Open Letter to Randi Rhodes of Air America in response to her segment "Why Imus and Why Now"

On April 10, 2007 Randi Rhodes asked her listeners "Why Imus and Why Now" after he has been spewing filth over the American airwaves for over three decades. For over an hour she took calls and shot down everyone's reasoning on "why now?" including those who said it's because of the racial slurs. Her conclusion was that this was a calculated attack on a "shock jock" who is supposed to be held less accountable for the things he says than such radio hosts as Rush Limbaugh. Randi's argument is that Imus is being attacked because it will send a message to others that they are not immune considering their words are not even said with as much "humor" as those of Imus.

It is my opinion that "why now?" is because we've had enough. He's been slandering everybody for much to long and after the racist and sexist attack on women who are trying to earn their degree, participate in school sports, and just go on with their lives we're finally telling him he has stepped over his boundaries.

While I am forever appreciative of the voice Randi provides to radio I am not going to let her hijack this issue so easily. I see too many people who think this is a complicated act against Republicans, or Democrats, or conservative radio, etc. Maybe it's just that America is learning to not tolerate racism, sexism, and degradation when it rears its ugly head.

Randi,

It is impossible for you to completely understand my position on Imus' racist, sexist, trashy, and uncalled for remarks. It is equally impossible for me to fully understand some feminine issues you may delve into because I am a man. While I appreciate your compassion for this issue you cannot go beyond intellectualizing it.

Imus attacked our Black children. In response, we are coming down on him with deserved negative attention. If you cannot fathom that Imus is being attacked "simply" in response to his racist attack on our children that is fine but do not show a lack of appreciation by quickly dismissing every person in dissention with your view who believes this is an issue of race.

Your claim of this being a complex move strategically made to make the less jovial, conservative radio hosts think "this could happen to me" is self serving. Whenever Blacks have striven for upward mobility White people have ridden on their coattails even though they already have more than enough. After the Civil War Lincoln tried to remove Africans and African Americans from the country and share-cropping took advantage of the newfound "freedom". In the 1960's the Women's Rights movement coupled itself on the phenomenal force of the Civil Rights movement. Today we see a less spectacular form of "How can I take advantage of this" in the form of liberal talk radio using the issue of Imus defaming these Black women via our national airways as a leaping point to shake up conservative radio. Others want to use the issue as an example of the "cunning" of the right wing where they are getting rid of yet another "anti Republican" rabble rouser.

Selfish is it not, considering Air America has one (?) or is it two (?) Black radio hosts who do not even have premium times. Your assessment and those agreeing with that assessment do not realize how much of a narrow base there is in that kind of thought. If you were Black you would not have your show and maybe then you would understand.

If you would entertain the thought for a moment, you would possibly consider that maybe, just maybe, Black people care deeply about what happens to their people, their sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and so on. Imus deserves to be fired for his transgression and should never see radio again. He must be punished for his disgraceful, derogatory statements.

What plans you and anyone creating issues outside of the main one do is your business. Let us respect our own motives though.

Open Call to CBS RADIO Re: Request for Imus' termination

We want Imus off the air. He has spread his offensive rhetoric over the airways long enough. Stop aiding the perpetuation of racist, sexist, gaudy and hateful language.

There is no defense for this man’s words. His lifespan on radio is no excuse. It just means his removal is overdue. The language of others whether it be Jay Z, Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh is not the issue. They are not Imus. Imus’ compassion for his wife does not excuse his sexist language. Her tolerance of his misgivings does not reflect mine. Besides, many sexist individuals have cared for their wives and daughters. Even Strom Thurmond took care of his Black daughter. Celebrities saying he is a “good” man are no defense. If he is such a good man then why is he in this mess? Imus has no excuse for staying on air.

I hope you recognize the severity of the situation and deal with this promptly. You have higher quality programming available that can replace his. I urge you to remove Imus in the Morning from your programming schedule.

CORPORATE ADDRESS

CBS RADIO
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
212-846-3939

Obama garners youth with social website

Just visited Barack Obama's presidential website and it's definitely youth oriented. At the bottom are links to facebook.com, a social website like MySpace; YouTube, the infamous video stash of everything there is to find on the net that hasn't been removed because of copyright; and Flickr, the picture portal. Obama for America has even set it up so supporters can create a member ship at "my.barackobama.com" where they can blog, meet others interested in campaigning and even create their own personal online fund raiser. Decent, nice job Obama camp.

Supporting Unions

American workers need help - and there's something you can do about it.
Regardless of where you live or what you do, labor unions are our first line of defense for worker's rights. What do they fight for? Raising the minimum wage. Improving labor standards. Expanding health care benefits. Protecting retirement security.

And these fights don't only make a difference in the workplace: They are critical to providing economic security for families, strengthening our communities and rebuilding America's middle class. Every day, millions of Americans work hard and play by the rules but are still struggling to get by. Democrats understand the important role that labor unions play to fix this crisis.

The House of Representatives is set to debate and pass a bill that will restore American workers' right to freely choose whether or not to form a union. Join the Democratic majority in the House and show your support for the Employee Free Choice Act:

http://www.democrats.org/StrengthenUnions

Research shows union members earn 30% more than nonunion workers. What's more, union workers are 63% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are four times more likely to have a guaranteed pension.

The benefits of union membership are clear. That's why nearly half of American workers who are not currently represented by unions -- 60 million people -- say that they'd join one if they had the chance. But every year since 1981, union membership has declined. And a major reason for that fall-off is the many obstacles workers face when they try to form a union or negotiate a union contract.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a simple, effective solution to restore the right of workers to form unions and bargain for better wages and benefits for themselves and their families. It has three key provisions:

Require employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers sign authorization cards saying they want union representation.

Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.

Strengthen penalties for companies that illegally intimidate employees to prevent them from forming a union.

No management coercion, no waiting period, no stacked deck -- just the freedom for workers to stand up for their rights.

Democratic leaders in the House overwhelmingly support the Employee Free Choice Act. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called it a "top priority." House Labor Committee Chairman George Miller called it "an important step towards strengthening America's middle class." Now you can join the leadership in calling on Congress to pass this critical legislation:

http://www.democrats.org/StrengthenUnions

Big business is scared of the Employee Free Choice Act -- and that's why they're doing everything in their power to stop it.

75% of companies hire consultants or union-busters to fight organizing campaigns. And their tactics work: every 23 minutes, a worker is fired or discriminated against for supporting a union. All in all, over 22,000 workers each year are illegally fired, demoted, laid off, suspended without pay, or denied work by their employers as a result of union activity.

