U.S. National

Mike Ruppert's "Crossing the Rubicon" describes the horrendous crisis our civilization is headed into because of the coming end of the age of oil. I found the book refreshing. A slice of truth--or at least honest speculation to explain the very bizarre behavior of some in our government, which the media and (according to polls, reliable or not) the public seem to be accepting with few questions.

During Tuesday’s Vice Presidential debate, Dick Cheney defended his tenure as Halliburton’s CEO when Sen. John Edwards rightfully called into question Halliburton’s dealings with rogue nations, such as Iran, while Cheney was CEO and the fact that Halliburton paid a fine for an accounting scandal that took place under Cheney’s watch. Cheney responded to Edwards’ criticism by saying “the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they're trying to throw up a smokescreen. They know the charges are false.”

Cheney then directed the public to factcheck.com (he got the domain name wrong. It’s factcheck.org) to get the truth about Halliburton.  

Well, this morning factcheck.org wants you to know that Cheney stuck his foot in his mouth. It seems that the vice president is the one that doesn’t have his facts straight. Once again, as Edwards pointed out, Cheney is not being straight with the American people with regard to his dealings with Halliburton.  

All of these issues took place while Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, according to factcheck.org:  

If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is…Peggy Lee

Words out there’s another election ‘bout to take place, and rumor has it this time it’s really, really important. Who is going to win this election, or what difference it will make is as insignificant as our choices seconded only to the obsolete ritual act of choosing.

Our nation’s original band of brothers were rascals, rogues, and renaissance men who drafted our nation’s position papers not in disregard of history, but because of it. From the declaration of its birth, 278-years ago, the concept of “We the people”, a “Representative Government” with “checks and balances” a “Constitutional Republic” and our original Patriot Act, known as “The Bill of Rights” was the foundation and promise of this new nation.

The recent polls showing a large Bush lead seem to be designed to either discourage Democratic voters and/or condition the American public for a Bush victory based on vote rigging. The methodology that seems to be in use by Gallup and most other polling firms connected to large corporations are greatly over weighted to give Republicans excessive representation and do not give sufficient weight to Democratic voters based on historical voting trend. Polls by independent polling organizations that are using properly weighted samples (like Zogby, Pew Research, Harris and others) are not showing a significant Bush lead and some have Kerry ahead!

While most political analysts predict the largest Democratic voter turn-out in history, Gallup is predicting in their methodology that Republicans will be 7-8% more of the total electorate than Democrats actually voting on election day. Based on the most recent elections, Democrats have usually been 7-8% more of the total electorate when the actual votes were counted. The swing in numbers using Gallup’s distorted methodology would tend to give Bush a “fake” lead in the neighborhood of 15%.

We, the undersigned, were selected by Ralph Nader to be members of his 113-person national "Nader 2000 Citizens Committee." This year, we urge support for Kerry/Edwards in all "swing states," even while we strongly disagree with Kerry's policies on Iraq and other issues. For people seeking progressive social change in the United States, removing George W. Bush from office should be the top priority in the 2004 presidential election. Progressive votes for John Kerry in swing states may prove decisive in attaining this vital goal. (For updated list of signers, see http://vote2stopbush.com/)

* David Barsamian, Author, Radio Interviewer
* Juliette Beck, California Citizens for Fair Trade
* Herbert Bernstein, Professor of Physics at Hampshire College
* Thomas Berry, Author, Dream of the Earth
* Wendell Berry, Farmer and Writer
* Norman Birnbaum, Author and Educator
* Grace Lee Boggs, Detroit Activist and Writer
* Blase Bonpane, Office of the Americas
* Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas
* Eric Brakken, Former Staffer, United Students Against Sweatshops

Democratic Presidential nominee John F. Kerry seems to be evading any confrontation with the media. According to journalists who have been tracking Kerry along the campaign trail, the senator has not held a formal press conference since August 9, some two weeks before the last time President Bush met with the press.

When Israel ended a six-month lull in violence by striking a suspected Hamas training camp in Gaza and killing 14 with a U.S.-built Apache helicopter in response to the September 2 suicide bombings, Kerry did not take one question. Nor did he speak with the press corps when Israeli occupation forces destroyed two large apartment buildings south of Gaza in Khan Younis, leaving nearly 100 Palestinians homeless. But perhaps Kerry's most appalling act of silence came on September 7 when the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq reached 1,000 and Kerry declined to chat with the media.

It’s official. I’m a conspiracy theorist.

I’m probably one of thousands -- maybe tens of thousands -- who believe President George W. Bush will do anything to retain control of the White House. It’s not safe to have a healthy dose of skepticism like this these days. But this has to be said. I don’t believe the country is going to be attacked by al-Qaeda anytime soon. I don’t care how specific the so-called threat is. I don’t care how many targets have been identified. I don’t care how solid this new information is. I don’t buy any of it. What I do believe is whenever Bush’s approval ratings start slipping the president’s administration issues a terrorist warning saying an attack is imminent. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Consider the evidence.

This past Memorial Day weekend right through mid-June Bush’s approval ratings yo-yoed due to bad news coming out of the war in Iraq. By mid-June, 51% of Americans disapproved of the way Bush was handling the war in Iraq, up about four points from May, according to polling results from Zogby, Gallup and Pew.

The last thing this community needs is a lecture from George Bush on worker productivity and what we need to do to keep America’s jobs in America. If he was serious about keeping America’s jobs in America he wouldn’t be giving tax breaks to companies who move their jobs overseas. If he was serious about keeping America’s jobs in America, he would fight for America’s workers instead of having a trade enforcement record that even Republican Senator George Voinovich calls “abysmal.”

Using our own Timken Steelworkers as a backdrop, George Bush told Canton last year that his tax cut would create a million new jobs by the end of 2004. He said his tax cut would create half a million new jobs in Ohio alone. A year later, the Timken Company is making record profits and announced the potential lay off of 1300 workers. Unemployment in Ohio continues to go up and we are still looking for the 485,000 jobs George Bush promised Ohio. In the last week alone, Stark County lost another two hundred steelworker jobs with the closure World Kitchens.