First, the rats or as I like to call them, the reds.
It seemed to start a couple of weeks ago, when the 520 page report entitled "A Failure of Initiative" was released from the almost completely red, House of Representatives, committee on the "national failure" that was the government's "Response" to Hurricane Katrina. "Passivity did the most damage," the report stated "The failure of initiative cost lives, prolonged suffering, and left all Americans justifiably concerned our government is no better prepared to protect its people than it was before 9/11, even if we are." The hearings that followed had reds like Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the Congressman who led the inquiry, saying "It remains difficult to understand how government could respond so ineffectively to a disaster that was anticipated for years and for which specific dire warnings had been issued for days,".
Not since the ridiculous nomination to the Supreme Court of Harriet Myers, has the administration met with such opposition from its own party. A party that has controlled congress for eight years, the presidency for 5+, and the Supreme Court now more than ever. Why the change? Why the separation from the man "god" told to run for president? Maybe it's the new 34% approval rating of president george w. bush, or the 18% vice president cheney received. Maybe it's having a company, controlled by a country with a "checkered" past when it comes to al qaeda and the taliban, controlling six of our Major ports. Or maybe it's the increasing "sectarian" violence in the “neo-con”, “pre-emptive”, “bush doctrine”, war of choice in Iraq. For whatever reason, real or spun, reds seem to be distancing themselves in advance of the Congressional elections of 2006. But as much as I enjoy seeing the current administration hung out to dry, it's the sinking ship that has me worried.
The mistakes, poor decisions, incompetence, and dishonesty of this administration affect all of Us. How can an administration that failed to plan for an oncoming category 4 hurricane plan for the climatic change due to global warming, illustrated again last week by reports of rapid ice melts in Greenland? How can an administration that failed to plan for their war to continue passed it’s “shock and awe” campaign be expected to plan for Our security as a people, Our future as a Nation, or the re-establishment of Our place among the industrialized and civilized nations of the world. Our nation's reputation has never been as bad, especially in the "Muslim" world we have been taught to fear, as it is today. And at home, by typing the word al Qaeda into the text of this rant, the NSA is now allowed to tap my phones and read all my emails without a warrant, even one received 72 hours after the tap. And when they arrest me, they can arbitrarily call me an "enemy combatant", send me to Guantanamo Bay, and hold me without charge or lawyer for as long as they like. Adherence to the Constitution, the Geneva Conventions or the Army field manual as it pertains to torture (or anything else) is not something this president, this attorney general, this vice president, or this secretary of defense give a good god dam about, except to give lip service to when they're backed into a corner while avoiding being put under oath.
This president and his administration act as if there is no law they can not usurp, under the auspices of National Security or their undeclared war. They are dangerous to Our system of government, Our treasury, and Our values as Americans. The person in charge of and responsible for this administration and all of its actions is the president of the United States. Onward pushes the impeachment movement.
"We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal-known to be armed and shown to be dangerous"
- Lewis Lapham “The Case for Impeachment" Harper's (March 2006 issue) Read it here or in a barnes & noble lobby near you.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
It's not about the birdshot.
The problem isn't the vice president's accidental shooting of his republican donor friend at a bush pioneer/lobbyist 's private ranch. It isn't the fact that the victim had a "mild" heart attack from shrapnel (or should I say birdshot) shot from the gun of the vice president. Nobody wants an involuntary manslaughter or negligent homocide charge, and it would never happen for a hunting accident in Texas. The problem isn't the fact that the vice president wasn't interviewed by police until the next day. And it isn't the fact that he didn't have the neccesary open bird stamp on his license to make the hunt "legal". The problem is the decision of the vice president (and not, at least for the first hour, Our "elected" president) to withhold information from the citizens of the United States of America. The owner of the "farm" releasing information to a small local paper does not a national public announcement make. It is this administration's love of secrecy and disdain for the press. That is the problem. An angry scott mclellan dodging, in no subtle way, questions while there is no word/explanation from the vice president is not the way you run a country by and for the people.
A lot is being made of this hunting accident. The jokes are funny. Letterman and Stewart have a lot of material. But more importantly, it sheds light on the secracy of this administration, and vice president cheney in particular. It further opens the door to questions into all that they withhold from US.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
I don't believe you (he acts like we all forget)
From a president, whose load of a State of the Union speech had fellow conservatives PO'ed, comes a budget proposal that not only significantly cuts funds to medicare, education and public broadcasting, but also sneaks in the president's social security private accounts program, and omits the ongoing cost of the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Hard to believe, not really.
It is hard for me to believe that the riots in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the “Muslim” world are the result of cartoons and cartoons alone, even if those cartoons depict the holy religious icon, Mohammad, with a bomb in his turban. Pardon the Pun but was this editorial just the “straw that broke the camel’s back”? Muslims in the region are more orthodox and devout than most, if not all, of us in "money is god" America, but aren't the recent "protests" more a pot that has been boiling for years finally boiling over. Ignited, and arguably incited by these images, but this anger is deep and has been building for years. Almost equally as hard to believe was the “preemptive strike” “shock and awe” president of the United States calling on the nation’s of the world to “stop the violence”.
But how can we be expected to believe a man who says “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breech of the levies” after being told (in Crawford, TX) the morning of the storm that the levies were breaking. This is in addition to computer model Hurricane Pam, and other warnings given months, weeks, and days, before the hurricane hit, and claimed at least 1,417 lives. The federal FEMA scapegoat passing the buck to the Department of Homeland Security in front of Congress last week may get us closer to where the buck actually stops, at the president of the United States.
A president who once said that anyone connected to leaking classified information would be fired. Maybe Halliburton will take you back, Dick.
We’d love to believe that the president wants us to use “75%” less of the foreign oil we get from the “middle east”, but how can we when the day after he proposes it his minions are out denying it.
An ex-CIA chief coming out saying the administration “cherry picked” intel to push their Iraq policy is just more proof that what this administration believes in is not the truth. It is all politics, and no policy with these campaigners in charge. They are secretive, manipulative and continue to avoid being placed under oath. Whether it’s divulging classified information pertinent to our National Security, having a “pioneer” lobbyist sell access to the president for $25,000 a pop, using fake “journalists” or paying “real” ones to push their propaganda, or selling off Our Nation’s public lands, this president and his administration continue to treat their position as that of a monarchy and not as one of the Three Branches of Our government, using the US Treasury as a way to make their friends and, quite possibly their future selves, richER while they bankrupt every government program that does not perpetuate violence.
Oh yeah, and the vice president shot a man while hunting birds at a private "farm" in Texas, lodging "bird shot" in the man's face, neck, chest and heart. No it wasn’t Justice Scalia. It was 78 year old lawyer and major red contributor Harry Whittington. Maybe cheney could have used some military training instead of all those deferments after all.
Guns don’t shoot people, the vice president shoots people.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
How did Our Union get into such a State?
For the 80% of the American workforce whose salary (adjusted for inflation) has decreased as prices (adjusted for inflation) have increased, the economic outlook is not the rosy, robust one being seen by likes of exxon/mobile. Who, under the current regime's corporation based tax cut and spend economic policy, has made Record Profits. It's no wonder so many people feel the need to buy the cheapest Chinese products they can at their global wal-mart. Not that there is much surprise that the new regime's current policies do little to help those that need help.
The lack of action in both preparing for and reacting to a natural disaster in New Orleans, despite estimations known to this presidential administration, was an appalling dereliction of duty. And saying your responsible for mistakes made, only to turn around and refuse to release documents or testify under oath concerning the "response" to Hurricane Katrina, is beyond even that. An extra marital affair and real estate deal from before you took office, and the president is made to TESTIFY UNDER OATH. Incompetence that leaves 1,200 people to die and thousands more stranded then displaced, and we get a shrug, a smile and a "heck of a". Mr. president, if you visit New Orleans before your next State of the Union speech, maybe you could leave the Garden District and walk where the flood waters raised, people scurried to rooftops and waited for Days. I guess the City of New Orleans and its police department didn't have a fleet of helicopters to swoop in from aircraft carriers sitting in the Gulf.