Why have our leaders in Washington allowed this to happen? Follow the money trail.
The public opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act is funded in large part by GOP-allied corporate lobbyists and interest groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Conservative Union, and Americans for Tax Reform. The dozens of groups that make up the "Coalition for a Democratic Workplace" spend big bucks each election cycle buying Republicans' votes on bills like this one.

This is nothing new. Big Business always gets what it wants from the Republicans-- from an energy bill written by Cheney's oil industry pals to a prescription drug bill full of giveaways to Big Pharma.

This time, though, the Democrats in Congress can stop them. Show the House that you will stand with America's workers:

http://www.democrats.org/StrengthenUnions

Do you believe in the right to demand a raise? Health care coverage? A pension? Do you believe workers should have a voice in their workplaces?

The fate of the Employee Free Choice Act depends on your work. Help score an important victory for worker's rights and for rebuilding America's middle class.

In Solidarity,
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Venezuela is a democratic state

I'm not kidding you. I feel this needs to be said. As of February 23, 2007 the CIA Factbook says Venezuela is a "federal republic".

I recently came across a thread on the BlackPlanet.com forums where someone gave praise to China for aiding African nations. He heralded it as the end of European domination, which is true if the west doesn't get its act together, and ended by blessing Hugo Chavez.

A resident righty that patrols the forum who types much and often says nothing accused the thread creator of supporting all communists and dictators across the globe. The guy had an African user name with no location under it so I thought he might actually be from Africa. I posted a link to a story about China's mishandling of copper fields in Zimbabwe asking his opinion on it. I also replied to righty by saying Chavez helps low income people in the United States with low priced heating for homes and said Venezuela is not a Communist country, which it isn't. No Big Deal, right? *rolleyes*

A brainwashed military blow hard asks me why I don't move to Venezuela and "be a Commie". I "politely" tell him I'm a patriot (Actually I say I'm the most patriotic human being on the Earth. Though that is not true as long as Jack Bauer lives) and I speak against ills this country perpetrates. In fact think of it as a relationship between 24's Jack Bauer and his father. Jack loves his father but does not want him to harm innocent lives. Then righty returns practically saying nuh uh telling me "get with the program".

I responded by accusing him of being the same type of person who thought FDR was Communist. I supplied a link to the CIA Factbook showing Venezuela is a federal republic and an article by Josef Cohen showing why Venezuela will not be a Communist country any time soon. It in fact leans capitalist and the country's people favor democracy more than any other nation in South America.

I've invited the righty several times to state his position on political candidates in the 2008 elections and he never accepts my invitation. He just likes to roam around making baseless statements a la Rush Limbaugh.

How do you get through to these people?

Obama Criticizes Australian Prime Minister

Barack Obama rips Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, after Howard suggests Obama would be popular among terrorist leaders because of his promise to recall troops from Iraq if he wins.

The Democratic presidential hopeful said if the Australian prime minister was "ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq," he needs to send another 20,000 Australians to the war.

"Otherwise, it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric," Obama said.

In addition, Australian political opponent Kevin Rudd warned Prime Minister Howard that he should take care not to strain the 65 year alliance that has existed between the U.S. and Australia. Kevin Rudd. The ACNielsen poll in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers has found Mr Rudd is the most popular Opposition leader in the past 35 years.

Criticism toward Howard has come from both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.

Senator Jon Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said Howard should have kept quiet. "I would prefer that Mr. Howard stay out of our domestic politics, and we'll stay out of his domestic politics," Cornyn said. Ron Wyden, Democratic Senator from Oregon said "We'll make our own judgments in this country with respect to elections" after saying Howard's comment is at best "bizarre".

I'm disgusted a world diplomat would assume directive in a situation where his contributions, even as "significant" as he claims them to be, are meager compared to the 140,000 troops the United States has allocated to Iraq. Australia currently has 1,400 troops in and around Iraq, mostly in non combat roles. Even at the height of the Iraq war Australia had fewer soldiers than we've had die in Iraq to date.

Howard tried to claim 1,400 troops is significant considering the Australian population. Unfortunately he understands ratios just as well as he understands staying out of another country's politics. We a population of 300 million people vs his 20,000,000. 15:1 ratio right? We have 140,000 troops to his 1,400. 100:1 ratio. Does anyone see me not smiling? He owes us 8,000 more troops before I'll declare a "significant contribution". Even that won't be enough after Bush's surge.

Howard doesn't seem to understand that he is interfering with the election process of the United States. When critics from his own country said it was inappropriate for the Prime Minister to comment as he did Howard mistakenly drew parallels to Opposition criticism of George Bush in 2003, when he was already an established national leader. Considering the Prime Minster's ties to George Bush, his similar lack of discerning and status as a national leader, he has no business making comments pertaining to our elections.

The Prime Minister of Australia Criticizes Barack Obama

The Prime Minister of Australia criticized, wait? Australia? The Prime Minister of Australia....The Prime Minister of Australia...The Prime Minister of Australia..The Prime Minister of... Australia?

What does the Prime Minister of Australia have to do with American elections? I think he's supposed to butt out and pay attention to what's actually happening with his own country. Everyone knows he's chummy chum with George Bush on the Iraq war and anyone with that type of mindset has no credibility anyway.

If Mr. Prime Minister is interested in letting the few number of people he has provided to occupy Iraq get shot at, go ahead. But stay out of the United State's business. Australia? Really?

The Value of Black Life in General

The Value of Black Life in Maryland

By Parris Glendening
Sunday, December 18, 2005; B07

In the eight years I served as governor of Maryland, I found the power to decide which condemned prisoners would live and which would die the most awesome and emotionally grueling of all my duties. I faced this decision four times.

I believed in the death penalty when I became governor and took seriously my constitutional responsibility to uphold Maryland law. I presided over two executions, those of Flint Gregory Hunt and Tyrone Gilliam. Both were black men whose victims were white. I heard from many civil rights leaders who rightly pointed out that this racial combination dominated cases on our state's death row, even though African Americans were and continue to be the victims in nearly 80 percent of homicides.

So in 1999 I commissioned a study of race and death sentencing from the University of Maryland, believing it my responsibility to ensure that justice was truly blind when applying this ultimate punishment.

A few months later I faced yet another execution of a black man with a white victim -- that of Eugene Colvin-el. I was not yet convinced that a moratorium on executions was necessary. But I was also not 100 percent certain of Colvin-el's guilt, so I commuted his death sentence to life without the possibility of parole.

The last execution I faced was that of Wesley Baker -- whom Maryland ultimately executed on Dec. 5. His was the fourth case to come before me in which an African American man was condemned to die for the murder of a white Marylander. And as with two of the three condemned men before him, he had been sentenced to die in Baltimore County.

I could not, in good conscience, go forward with another execution of a black man for killing a white person. I stayed Baker's execution in May 2002 and imposed a moratorium on all executions pending the results of the University of Maryland study.

