we are headed over the edge of a cliff.
They are all vying to be voted head wacko of the lunatic fringe. Running on a platform of heightened Bushism, they seem to think the reason three-quarters of the country has turned against the president is because he just wasn't extreme enough. So the problems of the GOP will only intensify when Bush packs his bags.
SNIP
Now, can some please explain to me why the Democrats keep caving in to this bunch of dead-enders?
-- Arianna Huffington
OLBERMANN SPECIAL COMMENT!!
What can I say, doing his own impersonation of “V” from V for Vendetta, Keith Olbermann gives another impassioned call to action…even labeling Bush a criminal (which of course he is). Can he help stir the complacent and ignorant masses? I’m not as hopeful as I once was, but I’m sure as hell not finished trying…and nor is Olbermann.
A MUST WATCH:
“No matter how thorough you might try to brand disagreement as disloyalty, Mr Bush, there are still people like Daniel Levin who believe in the United States of America as true freedom, where we are better not because of schemes and wars, but because of dreams and morals. And ultimately, sir, these men, these patriots will defeat you and they will return this country to its righteous standards, and to its rightful owners: The People.”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/special-comment-george-bushs-criminal-conspiracy-of-torture/
And speaking of “V for Vendetta”, here’s one of the choice clips from the film…and yes, the similarities between the movie and what’s happening in this country are now nearly indistinguishable:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/open-thread-623/
Dennis Kucinich calls for impeachment on the House Floor! WATCH!!!
Note: The cowardly Dems refused to bring his Resolution even to a vote (shelving it)...while Republicans TRY and force the Democrats to actually take a stand...sickening cowards...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/06/open-thread-625/
Michael moore interview…he even mentions Crooks and Liars:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/06/michael-moore-praises-crooks-and-liars-information-baby/
An Inuit gives and emotional testimony before Congress on the devastating effects of global warming…Limbaugh derides and mocks her…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/special-comment-george-bushs-criminal-conspiracy-of-torture/
Holy S***! CNN does a fact check of Giuliani's lies about the American health care system...and they don't even say "some say this, but some say that" bullshit. Someone went back to journalism school for a seminar or two. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/07/cnn-fact-checks-rudy-pinocchio-giulianis-cancer-claims/
And watch John Edwards interviewed on Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulis...please people...how much better can a candidate be than Hillary before people start switching over to him?!!!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/06/john-edwards-tries-to-break-through-the-hillary-ceiling/
ARTICLE SECTION
Paul Krugman writes on the clash between what must be seen as an incredibly optimistic trend (and that I have discussed here for a few years) – that being the steady public opinion shift towards progressive positions on nearly all issues – with the negative trend of big money dominating politics…and persuading too many Democrats to not lead this progressive shift (and instead do so timidly…hence slowing and weakening it), but instead stifle, or at least, slow it.
A few clips:
Longer-term studies of public opinion suggest a substantial leftward shift. James Stimson, a political scientist who uses data from many polls to construct an index of the overall liberalism or conservatism of the electorate, finds that America is now more liberal than it has been since the early 1960s. And the tactics the right has historically used to distract voters from economic issues, above all the exploitation of racial tensions, have been losing their effectiveness. But the Democracy Corps memo warns that "Democrats have not yet found their voice as agents of change." Indeed. What the memo doesn't say, but is all too obvious, is that one big reason the Democrats are having trouble finding their voice is the influence of big money.
SNIP
I sometimes hear people say that there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans; that's foolish. Look at the fight over children's health insurance, and you can see how different the parties' philosophies and priorities really are. All of the leading Democratic candidates are offering strongly progressive policy proposals; the Republicans are, if anything, running to the right of the Bush administration.
Also, even history's greatest progressives had to make compromises to win their victories. F.D.R.'s New Deal depended on the support of Southern segregationists. Compared with that, Senator Clinton's acceptance of lots of corporate donations doesn't look so bad - though I'd be reassured if she made her views on tax reform clearer, and matched John Edwards's focus on corporate reform.