As Al Gore said, before he was made to refute more red lies, "A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government,” 72 HOURS. That's how long the administration, NSA, CIA, ETC. have to obtain a secret court's order AFTER performing an emergency warrant-less wiretap under the current Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Why are they still not getting these secret court orders? What judge or secret court would not grant such an order for a tap on al qaeda or someone legitimately "linked" to al qaeda? Who exactly are they tapping? Are there "fishing" expeditions going on? One can only hope they are not spying on the same peaceful activist groups that the FBI is. But don't bother asking the president, he'll just tell you, to ask is to help the enemy?
At least there is this administration's "shock and awe", "you're with us or you're against us" foreign policy. At the forefront of which is Iraq. Iraq, where cheney's friends at halliburton are giving our troops water contaminated with sewage. Iraq, where "rebuilding" funds have gone untraced, and at times were stored in footlockers and bathrooms. Iraq, where even US reports say reconstruction has hit delay after delay. Iraq, where the president's pre-emptive war of choice is "straining" Our Army. 2,245 American soldiers have been killed. 16,420 American Soldiers have been seriously injured. $240,000,000,000.00 has been spent. And for what? The "trial" of saddam hussein? The spread of democracy, in hopes that it won't be the wrath of democracy like that felt from Palestinians voting hamas into power or the less recent election of the current president of Iran? And now there are reports of a case of bird flu in Iraq. Let's hope the human to human mutation of the virus doesn't start there.
In 2000, george w. bush said “I will restore honor and integrity to the White House.” I guess, the powerful, lifelong republican, K Street lobbyist and "pioneer" for the Bush/Cheney campaign, jack abramoff must have been a "means" to justify those "ends". With ties to numerous elected officials, not the least of which is former majority leader tom delay, ohio congressman bob ney, speaker of the house dennis hastert, and the pres., who is trying to keep images of himself and abramhoff hidden better than the images of torture he let slip through rummy's hands. As reds and blues scramble to smell less like corrupt dung, and the reds claim that "they did it too", consider this. Jack Abramoff was and is a republican, the republicans currently have the power to buy, and the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 (the year the current regime Took office) to more than 34,750.
So as the red rubber stamped, litmus tested, federalist socialite, sam alito, gets voted into his life term seat on the highest court in the land, the president's buddy "kenny" lay goes to trial, al-qaeda's "number two" man rises from the dead to thumb his nose at us again, and a failed oil man takes center stage for a prime time speech that he has rehearsed for days, but will still have to read word for word, all we can do is wonder. How did Our Union get into such a State?
The lack of action in both preparing for and reacting to a natural disaster in New Orleans, despite estimations known to this presidential administration, was an appalling dereliction of duty. And saying your responsible for mistakes made, only to turn around and refuse to release documents or testify under oath concerning the "response" to Hurricane Katrina, is beyond even that. An extra marital affair and real estate deal from before you took office, and the president is made to TESTIFY UNDER OATH. Incompetence that leaves 1,200 people to die and thousands more stranded then displaced, and we get a shrug, a smile and a "heck of a". Mr. president, if you visit New Orleans before your next State of the Union speech, maybe you could leave the Garden District and walk where the flood waters raised, people scurried to rooftops and waited for Days. I guess the City of New Orleans and its police department didn't have a fleet of helicopters to swoop in from aircraft carriers sitting in the Gulf.
As Al Gore said, before he was made to refute more red lies, "A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government,” 72 HOURS. That's how long the administration, NSA, CIA, ETC. have to obtain a secret court's order AFTER performing an emergency warrant-less wiretap under the current Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Why are they still not getting these secret court orders? What judge or secret court would not grant such an order for a tap on al qaeda or someone legitimately "linked" to al qaeda? Who exactly are they tapping? Are there "fishing" expeditions going on? One can only hope they are not spying on the same peaceful activist groups that the FBI is. But don't bother asking the president, he'll just tell you, to ask is to help the enemy?
At least there is this administration's "shock and awe", "you're with us or you're against us" foreign policy. At the forefront of which is Iraq. Iraq, where cheney's friends at halliburton are giving our troops water contaminated with sewage. Iraq, where "rebuilding" funds have gone untraced, and at times were stored in footlockers and bathrooms. Iraq, where even US reports say reconstruction has hit delay after delay. Iraq, where the president's pre-emptive war of choice is "straining" Our Army. 2,245 American soldiers have been killed. 16,420 American Soldiers have been seriously injured. $240,000,000,000.00 has been spent. And for what? The "trial" of saddam hussein? The spread of democracy, in hopes that it won't be the wrath of democracy like that felt from Palestinians voting hamas into power or the less recent election of the current president of Iran? And now there are reports of a case of bird flu in Iraq. Let's hope the human to human mutation of the virus doesn't start there.
In 2000, george w. bush said “I will restore honor and integrity to the White House.” I guess, the powerful, lifelong republican, K Street lobbyist and "pioneer" for the Bush/Cheney campaign, jack abramoff must have been a "means" to justify those "ends". With ties to numerous elected officials, not the least of which is former majority leader tom delay, ohio congressman bob ney, speaker of the house dennis hastert, and the pres., who is trying to keep images of himself and abramhoff hidden better than the images of torture he let slip through rummy's hands. As reds and blues scramble to smell less like corrupt dung, and the reds claim that "they did it too", consider this. Jack Abramoff was and is a republican, the republicans currently have the power to buy, and the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 (the year the current regime Took office) to more than 34,750.
So as the red rubber stamped, litmus tested, federalist socialite, sam alito, gets voted into his life term seat on the highest court in the land, the president's buddy "kenny" lay goes to trial, al-qaeda's "number two" man rises from the dead to thumb his nose at us again, and a failed oil man takes center stage for a prime time speech that he has rehearsed for days, but will still have to read word for word, all we can do is wonder. How did Our Union get into such a State?
Friday, January 13, 2006
What am I hearing.
The demonizing/canonizing that was the hearings of bush nominee to the US Supreme Court, samuel alito, seemed little more then senators putting question marks on the end of their own opinions. Every question was loaded, not that alito would have given a straight answer to a straight question anyway.
Whether they were trying to educate the public with their soliloquies, or deflect the "discussion" from what the qualifications and/or predispositions of a Supreme Court nomineeee, there were points when alito was little more than a spectator as senators threw jabs at each other. And the crying of alito's wife, though enough time and text has been wasted on this already, whether planned or not, was covered to the point of being important to a nominee's chances of be confirmed a life term member of the highest court in the Country. A truly bizarre scene in a hearing that left a bad taste in the mouths of many.
With an executive drunk with power and a desperate legislature, Our judiciary needs to be more than a permanent fixture of a sitting president's positions. Unfortunately, this branch of Our government is losing my faith right along with the others.
I didn’t expect this president to nominate someone that would oppose his view on abortion. I didn’t expect the nominee to be anymore transparent than he absolutely had to be. I did expect more then senators and others coaching the nominee on how to answer confirmation hearing questions. And I did expect more from the Democrats then pin pointed attacks on two decade old statements and the use of statements made by wing nuts, other than alito, against him.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
2006, Democracy, and Hope
2006 has begun with the deaths of 200 people, including 11 US soldiers, in Iraq, 11 coal miners in West Virginia, and the "extensive" stroke of Israeli President Ariel Sharon. How sad a start. After a period of realization and mourning, how will Israel react to the absence of Ariel Sharon? How will the Palestinians, whose "democracy" has put more Hamas in the government then ever, react?