Days before I left office in January 2003, the study was released. Examining the records of more than 1,300 death-penalty-eligible cases between 1978 and 1999, criminologist Raymond Paternoster concluded that both geographic and racial disparities existed.

Baltimore County was singled out as having a significantly higher rate of death sentences than other jurisdictions in the state. Murderers in Baltimore County were 26 times more likely to be sentenced to death than killers in Baltimore City and 14 times more likely than murderers in Montgomery County.

The significant racial disparities are troubling. Cases in which the victim was white were almost twice as likely to result in the death penalty as cases in which the victim was black, and blacks who killed whites were 2 1/2 times more likely to be sentenced to death than whites who killed whites.

These results lead to the unfortunate conclusion that we value white life more than black life. Intentional or not -- and I believe it is not -- this is an indefensible and untenable position for the state. Whether one supports or opposes the death penalty in principle, all reasonable people understand that before we exercise the ultimate sanction, we must be confident that the system is, at a minimum, fair and accurate.

The University of Maryland study received a great deal of attention and should have been a call to action for state leaders, but no solutions have been implemented. The General Assembly, despite conducting hearings on the issue, never passed legislation to deal with the inequalities highlighted in the study.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who lifted my moratorium on executions after assuming office despite acknowledging that race "plays a part all the way through the process," named Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele as the new administration's point man on the issue. The lieutenant governor promised to conduct an assessment of our state's death penalty. To date, he has not.

Despite being ignored by the current administration, issues raised by the study remain. Maryland still faces serious questions about the impact of race and geography in capital sentencing.

I implemented the moratorium to allow for the thorough and fair study of our death penalty system and to allow for action to be taken to prevent racial and geographic discrimination. The study was completed, but the corrective action was not. It is time for our state to honestly and openly consider these findings and to find constructive remedies. To carry out executions under this scenario is simply wrong.

The writer was governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003.

Los Angeles - Mexican Mafia Incites Latino Gangs to execute Blacks

Los Angeles - On December 15, 2006 Fourteen year old Cheryl Green garnered national attention when she was fatally shot in broad daylight in Harbor Gateway. While standing with her friends on the corner of 206th and Harbor Cheryl and her friends were approached by a Hispanic man who opened fire killing the young woman immediately and wounding three others. Nothing was done to provoke the attack and Cheryl had no gang affiliations. She was killed because she was a black woman standing too close to an area the gunman considered exclusively Hispanic.

“The Harbor Gateway has been a treacherous place for blacks and Hispanics since the mid- to late-1990s, when blacks started moving into the largely Hispanic area” according to the Daily Breeze (the article is archived now but happens be saved on Playahata.com’s Forum). A decade old turf war between Black and Latino gangs has escalated to the point where even non-gang members are not safe. The front line for this troubled area is the stretch of 206th street between Western and Normandie avenues. North of 206th street is Hispanic, south is Black. Harbor happens to be home of the 204th street gang of which two members responsible for the murder of Cheryl Green are members. (They were reportedly caught and charged with capital murder and 1st degree attempted murder on December 27). Cheryl Green’s death caught national attention but she was not the first victim to befall tragic and senseless targeted killings.

An 11-year-old boy was shot by a Latino gang member in 1997 just a couple blocks away from where Cheryl. In 2002, alleged gang member Marco Milla was convicted of murder and five counts of attempted murder after firing into a group of black people, killing one man at a liquor store near 204th Street and Harvard Boulevard. Residents say they live under a blanket of weariness if not fear. Any African-American that makes their presence in “exlusively” Hispanic parts of town may become the target of harassment. A 1995 police report said "This gang has been involved in an ongoing program to eradicate Black citizens from the gang neighborhood." A 1996 LAPD report on gangs in east Los Angeles stated, "Local gangs will attack any Black person that comes into the city."

After a long time suppression of escalating racial tensions by politicians and other public figures, Last month Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Police Chief William J. Bratton and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca mobilized to confront and crackdown on the problem.

The importance of the Mayor, Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD’s move cannot be overstated. An alarming trend has been appearing with regard to interracial gang violence. From 2002 to 2006 interracial attacks between Blacks and Latino increased 11% while intra-racial gang attacks fell 23%. Experts such as Tony Rafael, respected writer and gang expert, say they have noticed an increased number of attacks on African Americans and he has gone so far as to describe it as “a policy of ethnic cleansing”. Stats in San Fernando show troubling cases that support this statement. Of 13 attempted murders occurring since July, 10 of them involved Black victims and Latino suspects and in many of these cases the victims were not affiliated with any gang.

These occurrences are a bit odd when one considers there were gangs over a decade ago where African Americans and Hispanics were in the same gang together. Tony Rafael uses the 18th street gang as an example of a gang that was an equal opportunity employer until the Mexican Mafia ordered them to “cleanse” themselves of Black members.

The Mexican Mafia according to Rafael is responsible for these senseless killings. It started in the prisons where the Black Guerilla family and the Mexican Mafia are at odds. One example of the tension is the prison race riots last year. Mexican Mafia, who have control of many Latino gangs outside of prison, instruct gang members who enter the penal system to kill African-Americans outside of prison. The prison conflicts have spilled into the street at the order of “made men” within the Mexican Mafia.

The Mexican Mafia’s attitude is that African-Americans are “infesting” their land. This is not that surprising because the racial division that permeates the California prison is based in centuries of prejudice that began in the times of slavery. It is the same prejudice that permeates the United States. Irony can be seen in the fact that most Mexicans are a mix of European, Native American and AFRICAN descent but the “made men” of the Mexican mafia fail to see it this way. Just as Mexicans are prone to elect a light skinned official into government office they were more than willing to join the Aryan brotherhood in the prisons and in doing so made African-Americans their sole target.

Is The US Ready To Elect A Female President

I was trolling around a forum where a lot of people were asking rhetorical questions and I decided to answer one of them. Actually I am still answering them. This answer had a bit more substance than the others so I graduated it to the blog. I've also included a link at the bottom to HillaryClinton.com and Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy because I can.

***

Yes, a woman can become president and that woman is Hillary Clinton. When asked who registered voters would be most likely to support for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008 Hillary Clinton overwhelmed the other eleven candidates listed with 34% responding in her favor. Her closest competitor, Barack Obama, had 18%. Hillary Clinton was the front runner in the latest Nationwide ABC News/Washington Post Poll (Jan 16-19) where she edged out Rudy Giuliani 49 to 47 percent and beat John McCain 50 to 45. Every major polling on the Democratic presidential nomination for 2008 showed Clinton ahead of her nearest competitor by double digits. She took the New York Senate seat with double digits (12%) and though it may be closer in polls for the presidential election it must be noted she has been more than competitive. Among potential candidates for the 2008 election Hillary Clinton has even been compared to Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt and Reagan, two of the most popular presidents of both major parties past. Hillary Clinton maintains number power behind her and that is not the only evidence of her ability to win.

