Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Awaken Dorothies!

Isn't it funny how the right always seems to have the "right" answers for everything... and it never involves the right? Nope, the banking troubles... caused by the left, the war, the deficit the decline of our society and all its ills... yep, liberals... the disgusting state of our union with its unregulated and unprecedented power and wealth-grab by the aristocracy, the systematic deconstruction of our rights and freedoms... caused by socialists.

Do they really think they can just will away reality and truth? Did they watch the Wizard of Oz so many times they think they can just click their heels and wish themselves back to Oz? Well you'd certainly think so round here.

They've fabricated a world that makes the yellow brick road of Oz, with its flying monkeys, talking scarecrows and witches from the four directions, seem par for the course. But even so, they seem as spellbound as the wicked witches minions when it comes to following commands... O wee O, oh waaay oh...

The financial troubles we face today had nothing to do with 8 years of right-wing ideology and their regulators asleep at the wheel... O wee O

Extolling a vibrant fiction of scary trees throwing apples, flying monkeys and goons, they forget the fact that it was right wing leadership who passed the bankruptcy act for the credit industry and has emptied our nation's pockets to pay off the very crooks who stole our nation... oh waaay oh

Or that their privatization policies and consolidation principles allow multinational corporations to hold us hostage for more ransom daily... or face millions of jobs lost... their foreign policy of imperialism has helped corporations expand to middle eastern oil fields, chinese labor pools, latin american resources and simply condoned diabolic chaos and genocide throughout the world and even within our secret "detention centers". O wee O, Oh way Oh!

Not even a wizard behind a curtain serving up their style of sensationalism and grandeur seems to be able to break the spell cast on these "fiscal con-servant-ives". They handily regurgitate hate-speak and lies while forming a fabric of conviction to justify every ill that befalls their little world of make-believe.

As our nation crashes into the very chaos that I and so many "rational lefties" have been warning about for years, these right-wing minions have assumed the costumes and garish colors of Oz and seem to prefer them.

They no longer cling to their true fiscal conservative (black and white tv) roots... they've traded them in for technicolor HDTV realities of consumption and consent. Ignoring the harshness of a desperate truth, they are content with their lazy-boys and surround sound, they enjoy visions of munchkins, and lollypops with occasional visits from witches and wizards.

Well we grayscale farmhands have tried again and again to awaken our "dorothy" friends who fell in with a pen full of pigs and their slop. Awaken them to the reality of the world they truly live in... which ain't no technicolor fantasy. Its troubled, suffering and in dire straits. But even in the darkest moments, our community -our nation- has proven we can, not only seek that sliver-lining in those dark clouds, but we can sew together a world of cooperation and community if only we can all learn to face the truth; that we're not lions, scarecrows, tin men and wizards, but people struggling together to make a just and sustainable future. And that in that struggle, we build tighter bonds and stronger communities than anything in make-believe.

I pray that our Right-wing Dorothies realize there's no place like home... and no benefit to clinging to their technicolor lifestyles of consumption and greed. For it is but a dream, and no wizard or witch can can keep them from realizing there's no place like hope... and no better time than now to awaken to it.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

The Time for Action is Now

To understand the meaning of the U.S. election results, it is worth looking back to the moment when everything changed for the Obama campaign. It was, without question, the moment when the economic crisis hit Wall Street.

Up to that point, things weren’t looking all that decisive for Barack Obama. The Democratic National Convention barely delivered a bump, while the appointment of Sarah Palin seemed to have shifted the momentum decisively over to John McCain.

Then, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed, followed by insurance giant AIG, then Lehman Brothers. It was in this moment of economic vertigo that Obama found a new language. With tremendous clarity, he turned his campaign into a referendum into the deregulation and trickle down policies that have dominated mainstream economic discourse since Ronald Reagan. He said his opponent represented more of the same while he stood for a new direction, one that would rebuild the economy from the ground up, rather than the top down. Obama stayed on this message for the rest of the campaign and, as we just saw, it worked.

The question now is whether Obama will have the courage to take the ideas that won him this election and turn them into policy. Or, alternately, whether he will use the financial crisis to rationalize a move to what pundits call “the middle” (if there is one thing this election has proved, it is that the "peoples" middle is far to the left of its previously advertised address). Predictably, Obama is already coming under enormous pressure to break his election promises, particularly those relating to raising taxes on the wealthy and imposing real environmental regulations on polluters. All day on the business networks, we hear that, in light of the economic crisis, corporations need lower taxes, and fewer regulations—in other words, more of the same.

The new president’s only hope of resisting this campaign being waged by the elites is if the remarkable grassroots movement that carried him to victory can somehow stay energized, networked, mobilized—and most of all, critical. Now that the election has been won, this movement's new missions should be clear: loudly holding Obama to his campaign promises, and letting the Democrats know that there will be consequences for betrayal.

The first order of business—and one that cannot wait until inauguration—must be halting the robbery-in-progress known as the “economic bailout.” Author, Activist, Journalist, Naomi Klein, has spent the past month examining the loopholes and conflicts of interest embedded in the U.S. Treasury Department’s plans. She's just published feature articles in Rolling Stone, The New Trough, and her column in The Nation, Bush’s Final Pillage.

Both these pieces argue that the $700-billion “rescue plan” should be regarded as the Bush Administration’s final heist. Not only does it transfer billions of dollars of public wealth into the hands of politically connected corporations (a Bush specialty), but it passes on such an enormous debt burden to the next administration that it will make real investments in green infrastructure and universal health care close to impossible. If this final looting is not stopped (and yes, there is still time), we can forget about Obama making good on the more progressive aspects of his campaign platform, let alone the hope that he will offer the country some kind of grand Green New Deal.

Klein's best selling book, The Shock Doctrine details how terrible thefts have a habit of taking place during periods of dramatic political transition. When societies are changing quickly, the media and the people are naturally focused on big “P” politics—who gets the top appointments, what was said in the most recent speech. Meanwhile, safe from public scrutiny, far reaching pro-corporate policies are locked into place, dramatically restricting future possibilities for real change. Wonder where Cheney's been since the "collapse"... busy busy busy...


But it’s not too late to halt the robbery in progress, though it cannot wait until inauguration. Several great initiatives to shift the nature of the bailout are already underway, including bailoutmainstreet.com. I added my name to the “Call to Action: Time for a 21st Century Green America” and invite you to do the same.

Stopping the bailout profiteers is about more than money. It is about democracy. Specifically, it is about whether Americans will be able to afford the change they have just voted for so conclusively.

(lifted from Naomi Klein)

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Track the Vote

Live updates to the 08 election. MSNBC has an interactive map showing the results.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Paulson's Dirty Litle Secret

In an article recently, Joe Nocera the economic writer for the NYTimes, revealed what he calls "the dirty little secret of the banking industry"--namely, it has no intention of using the [government bailout] money to save small business. Its essential aim was to engineer a rapid consolidation of the American banking system by subsidizing a wave of takeovers of smaller financial firms by the most powerful banks." In other words, our money is being given to help the financial aristocracy consolidate their wealth and destroy our society.

Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, wants to help his friends the speculative banks to acquire as many smaller, more stable savings banks as possible and is using his power to inject capital (our money) to force a new and hostile round of bank consolidation.

Nocera cites an employee-only conference call held October 17 by a top executive of JPMorgan Chase, the beneficiary of $25 billion in public funds. Nocera explains that he obtained the call-in number and was able to listen to a recording of the proceedings, unbeknownst to the executive, whom he declines to name.

Asked by one of the participants whether the $25 billion in federal funding will "change our strategic lending policy," the executive replies: "What we do think, it will help us to be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling."

Referring to JPMorgan's recent government-backed acquisition of two large competitors, the executive continues: "And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way, and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop."

As Nocera notes: "Read that answer as many times as you want--you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy."

Later in the conference call the same executive states that they will tighten credit and actually SHRINK loaning which will drive up the rates for loans... and their profits.

Paulson and other Treasury officials have made public statements calling on the banks that receive public funds to use them to increase their lending activities. That, however, is pure propaganda. The bailout program imposes no lending requirements on the banks in return for government cash.

The wealth consolidation is already starting to appear, early this month, (in a nearly unnoticed move) Paulson put in place a new tax break worth billions of dollars to his friends, allowing the acquiring bank to immediately write-off any losses on the books of the banks they take over. This will in fact, encourage bank mergers.

We already know the credit crisis bailout has prompted the takeover of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual by JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, Wachovia by Wells Fargo but last Friday, National City Bank was aggressively acquired by PNC ( a Pittsburg-based financial giant)

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday called the acquisition of National City a "strong-arm sale", but also provides a taste of what is to come. Paulson and his Treasury Department sealed the fate of the Cleveland-based National City bank by denying them any government bailout. But then it then Pittsburgh-based PNC $7.7 billion from to help takeover National City. Now PNC can write off all the debt of National City with Paulson's new tax write-off on mergers.

All of the claims that were made to justify the bank bailout seem to be as truthful as the lies BushCo gave for invading Iraq. President Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Paulson told the Democratic congressional leadership and Barack Obama that the bailout had to be passed, and passed immediately, despite massive popular opposition. Those who opposed the plan were denounced for jeopardizing the well being of the American people.
Though this time, several Republican leaders, like Jim Sensenbrenner, held out for and additional $150B in earmarks—but more importantly, they now are on record as opposing the bill so when Americans finally realize this deception... these Congressmen will look like Russ Feingold did after the Patriot Act was exposed— as heroes of the people!

What a sham, what a clever move in a well- constructed plan to topple our rights and freedom.

In a nationally televised speech delivered September 24, in advance of the congressional vote on the bailout plan, Bush said it would "help American consumers and businessmen get credit to meet their daily needs and create jobs." If the bailout was not passed, he warned, "More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account.... More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs ... ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession."

One month after his bailout was enacted... and all of the dire developments he said the bailout would fix--banks and businesses disappearing, the stock market plunging, unemployment skyrocketing- are happening with accelerating speed.

While Obama talks about the need for all Americans to "come together" in a spirit of "shared sacrifice" what he doesn't want to say--is that this bailout is sucking any and all money he might have used for his social programs.--meaning drastic cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security in addition to not affording universal healthcare, better schools and infrastructure.

But so too, would McCain find this "crisis" will also make it impossible for him to give the wealthy tax cuts and bailout plans he's been touting.... The darker side being... his handlers may actually push the tax cuts through and accelerate the collapse of our nation.

As Naomi Klein theorized in her book "The Shock Doctrine, the "economic rescue" plan is a scheme to plunder society for the benefit of the financial aristocracy. The American ruling elite, utilizing its domination of the state and the two-party political system, is exploiting a crisis of its own making to carry through an economic agenda, long in preparation, that could not be imposed under normal conditions.



The result will be at least greater economic hardship for ordinary Americans but possibly herald the death of Democracy. The few newly consolidated mega-banks will have near absolute market control to set interest rates and provide credit to workers, students, families and small businesses. The government is organizing a restructuring of the financial system that will enable a handful of mega-banks to have ultimate power over society.

How is this not unlike the same aristocratic elite plotting the wealth consolidation and overthrow of our government in 1933 during the last economic collapse?
This time, it seems they may well have succeeded.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Disaster Capitalism

We’re seeing another very dramatic example of the Economic Shock-Thearapy right now with this extortionist kind of tactic playing out in Washington. BushCo says “Sign this blank check, or we’re all going down, Wall Street, your savings pensions and 401ks—you know, The Sky is Falling!!!”

Just like the days following 9/11 when BushCo pushed through the USA Patriot Act and forced Congress to vote on a (still hot from the duplicator machines) 597 page rewrite of the Constitution before noon that day! I think most every American can agree there are many parts of that "book" that turned out to not be in the best interests of freedom and democracy. But in his rhetoric, Bush said 'yer either with us or against us' and barring our own Russ Feingold it passed nearly unanimously.


Well here we are at the autumn of the Bush residency... and here again we're facing another "sky is falling—pass this by friday" shock doctrine. The game is the same, use fear to keep the flock in line. Scare America into doing the wrong thing because its their ONLY choice... and its gotta happen by tomorrow- or else!

So what is this Economic Shock-Therapy? Milton Friedman coined it as a way to bring about radical economic changes that would normally be highly controversial—Disaster Capitalism. Following a disaster, the citizens are softened up and rally behind perceived leadership. Precisely the time to slip-in radical changes (like torture, spying, wars, deregulation and consolidation) wrapped in the form of a security blanket (or flag).

Naome Klein has written a book detailing many historic examples of this technique and its use. The Shock Doctrine gives perhaps the blueprints for todays financial shock treatment delivered by Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

It’s interesting who Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is, he served as an assistant to Richard Nixon’s assistant, Watergate "plumber" John Ehrlichman. From there he moved right to Goldman Sachs, where he became the head of it.

BusinessWeek magazine ran an article just after Paulson was appointed by Bush in 2006, Mr Risk Goes to Washington, It says, “Think of Paulson as Mr. Risk. He’s one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in [their] pursuit of profits. By some key measures, the securities industry is more leveraged now than it was at the height of the 1990s boom." When Paulson took over Goldman Sachs in 1999, they had $20 billion in high-risk gambles—When he left, they had $100 billion.

Henry Paulson isn't speaking for Main Street, he's bailing out his colleagues for some of the very debts that he himself accumulated.

Last night the pResident addressed the nation urging Congress and the citizens to immediately accept and implement his Economic Plan. A plan he said his economic advisors have been working on for weeks. Well Folks, its all of three pages long.

Paulson said that he thought it would be presumptuous to put in clauses calling for regulation. But this is absolute nonsense. Section 2 of the same document talks about how they have the right to hire contractors to administer this huge operation, and we know that that means contracting with some of the very firms who are going to be bailed out. And then it says that it would be—they would be contracting them without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts.