Still, I am worried.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110607O.shtml
Frank Rich gives an excellent breakdown of the role the “Iran card” could play in the 2008 Presidential election. Fear being the key ingredient, whether we bomb them or not…and politicians like Hillary Clinton already falling into the same trap set in the buildup to Iraq. I can only pray Democrats see the light and reject this sick coronation of the candidate least right for the job of taking on the GOP crime family.
A few clips:
Yet there is nonetheless a method to all the mad threats of war coming out of the White House. While the saber- rattling is reckless as foreign policy, it's a proven winner as election-year Republican campaign strategy. The real point may be less to intimidate Iranians than to frighten Americans. Fear, the only remaining card this administration still knows how to play, may once more give a seemingly spent G.O.P. a crack at the White House in 2008.
Whatever happens in or to Iran, the American public will be carpet-bombed by apocalyptic propaganda for the 12 months to come. Mr. Bush has nothing to lose by once again using the specter of war to pillory the Democrats as soft on national security. The question for the Democrats is whether they'll walk once more into this trap.
SNIP
This time around, with the exception of Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic candidates seem to be saying what they really believe rather than trying to play both sides against the middle. Only Mrs. Clinton voted for this fall's nonbinding Kyl-Lieberman Senate resolution, designed by its hawk authors to validate Mr. Bush's Iran policy. The House isn't even going to bring up this malevolent bill because, as Nancy Pelosi has said, there has "never been a declaration by a Congress before in our history" that "declared a piece of a country's army to be a terrorist organization."
In 2002, the Iraq war resolution passed by 77 to 23. In 2007, Kyl-Lieberman passed by 76 to 22. No sooner did Mrs. Clinton cast her vote than she started taking heat in Iowa. Her response was to blur her stand…Much like her now notorious effort to fudge her stand on Eliot Spitzer's driver's license program for illegal immigrants, this is a profile in vacillation. And this time Mrs. Clinton's straddling stood out as it didn't in 2002. That's not because she was the only woman on stage but because she is the only Democratic candidate who has not said a firm no to Bush policy.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110407C.shtml
Right from my 1997 Master’s Thesis…unfortunately I was exactly correct...let's face it, the powers don't want ALL the people to have access to information they can't control. period.:
United States Failing In Internet Availability.
In September I did a post talking about the telecom companies blocking a proposal by Internet company M2Z to supply free broadband Internet to the entire country. In the wake of the disturbing news, we now find out that the United States is rapidly falling behind in Internet speed, availability and price:
The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them.
What’s less clear is how badly the country that gave birth to the Internet is doing, and whether the government needs to step in and do something about it. The Bush administration has tried to foster broadband adoption with a hands-off approach. If that’s seen as a failure by the next administration, the policy may change.
END
CONYERS FILES CONTEMPT CITATIONS AGAINST MIERS AND BOLTON: Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) filed contempt resolutions against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten for refusing to testify before Congress on the U.S. Attorney scandal. Conyers plans on asking "the House to vote to enforce his committee's subpoena for White House documents and testimony." White House officials, who have refused Conyers's requests on several previous occasions, "signaled they do not intend to negotiate, arguing that internal deliberations involving Miers and Bolten are covered by executive privilege." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called Conyers's attempts to investigate the politically motivated dismissal of U.S. attorneys "futile" and said that "it won't go anywhere." A contempt citation from Congress would go to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for enforcement, but the Department of Justice has signaled that it "would not prosecute the contempt citation."
The U.S. military announced the deaths of five more soldiers today, "making 2007 the deadliest year of the war for U.S. troops. ... At least 852 American military personnel have died in Iraq so far this year -- the highest annual toll since the war began in March 2003, according to AP figures."
69 percent: Number of Americans who believe that waterboarding is torture, according to a new CNN poll. Another 58 percent say that the U.S. government should be barred from using the procedure "to try to get information from suspected terrorists."
"The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has more than quadrupled since the U.S. troop buildup began in February, leaving 2.3 million Iraqis displaced and further dividing the country along sectarian lines." If violence is decreasing in Iraq, it may be because insurgents "are running out of people to kill," House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) said.
Q: Is it ever reasonable to restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism?
PERINO: In our opinion, no.