Clinton not only has the numbers on her side. She has the Clinton ‘War Room‘ in addition to other political powerhouses that have served in suppressing the Republican machine that unjustly tore down so many Democratic candidates before her. Clinton entered an electoral battlefield in New York where $60,000,000 was spent to defame and defeat her and she emerged on top. She has the aid of James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, and Mark Penn, advisers who have worked on the only two successful Democratic presidential campaigns in the past couple decades. Howard Dean’s grass roots 50 State Strategy can do nothing but aid Mrs. Clinton by embracing people on a more personal level. In addition, she has the greatest living US presidential speaker in her husband Bill Clinton. On top of this non comprehensive list, her War Room is stocked and well oiled with money. Ten million dollars has been in reserve since the 2006 election and as soon as Hillary Clinton declared ‘I’m in’ last Sunday millions more were put in queue.

Even dismissing everything previously said another factor appears to have been overlooked. A presidential candidate is not just ‘a man’ or ‘a woman’ (Though that ‘basic principal’ would have been truer in the past). The presidential candidate is a mass of supporters, a complex set if ideals and ideas and personality that, by the evidence the numbers suggest, attract more than ‘the woman’s vote’, ‘the pro-life vote’, or even the ‘anti-Bush vote’, the last of which will sadly be weaker upon the joyous departure of Bush 43. Hillary Clinton is a former First Lady, a United States Senator, an author, attorney and an active champion for family welfare who fought for women’s rights, expanded child care and early education and in fighting for universal health care she led the creation and design of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which has provided millions of children with health insurance. It is all of this and more that contribute to the ultimate decision of the nation. But most important of all these identities is that she is a Democrat.

A virtual unknown can be placed in either major political party and garner a majority of the nation's votes *cough*recent governor from Arkansas*cough*. What we have here is a Democrat with star power who has spent her life helping people. Short of Jesus giving her an endorsement you’re not getting anything better in politics. The elections were won in 2000 and 2004 by George Bush largely because of an appeal to Hispanics and WOMEN. The increase in women’s support accounted for roughly 2.5% of the 3.5% margin George Bush won by last election. Who better to be empathetically in touch with women, who make up 54% of all voters, than a woman’ Hillary Clinton can easily reverse that advancement that had been so crucial to the Republican Party in recent elections past by taking the edge on the women’s vote away. Especially in this polarized political atmosphere, Hillary Clinton can carry the same states Kerry did and along with one or two others that were marginally won by Bush (if actually at all) in the 2004 presidential race and take the White House to (finally) become our first woman president.

Jay,
Aspiring Incitement

Democratic National Party
Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy


Hillary Clinton for President

Hillary Clinton Officially Announces '08 Run

Six years after making history by winning a United States Senate seat as first lady, Mrs. Clinton has set her sights on breaking yet more political barriers in her extraordinary and controversial career.

We all knew she was going to run and now that it's official it's time to see the Clinton machine take down the Republican machine.

Democrats in '08

Rumsfeld was their ONLY problem. Riiiiiiiight.

Rumsfeld didn't cost the Republicans the elction by himself. All too quickly the phrase "The PARTY of Corruption" has been forgotten. "Page" Foley, "Grease-the-wheel" Abramoff, "Flip-flop Schwarzenegger", "Fetus" Santorum, "Video Diagnosis" Frist, Katherine "Cruela" "Steal an Election" Harris, Dick "Shooter" Cheney, George "Macaca" Allen, Michael "Misinformation" Steele, "Stay the Course, Adapt and Change" Rove and Dumb Dubya among many others were responsible for the change in course in this country. Getting rid of Rumsfeld would not have gotten rid of the larger cancer evident in the Republican party.

Furthermore, Ed Shultz brough up a good point about the Republican party's stance on Rumsfeld. No one spoke out July, August, September or even early November against Rumsfeld. Not until after the stunning loss in the election did the Republican party start grasping for straws and playing the blame game.

So you know Rush Limpbag?

That 3 hour commercial for the GOP that came on every day? He somehow "wised up" somewhere between November 7, 2006 and November 8, 2006. He says his party never deserved his propping them up. *blink, blink* He now says he isn't going to "carry the water" for the Republicans any more *blink, blink*

Rush Limpbag. GOP criticizer? Rush Limpbag. Apologist? Rush Limpbag. Hypocritical lying scumbag having a mental breakdown... no point in trying to understand drugged up lunatics. Whatever.

Jim Webb wrote me a letter

Dear (Jay_MMS), Thank you for your incredible support! Thank you. When we started this general election campaign, we were facing an opponent with tens of millions of dollars. He had won two statewide races already. He had the power of incumbency on his side, and also the awesome power that comes with the backing of an incumbent President. We had, at the moment, not a lot of money, a candidate who had never run for office, and 2,500 rag-tag rebels who had volunteered for what many thought was a hopeless, quixotic journey. At that time, I said: I like those odds, actually. It'll make us all work a little harder. It fits with one of my favorite films, Cool Hand Luke -- one of the great lines in that movie: "Sometimes nothing is a pretty cool hand!" On Tuesday, against huge odds, you carried our campaign to victory, and I cannot express how grateful I am to you for helping us make history in this election. As you know, I made two promises to myself when I started this campaign. The first was that I was not going to trade anything I believed in order to get a vote or a dollar, and I did that. I’m walking into the U.S. Senate with the independence to represent the people who have no voice in the corridors of power, and I intend to do that. The second promise that I made was that as much as humanly possible, we were not going to run a negative campaign. And I thank all of you for helping me to make sure that we did that. We have a situation in Virginia where Mark Warner began a journey. Tim Kaine has added on to it. We are going to add onto it even more. We’re going to work hard to bring a sense of responsibility to our foreign policy that will, in my view, result soon in a diplomatic solution in Iraq. We’re going to work very hard on issues of economic fairness in a country that has become divided too much by class in an age of the internationalization of corporate America, where corporate profits are at an all time high while wages and salaries are at an all time low. I look forward to joining my fellow Senators in voting very soon to increase the minimum wage. And finally, we’ve had a situation where, as a result of this Administration’s policies post-9/11, we’ve had far too much power gravitate to the Presidency at the expense of the power of the Legislature. With your help, we now have the opportunity to put this country back on the track where it needs to be. Thank you for everything you have done for our campaign and our country. Remember, folks: the Revolution started here... Sincerely, Jim Webb

Look at that. Isn't that freakin sweet. I get his signature and he sent me a picture and everything. I feel special and all warm inside. (And not in a Mark Foley/Page kinda way.) It looks even better in my Yahoo! inbox.