It’s funny how democracy works. The people of Iraqi voted for an Iraqi National Assembly last month, and now that results are mostly in, the Iraqi "government" is trying to figure out how to put more Sunnis in, despite all the votes against them. Chalabi has worked his way back in, in spite of the democracy that's “on the march”. In Bolivia, Chavez friend and bush foe, Evo Morales was elected president and got there by being anti-bush.
And in our democracy, the little king is bypassing the advice and consent of the United States Congress with more controversial recess appointments of his cronies and crooks. And while we wait for the Fitzgerald's next shoe to drop, we have a HUGE red lobbyist whose agreed to turn state's evidence for a deal that will cost him $26.7 million and up to 11 years in prison. Makes you wonder what the prosecutor has on him, if that's the best deal he could get. Palm greaser jack abramoff has red capos falling over themselves trying to give donations, the mafia style stoolie gave them, away but what about all the money he Raised for them. One can only hope that this scandal can really cleanse Our government of its status quo, everyday corruption. They say Democrats are involved too. But before you jump on that band wagon take a look at the dollar totals paid and raised for reds and compare that to what kickback jack did for the Democrats. Why would he be greasing down the minority anyway? But when it comes down to it, if they're dirty they don't belong there, red or blue. Watching the hearings on how abramoff and his associates fleeced Native Americans, a long standing American tradition, and used his connections to get his influence into the US Department of the Interior, I couldn't help but think, the FBI has files on PETA, follows the Mormons and the Catholic league around and has Nothing on the Conservative Republicans for the Environment's connection to lobbyist turned deputy secretary of the interior turned lobbyist, steven griles. I guess spying with these guys is focused on terrorism….. and liberalism. Spying you say?
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows wiretaps on international calls without warrant in emergency circumstances, as long as a judicial order of approval is obtained from the secret FISA court within 72 hours. So if the administration needed to wiretap an individual who they suspected was plotting against the US, they need not wait for a warrant. They could get authorization afterward, within the 72 hour period. This law was usurped by a president who knew he could not get support from congress to change the act in favor of completely warrant less searches. He did so as an "exercise of executive discretion", to quote Solicitor General Paul D. Clement on the somewhat related recent transfer of 3 year enemy combatant Joseph Padilla. The administration also sited in their first round of reasoning that it was the "resolution that authorized the use of force in Iraq" that gave him said powers, though it states nothing about altering or completely ignoring existing law. So what do We the People get to explain whether or not the president is above the law? We get an investigation into who told the public that the administration was conducting warrant less wiretaps on Americans, not the legality of those taps. Why would this administration be held accountable for anything?
The President of the United States should be made to answer questions that have been raised of him, the administration and the policies for which He is responsible. President Clinton was put under oath, without the vice president by his side, to answer questions about an extra marital affair. In a lapse of judgment and intelligence, he lied about this affair and was impeached in the name of National Security. The current administration's list of scandals out stretch that of President Clinton or President Nixon for that matter and their ability to avoid any accountability is almost as astonishing as the lack (for the most part) of outrage seen America's citizenry and the traditional or "mainstream" media.
Maybe 2006 will bring enough indictments against the bush administration and the folks that run with them that the Country will stand up and take notice. Maybe the 2006 elections will see enough votes for Democratic and Independent senators and congressmen (and women) that the balance of power will sway from the rubber stamping right to the left of center. Maybe 2006 will see more good news that's not just bad news for the other side. I’m a hopeful man.
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
It’s funny how democracy works. The people of Iraqi voted for an Iraqi National Assembly last month, and now that results are mostly in, the Iraqi "government" is trying to figure out how to put more Sunnis in, despite all the votes against them. Chalabi has worked his way back in, in spite of the democracy that's “on the march”. In Bolivia, Chavez friend and bush foe, Evo Morales was elected president and got there by being anti-bush.
And in our democracy, the little king is bypassing the advice and consent of the United States Congress with more controversial recess appointments of his cronies and crooks. And while we wait for the Fitzgerald's next shoe to drop, we have a HUGE red lobbyist whose agreed to turn state's evidence for a deal that will cost him $26.7 million and up to 11 years in prison. Makes you wonder what the prosecutor has on him, if that's the best deal he could get. Palm greaser jack abramoff has red capos falling over themselves trying to give donations, the mafia style stoolie gave them, away but what about all the money he Raised for them. One can only hope that this scandal can really cleanse Our government of its status quo, everyday corruption. They say Democrats are involved too. But before you jump on that band wagon take a look at the dollar totals paid and raised for reds and compare that to what kickback jack did for the Democrats. Why would he be greasing down the minority anyway? But when it comes down to it, if they're dirty they don't belong there, red or blue. Watching the hearings on how abramoff and his associates fleeced Native Americans, a long standing American tradition, and used his connections to get his influence into the US Department of the Interior, I couldn't help but think, the FBI has files on PETA, follows the Mormons and the Catholic league around and has Nothing on the Conservative Republicans for the Environment's connection to lobbyist turned deputy secretary of the interior turned lobbyist, steven griles. I guess spying with these guys is focused on terrorism….. and liberalism. Spying you say?
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows wiretaps on international calls without warrant in emergency circumstances, as long as a judicial order of approval is obtained from the secret FISA court within 72 hours. So if the administration needed to wiretap an individual who they suspected was plotting against the US, they need not wait for a warrant. They could get authorization afterward, within the 72 hour period. This law was usurped by a president who knew he could not get support from congress to change the act in favor of completely warrant less searches. He did so as an "exercise of executive discretion", to quote Solicitor General Paul D. Clement on the somewhat related recent transfer of 3 year enemy combatant Joseph Padilla. The administration also sited in their first round of reasoning that it was the "resolution that authorized the use of force in Iraq" that gave him said powers, though it states nothing about altering or completely ignoring existing law. So what do We the People get to explain whether or not the president is above the law? We get an investigation into who told the public that the administration was conducting warrant less wiretaps on Americans, not the legality of those taps. Why would this administration be held accountable for anything?
The President of the United States should be made to answer questions that have been raised of him, the administration and the policies for which He is responsible. President Clinton was put under oath, without the vice president by his side, to answer questions about an extra marital affair. In a lapse of judgment and intelligence, he lied about this affair and was impeached in the name of National Security. The current administration's list of scandals out stretch that of President Clinton or President Nixon for that matter and their ability to avoid any accountability is almost as astonishing as the lack (for the most part) of outrage seen America's citizenry and the traditional or "mainstream" media.
Maybe 2006 will bring enough indictments against the bush administration and the folks that run with them that the Country will stand up and take notice. Maybe the 2006 elections will see enough votes for Democratic and Independent senators and congressmen (and women) that the balance of power will sway from the rubber stamping right to the left of center. Maybe 2006 will see more good news that's not just bad news for the other side. I’m a hopeful man.
If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
On the second day of Fitmas.....
Nevermind the Christmas vs. Holidays vs. Chanukah vs. Kwanzaa debate. The second day of Fitmas is coming! Decorate your Fitmas tree with all your indictment wishes.
For those of you who are really annoyed by the whole made up "War on Christmas", why not send an email to the concerned women for america (mail@cwfa.org). It was one of their spokesMen who recently compared people that say Happy Holidays to nazis.
Here's the text from my email (short and to the point):
Happy Holidays!
How's you're War on Chanukah going?
peace on earth
goodwill towards men (and women)
For those of you who are really annoyed by the whole made up "War on Christmas", why not send an email to the concerned women for america (mail@cwfa.org). It was one of their spokesMen who recently compared people that say Happy Holidays to nazis.
Here's the text from my email (short and to the point):
Happy Holidays!