Hello??? What are we, Iraq? This document grants complete immunity from oversight and prosecution that the contractors have in Iraq, if not more. Basically what they are saying is that Paulson can contract with private companies AND exempt those companies from the existing law. No conflict of interest, no whistleblowing, in fact way to prosecute them if we learn in six months that they've broken every law on the books.

...in times of crisis, when people are panicked, we’ve seen again and again the right push through radical pro-corporate policies, what they call “free market reforms,” precisely because it is in a crisis where the space for debate rapidly closes, and you can invoke this state of emergency to say we have no choice.

They’re getting this—they’re lobbying for this huge bailout, obviously, but this bailout is a kind of a time bomb, because it’s all these bad debts, and they are going to explode on the next administration. I mean, we know that the Bush administration has already left the next administration with huge debt and deficit problems. They’ve just exploded those, expanded them. And what that means is that whoever the next president is is going to be inheriting this economic crisis that is being exacerbated by this bailout.

Welcome to Disaster Capitalism -
and the next installment of The Shock Doctrine.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Obsession: War on the Truth

Sept 14, 2008 should most certainly be heralded as the day the term "Liberal Media" was finally exposed for the fiction from which it was coined. Yesterday a half-million of copies of a propaganda video were distributed in 75 newspapers across the US...

The Swiftboat-like 501c3 organization, the ClarionFund, paid an undisclosed amount for the inserts to be distributed in Key Swing States including the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and prominent papers within Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Nevada.




careful this is a loud and dramatic piece of propaganda...
click with care!

Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, a hate-film touted as a documentary, produced in Israel by several right wing groups, who are also financial supporters of the McCain Campaign. The film played on FOX and CNN television during the run-up to the 2006 elections and has been repeatedly shown at the bush-controlled CIA and Pentagon as "learning tools" for new agents.

This propaganda is the latest stunt pulled by the right and its media partners. By reaching out to millions of readers with this ready-to-eat propaganda, they controlled the entire message without anyone being able to respond, review or refute the lies, deception and misinformation. Some newspapers who've already been inundated by angry subscribers have responded that the inclusion of paid advertisements with samples are not new.

But as one subscriber noted, "A box of cereal? Toothpaste? Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal -- to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor."

Touting ridiculous "awards" from right-wing film festivals like the Liberty Film Festival, this slick piece of Israeli propaganda stops at nothing to use the very techniques its sites as the "ways radical Islam and Nazi Germany" fooled their countrymen. It even goes so far as to co-opt several historic quotes by people who spoke against the very schemes and techniques THEY are using... to rally support.

People, you should be outraged. This is a blatant propaganda piece sponsored by a foreign nation, used to coerce the voters of the US to throw another election. If this is what we can expect from for-profit papers and media consolidation, this will become the future of propaganda.

Rich elitists, Multinational Corporations and Foreign Nations with deep pockets, can fabricate lies and deception with flashy packaging and full motion video to reach millions of voters. People, if we tolerate this violation of our public trust, we've truly lost our democracy.

What are you going to say to big media? Will you hold them accountable for the information they provide- or will you quietly sit by and watch fourth branch of government become as corrupt as the rest?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Whats right on Free Sppech

Andy Griffin tells Opie what the 4th Amendment means... Too bad our Justice System is too busy trampling the Constitution to watch... Do you care?

Some say that the rules have changed since 9/11...



I say yes... with the military Commissions Act and the covert actions of this admnistration the rules certainly hve changed... we're a police-state on the verge of bankruptcy. We're an agressor nation with Imperial motives... oh the bushies tell you we only want to make democracy for all nations. Hello? their definition of Democracy means sujugate that nation and take its resources. Prop up a ficticious government and have multinational corporations run the operations.

Monday, June 23, 2008

George Carlin RIP

He always played with our sense of the obvious...didn't he?
Were'nt we an interesting lot, for him.
Gonna miss his clarity and wit.

George Carlin Nails It

Monday, June 09, 2008

gMail's dirty lil secret!

Google, once a fantastic example of all that is good about Free Market Capitalism and the American Dream... now just another multinational publicly traded corporate monster. Yes Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the darling 20 somethings who, met at Stanford and decided conquer the world... Along the way they were offered an obscene amount of money to sell off their idealism to the devil... tell me, who could resist a $24 Billion IPO?

Fast forward, the company who claims its motto is "do no evil" has some interesting preactices in it gMail division... Yes as the giant internet corporations vie for total control of information, plenty of questionable evil is leveled on an increasingly uneven playfield. Lets look at their email program, which encourages people to keep their private email stored on their online servers as long as they like... because Google has so dog-gone much server space. no biggie!



They tell you to leave you mail on their system and tease you with an "our servers feel unloved" tag if you don't acquiese. But what do they really mean when they say this? Why would anyone encourage us to be messy, to not bother emptying trash cuz they got such big wastebaskets?

Well if the reason they want you to leave your private correspondence is so their internet bots and spiders can back up all your email into their "secure" servers... would you feel like loving their servers? True THEY may have the best of intentions for snooping on your mail... They say its only to help make a better internet experience for you... AdSense and the googleplex idea has been to learn your habits, your friends, your favorite sites and keywords... to help you find more online... And I believe them.

But ever since Dick Cheney gave Retroactive Immunity to the Telcos for giving the neocons access to our emails and browsing logs.... I really have no love for their huge servers. But I believed Google was still an honest corporation... not EVERY one is evil....

But now, their latest email feature has really got me wondering. Custom Time is is a way to backdate your emails so now you can send people emails and claim it went out on time. Have a deadline? not any more! How bout a birthday you missed? never again. Didn't file you eTaxes on time? send it dated April14th!


What the heck is this... Permission to lie? I think "do no evil" has been replaced with "allow for evil" - and thats just not cool. And look who's been invited to attend the ultra-secret shadow world government Bilderberg Group Meeting held last weekend in Virginia... Eric Schmidt, Eric-Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO at Google. No conspiracy or collusion of world corporate interests there... just a myspace party...er thats murdoch's social website.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

ChangeCongress.org

Lawrence Lessig's speech at the National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis. Lessig has the best interactive presentation style today... and his message is no less important. Here his point that without a fair Congress, how can we begin to reform Media? Washington DC Lobbyists have DOUBLED since BushCo took office... even though an increasing majority of citizens are against Media Consolidation... Congress continues to consolidate media to Corporations.

Before we create fair Net Neutrality Laws, we need PUBLICALLY FUNDED ELECTIONS for Congress, State and Local Government, and for our Justices...

Get Big Business out of our Business!

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Moyers @ Media Conference

Minnesota Media Reform Conference has Bill Moyers' 40 minutes of truth... like light in a dark shadowed corporate vaacuum... here we are now....


Communication Revolution

We are at an historic moment in our history where we are at a confluence of events that will determine the fate of free speech and access to information for generations to come.