Subpoena Power Won't Be Used To Witchhunt :-(

I must admit I was feeling pretty bloodthirsty on the morning of November 8, 2006. I was thinking about all the investigations that would be taking place. I was thinking about the resignation of Rumsfeld and about all the others that might fall afterward. Then I read an article from the November 6 issue of The New Republic by Michael Crowley called "Subpoena Envy".

In the article Crowley claims House Democrats John Dingell (MI) and Henry Waxman, while respectively poised and giddy, are not going to target people or behave in a vengeful manner. They contrast this to the Newt Gingrich, Dan Burton and company who sought investigations during the Clinton years.

Dan Burton "issued more than 1,000 subpoenas to 141 different Clintonites." He asked whether Christmas cards were used for political purposes and "in one case, Burton's investigators managed to subpoena the wrong man. In his low point in 1998 "Burton released misleadingly edited transcripts of secretly recorded phone conversations conducted in prison by former Clinton associate Webb Hubbell."

In 1997 Republican Representative Gerald Solomon of New York notified the FBI that Democratic National Committee fund-raiser John Huang may have sold U.S secrets to the Chinese, prompting an FBI investigation and wide press coverage. Two years later, FBI files released to Congress showed that Solomon's charge had been based on a cocktail-party conversation with a Senate staffer who claimed to have heard the scoop from an unnamed employee of the Commerce Department , where Huang had worked. Solomon couldn't remember his name --- only that he was "a male in his thirties or early forties, approximately five feet ten inches tall with brownish hair." (That narrowed things down to roughly half the federal government's employees) - Subpoena Envy, Michael Crowley

Yes, this is what Nancy Pelosi wants to avoid. She doesn't want to be a "Left-Wing Gingrich". I kinda understand. I still want to remind everyone the jugular vein of the Republican Party is wide open. *whistle's innocently*

In Less than One Hour, George Allen will concede

It's not like it would matter anyway. Most of the votes cannot change because of a lack of a paper trail. Maybe there should have been more bipartisan complaining about this new dang-fangled technology. If there was a recount it would be nearly impossible for George "Macaca" Allen to find all the votes he needs to steal the seat.

In one hour we will officially see the concession of Felix.

Everyone, dance.

One Word. One Congress. I <3 America

Click for full resolution version.

New Beginnings. Welcome 109th Congress

Remember Derek Fisher's 0.4 second game winner in game 5 of the 03-04 Western Conference Semifinals? Fisher caught an inbound pass, turned 180 and made the clencher. Immediately, he ran off the court in celebration followed by ecstatic teammates. "I just wanted to get out of there and not give them an opportunity to think that we didn't believe it went in," Fisher said. Just as a boxer raises his hands in victory at the end of 12 rounds the victorious show confidence in the outcome even before it's called.Last night, McCaskill raised her arm in victory at the end of the 12th hour even though the votes were not finalized.

This is the new democrat. They are sure of victory despite Rove's "fuzzy math", Bush's baseless rhetoric and having to fight the party of corruption and scandal. McCaskill, Clinton, Kerry, Gore, Dean and Pelosi are leading America in a new direction.

p.s. Nah-nah, nah nah nah nah . Hey-ey-ey. Goo-ood bye.
Say it with me now
Nah-nah, nah nah nah nah . Hey-ey-ey. Goo-ood bye.

Media Uncritically Reports Baseless Charge that Dems are Behind Foley Scandal

more here at Media Matters

Did anyone hear Clark say "treasure"?

Who coined this phrase treasure? I thought it was weird when I was listening to the radio and heard General Clark say it.
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=414
http://securingamerica.com/node/1436
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_08_17.php

Foley-O loves boys, loves boys

Congressman Mark Foley resigned in disgrace last Friday after his sexually charged IMs with a 16 year old page were exposed by investigative journalist Brian Ross of ABC News.

The 52 year old former Congressman of Florida ironically co-chaired the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and helped write the laws he may be prosecuted by. E-mails and IM's (gag, I haven't read all of them. I'm not sure I want to continue reading his tripe. Must... think of good thoughts... not 52 year old men preying on children) sent by Foley were inappopriate at the least and didn't raise an alarm despite a page seing them as "sick" and forwarding them to an aid in Rep. Rodney Alexander's (R-LA) (thanks media matters) office. No one in the page program had the foresight to pin Foley as the indecent man he is.

The man needs to be sent to Singapore and caned. I don't know of any punishment that will set him straight. We already know he is a liar. He's used the following excuses:
1. I'm gay
2. I was molested by a clergyman
3. I was drunk
4. It's the Democrats fault
and we know 2 out of 4 of these are a lie. We're still waiting for confirmation on him being straight and the name of the mysterious non-existent cleryman. He is no good.

George Allen had to respectfully decline the Thurgood Marshall award because the committee was threatening to withhold funds. Still editing
JCLH

Even though our president said it would be a lot easier if he was a dictator he sure doesn't know how to pronounce 'totalitarian'.
JCLH

Blogger Made It Easier

I'm at work right now and sending a blog
JCLH

Did I miss something?

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/09/chertoff_blames.php Says Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security chief at the time made this remark on September 1, 2005 during the Katrina catastrophe:
"The critical thing was to get people out of there before the disaster," he said on NBC's Today program. "Some people chose not to obey that order. That was a mistake on their part."

He siad this disregarding people who were UNABLE to leave due to illness or lack of transportation. However, we already know there were a bunch of unsympathetic a-holes back then (including george Shrub's mom")

What weirds me out is that I went to the article where Jesse Berney of the Democratic party had cited that quote and I could not find the quote anywhere. I had linked to this article a year ago so I could find it and I remember his quote being there (don't I?). I'm wondering if the Washington Post changed any of their story around for posterity.

GooseBump City

There's a comic with my own name in it. GooseBump City. OK, so maybe I have something to do with it. Anyway I just decided to hype my own self up.

Northwest to Employees: Dig in the trash.

I'm back after exactly 2 months away from not posting. I'll warn everyone next time I decide to split.

I was listening to Air America a second ago and I heard Ed Shultz (ok maybe he's not Air America) say Northwest Airlines was passing a pamphlet around telling their employees to dig in the trash and take their significant others out to the beach in order to save money (Hopefully not in that order). I decided I had to see that pamphlet so I went to Northwest's website and I couldn't even find a page for employees. Even my college job had a page for their employees, sheesh.
Figuring it must be hidden under muck I went to Technorati and lo and behold, The Consumerist had a link to the pamphlet here.