How's you're War on Chanukah going?
peace on earth
goodwill towards men (and women)
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
An outline for an UnHoly war
Balled up in the Fetal position, I watched as the campaigner in chief made his first in a series of "stay the course" and "progress in Iraq" speeches and read the bush pamphlet "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" or as I like to call it "An outline on nation building". There were a couple of new twists. The word "insurgents" has morphed, like so many rationales for war, into "the enemy" (rummy ran blocker on this one) and made up words like "rejectionists" and "saddamists". The no responsibility president almost admitted mistakes with statements like "we've faced some setbacks" and that "we learned from our early experiences." But most striking to me was the display of emotion when quoting a victim of his War in Iraq. The president held back the tears when quoting a letter left "on the laptop" of Corporal Jeff Star, getting choked up on the words "I'm here helping these people so they can live the way we live".
"I'm here helping these people so they can live the way we live."
Does that sound imperial to anybody else? Coupled with the old "you're either with us or you're against us" it sounds a little like the "god warrior" from trading spouses. Now, the bigger war of "ideologies" (AKA War on Terrorism) may have started with the attack on the US on September 11th, though it is argued that it started long before with previous attacks by "terrorists" or by US foriegn policies. Regardless of its beginning, the president of the United States seems to truly believe in its extension. He believes that the world would be better off if "they" lived like "we" do, or at least how we live ideally. Not how they are currently living along the US Gulf Coast or how the have nots and homeless live. But how we live to speak our mind freely without fear of retribution, unless of course you disagree with the president's policies (then it's watch your wife's covert status). It's, you know, Our freedom to choose Coke or Pepsi, Walmart or Target, Halliburton or Bechtel, protestant or evangelical.
It's hard to continue to argue about how bad an idea the hurried invasion/preemptive strike on Iraq was. An invasion "based on intelligence" that others believed, but no one was going to war over. Iraq was not a "urgent" threat to the United States. Before the sanctions on Iraq even started, back in Gulf War I, all they could try and hit us with were misguided scuds. Remember the surrendering Iraqi armyists? After getting beat back to Baghdad and over ten years of crippling sanctions, this was the greatest threat posed against us?
The argument that "we are fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here" seems short sighted. What happens when it's over, assuming it ever will be? Where are the "terrorists" that attack our soldiers in Iraq today going to go when, and if, we leave? I understand that we will have men and women serving in Our multi-billion dollar bases there for a long time to come. But if Iraq does somehow, miraculously, stabilize, where will the "foreign fighters" turn. And then there are the "terrorist" attacks that have taken place in Europe and elsewhere while we were fighting "them in Iraq so we don't have to fight them at home".
This War in Iraq was not about saddam or the wounds left open from Gulf War I. WMDs were only a decent, at the time, enough excuse. Faux-patriotism and fear were used to ram a war through a, for the most part, gutless, rubber stamp congress and a confused and apathetic public who was bombarded with propaganda when it should have bombarded with discussion and debate. Last week the vice president came out of his undisclosed location to give a speech to American service men and women as part of the campaigner in chief's latest offensive. He said, among other things, that "The terrorists want to end American and Western influence in the Middle East." American influence in the Middle East. Now that sounds like the reason we are in Iraq. And why is that influence so essential. Oil! That's what this has always been about. We are building a nation and its military, for access to its oil and the contracts to drill and refine it.
This president, his administration, and Our toothless, rubberstamp congress have gotten us into this war (it is still a war and not "the peace"). We will not "cut and run", though I would be very surprised if troop levels don't come down significantly by the 2006 elections. As for leaving a "stable democracy" as a "model for the region", with the influence of "republics" like Iran on the Shi'ites, the continuous moves toward independence by the Kurds, and the assisinations and uprisings of the Sunnis, that's a little far fetched even to me.
We stopped when we did, and it was a unanimous recommendation on the part of the President's advisors, civilian and military, we stopped when we did because we had achieved our objectives. We had said from the outset that our purpose was to liberate Kuwait and destroy Saddam Hussein's capacity to threaten his neighbors, his offensive military capability, we did that. We destroyed about two-thirds of his army in that portion that he sent in to Kuwait and Iraq, and stripped him of most of his weapons of mass destruction.
Once we rounded up Saddam, then the question is what do you do? You're going to put a government in his place. Presumably, you're not just going to turn your back and walk away. You have to put some kind of a government in its place. And then the question comes is it going to be a Shi'a government or a Kurdish government, or maybe a Sunni government, or maybe it ought to be based on the old Baathist Party regime, or some combination thereof. How long is that government to be able to stay in power without US military support to keep it there? How long can we maintain the coalition?
How long could we have maintained that coalition of Arab states if we had been involved in the long-range occupation by the US in Iraq? I would guess if we had gone on to Baghdad I would still have forces in Iraq today. I don't know how we would have let go of that tar baby once we had grabbed hold of it.
How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? And the answer I would give is not very damn many.
-excerpts of then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney's 1992 speech to the Discovery Institute in Seattle
"I'm here helping these people so they can live the way we live."
Does that sound imperial to anybody else? Coupled with the old "you're either with us or you're against us" it sounds a little like the "god warrior" from trading spouses. Now, the bigger war of "ideologies" (AKA War on Terrorism) may have started with the attack on the US on September 11th, though it is argued that it started long before with previous attacks by "terrorists" or by US foriegn policies. Regardless of its beginning, the president of the United States seems to truly believe in its extension. He believes that the world would be better off if "they" lived like "we" do, or at least how we live ideally. Not how they are currently living along the US Gulf Coast or how the have nots and homeless live. But how we live to speak our mind freely without fear of retribution, unless of course you disagree with the president's policies (then it's watch your wife's covert status). It's, you know, Our freedom to choose Coke or Pepsi, Walmart or Target, Halliburton or Bechtel, protestant or evangelical.
It's hard to continue to argue about how bad an idea the hurried invasion/preemptive strike on Iraq was. An invasion "based on intelligence" that others believed, but no one was going to war over. Iraq was not a "urgent" threat to the United States. Before the sanctions on Iraq even started, back in Gulf War I, all they could try and hit us with were misguided scuds. Remember the surrendering Iraqi armyists? After getting beat back to Baghdad and over ten years of crippling sanctions, this was the greatest threat posed against us?
The argument that "we are fighting them there, so we don't have to fight them here" seems short sighted. What happens when it's over, assuming it ever will be? Where are the "terrorists" that attack our soldiers in Iraq today going to go when, and if, we leave? I understand that we will have men and women serving in Our multi-billion dollar bases there for a long time to come. But if Iraq does somehow, miraculously, stabilize, where will the "foreign fighters" turn. And then there are the "terrorist" attacks that have taken place in Europe and elsewhere while we were fighting "them in Iraq so we don't have to fight them at home".
This War in Iraq was not about saddam or the wounds left open from Gulf War I. WMDs were only a decent, at the time, enough excuse. Faux-patriotism and fear were used to ram a war through a, for the most part, gutless, rubber stamp congress and a confused and apathetic public who was bombarded with propaganda when it should have bombarded with discussion and debate. Last week the vice president came out of his undisclosed location to give a speech to American service men and women as part of the campaigner in chief's latest offensive. He said, among other things, that "The terrorists want to end American and Western influence in the Middle East." American influence in the Middle East. Now that sounds like the reason we are in Iraq. And why is that influence so essential. Oil! That's what this has always been about. We are building a nation and its military, for access to its oil and the contracts to drill and refine it.
This president, his administration, and Our toothless, rubberstamp congress have gotten us into this war (it is still a war and not "the peace"). We will not "cut and run", though I would be very surprised if troop levels don't come down significantly by the 2006 elections. As for leaving a "stable democracy" as a "model for the region", with the influence of "republics" like Iran on the Shi'ites, the continuous moves toward independence by the Kurds, and the assisinations and uprisings of the Sunnis, that's a little far fetched even to me.
