A major threat indeed

Major Corporations have been raping our land, destroying our small businesses, and writing government policy for far too long. Their latest conquest...... Ian McKaye's Minor Threat. It's seems that nike has decided to take the album cover art of the indie-credible Minor Threat and rework it into a sneaker ad targeted at skaters, punks and Dischord fans everywhere. This would be fine, although a surprising sell out, if the sweatshop sneaker company asked the band's permission. Surprise, surprise, they didn't. If you haven't already, Stop buying nike. If this theft isn't reason enough for you, check out the documentary "The Big One". For all you fans of nike's subsidiary, converse, and their Chuck Taylor All Star, get the sweat shop free union made version at No Sweat Apparel. We have to vote with our dollars. It's the only thing anyone seems to care about.

"No amount of money is worth losing control of our music."
-Ian MacKaye

Secracy leads only to speculation.

Iraq's Justice Minister Abdel Hussein Shandal recently said "it seems there are lots of secrets they want to hide." You are absolutely right, sir. Whether it has to do with the US involvement in delaying the trial of saddam hussein to which you refer or the intelligence intercept documents of john bolton that have been requested by the Democrats, it certainly does seem that there are "lots of secrets they want to hide". Why should the little prince and king richard change their secret ways now? Let the GAO put in as many requests as it wants. Dick's duck hunting judge buddy and the head nodders behind him will just rule to secure their secrecy again anyway. This leaves us with only speculation. What fun!

1. Old news - the Energy Task Force
Now I understand that the president and his minions reserve the right to get opinions and counsel from whomever they like, and that if everything said was on the record, perhaps people would speak and act differently. Energy policy is something that has desperately needed to be addressed for a number of years, but all we know about those who drew up this administration's attempt is that there were NO environmentalists involved. Thanks to Justice "quack, quack" scalia's ruling, we're left to speculate. My guess is that the oil industry was very involved, Kenny Boy's Enron in particular. I know that's the odds on favorite. My longer shot is bandar bush. Enron would be understandable enough to the American public, but a Saudi prince? Now that's a reason to keep the task force's identities hidden.

2. Identities - names in secret national security intercepts that Bolton requested and received
The reason bolton continues to get the NO votes out isn't his surly attitude towards his subordinates. It's not because he chases people down hotel hallways. Democrats are demanding that the administration turn over the names of people listed in intelligence intercepts whose identities bolton asked for and received. Now who could be on that list that would keep them from giving the Democrats what they desire to pass bolton through the US Senate. Here's a guess, Valerie Plame. You remember Valerie Plame. She's the active CIA operative whose identity was given to a red columnist by an "administration official". The little prince and his personal assistant used bolton to make sure chads were (weren't) counted correctly back in 2000. Maybe they thought he was just the guy to bring down administration critic, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, by outing his wife and endangering her life. Say what you will reds, Joe Wilson said the yellow cake from Niger "intelligence" was crap, and guess what. It was.

3. the trial of saddam hussein
It's being said that the US is delaying the trial of saddam hussein, and one is left to wonder why. The butcher of baghdad "gassed his own people" back when reagan was president, right? The US actually supported his reign initially, as well as supporting Iraq in their war against Iran. That was until reagan's administration decided to sell arms to Iran so that the US could fund rebels in Nicaragua. So why would the United States want to slow saddam's trial? Since the administration makes no comment on the justice minister's charges let's guess. While we were "supporting" Iraq on the down low during the Iran-Iraq war, maybe just maybe, we provided them with arms. And maybe just maybe, he used those arms on his own people. Or maybe the little prince really is worried about Iraq having a good court and justice system first. Though that does sound like a bit too much fore thought from a man who went into war without a plan for its aftermath, let alone an "exit strategy".

So let the personal assistant come out using 9/11 as a political spin wheel, goading Democrats into saying they were for the war that they now say is a "grotesque mistake". Hey karl, some of us still remember that the War in Afghanistan was the response to 9/11 and remains separate from the War of Choice in Iraq, which is a "grotesque", "quagmire" of a "mistake" requiring more money or military than we can afford to "win".


"The mission must be clear. Soldiers must understand why we're going. The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well-defined."
- g.w. flip floppin' bush 10/17/00 in the third Gore-bush presidential debate

Coverage???? of Downing Street hearing #1

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republican porn

Can you imagine if the Democratic Party invited a porn star to dine with president Clinton? Well, I guess red "family values" now contain porn, and who am I to complain. Porn star Mary Carey and Kick Ass Pictures executive, Mark Kulkis attended a recent GOP dinner. Where are pat robertson, jerry falwell, or concerned women for america on this one?

Warning: Some links contain the adult material produced by republican dinner attendees.

I am against and ashamed of the practice of Lynching

I said it. I would vote on it. Why won't they?

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Kay Hutchison (R-TX)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)

Why not give them a call and ask?

UPDATE: Senators Voinovich, Murkowski and Crapo have now added their names to the co-sponsors. What took you "folks" so long?

Innocent until proven guilty.