The 2008 Media Reform Conference in Minneapolis is the epicenter of the resistance to Corporate-Owned Media and its newest attack on public property, namely to privatize the ownership, regulation and content of the internet.



Many citizens are as of yet unaware that all forms of communication content will soon be delivered via the internet: Telephone, Television, Movies, Video-links, Information Resources, Commerce, Websites, Blogs, Magazines, News, Games and adult entertainment.

Heretofore separated into a variety of government regulated mediums, like telephone, broadcast and commerce... this new medium, "a series of tubes" as the esteemed head of the Senate department who oversees the regulation of the internet, Republican, Sen Ted Stevens, calls it, is right now having its regulatory future decided by our politicians.

The model for conducting business is migrating to online delivery and now the rules for conducting that business, the policies and regulations are being formed in Washington. So this is the time for the citizens to help guide our leadership to create responsible and fair rules to govern the use, ownership, access and content distribution of the internet going forward.

Already, mighty Corporate Communications giants are heavily lobbying Congress to privatize the internet, granting them free reign to censor, limit and control access to information and content. They are trying to erase all the regulatory laws that have governed their use of telephone and television space by rewriting the internet laws at their discression.

This revolution is going on unbeknownst to the average citizen as these same Communication Giants are doing everything in their power to squelch, censor or discredit any effort to inform citizens and policymakers to keep the internet neutral and regulated.

This is the most important battle of our time. For without neutral access to information, truth can be concealed, access can be denied, ideas can be squelched and our future can be narrowed to fit in the pocketbooks of a small number of multinational corporate feifdoms who will have ultimate control of not only our nation, but our planet.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Condi Must Go!

Rove Must Go, Rummy Must GO, Ashcroft Must Go,
Libby Must Go, Tenet Must Go, Abermoff Must Go,
DeLay Must Go, Gonzalez must Go, how many must go?

before the quietly content consevatives begin to add it up?

This administration is going... piece by piece...

when are people going to accept the reality that the leadership
MUST GO.... NOW!

This is the perfect example of what you get when you look the other way instead of confronting the truth... now these leaders have become so familiar with their lies and propaganda that they forgot the web they weaved to get to this point... and make careless mistakes....

But no slip of the tongue can compare with the slip of judgment the conservative right are content to accept in order to continue their comfortable lifestyles - at any cost. Well the cost is our freedom, our nation and ... yes... our lifestyles.

This administration has been AGAIN caught in lies. Caught in acts of treason that are punishable- not by simply firing a few close allies- but by jailing and perhaps executing the leadership... if capital punishment is good for minorities and small time offenders... then isn't it good for politicians, businessmen, military leaders and the media leadership guilty of treason?



Yes Condi Will Go... but only if you take action... because the mainstream corporate media is not covering this issue... they are on Pope-a-Dope watch... and this story is being silenced but for a few mentions to keep the illusion of balance.


As long as this administration- CHENEY and Bush, remain in power... amnesty, immunity, and pardons are given away like treats at the dentists office. We can expect no justice or ethics to come til someone hangs like Saddham from a rope.

So much for conservation or belief in ethical moral conduct...

Conservative (as it is presented today)- MUST GO!

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Brass Is Back

The Brass Monkey and Lyin Ryan Crock-r shit took to the hill
to spin more yarn about our empire-building in Iraq.


Remember that old Thin Lizzy tune???

Guess who went in front of Congress today?
Those two-faced boys that had been away
Haven't changed much of what they say
like man, those cats are crazy

They were being asked to expound
How Iraq was, whether WMDs could be found
They told us it were safe, living downtown
dodgin all those mortars in the green zone town

The brass are back in town, the brass are back in town

You know that schtick about success
Spewing lies for the corporate press
Man when I tell you they was cool, they was red hot
I mean tellin lies as truth-they was a spinnin'

That day on Capitol Hill, on cspan as the pundits began to grill
Well this congress chick got up and she yelled in Patraeus' face
Man the media all went to commercial break
If the media don't want us to know, we'll forget her

Tuesday morn they'll be dressed to kill
duded up with their suits, shiny stars and frill
The lies will flow about the blood they spill
Cuz these boys want to fight, and congress' gonna let em

The brass are back in town, the brass are back in town

They'll tell us the surge, it worked great-
ignore the mortar fire blowin up all over the place
Increase our troop strength, it won't be long
It won't be long till they'll do the same in Iran
Now that the Brass is here again

The brass are back in town.
their lies, the media expounds

Will justice ever be found?

the brass is back

..... the brass is back

Monday, March 03, 2008

3 Trillion Dollar Lie

Last week, pResident Bush told Ann Curry on the Today Show that the problem with the US economy has nothing to do with our actions in the middle east, but rather it was because we built too many homes! Saying the war actually supports our economy because making weapons is providing jobs, our imperial pResident inferred that our carelessness and obsession to go shopping is what got us in this mess!





Can anyone say they don't want to ring this jerk's neck? This same scoundrel who within days of 9/11 told us to go shopping and who recently told us to take the silly $300 economic bailout check and go out to eat.... now says its our propensity to shop that got us in the is mess!

Polls show his popularity has dipped to 19% and still refuses to admit we are even headed for recession, let alone as most economists say... that we are IN one! So how can his criminal regime continue to assault anyone who disagrees with their "reality" and get away with it? How can anyone with an IQ greater than an acorn fall for these lies and propaganda?

All the MSM pundits and propagandists have the airwaves on fire with their next character assassination, Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Columbia University Professor and former Chief of Economics at the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz and his co-author Professor Linda Bilmes, who's book The Three Trillion Dollar War, conservatively and judiciously reveals the many lies and deceptions this corrupt administration is using to keep we citizens in the dark while dismantling our nation.

There is no other explanation but that they are soon to overthrow what's left of liberty and freedom to crush the last nation that stands in the way of a one-world rule. And remarkably, large numbers of ignorant conservatives in fear of losing what comforts they've been trained to enjoy... seem eager and willing to give up those very things as they become subjects serving their current masters.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

What Does Democracy Mean?

Yesterday, citizens of Wisconsin went to the polls to decide who would represent their views and ideas in the November Election. At least thats what is supposed to happen in a primary election.

But what we are seeing start to happen here in Wisconsin... the first major primary after super tuesday and after the folding of the Republican party into one candidate... is something far more insidious and destructive of that fragile system we call democracy.

In large numbers, republican voters "decided" (well were instructed but thats the same word to these folk) -decided to jump ticket and vote for the democrat they felt most easy to beat in November!

Yep, thats republiklan for democracy... win at any cost, screw the will of the people, lie, cheat, steal - whatever it takes to keep in office... Oh, and do it wrapped in a flag wearing your lapel-pin with your hand cross your heart, mouthing the words to the national anthem -cuz you probably don't really know em after all! Hypocrites! We as a nation, starting here in Wisconsin, following Charlie Sykes' scheme to destabilize the democratic process (alright I'm giving sykes too much credit) have chosen to be as unethical as the very leadership we have all grown to dislike.