We stopped when we did, and it was a unanimous recommendation on the part of the President's advisors, civilian and military, we stopped when we did because we had achieved our objectives. We had said from the outset that our purpose was to liberate Kuwait and destroy Saddam Hussein's capacity to threaten his neighbors, his offensive military capability, we did that. We destroyed about two-thirds of his army in that portion that he sent in to Kuwait and Iraq, and stripped him of most of his weapons of mass destruction.
Once we rounded up Saddam, then the question is what do you do? You're going to put a government in his place. Presumably, you're not just going to turn your back and walk away. You have to put some kind of a government in its place. And then the question comes is it going to be a Shi'a government or a Kurdish government, or maybe a Sunni government, or maybe it ought to be based on the old Baathist Party regime, or some combination thereof. How long is that government to be able to stay in power without US military support to keep it there? How long can we maintain the coalition?
How long could we have maintained that coalition of Arab states if we had been involved in the long-range occupation by the US in Iraq? I would guess if we had gone on to Baghdad I would still have forces in Iraq today. I don't know how we would have let go of that tar baby once we had grabbed hold of it.
How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? And the answer I would give is not very damn many.
-excerpts of then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney's 1992 speech to the Discovery Institute in Seattle
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Is ironic the right word?
Is ironic the right word for the US Supreme Court building falling apart right above where it says "Equal Justice Under Law"?
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Dear Mr. President,
"Throughout history, tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision. And they end up alienating decent people across the globe."
That's an interesting choice of words Mr. President. You should applaud whoever wrote them for you to read. Amazingly enough I agree with this pontification. The difference is it makes me think of you. In the partisan attack/justification for your war speech, that you chose Veterans Day to give, you claimed that Congress "had access to the same intelligence" as the president of the United States of America. That's false. Hell, let's call it a lie. Congress does not have access to the President's Daily Brief, not to mention the 92-page NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) that was given to Congress just days before they were to vote did not include all of the doubts within the intelligence committee. The resolution, that everyone seems to equate with a declaration of war, has been spun just like the "mission" we must "stay the course" to "accomplish".
"Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;"
"Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;" text from the Joint Resolution (the Bold was me)
That is what they voted on. These claims have yet to be substantiated, and pulling out the UN inspectors, headed by Hans Blix, after only one month in Iraq certainly insured that those claims would not be refuted before we invaded. You rushed us into a war of your choosing. There was no "unique", "urgent" or "gathering" threat to Our National Security, our freedom, or Our way of life coming from Iraq like you told us there was. We did not "know where they [the WMDs}" were like secretary rumsfeld told us. When the vice president said "there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." in his push for war, he either didn't have all the facts or was spinning/cherry picking what "intelligence" he did have. Like used car salesmen, you sold this Nation your war not on the "liberation of Iraq" or the "removal of saddam". It was on the "threat of unique urgency" that Iraq posed, which it turns out it didn't. It is not your critics that are rewriting history. It is you.
The hardest thing about all of this is the fact that Our soldiers are in harm's way for your grand vision of what the Middle East should be. You have created a new training ground for terrorists greater than Afghanistan ever was. You have given the terrorists more rationalizations for their hate. Your war is sending our country further into debt, which was recently illustrated by your red senators joining Democrats in dropping your tax cuts for the rich. You say you "protect the United States" while at the same time your Federal Emergency Management Agency is telling the poor people, who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, that they will be evicted after December 1 with no where to go.
I am not alone in wanting a "exit strategy" that is "well defined" for our troops in Iraq. Democratic hawks and doves, as well as red senators are all clamoring for a plan that you should have had before we invaded.
And now with your national security advisor and/or vice president quite possibly involved in the Valerie Plame case, your administration seems even more corrupt and dishonest. Your presidency will be remembered as a failure, disastrous to Our country's reputation and standing in the world and our Government's reputation and standing here at home. I leave you with these words from red Senator Chuck Hagel:
"America must approach the world with a sense of purpose in world affairs that is anchored by our ideals, a principled realism that seeks not to re-make the world in our image, but to help make a better world."
"The Bush Administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. Suggesting that to challenge or criticize policy is undermining and hurting our troops is not democracy nor what this country has stood for, for over 200 years. The Democrats have an obligation to challenge in a serious and responsible manner, offering solutions and alternatives to the Administration’s policies."
Friday, November 11, 2005
The wheels on the wagon are not what they use to be.
What the hell's going on here?!?!? The campaigner in chief is "killing" campaigns? The US is using white phosphorous incendiaries (a weaponized chemical) on Iraqis? The man accused of giving classified intel to Iran, not to mention helping to mislead our "leaders" into misleading Us into war, ahmed chalabi, is the administration's friend again? Howlin' wolfowitz's World Bank is saying that their redevelopment efforts in Iraq are being blocked by the violence he failed to consider in his rush to war? Senate reds are grilling oil executives? Argentinians are protesting the little prince and his policies? Paris is on fire? Scandal ridden lobbyist abramhoff asked the president of a West African nation for $9,000,000.00 to meet with the scandal ridden president of the United States? And bucky bush is throwing around a baseball in Panama? Wow! It's been quite the ten days.
Election day saw Democrat, Senator John Corzine, win the governorship in New Jersey, despite the sandalous resignation of the last (D) in the State House. This was a particularly negative, non-issue campaign. I did like Corzine's bush/forrester ads, and it looks like they were effective. In Virginia's gubenatorial race, the Democrat won, despite a last minute bush visit to his challenger. Some say the bush visit actually hurt the red's chances. In Maine, an anti-discrimination law protecting homosexuals was passed. Ahnuld's four ballot initiatives got voted down in California. And my personal favorite came from Dover, Pennsylvania, where members of the Board of Education, who argued on behalf of "intelligent design", were voted out. The reds did have a victory or two, as well, but a "ban on gay marriage" in Texas.... I thought that was understood.
We all know that, with a few exceptions, the Democrats are toothless. What we're beginning to see now is the deCONstruction of the reds by the reds. The in fighting is evident. Senator mccain is arguing with vice president DICK cheney about America's use of torture, or as the legislation phrases it "cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment" of prisoners. The administration wants to exempt the CIA from such restrictions on abuse. Nine red senators voted against mccain's amendment, the other 42 joined with the Democrats in support of it. And if the US using incendiaries (though not banned by name) in Iraq, someone needs to to police the police of the world?
One of the biggest surprises for me this past week was the grilling of oil executives by Senators, both Democratic and red, for their record profits from charging record prices. Going against big oil is a direct affront to this oil soaked administration. An administration whose energy policy is to lessen environmental regulations, increase subsidies, and give tax breaks to energy companies who have seen profit increases over the past three years far greater than they have ever seen before. At least the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge has been temporarily taken off the drilling block by the House of Representatives, even before postponing the vote on the budget cutting bill that would have befouled it.
This wagon is starting to lose it's wheels and the Libby trial hasn't even started yet. You remember Libby, he is the author of the beastiality laden, incestual novel "The Apprentice". Oh yeah and he lied before a Grand Jury investigating leaked information classified for Our National Security.
"What a Country"
-Yakov Smirnoff
Election day saw Democrat, Senator John Corzine, win the governorship in New Jersey, despite the sandalous resignation of the last (D) in the State House. This was a particularly negative, non-issue campaign. I did like Corzine's bush/forrester ads, and it looks like they were effective. In Virginia's gubenatorial race, the Democrat won, despite a last minute bush visit to his challenger. Some say the bush visit actually hurt the red's chances. In Maine, an anti-discrimination law protecting homosexuals was passed. Ahnuld's four ballot initiatives got voted down in California. And my personal favorite came from Dover, Pennsylvania, where members of the Board of Education, who argued on behalf of "intelligent design", were voted out. The reds did have a victory or two, as well, but a "ban on gay marriage" in Texas.... I thought that was understood.