-- White House spokesperson Dana Perino, 11/5/07, on the recent anti-democratic crackdown in Pakistan
VERSUS
"A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately."
-- CNN, 8/17/06
I do know a lot about intensive questioning and intensive questioning techniques…Now, intensive questioning works. If I didn’t use intensive questioning, there would be a lot of mafia guys running around New York right now and crime would be a lot higher in New York than it is. Intensive question has to be used.
-- tragedy whore and liar Rudy Giuliani…defending torture...and somehow implying he used it against the mob...riiiiiggghhhht
I've written about how the lunatic fringe of the GOP has taken over the party. Well, the takeover is so complete that those looking to lead the party have come to the conclusion that the only way they can win is to compete for the 24 percent of the country that does not think we are headed over the edge of a cliff.
They are all vying to be voted head wacko of the lunatic fringe. Running on a platform of heightened Bushism, they seem to think the reason three-quarters of the country has turned against the president is because he just wasn't extreme enough. So the problems of the GOP will only intensify when Bush packs his bags.
SNIP
Now, can some please explain to me why the Democrats keep caving in to this bunch of dead-enders?
-- Arianna Huffington
OLBERMANN SPECIAL COMMENT!!
What can I say, doing his own impersonation of “V” from V for Vendetta, Keith Olbermann gives another impassioned call to action…even labeling Bush a criminal (which of course he is). Can he help stir the complacent and ignorant masses? I’m not as hopeful as I once was, but I’m sure as hell not finished trying…and nor is Olbermann.
A MUST WATCH:
“No matter how thorough you might try to brand disagreement as disloyalty, Mr Bush, there are still people like Daniel Levin who believe in the United States of America as true freedom, where we are better not because of schemes and wars, but because of dreams and morals. And ultimately, sir, these men, these patriots will defeat you and they will return this country to its righteous standards, and to its rightful owners: The People.”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/special-comment-george-bushs-criminal-conspiracy-of-torture/
And speaking of “V for Vendetta”, here’s one of the choice clips from the film…and yes, the similarities between the movie and what’s happening in this country are now nearly indistinguishable:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/open-thread-623/
Dennis Kucinich calls for impeachment on the House Floor! WATCH!!!
Note: The cowardly Dems refused to bring his Resolution even to a vote (shelving it)...while Republicans TRY and force the Democrats to actually take a stand...sickening cowards...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/06/open-thread-625/
Michael moore interview…he even mentions Crooks and Liars:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/06/michael-moore-praises-crooks-and-liars-information-baby/
An Inuit gives and emotional testimony before Congress on the devastating effects of global warming…Limbaugh derides and mocks her…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/special-comment-george-bushs-criminal-conspiracy-of-torture/
Holy S***! CNN does a fact check of Giuliani's lies about the American health care system...and they don't even say "some say this, but some say that" bullshit. Someone went back to journalism school for a seminar or two. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/07/cnn-fact-checks-rudy-pinocchio-giulianis-cancer-claims/
And watch John Edwards interviewed on Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulis...please people...how much better can a candidate be than Hillary before people start switching over to him?!!!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/06/john-edwards-tries-to-break-through-the-hillary-ceiling/
ARTICLE SECTION
Paul Krugman writes on the clash between what must be seen as an incredibly optimistic trend (and that I have discussed here for a few years) – that being the steady public opinion shift towards progressive positions on nearly all issues – with the negative trend of big money dominating politics…and persuading too many Democrats to not lead this progressive shift (and instead do so timidly…hence slowing and weakening it), but instead stifle, or at least, slow it.
A few clips:
Longer-term studies of public opinion suggest a substantial leftward shift. James Stimson, a political scientist who uses data from many polls to construct an index of the overall liberalism or conservatism of the electorate, finds that America is now more liberal than it has been since the early 1960s. And the tactics the right has historically used to distract voters from economic issues, above all the exploitation of racial tensions, have been losing their effectiveness. But the Democracy Corps memo warns that "Democrats have not yet found their voice as agents of change." Indeed. What the memo doesn't say, but is all too obvious, is that one big reason the Democrats are having trouble finding their voice is the influence of big money.