Is it any wonder our nation is in the condition it is? Economically strapped, more divided ideologically and financially than ever in history, acting more like an Imperial power than a representative republic, condoning treason, torture, spying, kidnapping and gross human rights abuses on a global scale, this cancer that has invaded our government has spread down to its citizens.

In 2006 the nation shocked Karl Rove and the GOP by turning out in such numbers to overwhelmingly defeat their agenda. An agenda that preached win at any cost, even if it means stealing elections. Many are still unaware of the antics employed by the radical wing of the GOP to secure the last four erections. But clearly the people were not represented in their vote.

And so today as many "citizens" take their "hot-showers" to cleanse the sin from jumping party-lines to vote for the lesser enemy, we see that the cancer has spread to the minions of the grand old party.

Just as we found in the last four erections, democracy is being transformed into some game like fear-factor or the apprentice... win at any cost, damn the rules or ethical behavior... damn the will of the people. Democracy has been turned into a winner-take-all cage-match with all the hype and pyrotechnics of a WWF pay-per-view event.

If we were to remove all the deceptor-votes from Hillary in yesterday's primary, she would have lost by a far wider margin of 18%... and Obama would have rightfully picked up more delegates... and the will of the people would have been heard.


But yesterday, the cancer spread to the hypocrites as they decided to join in undermining Democracy... They decided their will was more important than the will of the people, than true Democracy. And now the trend has been established... Wisconsin forged ahead "Forward" to spread the cancer of undermining democracy... to the rest of the primaries.

Or perhaps it was here,
on the battlefields of Wisconsin's polling stations
that Democracy proved, as it did in 2006,
that the will of the people can beat
the cancer of unethical greed.

The bigger question remains,
Has the cancer spread to the super-delegates too?


Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Bush Hides Our Economic Crash

The Bush Administration is Shutting Down a Major Website that Tracks U.S. Economic Indicators to Keep Citizens Ignorant of the Disaster Ahead!

The U.S. economy is failing. Family debt is on the rise, benefits are disappearing, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the mortgage crisis has exploded. So the Bush Administration and its GOP henchmen are attempting to draw attention away from the upcoming crisis, by blaming the media's negative coverage and STILL insisting the United States is not headed toward a recession, despite what most every economists is predicting.

The Bush administration's latest move is to simply hide the data. Even as Forbes Magazine awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its "Best of the Web" awards, explaining the government site provides an invaluable service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data:


This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration combining data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and durable goods shipments. The site simply links the data of relevant departmental websites. While this might not seem like a big deal, try "doing it yourself "- Try to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau's site and tie it into the GDP figures, it will convince you why this website is so valuable and important.


Yet the Bush administration has the audacity to claim "Budgetary Constraints" have forced them to shut down the site March 1st ! It's a bit more than ironic that the Economic and Statistics Administration is facing such constraints considering Bush just submitted a record $3.1 trillion budget to Congress for FY ‘09.




The site's Economic Indicators were automatically tabulated from several sources and emailed to anyone who signed up. People received a free email as soon as new economic data from government agencies became available. While the data will still be available online at various federal websites, it will now be the users responsibility to ferret out the information buried deep in dozens of government websites. It will be much less readily accessible to the general public.


In its e-mail announcement on the closing of Economic Indicators, the Department of Commerce acknowledged the "inconvenience" and offered a "free" quarterly subscription to STAT-USA/Internet instead. BUT once this temporary subscription runs out, the public will be forced to pay a fee.

So not only will economic data be more secret,
it will now also cost money just to see it.

The Bush Administration is so certain that the economy is collapsing, it plans to hide the indicators from the already distracted and despondent consumer masses. It might be smart to take your "economic stimulus rebate" and start buying Silver friends.



Senate Grants Immunity

Yesterday the Senate passed the Bush bill making permanent the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act- including the Telcom immunity provision making all the corporate communications companies immune from being held accountable for eavesdropping on Americans since 9/11!

Every Republiklan voted in favor, but so did 19 Democraps! Including my senator Herb Kohl. I called his office to voice extreme objection and listen to his feeble excuse... which he, as any corporate monkey dancing for bananas, said was because the government should take the responsibility for any corporate action it instructs them to take. Corporations no longer have to question authority, merely capitulate- free from harm, conscience or disruption of their bottom line!


Ole Cor-pirate Herb Kohl just exonerated his businesses and all others from ever being held accountable for any action they do for the government. But oddly, as this war has shown, Corporations and government officials are NEVER held accountable for actions.. only enlisted soldiers have been jailed for torture, stealing, disobeying orders and anything else officials and private contractors need to take action on because of public outcry.

ARE YOU WORRIED? YOU SURE SHOULD BE.

With this, any company, say Blackwater, Halliburton, Dyncorp or any other... can freely take any action against the citizens of the US ... so long as they claim the pResident authorized them to do so... and since Dick "national secret" Cheney has set the standard, no government has to divulge who or when anyone gave the authorization!

Get it? when folks begin being rounded up and sent to detention camps.... your neighbors... you won't have rights, or powers to stop it. Kinda like the citizens in Germany prior to WWII.

You get it yet?
What are you prepared to do to defend your
Country from the enemy within?

Bush Sees Land

Bush sees land and prepares for his departure.

Progress! by Lo Bottomy, funnytimes.com

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Where do they stand?

Here is an interesting study done to plot where a person's values and ideology puts them on a chart between left and right, egalitarian or autocratic. Take a look at how the full field of presidential candidates are plotted, then test yourself and see where your values put you.... it will surprise you.




Amazing how we see that all the candidates still in the running fall into a very small ideological framework... that coincidentally serves the interests of the elite behind the media, the multinational corporations and the private banking world.

Funny how that works.. a nation with 300 million individuals has narrowed its choice for democratic representation to 2 candidates with obama a dark horse (no pun intended) before the fifth week in the election year. And all the candidates standing, fall into the same ideological quadrant... remarkable how our "melting pot" nation seems to have resolved all our differences when deciding who should rule. or are we really the deciders?

How did you score? Are you closer to Ghandi, Thatcher or Stalin?


What do you think?


And for extra credit.. check out this history test.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Tuff Talk!

Tuff Talk on Earmarks but what about signing statements

pResident Bush delivered his final State of the Union address on Monday and even before the champagne corks went popping in the GOP section, Bush's Tuff Talk was spun into more lies and deception.

In what can only be described as calculated distain for the nation he serves, an arrogant pResident triumphantly stood before a nation of people who's economic prospects stand in ruins but for those who chose to ignore the basic tenants of our Constitution, human rights and divine doctrine to join in his world-wide pillage. Ever jubilant, this cheerleader/actor delivered the opening monolog to this, hopefully the final act in the saga "Death of a Nation". With but 355 days of this tragedy left, Bush and his corporate sponsors have quite the finale yet to perform.