I wasn't going to do this, but I just feel like I have to defend Michael Jackson. A man who obviously lives outside the "normal" box.

The phrase "innocent until proven guilty" did not seem to apply to Michael Jackson, or as his "normal" retractors refer to him "wacko jacko". Granted, sleeping in the same bed as minors is not something people are comfortable with, but it is legal. I wonder if a babysitter, nanny or someone watching their friend's child has ever done it. I know he made a habit of these "sleep-overs", but that still does not make him a child molester.

The case as I saw it, and we really didn't see that much of it, was based on the testimony of two boys, their mother, a questionable timeline, and previous allegations that produced no charges. The mother and the boys were the key to the case. The jury, who requested the boy's testimony again while in deliberations, did not believe them. Perhaps it was due to the mother's previous attempts at scamming people for money, or maybe it was because the brother couldn't remember exactly what his story was, or maybe the boys were seen as teen agers who found their own liquor and porn in Neverland. Who knows? What we do know is that to them, based on the evidence, there was reasonable doubt. Case closed.

And for all those equating the Trial of Michael Jackson to OJ's trial, there is a real difference. The DNA matched blood in OJ's car, in OJ's home, and on the rug of the murder is hard evidence. Sending former employees and other grudge holders to tell "their side" of the story is not as hard. You would think with 100 search warrants a DA on a mission would have found something.

"intelligence and facts were being fixed"

No, this is not another blog about the Downing Street minutes memo, or the host of recently "leaked" documents concerning the push for a War in Iraq.

No, the intelligence and facts that were fixed in this case had to do with global warming reports coming out of the White House. Former oil industry lobbyist philip cooney, whose latest job was chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, has resigned. White House mouth pieces are assuring everyone that it had nothing to do with the NEWS that cooney had been editing official White House environmental reports to favor the oil industry and administration interests and policies, or lack thereof. Mr. cooney "decided to resign and take the summer off to spend some time with his family".

Whew, I almost thought someone was going to be held accountable for something.

UPDATE: In case you were worried that Mr. cooney was going to add to the unemployment rolls, don't be. He'll be working at Exxon/Mobil this fall.

Let the hearings begin!

The Conyers Judiciary Crew is holding hearings on the Downing Street minutes memo this Thursday with new documents in hand. "None of the documents are as earth-shattering as the Downing Street minutes but all of them corroborate the accuracy of what it says.” I wonder if chairman sensenbrenner will even be there to turn off the microphones of elected US Congressmen and women like he did during the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act hearing. If only it were bush and blair testifying.

The Smoking Gun

Back in 2002, I asked a lawyer friend of mine if willfully misleading the public was an impeachable offense. He never replied to my email.

The Downing Street Memo offers further evidence that:

(1) The president had "made up his mind to take military action" well before telling the public "We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq". Well before asking the US Congress for the authority to use force, if necessary. In fact, the memo references "spikes in activity" that the US was already taking part in. Spikes that, according to the Sunday London Times, "dropped twice as many bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of 2001". The War in Iraq was not a "last resort" but a pre-determined end. The means of which, this administration continually attempts to justify. A means that has killed 1,674 United States soldiers and 10s of thousands of Iraqis.

(2) Aside from the testimony of people like former treasury secretary Paul O'Neil, there has not been much evidence of suspect intelligence usage leading up to the War in Iraq. This memo, written by foreign policy aide Mathew Rycroft to Ambassador David Manning (cc: UK Defense and Foreign Secretaries, Attorney General, and others) states "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy". "Fixed around the policy". No wonder bush told UN weapons inspectors to leave Iraq after only a few months. He must have had the intelligence and facts right where he wanted them. There are those that say this administration was not the only administration, foreign or domestic, to believe that saddam had weapons of mass destruction (nucLEar included), but this administration was the ONLY administration to find this "intelligence" actionable enough to base a "shock and awe" war on.

Rep. John Conyers has demanded an investigation into the build up to the war in Iraq based on this Downing Street Memo. A letter to the president regarding questions arising from the Downing Street Memo is available for your signature at his website. He has also written defense secretary rumsfeld regarding the "spikes of activity" during late 2002. Senators Kennedy and Kerry seem to be following suit.

The mainstream media has been slow to pick up this story, but it does seem to have more teeth than the questionable election results in Ohio, or an administration paying actual journalists to praise presidential policies in their columns, or allowing a fake journalist to ask the president and his mouth piece soft ball questions for two years, or divulging the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press. I could go on, but maybe it's better if you check them out for yourself. At least he didn't lie under oath about cheating on his wife, right? Maybe it's time we put him under oath, without cheney at his side, and see what comes out of that smirk.


To the Impeachment of George W. Bush!

DEEP THROAT!!!!

Deep throat, deep throat, deep throat, deep throat, deep throat! No, I'm not talking about deep throat or deep throat. I'm talking about the deep throat that is making every political talking head and talk show host say the sweet sweet words.....Deep Throat!

I got to tell you it has been making me smile, laugh and well nevermind.