SNIP
I sometimes hear people say that there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans; that's foolish. Look at the fight over children's health insurance, and you can see how different the parties' philosophies and priorities really are. All of the leading Democratic candidates are offering strongly progressive policy proposals; the Republicans are, if anything, running to the right of the Bush administration.
Also, even history's greatest progressives had to make compromises to win their victories. F.D.R.'s New Deal depended on the support of Southern segregationists. Compared with that, Senator Clinton's acceptance of lots of corporate donations doesn't look so bad - though I'd be reassured if she made her views on tax reform clearer, and matched John Edwards's focus on corporate reform.
Still, I am worried.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110607O.shtml
Frank Rich gives an excellent breakdown of the role the “Iran card” could play in the 2008 Presidential election. Fear being the key ingredient, whether we bomb them or not…and politicians like Hillary Clinton already falling into the same trap set in the buildup to Iraq. I can only pray Democrats see the light and reject this sick coronation of the candidate least right for the job of taking on the GOP crime family.
A few clips:
Yet there is nonetheless a method to all the mad threats of war coming out of the White House. While the saber- rattling is reckless as foreign policy, it's a proven winner as election-year Republican campaign strategy. The real point may be less to intimidate Iranians than to frighten Americans. Fear, the only remaining card this administration still knows how to play, may once more give a seemingly spent G.O.P. a crack at the White House in 2008.
Whatever happens in or to Iran, the American public will be carpet-bombed by apocalyptic propaganda for the 12 months to come. Mr. Bush has nothing to lose by once again using the specter of war to pillory the Democrats as soft on national security. The question for the Democrats is whether they'll walk once more into this trap.
SNIP
This time around, with the exception of Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic candidates seem to be saying what they really believe rather than trying to play both sides against the middle. Only Mrs. Clinton voted for this fall's nonbinding Kyl-Lieberman Senate resolution, designed by its hawk authors to validate Mr. Bush's Iran policy. The House isn't even going to bring up this malevolent bill because, as Nancy Pelosi has said, there has "never been a declaration by a Congress before in our history" that "declared a piece of a country's army to be a terrorist organization."
In 2002, the Iraq war resolution passed by 77 to 23. In 2007, Kyl-Lieberman passed by 76 to 22. No sooner did Mrs. Clinton cast her vote than she started taking heat in Iowa. Her response was to blur her stand…Much like her now notorious effort to fudge her stand on Eliot Spitzer's driver's license program for illegal immigrants, this is a profile in vacillation. And this time Mrs. Clinton's straddling stood out as it didn't in 2002. That's not because she was the only woman on stage but because she is the only Democratic candidate who has not said a firm no to Bush policy.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110407C.shtml
Right from my 1997 Master’s Thesis…unfortunately I was exactly correct...let's face it, the powers don't want ALL the people to have access to information they can't control. period.:
United States Failing In Internet Availability.
In September I did a post talking about the telecom companies blocking a proposal by Internet company M2Z to supply free broadband Internet to the entire country. In the wake of the disturbing news, we now find out that the United States is rapidly falling behind in Internet speed, availability and price:
The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them.
What’s less clear is how badly the country that gave birth to the Internet is doing, and whether the government needs to step in and do something about it. The Bush administration has tried to foster broadband adoption with a hands-off approach. If that’s seen as a failure by the next administration, the policy may change.
END
CONYERS FILES CONTEMPT CITATIONS AGAINST MIERS AND BOLTON: Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) filed contempt resolutions against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten for refusing to testify before Congress on the U.S. Attorney scandal. Conyers plans on asking "the House to vote to enforce his committee's subpoena for White House documents and testimony." White House officials, who have refused Conyers's requests on several previous occasions, "signaled they do not intend to negotiate, arguing that internal deliberations involving Miers and Bolten are covered by executive privilege." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called Conyers's attempts to investigate the politically motivated dismissal of U.S. attorneys "futile" and said that "it won't go anywhere." A contempt citation from Congress would go to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for enforcement, but the Department of Justice has signaled that it "would not prosecute the contempt citation."
The U.S. military announced the deaths of five more soldiers today, "making 2007 the deadliest year of the war for U.S. troops. ... At least 852 American military personnel have died in Iraq so far this year -- the highest annual toll since the war began in March 2003, according to AP figures."