Not wasting a moment, even his SOU was filled with lies and deception. As he smugly twisted fact to fiction, he sounded almost like a good President. By his account, he has worked hard to create a peaceful middle east, his policies have strengthened our economy, schools and environment. As he spoke it seemed even he enjoyed reading his script and who could blame him, for his entire cast of players were assembled before him, except for those who were spirited away in the previous scenes. And though half the room was scripted to sit somberly though his monolog, he seemed eager for an oscar performance.

As he spoke about all his accomplishments and visions, he sternly spoke of a need for this Congress to step up for the economy. He demanded they pass his stimulus package as-is; that they support his Defense Act with no addendums, earmarks or loopholes. Tuff Talk from our 'Uniter' pResident indeed!

But as he continued, with fools-grin, demanding Congress agree to stop adding pork to all the important bills yet to come in his final days, he quietly and confidently, knew of a loophole with the power of Kryptonite to Superman, that he was prepared to use-again (more than any President in history) were they to not heed his demands. A loophole granting him absolute power and eviscerating the three branches of government... his Executive Signing Statement.

The next day, following his rejecting Congress' first version because it could have "opened the Iraqi government to pursue expensive lawsuits against US Corporations", he decided to sign the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act into law... even with sections he did not approve. Because he would simply add a Signing Statement to ignore the parts he didn't want.

One such provision sets up a commission to probe contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another expands protections for whistle-blowers who work for government contractors. A third requires that U.S. intelligence agencies promptly respond to congressional requests for documents. And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and finally, the part barring the pResident from attempting to privatize Iraq's oil industry without Congressional approval.



In his Statement, his "Memorandum of Justification" for the waiver, Bush cited his Nov. 26 "Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship" between Iraq and the United States as justification to ignore these provisions.

Oddly though, the "Liberal" Mainstream Media... has done little to report his grievous dereliction of duty- which certainly was worth a headline if not a front page intro. No even though his Declaration of Principles has been aggressively opposed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress as not-only unprecedented, but also potentially unconstitutional because it was enacted without the agreement of the legislation branch, they remain conspicuously silent.

what gives?

Throughout his presidency, Bush has issued more than 151 signing statements overriding 1149 provisions of laws.

How is it that this lying deceiver can again get away with hood-winking the American Public with Tuff Talk and not less than 24 hours later, go back on his own stern words... without so much as a peep from the press???

We read the law is passed that says no perminant bases, mandatory legislative branch oversight, speedy responses from Bush Administrators to Congressional document requests and protection of whistle-blowers... and he evisorates it all with an Executive Statement... and then to boot... he adds he will not tolerate any legislature that seeks to control how the oil money is controlled!

And there isn't even a story on the news! My friends the end times for this once-great nation have arrived... wrapped in the flag and presented in HiDef on every channel... no news, just views... no facts, just their fiction-presented in mindless programing and endless consumption.

At this point are we really to believe that if Congress denies his "Retroactive Immunity" requests for Telcoms and his staff effective 9/11/2001... that he won't just issue another Signing Statement that the MSM will also conveniently forget to report? Liberal-bias my arse!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Bush's Report Card-redux



The folks at JibJab.com made this for the 2005 year in review...
its sadly still relevant 2 years later.

How will he spin his plans tonite?

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Lies, Lies, Lies



The Center for Public Integrity just released a scathing database study listing all the times a Bush administration officials made false statements about the threat from Iraq, WMDs and AlQaeda connections, leading up to the Bush-bred invasion.



There are 935 entries immediately available for the public to search and scrutinize. The CPI chairman Charles Lewis said the project took nearly a year to complete, and was systematic in its construction.



He stated "We took a two-year period, from September 11th forward, and tracked eight officials, including two White House press secretaries, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, the pResident and the Vice President, looking at all their statements, and interlaced with various fine journalistic accounts, like Bob Drogin’s and others. We looked at government reports, Senate Intelligence Committee reports, the Duelfer Report—you name it, we have all those reports in there. We have whistleblower accounts, the most credible ones, Richard Clarke, of course, and many others. And we wove that into the chronology, so you know what they’re saying at the time, and you know what they are actually discussing privately, hearing and thinking behind the scenes. And it’s very useful, because then you get to put it all in context. "

This database is likely become the "deep throat" of the Bush Administration...
only ironically it comes from the crooks themselves this time.


Already news agencies and governmental offices and the international community are connecting the dots- when things were said and how they became embroidered into consensus. Its going to become quite clear exactly who manufactured the charge for war and how they duped Congress, the Press, our allies and citizens into believing their lies.



As Lewis said "the public has never really seen all this woven together. Most people don’t connect the dots. We felt it was useful for the public to know. "

Dozens of White House coverups and scandals continue to unfold. Last week officials admitted deleting more than 5 million emails and deliberately erasing backup and archive tapes. Karl Rove and his second laptop which he used while acting as King George's "Merlin", magically lost all its eMails too when commanded by court and congress to testify. Yes even ex-Press Secretary Scott McClellon's book comes out stating Cheney told him to lie about the WMD intelligence. Overseas, the UK press is clamoring about a document it wants declassified that too shows the evidence of WMDs was contrived and in that case, the author was found dead days after news was disclosed.



While it seems all the rats are abandoning ship, there's still one "fluffing" Bush, his pinup girl, press secretary Dana Perino, who's been giving blondes a bad name with her "blond-ness" shining through in her press conference as she tries to do damage control only to be "punked" by CPI Chief Charlie Lewis- boooyaah!!!

look at this video!

The right-wing chickenhawk pundits, liars and GOP Congressmen might be fluffing their feathers today...
but lets see who's flapping in a couple weeks!

Nukes, NATO & New World Order

Calling for a complete restructuring of NATO and a trilateral pact combining the US, NATO and the EU together in a “grand force” to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal world, the former military heads from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a “nuclear first-strike” option remains the “indispensable instrument” since there is “simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world”.

Their manifesto, written following discussions with active commanders and policymakers, sounds so much like the New World Order the media and power-elite keep insisting is a conspiracy, that many are unable or unwilling to publicly air their views. It has been presented to the Pentagon in Washington and to NATO’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, over the past 10 days. The matter will surely be discussed at a NATO summit in Bucharest in April.

“The risk of further [nuclear] proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might need to become possible,” the authors argued in the 150-page manifesto for the urgent transformation of western military strategy and structures. “The use of nuclear first-strike weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.” But apparently they forgot about the Depleated-Uranium munitions widely used by coalition forces throughout the middle east leaving 3.5 billion years of radiation poison from the aerosolized ordinances. Just as massively destructive in widespread small doses as a single tactical bomb)

The authors - General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff under Bill Clinton and former NATO Supreme commander in Europe, General Klaus Naumann, Germany’s former top soldier and ex-chairman of NATO’s military committee, General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff, Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff, and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK - paint an alarming picture of the threats and challenges confronting the west in the post-9/11 world and naturally, deliver a withering verdict of our ability to cope.