The guy who found the pamphlet on The Consumerist, Triteon, tries to give Northwest a little leeway saying it's actually NEAS who distributes pamphlets to it's clients (i.e. NorthWest) to get its "future former employees ready. I'll save that for future reference. I contract someone and the fault goes to the guy under me. That's gotta be the easiest way to remove responsibility, right? *cough* Gitmo *cough*

Still, I like the irony in certain individuals getting fired and being rewarded with $40 million dollars and a golden umbrella and others being given a pamplet telling them to go eat trash.

I put a copy here because I like backups.

P.S. Happy 100th Post to Me!

Illegal Voting Machines Used in Busby/Bilbray Election

Voting Integrity

I just needed to store the article somewhere.

Who's got the real handicap?

You think you're bad?
Are you bad enough to tell off a blind man?





From Think Progress:

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Peter. Are you going to ask that question with shades on?

Q I can take them off.

THE PRESIDENT: Im interested in the shade look, seriously.

Q All right, Ill keep it, then.

THE PRESIDENT: For the viewers, theres no sun. (Laughter.)

Q I guess it depends on your perspective. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Touche. (Laughter.)

Q Following up on the other Peters question about Karl Rove, you said that you were relieved with what happened yesterday. But the American public, over the course of this investigation, has learned a lot about what was going on in your White House that they didnt know before, during that time, the way some people were trying to go after Joe Wilson, in some ways. Im wondering if, over the course of this investigation, that you have learned anything that you didnt know before about what was going on in your administration. And do you have any work to do to rebuild credibility that might have been lost?

THE PRESIDENT: I think that first of all, the decision by the prosecutor speaks for itself. He had a full investigation. Karl Rove went in front of the grand jury like I dont a lot of times. More times than they took a hard look at his role.

Secondly, as I told the other Peter, Im going to tell you, that theres an ongoing trial, its a serious business. And Ive made the comments Im going to make about this incident, and Im going to put this part of the situation behind us and move forward.

21st Century Lynching

I posted this on a Myspace blog of mine a few days ago and then thought "why neglect this blog"?

I couldn't help but scorn myself for missing a screen shot of the front page that lie before me at 6 o'clock in the morning. At washingtonpost.com there was the image of James Cameron founder of America's Black Holocaust Museum, dedicated to educating the general public of the injustices suffered by people of African Heritage in America. Under this image was an article of appreciation and below that his obituary. James Cameron died at the age of 92 and is the only known survivor of a lynching attempt, which occurred when he was 16 years old. As amazing a feat it was, being one of thousands to escape such a fate, a greater spectacle lie in the headlines beside it.

I didn't care that George Bush made a "surprise" visit to Iraq (much like all the surprise sound bites he gives us each morning trying to raise his polls from the 30 percent monster) or that there was another shocking car bombing in Iraq. What I did take note of is
U.S. Officials Detail Zarqawi's Last Hour. Was it sheer irony the Washington post was trying to convey or a mere coincidence the articles lie side by side. A man who survived a lynching decades earlier died only two days after the public lynching of the "the new people of color"'s representative.

Here, at the Washington Post's website, they feed America's bloodlust and decrepit justice by flaunting the body of this dead man. They flaunt this dead man's body and then assure us he isn't human. "Look at what he's done! He's an animal!" Then in the same breath you kill dismiss four others. "They were collateral damage." Followed by a mask of humanity. "We let him die peacefully. Look at this picture of the man. He practically died of natural causes. The bomb didn't kill him and neither did our soldiers" as if it isn't the fall that kills the man but the sudden stop at the end. And they assure us it was necessary. "But it's going to help a lot," (and they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima) "Zarqawi was a loose cannon who gave al-Qaeda in Iraq a bad name with gruesome beheadings..." (and they drove the Native American off their land) "as it is the people's resistance and every youth can become al-Zarqawi" (and they enslaved the African children).

Fortunately for us, we do not have ropes anymore. We do not have museums where bodies have been quartered and genitals displayed of this strange humanoid animal. We no longer have lynched people sold on postcards for a few cents. No, now we have "tolerable" pictures, autopsies, and the mystique in whether or not they shot the man after they bombed him.

The lynching doesn't end there. Just as the lynching didn't stop with James Cameron, as it continued through Emmett Till, as it continues with Zarqawi and as they target Abdel Rahman al-Iraqi and Abu Masari... then Iran then some other non western civilization (because we all know North Korea is bad) who I suppose are only names to us, they'll find someone else. They might be people to some. They might be the next blood stained flag for others.

I am blogging from my phone for the first time

Ok, so this wasn't entirely political. I just never access my own blog on my cell phone and I finally got enough interest to try. My strange behavior will no doubt alert the NSA. I'm not sure if I already poked fun about this but that thousand pounds of explosives didn't kill Zarqowi, maybe the bullets of the soldiers that followed did (just saying). Why use the bombs in the first place other than to give a reason to make more of them if you can't take the man out. I guess that doesn't matter. The war on terror is over. Mission accomplished. Get er done. Now watch this drive.

Gay Marriage Shmay Marriage

Please don't be stupid enough to rally behind bush on something like this.

Extra! Extra! Supreme Court Nixes Free Speech!

Did I even mention the Supreme Court took away the power for government employees to speak out against their employer when they see something wrong? So much for free speech.

Let's all jump on the guy who says his superior officer has never done a legal search and seizure in his life :P or better yet let's all jump on the public hospital employee who saw the potential hazard in having a fire extinguisher near the MRI system.

The way America is headed is toward limited liability for the government and corporations and then when they are liable they don't have to give people squat. Forget of, for, and by the people. Let's get this country back to it's grass roots of property owning elitists who'll try to squeeze blood from stone as well as people.

Who needs their laws when you can write your own

Bush Co. ignoring the constitution

Firedoglake cite's a Boston Globe article which dissects the presidential signing statements bush uses to enhance his executive powers. Apparently bush has used this power 750 tmies where it was used 600 times by preceding presidents. George bush never uses his veto power because he never wants to give Congress the opportunity to shoot him down. Instead he writes in these little official notes that say how he interprets the power (even if that interpretation contradicts the law).
So he gets to run around like a maniac practically creating his own laws. Forget seperation of powers. He's got the military, congress and judicial system jumping hoops for the executive office.

Reality Check: Washington News or Important Gossip

I was reading Escatchon and saw this article from the New York Observer.

I'm just going to put the same excerpt Atrios did.

Ultimately, this episode reveals less about the Clintons than about the decaying culture of Washington journalism. Like the Bourbons, the Washington press corps forgets nothing, forgives nothing and learns nothing. They remain utterly oblivious to their own mean-spirited hypocrisy.