69 percent: Number of Americans who believe that waterboarding is torture, according to a new CNN poll. Another 58 percent say that the U.S. government should be barred from using the procedure "to try to get information from suspected terrorists."
"The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has more than quadrupled since the U.S. troop buildup began in February, leaving 2.3 million Iraqis displaced and further dividing the country along sectarian lines." If violence is decreasing in Iraq, it may be because insurgents "are running out of people to kill," House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) said.
Monday, November 05, 2007
TODAY'S TOPICS (Quick Post): Moyers, Olbermann, Kucinich, Project Censored, Impeach Cheney Vote, Feingold, E-Voting Ban
VIDEO SECTION
Just a quick post today...but important stuff...
This is one of THE issues of the 21 first century...if we allow the corporate media to continue to consolidate we truly will be living in the world of the Matrix...one commercial voice, no dissenting opinions (certainly not progressive), and all the consumerism and propaganda one can dream. As always, the great Bill Moyers is on it...
A good intro from C&L:
Bill moyers on the corporate media: our years ago, without public input, the FCC rolled back 30 yr old rules that limited a single company’s ability to be able to dominate local TV, newspaper and radio media markets. Thankfully, the rules changes triggered a massive public response and through legislation and lawsuit, they were defeated. Now FCC chair Kevin Martin is attempting to do it again by trying to push through a similar set of changes allowing further media consolidation as soon as December 18. This time, we needn’t wait until we have been sandbagged. You can help by contacting Congress and the FCC now to stop Kevin Martin before he gets away with slipping this one by us.
Bill Moyers then goes one further and focuses on one glaring example of how our media is already failing us today:
BILL MOYERS: It’s important who owns the press, as we’ve just seen and heard…but it’s also important who decides what is news. Why wasn’t it news last weekend when more than 100,000 people turned out in 11 cities across the country to protest the occupation of Iraq … but if you blinked while watching the national news, you wouldn’t have known it was a story? …(transcript)
It’s no wonder why groups like Code Pink must go to such lengths to make sure the overwhelming voice of public opinion against the war isn’t ignored entirely. Thankfully we at least still have Bill Moyers to help make sure that doesn’t happen. As always you can watch the full episodes on the PBS website.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/04/bill-moyers-on-whats-wrong-with-our-media/
Dennis Kucinich and his wife brave the idiocy of what qualifies as "reporting" today. Watch the man defend his wife so eloquently...he's a true example of what could be...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/professional-woman-anchor-asks-idiotic-questions-of-professional-woman/curveball
Wow...three years after we in the blogosphere and independent media have been screaming to the rafters about "curveball", and his key role as war informant for the administration (and some of the lies came through his torture...demonstrating how well that works), is now FINALLY being covered in by the corporate media. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/curve-ball-is-revealed-greencards-for-war/
And watch Bill Maher do his thing...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/real-time-new-rules-the-thrilla-in-vanilla-thankshallowismas-crass-warfare/
Tragedy whore and liar Rudy Giuliani wins the trifector...receiving all three spots on Olbermann's "worst persons in the world". This guy is going down....:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-rudy-rudy-rudy/
NEWS ROUNDUP...
YES...WATERBOARDING IS TORTURE...
FROM C&l:
"The pending confirmation of Michael Mukasey to the position of Attorney General, now destined to go to the full Senate, thanks to Lieber-moves of Shumer and Feinstein, is troublesome to more than just we in the progressive community. Senator Patrick Leahy received this letter (.pdf) from four retired JAGs, who understand that the concept of “Rule of Law” must mean something, even with Bushies in charge.
Dear Chairman Leahy,
In the course of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of President Bush’s nominee for the post of Attorney General, there has been much discussion, but little clarity, about the legality of “waterboarding” under United States and international law. We write Because this issue above all demands clarity: Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.