Not surprising, the five commanders argue that the west’s values and way of life are under threat, and the west needs help to summon the will to defend themselves. The key threats being:

· Political fanaticism and religious fundamentalism. Not withstanding the US born-again christian president who admittedly "talks to God"?

· The “dark side” of globalisation, meaning international terrorism, organized crime and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.- As opposed to state-sponsored mercenary death-squads, resource extortion, child slavery and gross human rights violations associated with the "positive" side of corporate greed- oh and the inconvenient fact that most WMD's are made and financed by the west.

· Climate change and energy insecurity, causing a scramble for resources and potential “environmental” migrations on a mass scale. Meaning the west's imperial conquest in the form of "free-market capitalism" consisting of domination of resources and inhabitants by an elite, friendly to powerful corporate interests, who will use such a global military to decrease surplus populations and maintain subjugation of the remainder.

And lastly and most insideously,
· The weakening of the nation-state as well as organizations like the UN, NATO and the EU. Meaning their plans for the ascension of the Corporate Kingdom and a One-World-Government to save the imminent collapse of the west way... but that still might not sit well in the US.

To prevail, the generals call for a complete overhaul of NATO decision-taking methods, a new “directorate” for US, European and NATO leaders to respond rapidly to crises, and an end to EU's obstruction-of and rivalry-with NATO. Among the most radical changes demanded are:

· An end to veto powers by member-nations and a shift to majority rule in NATO: Bully-Rule.

· The end of national "conditions" in NATO operations -meaning the bully rules and all must follow.

· Exclusion of any NATO member in decision-making of NATO operations for alliance members not taking part in the operations. Bully-way or the Highway!

· First-Strike capability without UN security council authorization if “immediate action is deemed necessary (by the bully) to protect large numbers of human beings”.

All this surfaced in the wake of the conspicuous headlines condemning NATO's performance in Afghanistan. Touched-off by Bush administration defense secretary, Robert Gates' comments that some allies could not conduct "proper" counter-insurgencies, the five ex-military goons declared that NATO’s future was "on the line" in Afghanistan's Helmand province. “NATO’s credibility is at stake in Afghanistan,” said Van den Breemen and according to their manifesto, “NATO is at a juncture and runs the risk of failure,”

Coincidentally, this week the Bush Administration named their man in Iraq, Gen Patreas, as a possible head of NATO... So as the latest in a long line of commanders, most of whom left calling for the US to leave Iraq, General Patraes however had no problem ignoring human rights and codes of conduct, to "win at any cost" and bring about a turn in the war. For that barbarism, he will be awarded the command of this New World Order's pretorian guard.

Klaus Naumann, Germany's top military commander who single-handedly revived combat operations and the Luftwaffe, dormant since Nazi rule, delivered a blistering attack on his own country’s performance in Afghanistan. “The time has come for Germany to decide if it wants to be a reliable partner.” By insisting on “special rules” for its forces in Afghanistan, the Merkel government in Berlin was contributing to “the dissolution of NATO”.

Naumann conceded that the plan’s retention of the nuclear first-strike option was “controversial” even among the five authors. Inge argued that “to tie our hands on first use or no first use removes a huge plank of deterrence”. Though again he failed to admit that he feels tactical nukes were not only a reality, but perfectly acceptable to use- which kind of nullifies the word deterrent.

Big words from five fear-mongers who's economic future depends on conflict and strife. Our media seems content to play this one down but its very notion should cause public outcry the likes of which our nation has never heard. For what these mercenaries of terror are proposing is nothing short of the end of democracy and the beginning of a one-world rule.. exactly what the Bilderberg Group has been planning for nearly a century.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Bush-ness as Usual

Today more allegations that the Bush administration has lost or deleted millions of classified emails were leveled. For years, the Bush administration alleges it relied on an inadequate archiving system for storing the millions of e-mails sent through White House servers, but newly uncovered facts say the White House scrapped the custom archiving system that was ordered by federal court during the Clinton administration. Also,from 2001 to 2003, the Bush White House recorded over computer backup tapes erasing the last line of defense for preserving e-mails, even though a similar practice landed the Clinton administration in legal trouble.

As a result, several years' worth of electronic communication have been lost, including e-mails documenting administration actions in the run-up to the Iraq war, the Valerie Plame incident, both election fraud debacles, the ENRON case and the whole special prosecutor scandal to name a few...

As usual, White House officials said last week that they have "no reason to believe" that any e-mails were deliberately destroyed or are missing. But over the past year, they have acknowledged problems with archiving, saving and finding e-mails dating from early in the administration until at least 2005.
The administration's e-mail policies have been repeatedly challenged by lawmakers and open-government groups, in congressional hearings and in court. Two groups, the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, have accused the White House in lawsuits of violating the Federal Records Act because of what they say is its failure to preserve millions of e-mails, a charge the White House rejects.

The White House's record-keeping problems have thrown new attention on a gap in statutory language covering the retention of presidential records."If it is a presidential record, then it does need to be retained. It doesn't matter what the format is -- e-mails can be records," said Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the National Archives and Records Administration. But the agency has no power to intervene if an administration is not preserving presidential records, inadvertently or not, Cooper said.

The law governing non-presidential federal records is stronger. The National Archives can demand an explanation from any federal agency that it suspects is mishandling records, and it can request a Justice Department probe. Private parties can sue to force compliance with federal records laws, but not the presidential-records statute.
Controversy surrounding the Bush administration's policies intensified on Thursday, when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released details of a briefing by White House special counsel Emmet T. Flood, in which he disclosed that a 2005 White House study had identified 473 separate days in which no electronic messages were stored for one or more component offices.

In the presidential offices, for example, not a single e-mail was archived on Dec. 17, 20 or 21 in 2003 -- the week after the capture of Saddam Hussein. According to the study summary that the committee released, e-mails were not archived for Vice President Cheney's office on four days in early October 2003, coinciding with the start of a Justice Department probe into the leak of a CIA officer's identity, which later led to criminal charges against Cheney's chief of staff.

This e-mail controversy echoes the GOP-led witch-hunt that rocked the Clinton administration a decade ago, when GOP-led congressional probes found that thousands of White House e-mails had been lost, spending nearly $12 million to retrieve missing e-mails for congressional investigators from backup tapes.

The GAO report concluded that Gore's office "did not implement adequate records management practices to ensure that all e-mail records generated or received were preserved in accordance with applicable law and best practices."

By the end of Bill Clinton's presidency, White House officials said the problem had been solved. But shortly after Bush took office, his administration began taking steps to phase out the system. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel would not comment on why the back-up/archival system was eliminated.

In April, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino referenced the e-mail software change in answering a reporter's question about millions of lost e-mails alleged by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive. "I wouldn't rule out that there were a potential 5 million e-mails lost," she said. "There was no intent to have lost them."

Now, true to form, the White House appears to have changed its stance-again. "We have no reason to believe that any e-mails, at all, are missing," spokesman Tony Fratto said Thursday, before declining to answer further questions Friday.