Is there a reason why the enduring, 30-year bond of the Clintons merits more withering scrutiny than the multiple unhappy marriages of ambitious politicians such as Senator John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani? Is there a reason why the marital privacy of elected officials should be violated, while media moguls like Rupert Murdoch can discard their wives with impunity?

Meanwhile, it is reassuring to know that Mr. Healy, at least, is a high-minded professional searching for significance. As the Times reporter told the American Society of Newspaper Editors a few years ago: "The media's future depends on journalists exercising this responsibility in a way that earns them the public's trust and confidence …. The most meaningful part of being a journalist, and the reason I chose that path, is the reward of telling stories about real-life, high-stakes matters of consequence, stories that will have an impact on real people."

That says it all.

If only a negative number of people existed

(CBS/AP)

You know what sucks? Unless Bush is impeached and removed before his term ends we’re eventually going to see an article that says “Bush’s polls bounce back". If it doesn’t happen because of some October surprise he has waiting for us (Though I would think America has become desensitized after watching 9/11, two “wars” and a vice president shooting a man in the face) it will happen because the man’s polls can only go as low as zero. Eventually, he will datamine his way back to 19 or 17 or 20 or whatever it is unpopular presidents of his caliber do.

Kill More Humans to Kill More People

Explosions Kill Two in Iraq

Mission Accomplished

The death of the U.S. soldier came as the United States marked Memorial Day. It brought to 2,467 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war started in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Illegal Data Mining by the NSA

The NSA has secretly been collecting billions of phone call records with the aid of Verizon, AT&T and Bell South.

This man has taken advantage of the lives of thousands of people to push a program that is illegal, immoral and goes against centuries of what America has stood for. We are allowing this man to take away rights under the falsehood of protecting us.

If you allow this man to say he has inherent powers as president during this time of war (which is actually an occupation, "authorized use of aggressive force") then there is no limit to what he can do.

H

e is already allowed to hold people without trying them and wiretap your phone without a warrant for making a call outside of the United States and now the NSA has amassed a database unprecedented in size that keeps track of every call you make. What is being done with this information? Who has it? How do we know the people who have it are not corrupted?

Nixon left office because he broke the law. He broke into records unlawfully. Are we going to allow this president to do the same thing just because people don't have to physically open files to get the information they want? They have access to YOUR information.

On top of that, how far has this gone? All of these programs in the NSA are private. The NSA itself was private from the 50's till 1975 when it was forced into regulation under FISA in 1978. We found out Bush ordered the NSA to go behind FISA's back and wiretap U.S. citizens without a warrant last year. Now we find the NSA is dealing in shady business by collecting our phone records. What they have done is obviously questionable because Qwest's lawyers didn't give up their phone records even after being pressured by the treat of losing government contracts. Bechtel protected it's customers records from the 30's onward because there could be heavy fines for giving up phone records without warrant.

I'm repeating the article, just read it.

Old Wine, New Bottle

Yes, straw man voting has started for the Republican party. Straw man voting for the straw man party. But what does it really matter? They are the same party they've always been. So some of them didn't support the Dubai Ports World deal, so what. The only reason they didn't go along with King bush is because the public didn't go along with it. They are all trying to save face for the '06 and '08 elections.

bush couldn't give a damn because he's already gotten everything he wants. He can go party with the UAE and get more millions with his shady business partners after his dead duck presidency is finished. The Republican Party on the other hand will be around a bit longer than bush will. They need to get away from the imploding President bush.

Unfortunately Frist can't distance himself from bush. People thought this cat slicer might have been bush's Vice President if not for the fact that Cheney has been shooting people in the face and sucking their soul to keep his heart beating. So Frist made his one move in teaming with Schumer and he thinks that sucking up will be enough to pull his party out of the dumps. It's too late though.

We have already seen these "through the looking glass" party antics. It's a party that helps the rich 1% and leaves the poor drowning. It attacks countries that have nothing to do with 9/11 while their executive's administration let's facilitators of the attacks do business with us. It's a party that equates women's choice with pro-death. Frist, bush. bush, Frist. It's all the same. Romney and McCain are all the same.

Just bush: Part 2

So bush has made his way into the White House. Luckily for him my memory grows a bit foggy. I remember him beginning his fight for ANWR. This land was originally a wild life refuge in the 60

(draft cut short and finally posted on 1/31/08 just for the sake of it)

Just bush: Part 1

Ever since George Bush got into office I was against him. Let me correct that. Ever since I learned he was running for president I was against him. I remember being in the politics chat in Yahoo telling people George Bush's state had the 2nd highest number of state sanctioned capital punishments in the world followed by CHINA. Back then I didn't add these fancy links that back up what I say.

Back then the president was arrogant enough to say "I'm confident, that every person that has been put to death in Texas under my watch has been guilty of the crime charged, and has had full access to the courts." Even when gross inadequacies in the trials of those convicted were shown to the man he replied "We've adequately answered innocence or guilt". (Answers like these would foreshadow his attitude in the future when he believed he had done everything adequately before wiretapping U.S. citizens, torturing prisoners in Abu Graib and attacking a country under false assumptions.) Yes, this president deals with inadequacies in the same way an absent-minded teenager deals with a minimum wage job.

But most of America doesn't appear to care about the murders occurring in the industrial prison complex. Americans manage to shrug off the the possibility of innocence and continue supporting the death penalty. So at the time I thought I could use shock value.

George Bush has never really been an "environment man". He truly does look out for the interests of large companies (or the friends that own them). For at least a decade during Bush's reign as governor of Texas there were babies being born without brains in the Rio Grande Valley. Along the U.S. Mexican border the rate of babies born with anencephaly can be anywhere from 2 to 8 times the nation-wide rate each year and tends to be higher than rates in many third world countries. The $3-$4 million dollars spent on researching this phenomena makes you wonder how much the businesses Bush supported in Texas are getting. Just as the Bush administration argues global warming doesn't exist he argued the increase in businesses (businesses that were largely not held accountable for the toxic waste they exported) would help environmental conditions. You increase industrial activity and population and pollution decreases. Go figure.

So no one listened to that. Then I remember personally talking to someone from Florida. (I didn't know it would be the problem it turned out to be at the time. I thought it would be close at the time I was talking about it but I didn't think they'd be subtracting votes and acting like the state was theirs from the get-go) This person from Florida personally told me their vote would not count. This person was not a convicted felon, didn't err in registering and probably could have made it to the booth (all three things that disenfranchised thousands of voters). This was a democrat who just said "I'm not voting", a youth. I'm a youth too and it pains me to speak to another who doesn't care. No, I can't say it truly pains me. It angers me that I can't be empathetic with their position. If not for ethical reasons I'd bust someone upside the head when they tell me they're not voting when they are able.