PROJECT CENSORED...STORIES OF 2007
If you want to have a literal Red Pill Smoothie...then you must always read Project Cendored's top 25 un (or under) reported stories of the year. In it, you will find not only some of the deepest and darkest truths, you will also come to a greater understanding of what kinds of issues our corporate media simply won't touch...and why. Its a literal "American Matrix" expose...and without further ado, here are the top 25 of this past year, titles only. As the weeks go by, I will try and cover more of them in depth, but for summaries just go to the site.
i'm always proud to see that many of them I have focused much of my personal attention on at this blog.
From C&L: If you haven’t been exposed to Project Censored, plan on spending several hours reading about the kind of media suppression and bias that we cover daily here at C&L.
Every year they compile a list of the top 25 news stories that you just didn’t hear about through the traditional media. Here’s 2008’s List:
# 1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
# 2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
# 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
# 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
# 5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
# 6 Operation FALCON Raids
# 7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
# 8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
# 9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
# 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief
# 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan
# 12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops
# 13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants
# 14 Impunity for US War Criminals
# 15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a “Second Genetic Code”
# 16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11
# 17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations
# 18 Mexico’s Stolen Election
# 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda (Free Trade through Central and South America)
# 20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists
# 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
# 22 North Invades Mexico
# 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq
# 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President
# 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
BRAD BLOG: ELECTION FRAUD SECTION
TIME: The 'Stampede Away from Touch-Screen'
Magazine Says Nelson-Whitehouse Senate Bill Calling for 2012 Ban on Dangerous DRE Voting Systems a 'Stunning Reversal'
Uses Our Own 'Ford Pinto' Metaphor in Article Spurring One Writer to Proclaim to BRAD BLOG: 'DREs Are Now Junk in Mainstream Publications Such as Time!'
Sure, the reporter at TIME magazine gets much of the terminology wrong (hey, he works for TIME, he doesn't have the kind of resources we do here at The BRAD BLOG to get things right when we report them, so we'll cut him some slack), but as a national writer friend of ours commented in a late-night email last night, "DREs are now junk, officially, in mainstream publications such as Time.com"
Well, it's about damned time...
COMPLETE COVERAGE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5245
Diebold/Premier Admits Memory Card Failure On Popular Optical-Scan Voting Machines
With Elections Impending Next Week, Company Downplays, Hides Failure Rate
Will The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Take Action?...
Saturday's Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that Diebold Election Systems, now having renamed itself Premier Election Solutions, has admitted that some of its 25,000 optical scan voting machines used in Florida and elsewhere across the nation may have a problem that causes memory card failures during elections.
Naturally, they're actively trying to cover up the breadth of the problem which could effect elections nationwide this Tuesday.
And, naturally, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is unlikely to do a thing about it...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5242
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE FILES CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS REPORT WITH HOUSE CLERK
'For Refusal of WH Attorney Miers and Chief of Staff Bolten to Comply With Duly Issued Subpeonas'
Just in from the House Judiciary Committee...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 2007
***Update: House Judiciary Committee Files Contempt of Congress Report with House Clerk***
(Washington, DC)- Today, at approximately 2:45 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee filed its contempt of Congress report with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. The full text is available online here.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5247
FEINGOLD STATEMENT OPPOSING MUKASEY NOMINATION
I will vote against the nomination of Judge Mukasey to be the next Attorney General. This was a difficult decision, as Judge Mukasey has many impressive qualities. He is intelligent and experienced and appears to understand the need to depoliticize the Department of Justice and restore its credibility and reputation.
At this point in our history, however, the country also needs an Attorney General who will tell the President that he cannot ignore the laws passed by Congress. Unfortunately, Judge Mukasey was unwilling to reject the extreme and dangerous theories of executive power that this administration has put forward.
The nation's top law enforcement officer must be able to stand up to a chief executive who thinks he is above the law. The rule of law is too important to our country's history and to its future to compromise on that bedrock principle.
END
Kucinich Will FORCE Impeachment of Cheney Vote (now we'll find out who stands with us, the law, and the constitution...and who is just talk!)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 333 in April to impeach Vice President Cheney for his pre-war lies about Iraq and for threatening an invasion of Iran. And thanks to your heroic grassroots efforts, there are 21 co-sponsors.
Speaker Pelosi blocked Judiciary Committee hearings on the bill, but Rep. Kucinich will force a floor vote on Tuesday using his right of personal privilege.