We all know that, with a few exceptions, the Democrats are toothless. What we're beginning to see now is the deCONstruction of the reds by the reds. The in fighting is evident. Senator mccain is arguing with vice president DICK cheney about America's use of torture, or as the legislation phrases it "cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment" of prisoners. The administration wants to exempt the CIA from such restrictions on abuse. Nine red senators voted against mccain's amendment, the other 42 joined with the Democrats in support of it. And if the US using incendiaries (though not banned by name) in Iraq, someone needs to to police the police of the world?
One of the biggest surprises for me this past week was the grilling of oil executives by Senators, both Democratic and red, for their record profits from charging record prices. Going against big oil is a direct affront to this oil soaked administration. An administration whose energy policy is to lessen environmental regulations, increase subsidies, and give tax breaks to energy companies who have seen profit increases over the past three years far greater than they have ever seen before. At least the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge has been temporarily taken off the drilling block by the House of Representatives, even before postponing the vote on the budget cutting bill that would have befouled it.
This wagon is starting to lose it's wheels and the Libby trial hasn't even started yet. You remember Libby, he is the author of the beastiality laden, incestual novel "The Apprentice". Oh yeah and he lied before a Grand Jury investigating leaked information classified for Our National Security.
"What a Country"
-Yakov Smirnoff
Monday, October 31, 2005
Happy Halloween!!!!
Well, a weekend has past since Fitzmas began with the indictment of the vice president's chief of staff, scooter libby. Scooter was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements. It is almost amusing, though more often infuriating, to watch red congress people talking about perjury like it was a "technicality" or red pundits, like bill safire, talking about the fact that no one was found guilty of breaking the law that was being investigated, the outing of a CIA operative. Perjury is a crime, some may have once said a "high crime". Obstruction of justice is a crime. Making false statements to a grand jury, especially one investigatinging a breach in NATIONAL SECURITY, is a crime. And Mr. Safire, where the hell were you when President William Jefferson Clinton was being asked if he had sexual relations with an intern during an investigation of a real estate deal from back when he was a governor that he and his family lost money on. Give me a Fucking break people!
The other thing I would like to say to people like red rep. hutchinson and red talking head, safire, is FITZMAS ISN'T OVER. This trial may actually see the vice president of the united states take the stand UNDER OATH, something I don't think he or junior have done, for anything, in the past five years.
Nominating justice sc-alito to the Supreme Court may change the conversation in certain spheres, but headlines from a trial pertaining to the lead up to bush's war of choice, into which we have pour hundreds of billions of dollars and the lives of over 2000 men and women, may just sell a few more newspapers than...
Surprise, suprise!! Little george has nominated an activist, red, judicial insider, member of the Federalist Society to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, put the Ten Commandments on the White House lawn, and to make sure that the president, or vice president, never have to provide any documentation for anything.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Victory.
Yes it can be claimed, though mildly, on at least three fronts. The first, and most publicized, comes with the withdrawal of, unqualified crony, Harriet Miers from nomination to Our United States Supreme Court. As you’re cheering the end game of this bush blunder, keep in mind that his next nomination may have impeccable credentials and be so right that bush will seem centrist.
If that bombshell doesn’t do enough damage to the campaigner in chief's "political capital" for you, how about rummy's nuCLEar bunker buster program getting the boot. The "administration" and the Senate have dropped the program after a vigorous debate in the Senate. Sorry don. No Nukes!
Finally, and the sweetest to my populist side, is "stay the course" bush's recent "flip flop" on Davis-Bacon regulations in Louisiana. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, bush suspended the regulations that required those contracted by the government to pay their labor the prevailing wage, which is usually close to the level set by local union contracts. Looks like junior's oil and construction buddies will have to pay legal workers a legal wage. Who knows, if they hire locals first this may really help some of those in need down there get back to their feet.
And let's face it, the oil companies that got "hit" by Katrina have been doing alright. They have set records with their spiking profits since the storm, while we pay spiking prices at the pump. And before you start telling me that the prices have been going down, don't you think that might have something to do with heating season coming?
"Fitzmas" is coming
The Trolley's off the Track
Please put your indictments in the White House's lap
And watch for the list of 4,500+ companies involved in the Iraqi oil for food scandal. What will the Wall Street journal Op-Ed page say if Halliburton or its subsidiaries are on it?
If that bombshell doesn’t do enough damage to the campaigner in chief's "political capital" for you, how about rummy's nuCLEar bunker buster program getting the boot. The "administration" and the Senate have dropped the program after a vigorous debate in the Senate. Sorry don. No Nukes!
Finally, and the sweetest to my populist side, is "stay the course" bush's recent "flip flop" on Davis-Bacon regulations in Louisiana. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, bush suspended the regulations that required those contracted by the government to pay their labor the prevailing wage, which is usually close to the level set by local union contracts. Looks like junior's oil and construction buddies will have to pay legal workers a legal wage. Who knows, if they hire locals first this may really help some of those in need down there get back to their feet.
And let's face it, the oil companies that got "hit" by Katrina have been doing alright. They have set records with their spiking profits since the storm, while we pay spiking prices at the pump. And before you start telling me that the prices have been going down, don't you think that might have something to do with heating season coming?
"Fitzmas" is coming
The Trolley's off the Track
Please put your indictments in the White House's lap
And watch for the list of 4,500+ companies involved in the Iraqi oil for food scandal. What will the Wall Street journal Op-Ed page say if Halliburton or its subsidiaries are on it?
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Could it really be.....FITZMAS EVE?!?!?!
By most reports coming out today, this part (that's right, this may not be the end) of the investigation is coming to the point so many of us have been waiting for...
The indictment of karl turd blossom rove and vice president DICK cheney's right hand man, scooter libby, among others.
For the confused, Arianna Huffington has a cheat sheet up on the lies of our "leaders" as they pertain to this case, with links to back it up.
The cheney connection, made in the past few days, has given rise to further speculation that this prosecutorial "pitbull", Fitzgerald, is not stopping at the outing of a covert CIA agent, done purely for "the politics of personal destruction". He may be delving into the forged Niger documents themselves. Where they came from, who they came from, and who knew about them. What if the "folks" who wanted this war and needed some solid evidence of WMDs helped to put the forgeries in Italian hands. Maybe we should investigate the forgeries that Dan Rather used in his infamous report for similarities.
First things first, let's get these "evil doers" for perjury, obstruction of justice, and for divulging the identity of a CIA agent in this "post 9/11" national security focused world. Then we can go after them for the White House Iraq Group, the torture of prisoners, Gannon/Guckert, the paying of journalists, the price of Medicare, the Energy Task Force, Florida's 2000 presidential election, Ohio's in 2004, and the list goes on. So many scandals, so little time.
What do you want for Fitzmas?
The indictment of karl turd blossom rove and vice president DICK cheney's right hand man, scooter libby, among others.
For the confused, Arianna Huffington has a cheat sheet up on the lies of our "leaders" as they pertain to this case, with links to back it up.
The cheney connection, made in the past few days, has given rise to further speculation that this prosecutorial "pitbull", Fitzgerald, is not stopping at the outing of a covert CIA agent, done purely for "the politics of personal destruction". He may be delving into the forged Niger documents themselves. Where they came from, who they came from, and who knew about them. What if the "folks" who wanted this war and needed some solid evidence of WMDs helped to put the forgeries in Italian hands. Maybe we should investigate the forgeries that Dan Rather used in his infamous report for similarities.
