President's job is to pardon
In the evolving neocon scheme of unconstitutional US governance, the job of running the country may belong to the office of the Vice President, while the primary duty of the president (other than following orders and acting like he's in charge) may be to pardon the Vice President and all of his henchmen for their crimes.
We have survived (just barely) seven and a half years of life under a government that has eliminated the legislative and judicial branches, installed a certified moron in the oval office, and placed dictatorial power in a new fourth (or first) branch of government located wherever Dick Cheney casts his shadow. The Republican candidate to succeed George W. Bush is a bumbling idiot and senile to boot, clearly incapable of remembering what he had for breakfast, much less running a global empire. (And he lost any right to take pride in his torture victimhood when he began supporting the torture of others.) If he chooses a new Dick Cheney as his running mate, we will know that his role is puppet-in-chief and primary pardoner.
We have survived (just barely) seven and a half years of life under a government that has eliminated the legislative and judicial branches, installed a certified moron in the oval office, and placed dictatorial power in a new fourth (or first) branch of government located wherever Dick Cheney casts his shadow. The Republican candidate to succeed George W. Bush is a bumbling idiot and senile to boot, clearly incapable of remembering what he had for breakfast, much less running a global empire. (And he lost any right to take pride in his torture victimhood when he began supporting the torture of others.) If he chooses a new Dick Cheney as his running mate, we will know that his role is puppet-in-chief and primary pardoner.
Remembering a hero: Bill Moss
When he died, Entertainment Weekly called him the Berry Gordy of Columbus. It was August 2, 2005 when Columbus lost a hero. Bill Moss made his reputation in radio as the “Boss with the Red Hot Sauce.” But he was much more than that: a loving husband and father, good friend, public servant, and Soldier of the Year. He was a man of the highest integrity whose principles couldn’t be bought for thirty pieces of silver, who heard the voice of the Lord say unto him “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” and Bill answered, “Here am I, send me.”
Prosecuting Bush and Cheney
Last week two judges encouraged me to look to courts to help us recover from the damage done by an outlaw executive and a spineless corrupt legislature. The first was Bush-appointed federal Judge John Bates who ruled that people must comply with Congressional subpoenas even if they used to work for the president, and this because - you know - the law requires it. The second was Judge William Price in Iowa who was hearing the case of citizens arrested for trying to make a citizens' arrest of Karl Rove. When told what they had been trying to do, the judge said "Well, it's about time!"
Sort of makes you want to go out and arrest a war criminal or two, doesn't it? Here's how: http://afterdowningstreet.org/citizenarrest
Next month, on September 13th and 14th in Andover, Massachusetts, a major conference will be held to discuss the possibilities for prosecuting high-level American war criminals, including Bush and Cheney. The agenda and information on how to attend can be found at http://war-crimes.info
Sort of makes you want to go out and arrest a war criminal or two, doesn't it? Here's how: http://afterdowningstreet.org/citizenarrest
Next month, on September 13th and 14th in Andover, Massachusetts, a major conference will be held to discuss the possibilities for prosecuting high-level American war criminals, including Bush and Cheney. The agenda and information on how to attend can be found at http://war-crimes.info
America's second-class workers
The ever-weakening economy is driving millions of Americans into the ranks
of the country’s highly exploited part-time workers.
Part-timers, generally paid less than full-timers, granted fewer benefits and otherwise treated as second-class workers, have long been a significant part of the workforce. Combined with temporary workers, they’ve made up almost one-fourth of the workforce in some recent years.
Many of the part-timers are women, most of them working to help support their families. Many have no choice but to take part-time jobs because full-time jobs or facilities where they can leave their children for care throughout the workday are not available.
But whether or not they would prefer full-time jobs, all the workers obviously would prefer to be raised from their second-class status. In many places, for instance, part-timers are paid less than full-time workers doing exactly the same jobs. And fewer than half of the part-timers have employer-paid health insurance or pensions.
Part-timers, generally paid less than full-timers, granted fewer benefits and otherwise treated as second-class workers, have long been a significant part of the workforce. Combined with temporary workers, they’ve made up almost one-fourth of the workforce in some recent years.
Many of the part-timers are women, most of them working to help support their families. Many have no choice but to take part-time jobs because full-time jobs or facilities where they can leave their children for care throughout the workday are not available.
But whether or not they would prefer full-time jobs, all the workers obviously would prefer to be raised from their second-class status. In many places, for instance, part-timers are paid less than full-time workers doing exactly the same jobs. And fewer than half of the part-timers have employer-paid health insurance or pensions.
The REAL 1960s terrorists were named Westmoreland, Johnson & Nixon
Hate-mongering against alleged “leftist 1960s terrorists” now fills the days of anti-Obama rage for the Rovian bloviator battalion.
Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, Baby Boom professors, social workers , etc, are front and center for the hateful blatherings of the usual GOP flunkies all cowering at the prospect of an African-American president.
But there were, indeed, three 1960s terrorists whose murderous, planet-killing rampage continues to poison this nation. They tower above all others. Their names: William Westmoreland, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
This unholy trinity killed outright more than 55,000 Americans and several million southeast Asians---most of them innocent civilians---while bombing, strafing and spewing horrific toxic chemicals onto countless of square miles of previously pristine jungle. Their Agent Orange caused tens of thousands of deaths and deformities that still carry through the generations.