Kucinich's courageous act will put members of the House on record. Are they going to fulfill their oath of office to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic"? Or will they support a Vice President whose lies about Iraq cost the lives of nearly 4,000 Americans and possibly $2.4 trillion in our tax dollars - and whose lies about Iran threaten to start World War III?
VIDEO SECTION
Just a quick post today...but important stuff...
This is one of THE issues of the 21 first century...if we allow the corporate media to continue to consolidate we truly will be living in the world of the Matrix...one commercial voice, no dissenting opinions (certainly not progressive), and all the consumerism and propaganda one can dream. As always, the great Bill Moyers is on it...
A good intro from C&L:
Bill moyers on the corporate media: our years ago, without public input, the FCC rolled back 30 yr old rules that limited a single company’s ability to be able to dominate local TV, newspaper and radio media markets. Thankfully, the rules changes triggered a massive public response and through legislation and lawsuit, they were defeated. Now FCC chair Kevin Martin is attempting to do it again by trying to push through a similar set of changes allowing further media consolidation as soon as December 18. This time, we needn’t wait until we have been sandbagged. You can help by contacting Congress and the FCC now to stop Kevin Martin before he gets away with slipping this one by us.
Bill Moyers then goes one further and focuses on one glaring example of how our media is already failing us today:
BILL MOYERS: It’s important who owns the press, as we’ve just seen and heard…but it’s also important who decides what is news. Why wasn’t it news last weekend when more than 100,000 people turned out in 11 cities across the country to protest the occupation of Iraq … but if you blinked while watching the national news, you wouldn’t have known it was a story? …(transcript)
It’s no wonder why groups like Code Pink must go to such lengths to make sure the overwhelming voice of public opinion against the war isn’t ignored entirely. Thankfully we at least still have Bill Moyers to help make sure that doesn’t happen. As always you can watch the full episodes on the PBS website.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/04/bill-moyers-on-whats-wrong-with-our-media/
Dennis Kucinich and his wife brave the idiocy of what qualifies as "reporting" today. Watch the man defend his wife so eloquently...he's a true example of what could be...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/professional-woman-anchor-asks-idiotic-questions-of-professional-woman/curveball
Wow...three years after we in the blogosphere and independent media have been screaming to the rafters about "curveball", and his key role as war informant for the administration (and some of the lies came through his torture...demonstrating how well that works), is now FINALLY being covered in by the corporate media. Watch:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/05/curve-ball-is-revealed-greencards-for-war/
And watch Bill Maher do his thing...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/real-time-new-rules-the-thrilla-in-vanilla-thankshallowismas-crass-warfare/
Tragedy whore and liar Rudy Giuliani wins the trifector...receiving all three spots on Olbermann's "worst persons in the world". This guy is going down....:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-rudy-rudy-rudy/
NEWS ROUNDUP...
YES...WATERBOARDING IS TORTURE...
FROM C&l:
"The pending confirmation of Michael Mukasey to the position of Attorney General, now destined to go to the full Senate, thanks to Lieber-moves of Shumer and Feinstein, is troublesome to more than just we in the progressive community. Senator Patrick Leahy received this letter (.pdf) from four retired JAGs, who understand that the concept of “Rule of Law” must mean something, even with Bushies in charge.
Dear Chairman Leahy,
In the course of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of President Bush’s nominee for the post of Attorney General, there has been much discussion, but little clarity, about the legality of “waterboarding” under United States and international law. We write Because this issue above all demands clarity: Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.
PROJECT CENSORED...STORIES OF 2007
If you want to have a literal Red Pill Smoothie...then you must always read Project Cendored's top 25 un (or under) reported stories of the year. In it, you will find not only some of the deepest and darkest truths, you will also come to a greater understanding of what kinds of issues our corporate media simply won't touch...and why. Its a literal "American Matrix" expose...and without further ado, here are the top 25 of this past year, titles only. As the weeks go by, I will try and cover more of them in depth, but for summaries just go to the site.
i'm always proud to see that many of them I have focused much of my personal attention on at this blog.