--move along--
nothing to look at here, just your typical despots in action
- step lively - next on our tour-

the ancient artifacts we formerly cared about...

the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Ignorance & Greed!

Information about the manipulative nature of this administration is widely available, but people don’t want to hear it. Once and a while a story is spectacular enough to break through and attract media attention, but the swell quickly subsides into the general glut of bad news over which we, as citizens, have little control.

Coming at us like this–in waves, massed and unbreachable–knowledge becomes symbolic of our disempowerment–becomes bad knowledge–so we deny it, riding the crest until it subsides from consciousness. We have heard ourselves protesting, “I didn’t know!” but this is not true. Of course we knew about the deceptions –devisive naming conventions, like Patriot Act, Clear Skies, Leave-No-Child-Behind and Islamo-fascist. We knew that Saddham and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11; knew that waging war on the other side of the planet would cost billions and that cutting taxes would not help pay for it. We knew that a war on Terror with no end and no defined adversary is unwinable; Knew that capturing votes through pitting gay marriage initiatives, anti-abortion issues and anti-gun rhetoric during an election was deceptive and manipulative. Not a lot perhaps, but we knew a little. We knew enough.

But we wanted the money, the revenge, the feeling of redemption- the security. So when the choice was offered to us, we chose to ignore what we knew. “Ignorance” In this root sense, ignorance was an act of will, a choice that we made over and over again, especially when information overwhelms us and knowledge becomes synonymous with impotence.

We would like to think of our “ignorance” less as a personal failing and more as a massive cultural trend, an example of doubling, of psychic numbing, that which characterized the end of the millennium. If we can’t act on knowledge, then we can’t survive without ignorance. So we cultivate the ignorance, even go to great lengths to celebrate it. The faux-dumb aesthetic that dominates TV and Hollywood –RealityTV, Fear Factor, faux-life terror dramas– must all be about this. Fed on a media diet of really bad news, we live in a perpetual state of repressed panic. We are paralyzed by bad knowledge, from which the only escape is playing dumb. Ignorance becomes empowering because it enables people to live. Stupidity becomes proactive, a political statement- Our collective norm.

Maybe this exempts us as an individual, but it sure makes us entirely culpable as global consumers.

Where do you stand?

Friday, January 18, 2008

Underwater AlQaeda!

Once again the Bush Administration shows those watching... that they could care less about our planet and the things that live on it... Except for THEIR interests and need for "national security". Bush policy has long been suspected of having ulterior motivation - either that or they are the most incompetent and inept group of businessmen to ever steal their way into power and bankrupt the most technologically advanced culture in modern history...

Today yet another example of how the neo-con need for funding its defense contractor buddies outstrips any care for citizens, animals, nature or protection of the planet's resources. How far is Cheney willing to go ignoring environmental law when it comes to his personal piggy bank, the principal shareholders of the multinational energy, defense, monetary and chemical corporations?

In today's resource-righteous right-wing reality, fear trumps sanity, and protection from fear -permits atrocity.

Yesterday in an all-to-typical split decision of the 9th circuit appeals court, right-wing judges placed by this administration and its predecessors, decided to overthrow a lower court's decision to uphold the ban on the military using a new sonar device in its submarines that is so powerfully loud, that it has clearly been proven to harm undersea life! -Its also the first presidential override honored since a 1972 law gave states the right to review federal activities that affect their coastal resources.- but clearly no legislating from the bench here.... just acting out marching orders.

One can only assume that the Bush administration's "intelligence" fears AlQaeda is plotting an attack underwater... Presumably Cheney's intel-experts have "undeniable proof" that Bin-Laden has been building " a new breed of silent-running submarines" in mountain caves of Tora Bora... Maybe using that yellow-cake that Valerie Plame's husband "discovered". Or maybe that earthworm gear thingy from that Clancy novel starring Shaun Connery...



They must have classified satellite imagery of these submarines being transported by sherpas down the mountainsides, hundreds of miles across the desert to the Straits of Hormuz where they are no-doubt being deployed to attack our fleets- but of course they can't actually SHOW US them cuz it risks national security and all!



So of course, we must take action... and rather than using all the unbelievably superior surveillance equipment we (as the most technologically advanced nation on earth, who spends more on defense in a year than the entire planet does in three) must utilize an experimental -and no-doubt expensive- killer sonar, regardless of the fact that the blasts emitted from it can kill sea life because of its "sophisticated" technology.

Well I for one am not ashamed to say these TERRORIST EXTREMISTS in office are neither sophisticated nor honest. They have motives that again clearly show they don't care about anything but taking taxpayer money from the middle class, since they exclude wealthy and corporate citizens, and giving it to themselves via their corporate defense contracts.

Nevermind that polar bears have trouble swimming in oils slicks and really need that ice-cap to live on. Nevermind that whales, who's TRUELY sophisticated sonar has allowed them to talk to eachother across thousands of miles underwater for millions of years... No, Cheyenne wants to use some neanderthal sonic club to boom out an image so his undersea mercenary soldiers can spot the terrorists so bent on killing americans that they'd rather build sophisticated submarines than create electricity or running water where they live.... AND WE BUY THESE LIES!

Never have so many been so stupid for so long... but its not for the ruling elite not trying... this brilliant stupidization of the voter public, this consumerization of the citizenry of our nation has been long in making and vast in its execution... why even radical changes in planetary weather and plague-like disfunctions of insects, plants and sea creatures have not swayed the spell cast upon us. Vast exposés of their criminal antics are turned into conspiracy theories and the whistle-blowers have their character assassinated and are put to shame...

So on we go... now killing ever-more animals in our NEED for more advanced weaponry...

Like old W coulda said,

"ya never know how they'r gonna hit cha... heh heh
so ya gotta git-r-done up right - in advance... see...
cuz thats the a-mar-i-kan way .... see... wooohah! ... heh heh"

alright I took liberty to poke fun at our foolish nation and its ridiculous ways... so sue me.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Global Warming Debate-Solved!

The Bush administration and its multinational corporate friends, motivated by ideology and profit, have repeatedly been sited for censoring reports highlighting global warming and softening scientific findings to lessen the threat of global climate destabilization. This week several scientists have come to Capitol Hill to protest the Bush administration’s alleged interference in science linked to the environment.

Meanwhile a high school science teacher has created a video on YouTube that completely clarifies the debate about Global Warming and explain what our real questions must be... with more than 3 million views, his video has created quite a stir on the viral video medium.

Many harsh criticisms were leveled against him and rather than running away or lashing back, he struggled for several months researching and refining his thesis until he created a sound and irrefutable response... which he presented with humility, kindness and a good sense of humor.

Then he backed it up with dozens of short lessons to overcome the many objections to his initial posting.

In fact so great was his presentation that thousands of people forwarded his original post and several have even created websites to promote his message.

I urge you... though you all know I readily condemn this administration's role in many of our planet's and nation's problems... I freely admit it is not ALL their fault.

Please watch this man's humble arguments and do the right thing...
Politics aside... this is possibly the greatest decision we face in the history of mankind.