No single terror act in the history of the United States even remotely compares to the lethal psychosis that created and was then furthered by the Vietnam War.
Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, Baby Boom professors, social workers , etc, are front and center for the hateful blatherings of the usual GOP flunkies all cowering at the prospect of an African-American president.
But there were, indeed, three 1960s terrorists whose murderous, planet-killing rampage continues to poison this nation. They tower above all others. Their names: William Westmoreland, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
This unholy trinity killed outright more than 55,000 Americans and several million southeast Asians---most of them innocent civilians---while bombing, strafing and spewing horrific toxic chemicals onto countless of square miles of previously pristine jungle. Their Agent Orange caused tens of thousands of deaths and deformities that still carry through the generations.
No single terror act in the history of the United States even remotely compares to the lethal psychosis that created and was then furthered by the Vietnam War.
Bush White House hides true scope of federal deficit
(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482 Billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009:
The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy?
As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 Billion in war costs and $227 Billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund.
The real budget deficit is therefore $789 Billion.
Under accounting trickery that would probably land the top officers of a publicly traded company in jail, the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund--and spent on anything and everything except Social Security payments--is not counted towards the budget deficit, although it is part of our $9.49 Trillion National Debt.
It's way past time for Washington politicians to have their own Sarbanes-Oxley.
The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy?
As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 Billion in war costs and $227 Billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund.
The real budget deficit is therefore $789 Billion.
Under accounting trickery that would probably land the top officers of a publicly traded company in jail, the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund--and spent on anything and everything except Social Security payments--is not counted towards the budget deficit, although it is part of our $9.49 Trillion National Debt.
It's way past time for Washington politicians to have their own Sarbanes-Oxley.
Ted Stevens indictment indicative of excessive big oil influence
Ted Stevens has been the primary driver in the futile effort to destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. Now, he is under indictment.
This should come as no surprise to those familiar with the issue, and how brazenly Stevens has spewed lies to destroy the last 5 percent of the North Slope of Alaska, when oil companies already have access to 95 percent of it, as well as most of the Arctic Ocean. More than the fact that just a tiny amount of oil is under the refuge must have been motivating his lust for destruction, and now we have proof: he was bought off by Big Oil.
In my first personal encounter with Stevens, I had just flown out of the Arctic Refuge in a small bush plane, having stayed with the Gwich'in people, boated down the Porcupine River and then backpacked with a group from North Carolina in the refuge. Stevens had called a public meeting in Kaktovik where he expected the support of the Inupiat people. They presented him with a petition of 60 signatures from the village with a population of 212 requesting the protection of the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness.
This should come as no surprise to those familiar with the issue, and how brazenly Stevens has spewed lies to destroy the last 5 percent of the North Slope of Alaska, when oil companies already have access to 95 percent of it, as well as most of the Arctic Ocean. More than the fact that just a tiny amount of oil is under the refuge must have been motivating his lust for destruction, and now we have proof: he was bought off by Big Oil.
In my first personal encounter with Stevens, I had just flown out of the Arctic Refuge in a small bush plane, having stayed with the Gwich'in people, boated down the Porcupine River and then backpacked with a group from North Carolina in the refuge. Stevens had called a public meeting in Kaktovik where he expected the support of the Inupiat people. They presented him with a petition of 60 signatures from the village with a population of 212 requesting the protection of the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness.
Democratic platform option: "Guaranteed Health Care for All"
"Health care." In media and politics, the phrase has become a cliche
that easily slides into rhetoric and wonkery. The tweaking Washington debate
runs parallel to the bottom line of corporate health care. While government
officials talk, the principle of health care as a human right goes begging.
Routinely, two contexts -- the macro and the personal -- obscure each other. Numbers may represent people, but people are anything but numbers. Paper, computer screens, claim forms and spreadsheets keep flattening humanity into commodity. But, of course, no one you love can ever be understood as a statistic.
What’s in place is a profit-driven system of health care with devastating effects on human beings. Even the most illuminating stats tend to become glib, abstracting calibration of damage to lives in the United States, where at any moment 47 million people are uninsured and another 50 million are badly under-insured.
Routinely, two contexts -- the macro and the personal -- obscure each other. Numbers may represent people, but people are anything but numbers. Paper, computer screens, claim forms and spreadsheets keep flattening humanity into commodity. But, of course, no one you love can ever be understood as a statistic.
What’s in place is a profit-driven system of health care with devastating effects on human beings. Even the most illuminating stats tend to become glib, abstracting calibration of damage to lives in the United States, where at any moment 47 million people are uninsured and another 50 million are badly under-insured.
The U.S. Department of Media
Last Friday one of two things indisputably happened. Either a dozen senior Congress members and several well-known expert witnesses went certifiably and collectively insane, or charges of the most extreme executive abuses of power ever heard in the history of this nation were backed up by overwhelming evidence during a six-hour hearing of the House Judiciary Committee focused on the possible need to impeach the President and the Vice President. Either way, a nation with a public communications system worthy of a democracy would have learned the news.
Obama doesn't sweat. He should.
In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color. In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives - overwhelming Black voters.
In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.
In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.
My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was "concerned" about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular.
He's concerned. I'm sweating.
In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.
In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.
My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was "concerned" about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular.
He's concerned. I'm sweating.