From C&L: If you haven’t been exposed to Project Censored, plan on spending several hours reading about the kind of media suppression and bias that we cover daily here at C&L.
Every year they compile a list of the top 25 news stories that you just didn’t hear about through the traditional media. Here’s 2008’s List:
# 1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
# 2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
# 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
# 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
# 5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
# 6 Operation FALCON Raids
# 7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
# 8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
# 9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
# 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief
# 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan
# 12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops
# 13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants
# 14 Impunity for US War Criminals
# 15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a “Second Genetic Code”
# 16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11
# 17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations
# 18 Mexico’s Stolen Election
# 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda (Free Trade through Central and South America)
# 20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists
# 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments
# 22 North Invades Mexico
# 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq
# 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President
# 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
BRAD BLOG: ELECTION FRAUD SECTION
TIME: The 'Stampede Away from Touch-Screen'
Magazine Says Nelson-Whitehouse Senate Bill Calling for 2012 Ban on Dangerous DRE Voting Systems a 'Stunning Reversal'
Uses Our Own 'Ford Pinto' Metaphor in Article Spurring One Writer to Proclaim to BRAD BLOG: 'DREs Are Now Junk in Mainstream Publications Such as Time!'
Sure, the reporter at TIME magazine gets much of the terminology wrong (hey, he works for TIME, he doesn't have the kind of resources we do here at The BRAD BLOG to get things right when we report them, so we'll cut him some slack), but as a national writer friend of ours commented in a late-night email last night, "DREs are now junk, officially, in mainstream publications such as Time.com"
Well, it's about damned time...
COMPLETE COVERAGE: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5245
Diebold/Premier Admits Memory Card Failure On Popular Optical-Scan Voting Machines
With Elections Impending Next Week, Company Downplays, Hides Failure Rate
Will The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Take Action?...
Saturday's Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that Diebold Election Systems, now having renamed itself Premier Election Solutions, has admitted that some of its 25,000 optical scan voting machines used in Florida and elsewhere across the nation may have a problem that causes memory card failures during elections.
Naturally, they're actively trying to cover up the breadth of the problem which could effect elections nationwide this Tuesday.
And, naturally, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is unlikely to do a thing about it...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5242
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE FILES CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS REPORT WITH HOUSE CLERK
'For Refusal of WH Attorney Miers and Chief of Staff Bolten to Comply With Duly Issued Subpeonas'
Just in from the House Judiciary Committee...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 2007
***Update: House Judiciary Committee Files Contempt of Congress Report with House Clerk***
(Washington, DC)- Today, at approximately 2:45 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee filed its contempt of Congress report with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. The full text is available online here.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5247
FEINGOLD STATEMENT OPPOSING MUKASEY NOMINATION
I will vote against the nomination of Judge Mukasey to be the next Attorney General. This was a difficult decision, as Judge Mukasey has many impressive qualities. He is intelligent and experienced and appears to understand the need to depoliticize the Department of Justice and restore its credibility and reputation.
At this point in our history, however, the country also needs an Attorney General who will tell the President that he cannot ignore the laws passed by Congress. Unfortunately, Judge Mukasey was unwilling to reject the extreme and dangerous theories of executive power that this administration has put forward.
The nation's top law enforcement officer must be able to stand up to a chief executive who thinks he is above the law. The rule of law is too important to our country's history and to its future to compromise on that bedrock principle.
END
Kucinich Will FORCE Impeachment of Cheney Vote (now we'll find out who stands with us, the law, and the constitution...and who is just talk!)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 333 in April to impeach Vice President Cheney for his pre-war lies about Iraq and for threatening an invasion of Iran. And thanks to your heroic grassroots efforts, there are 21 co-sponsors.
Speaker Pelosi blocked Judiciary Committee hearings on the bill, but Rep. Kucinich will force a floor vote on Tuesday using his right of personal privilege.
Kucinich's courageous act will put members of the House on record. Are they going to fulfill their oath of office to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic"? Or will they support a Vice President whose lies about Iraq cost the lives of nearly 4,000 Americans and possibly $2.4 trillion in our tax dollars - and whose lies about Iran threaten to start World War III?
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