First things first, let's get these "evil doers" for perjury, obstruction of justice, and for divulging the identity of a CIA agent in this "post 9/11" national security focused world. Then we can go after them for the White House Iraq Group, the torture of prisoners, Gannon/Guckert, the paying of journalists, the price of Medicare, the Energy Task Force, Florida's 2000 presidential election, Ohio's in 2004, and the list goes on. So many scandals, so little time.
What do you want for Fitzmas?
Friday, October 14, 2005
Withdraw the Harriet Miers nomination.
As we wait for "Fitzmas" to come with gifts of indictments for those who've exposed, lied, and conspired, the rumor mill churns out of control. Rumors of cheney, rove and the unrelated rummy leaving Our White House certainly are fun to think about, but perhaps they are a little premature. Prosecutor/"pit bull" Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation has been amazingly tight lipped, which helps speculators run wild with ideas of the fall of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), the expulsion of "the brain", and dare I say it, little bush being forced to say something along the lines of "I do not recall", "it depends on what the definition of is is." or better yet "I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow."
You can get an idea of what this administration would look like without "Turd Blossom" (the president's term not mine) from the blunder known as the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. A nomination that should be withdrawn. But don't take my word for it. Check out david brooks's (red) column on miers's published, cliche-ridden, article in the Texas Bar Journal. Or how about bork's (red) words of anger towards the nomination. David frum (red) is out raising money for ads against miers. Wacko name callers like coulter (red) and krauthammer (red) are voicing their disbelief at the nomination of a woman, who answered a question on her recent Senate questionnaire concerning her experience with the law with an anecdote about rushing to a man's death bed to make sure his will was in order. The Senate's questionnaire was actually returned to Ms. miers as "insufficient", "inadequate" and in the words of one senator "insulting".
It is not that she has never been a judge. Justice Rehnquist wasn't a judge, but he was considered by many a brilliant legal thinker and an able scholar. His opinions were concisely argued. His bachelor's and three master's degrees from Standford and Harvard clearly show that he was on a path acceptable for the Supreme Court. I say all of this while biting my tongue about my opinion of most of his.
It is not because she is an evangelical christian. Anyone can observe any religion they choose or none at all. There's is a problem, however, with a person's religion being a qualifier for being a Supreme Court justice or any other governmental position for that matter. It establishes one religion as preferred by the United States of America. Some may say that's down right unconstitutional. Not to mention the back door conference calls with conservative groups ensuring them that she will not change back to the way she was before she saw the light.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America is the highest court in the land. It is the pinnacle of achievement for those in the legal profession. It is the crown jewel of one of Our three branches of Government, though it has become far too political in recent history. It is a place where the best legal and constitutional scholars and experts should sit in judgement on the important cases deserving of its chambers.
Nominating a personal friend and lawyer, based at least partially on her religion, is an insult to all those who study, research and opine on subjects facing Our Constitution and Our Nation. Being the president of the Texas Bar does not demonstrate a lawyer's legal expertise, knowledge, or philosophy as much as it does his/her political ambition. There is a litmus test for this nomination. It is one part she's my friend and one part she'll overturn Roe v. Wade.
This nomintaion is another disgrace perpetrated by this administration, and perhaps bush's lack of "brain" is to blame.
"He [the President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure."
From Federalist #76: Alexander Hamilton in the New York Packet April 1, 1788
(other excerpts of the Federalist papers concerning the nominating and appointing of Supreme Court Justices)
You can get an idea of what this administration would look like without "Turd Blossom" (the president's term not mine) from the blunder known as the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. A nomination that should be withdrawn. But don't take my word for it. Check out david brooks's (red) column on miers's published, cliche-ridden, article in the Texas Bar Journal. Or how about bork's (red) words of anger towards the nomination. David frum (red) is out raising money for ads against miers. Wacko name callers like coulter (red) and krauthammer (red) are voicing their disbelief at the nomination of a woman, who answered a question on her recent Senate questionnaire concerning her experience with the law with an anecdote about rushing to a man's death bed to make sure his will was in order. The Senate's questionnaire was actually returned to Ms. miers as "insufficient", "inadequate" and in the words of one senator "insulting".
It is not that she has never been a judge. Justice Rehnquist wasn't a judge, but he was considered by many a brilliant legal thinker and an able scholar. His opinions were concisely argued. His bachelor's and three master's degrees from Standford and Harvard clearly show that he was on a path acceptable for the Supreme Court. I say all of this while biting my tongue about my opinion of most of his.
It is not because she is an evangelical christian. Anyone can observe any religion they choose or none at all. There's is a problem, however, with a person's religion being a qualifier for being a Supreme Court justice or any other governmental position for that matter. It establishes one religion as preferred by the United States of America. Some may say that's down right unconstitutional. Not to mention the back door conference calls with conservative groups ensuring them that she will not change back to the way she was before she saw the light.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America is the highest court in the land. It is the pinnacle of achievement for those in the legal profession. It is the crown jewel of one of Our three branches of Government, though it has become far too political in recent history. It is a place where the best legal and constitutional scholars and experts should sit in judgement on the important cases deserving of its chambers.
Nominating a personal friend and lawyer, based at least partially on her religion, is an insult to all those who study, research and opine on subjects facing Our Constitution and Our Nation. Being the president of the Texas Bar does not demonstrate a lawyer's legal expertise, knowledge, or philosophy as much as it does his/her political ambition. There is a litmus test for this nomination. It is one part she's my friend and one part she'll overturn Roe v. Wade.
This nomintaion is another disgrace perpetrated by this administration, and perhaps bush's lack of "brain" is to blame.
"He [the President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure."
From Federalist #76: Alexander Hamilton in the New York Packet April 1, 1788
(other excerpts of the Federalist papers concerning the nominating and appointing of Supreme Court Justices)
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Politics and Terror
Nobody could be that fiendish. Bush's re-address on the "war on terror" and the evils of the terrorists happens and then a few hours later there's the specific threat on New York City Subways causing the heightened alert. The alert is later found to be quite possibly "made up". And there must be a reason for New York officials to hold on to this information, for several days, before releasing it on the day of the Harlem Mayoral debate that mayor bloomberg refused to be a part of. To speak fear is abhorrent enough, but to cause it for political gain, spin, or distraction? What Red Blooded, Patriotic, American, in their "right" mind, could possibly do such a thing?
On a recent Countdown, Keith Olbermann listed 10 times the terror alert level was raised at a time when the bush administration was in need of a distraction from the news or support for a speech. Coincidences? You decide. You're probably going to have to, I can't see anyone having the cojones to investigate the sick idea of fear mongering for real.
The full list of thirteen is up at Bloggermann.
On a recent Countdown, Keith Olbermann listed 10 times the terror alert level was raised at a time when the bush administration was in need of a distraction from the news or support for a speech. Coincidences? You decide. You're probably going to have to, I can't see anyone having the cojones to investigate the sick idea of fear mongering for real.
The full list of thirteen is up at Bloggermann.
Friday, October 07, 2005
The EPA's blind eye
As the federal government and mayor of New Orleans urge gulf coast residents to return to their homes, some are reminded of the air quality issues that were ignored shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Has the "toxic soup" left behind by Hurricane Katrina been adequately dealt with? Is the drinking water in the soon to be re-populated areas clean enough? Or will this just be the subject of yet another after the fact commission in the future?
Thursday, October 06, 2005
This is My America.
A rant inspired by Lewis Lapham’s satirical Notebook piece in the Oct. 2005 edition of Harper’s in which he asks “in a major rather than minor key” “Can we make America the best damned fascist state the world has ever seen?”
The U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader, already reprimanded three times by his peers on the House Ethics Committee, has been indicted not once but twice. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. The administration's top federal procurement official has been arrested by the FBI for making false statements about golf trips paid for by a lobbyist who seems to be everybody’s friend. The Deputy Secretary of State (the top political advisor to the president), the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, and quite possibly the Vice President, himself, have been implicated in the treasonous and careless act of publicly identifying a CIA agent in an attempt to discredit a former ambassador’s opposing view to one of the administration’s “weapons of mass destruction” claims. The "weapons of mass destruction" claims given as reasons for Our invasion of Iraq remain unfounded. The inexperienced crony appointed to head the "post 9-11" Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned without accepting any blame for a Federal response to a hurricane and levy breach that took five days to commence (for more appropriate disaster preparation and response see the work of former FEMA director James Lee Witt or, more recently, the days leading up to Hurricane Rita). Instead the president sheepishly said “I am responsible” as if words are enough. The nepotism continues with the president’s latest nominee to the Supreme Court, the apex of the United States Judicial system. The nominee’s experience, for the most part, comes from her job as personal counsel and cover to her appointer since his days as governor. This is My America. The America left to me and my generation.
This is an America where the number of millionaires and billionaires continues to rise at a rate almost equal to the rise in the number of poor. In this America, allegiance is pledged not to Country, but to brand name. This is an America where the bottom line is the only line, where defense spending is never questioned, and where the executive branch rules the legislative branch. Gone are the days of “The buck stops here” unless you are on the bottom of the governmental or military ladder. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” has morphed into the only thing we have is fear. Fear is how elections are won, liberties are lost and dissent is squashed. Our culture of spin and deception has made dissent anti-American, torture justifiable, and tens of thousands of Americans left, on their homeland, without food, water, sewerage, and electricity for five days “their own fault”.
In the terms recently given to us by the U.S. Congress General Accounting Office, the “covert propaganda” being perpetrated by our government and its hired journalists warrants punishment, but there is barely a reaction. Simply more fodder for the disgusting and disheartening joke that’s referred to as public discourse in this America. Fake reporters propped up by the administration to ask “talking points” questions that turn out to be of the few that receive the closest to answers. This is the America I have inherited. For the rich, screw the poor! Mass produced, overly processed, poisoned food sold cheap to continue to feed the machine.
And of course there is the war of aggression, the war of choice, the War in Iraq. Iraq, where the liberated are starting to ask the question: When will we be better off then we were? Iraq, built on the success of Afghanistan, where elections have been fixed and opium production is at an all time high. Iraq, where we have turned the corner three times so far and are do to do so again on October 15. But who will fight and die for this new constitution? In America, there are those who fight that our Constitution stand as the framers framed it as they fight to add to it intolerant discriminatory amendments in order to define religious terms and give government the power of sanctification currently bestowed upon churches and temples. People fight for more unwanted pregnancies (unborn children) while they fight the welfare system that provides for many of the born. A tax cut and spend America that thinks putting corporate profit before clean air and water makes sense and the idea that bombing will not stopping bombings is the talk of “wackos”.
What would the founding fathers think of This America? A nation with eyes glazed over by celebrity, ambition revolving around money with little or no concern for the greatness, or even goodness, ones deeds. What would they think of a “misunderestimated” president misspeaking at podiums from which a nation was once inspired? What would the creators of America think of towns with character sanitized by the Everytown Starbucks society and jobs long since left for the cheaper unregulated labor of foreign countries?
The vacuum of real leaders can go unfilled only as long as the frustration can hold. President Bush, I would love to just “Get on with my life”. I would love to, as the Dalai Lama says, “Internally disarm”. I just don’t feel right about letting this all go with out yelling from the top of my virtual mole hill.
The U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader, already reprimanded three times by his peers on the House Ethics Committee, has been indicted not once but twice. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. The administration's top federal procurement official has been arrested by the FBI for making false statements about golf trips paid for by a lobbyist who seems to be everybody’s friend. The Deputy Secretary of State (the top political advisor to the president), the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, and quite possibly the Vice President, himself, have been implicated in the treasonous and careless act of publicly identifying a CIA agent in an attempt to discredit a former ambassador’s opposing view to one of the administration’s “weapons of mass destruction” claims. The "weapons of mass destruction" claims given as reasons for Our invasion of Iraq remain unfounded. The inexperienced crony appointed to head the "post 9-11" Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned without accepting any blame for a Federal response to a hurricane and levy breach that took five days to commence (for more appropriate disaster preparation and response see the work of former FEMA director James Lee Witt or, more recently, the days leading up to Hurricane Rita). Instead the president sheepishly said “I am responsible” as if words are enough. The nepotism continues with the president’s latest nominee to the Supreme Court, the apex of the United States Judicial system. The nominee’s experience, for the most part, comes from her job as personal counsel and cover to her appointer since his days as governor. This is My America. The America left to me and my generation.
This is an America where the number of millionaires and billionaires continues to rise at a rate almost equal to the rise in the number of poor. In this America, allegiance is pledged not to Country, but to brand name. This is an America where the bottom line is the only line, where defense spending is never questioned, and where the executive branch rules the legislative branch. Gone are the days of “The buck stops here” unless you are on the bottom of the governmental or military ladder. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” has morphed into the only thing we have is fear. Fear is how elections are won, liberties are lost and dissent is squashed. Our culture of spin and deception has made dissent anti-American, torture justifiable, and tens of thousands of Americans left, on their homeland, without food, water, sewerage, and electricity for five days “their own fault”.
In the terms recently given to us by the U.S. Congress General Accounting Office, the “covert propaganda” being perpetrated by our government and its hired journalists warrants punishment, but there is barely a reaction. Simply more fodder for the disgusting and disheartening joke that’s referred to as public discourse in this America. Fake reporters propped up by the administration to ask “talking points” questions that turn out to be of the few that receive the closest to answers. This is the America I have inherited. For the rich, screw the poor! Mass produced, overly processed, poisoned food sold cheap to continue to feed the machine.
And of course there is the war of aggression, the war of choice, the War in Iraq. Iraq, where the liberated are starting to ask the question: When will we be better off then we were? Iraq, built on the success of Afghanistan, where elections have been fixed and opium production is at an all time high. Iraq, where we have turned the corner three times so far and are do to do so again on October 15. But who will fight and die for this new constitution? In America, there are those who fight that our Constitution stand as the framers framed it as they fight to add to it intolerant discriminatory amendments in order to define religious terms and give government the power of sanctification currently bestowed upon churches and temples. People fight for more unwanted pregnancies (unborn children) while they fight the welfare system that provides for many of the born. A tax cut and spend America that thinks putting corporate profit before clean air and water makes sense and the idea that bombing will not stopping bombings is the talk of “wackos”.
What would the founding fathers think of This America? A nation with eyes glazed over by celebrity, ambition revolving around money with little or no concern for the greatness, or even goodness, ones deeds. What would they think of a “misunderestimated” president misspeaking at podiums from which a nation was once inspired? What would the creators of America think of towns with character sanitized by the Everytown Starbucks society and jobs long since left for the cheaper unregulated labor of foreign countries?
The vacuum of real leaders can go unfilled only as long as the frustration can hold. President Bush, I would love to just “Get on with my life”. I would love to, as the Dalai Lama says, “Internally disarm”. I just don’t feel right about letting this all go with out yelling from the top of my virtual mole hill.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Tell Me What Democracy Looks Like..
This is What Democracy Looks Like!
If you support the protests in DC, but didn't go, there is a petition at International ANSWER you can sign to show it.
Be sure to check out George Galloway's speech from Saturday's rally.
If you support the protests in DC, but didn't go, there is a petition at International ANSWER you can sign to show it.
Be sure to check out George Galloway's speech from Saturday's rally.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)