So I had my dose of pre-election fire. I remember printing out "Vote Gore" several times on sheets of paper and placing those pieces of paper across the country during a road trip. Fun times. Alas, Gore did not win. My first time being more than superficially involved with the upcoming election turned out to be a bust. I actually couldn't believe it. My family had been watching the television until we saw Gore win Florida. Then we went to the voting booth (this was in California). After we came back home (which didn't take more than 15 minute) Gore had some how lost control of the state. Talk about surreal.

Confessing Their Sins

by mcjoan [at Daily Kos]

Wed Mar 01, 2006 at 01:32:02 PM PDT

"We have to address the fact that the president has broken the law." -- Senator Russ Feingold

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary committee yesterday, Attorney General Gonzales provided a "clarification" of his previous testimony in which he admitted that, from the very beginning, the President as King theory upon which this administration operates has guided the President's actions. He confirmed that the President has been acting as though the Constitution allows him to break the law.

In his letter, Gonzales revisited earlier testimony, during which he said the administration immediately viewed a congressional vote in September 2001 to authorize the use of military force against al-Qaeda as justification for the NSA surveillance program. Bush secretly began the program in October 2001, Gonzales's letter said.

On Feb. 6, Gonzales testified that the Justice Department considered the use-of-force vote as a legal green light for the wiretapping "before the program actually commenced."

But in yesterday's letter, he wrote, "these statements may give the misimpression that the Department's legal analysis has been static over time."

Fein said the letter seems to suggest that the Justice Department actually embraced the use-of-force argument some time later, prompting Gonzales to write that the legal justification "has evolved over time."

One government source who has been briefed on the issue confirmed yesterday that the administration believed from the beginning that the president had the constitutional authority to order the eavesdropping, and only more recently added the force resolution argument as a legal justification. [emphasis mine]

Let me repeat. The administration believed from the beginning that the president had the constitutional authority to violate FISA. The administration believed from the beginning that it was above the law and because they believed the President was above the law, the President BROKE the law. All of these "evolving" legal justifications for the illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens have been nothing more than diversions, window-dressing to make us think that the administration FELT like it had to provide justification for it's illegal actions. Whether he intended it or not, Gonzales just admitted that, from the very beginning, the President has operated as King.

Before the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees even consider revising FISA, they need to address the fact that the President of the United States is an admitted criminal.

-Taken from DailyKos

A Conversation with Ismail Haniyeh - The New Hamas Prime Minister

Since Hamas won control of parliament in the recent Palestinian elections, policymakers in Washington and Jerusalem have been faced with a dilemma: how to deal with a democratically elected government that is also on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. Last week, Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth interviewed Hamas's new prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, by phone in his home in the refugee camp where he lives with his wife and 12 children in Gaza.

OK, this is the last one for today. I don't want to overload you or anything :p I haven't even gone past the first page on this one anyway.

I just put this one up as a reminder that we didn't get the puppet government we wanted. I mean how far do we have to go? Why not just wipe out the rest of the Iraqi's and put United States citizens in? That country has been as fair as it possibly could be. They let us call them liars, occupy their land, kill thousands of innocent people, force our own little interem government on them and they've even let us make conditions if they're to be delt with.
I'm surprised they haven't authorized Haniyeh to use force to get rid of the American insurgents.

Port Deal - Boxing a slow bush's Ears from the Left AND Right

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, an outspoken liberal Democrat from New York, two weeks ago began publicly denouncing a deal to let a Middle Eastern firm take over terminal operations at six U.S. seaports. From the other end of the political spectrum, even more outspoken conservative radio host Michael Savage was doing the same -- and recruiting Republican lawmakers to his cause.

It was on Feb. 13 that the Dubai Ports World deal -- after simmering unnoticed for months in the federal bureaucracy and the transportation trade press -- started to boil, as a result of Savage's blustery on-air alarms and an event by Schumer at the New York harbor with families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001.

It was not until Feb. 16 that Bush was informed by aides of the controversy -- and that his own administration had approved the port deal a month earlier. It was not until five days after that, on Feb. 21, that Bush spoke up in support of the port deal. By then, dozens of prominent lawmakers in both parties had joined Savage and Schumer in questioning the president's commitment to national security.

You can read the whole article here. It is analyzing the port deal and how bush reacted slowly and some might say inappropriately when the uprising began.
So he was tardy in responding to us getting attacked on 9/11, he was tardy on Katrina and he was tardy with our security in the port deal. He used to own the Texas Rangers right? Has he ever heard of three strikes?

Then again maybe we should let him go with two since he was nowhere near tardy when he said "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. He might be a good 10 or 15 years early for all we know.

Five Words: The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

I wanted to get a transcript of the "State of the Black Union 2006: Economic Empowerment" so I could get the words of Minister Farrakhan. I see I will have to purchase the DVD from C-Span :p I searched for a news article that might give you a glimpse into the words of Farrakhan but I could only find watered down, misdirecting, out-of-context versions of the event here, here and here.

These versions of the event aside, Farrakhan's words are of major importance. I'm going to make an attempt to paraphrase it, We have attempted to work "inside the box" with this country. We have played by the rules of this country. We have also been burned by this country while playing by the rules.

Harry Belafonte was at this event and the honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan recalled a moment Belafonte had with Reverend Martin Luther King, a few weeks before his assassination, in which Mr. Belafonte had asked why King looked so "melancholy". King answered that he feared he was integrating his people into a burning house.

His fear was not unjustified. This house has been burning for 400 years. We can tell it is still burning because, as Barbara Jordan had said, we want "an America as good as its promise", but America's promise is worth very little.

America made promises to Native American’s and the only promise they kept was taking their land. They promised African-American’s 40 acre’s and a mule and they never gave us our land. They promised us the vote and yet they still held a million voters back in Florida in 2000 because former felons who have already repaid their debt to society are not allowed to vote. So this has been the land of unfulfilled promises.

An oppressed people have never been freed by their oppressors. The oppressed can only free themselves by reforming the system that oppresses them, or by destroying that system. We have already tried to reform the system and the system has failed us. The only choice we have is to remove this president, remove this government and replace it with something that works.

So that is as best as I can take from memory. I only give my rendition about 60 or 70% Mine is missing the religious overtone also. But I'm sure you understand what he's saying. The media will be afraid to say what's going on. Some will say it was a bush bashing rally, some will say it was an attempt for economic justice and some will say it was a black symposium.

It's more than that though.

It's a call to justice.
It's a call for movement
It's an enlightenment of what the leadership in this country is thinking
and doing
It's a call to tell others about what's going on
It's a call to uproot a tyrant

Then there is more than I can think of at the moment that I am sure others got out of it. Like Smiley said. You didn't get that even if you think you got it. It might be days, weeks and even months until some people understand what's was said.

Old School - '02-'03 - Bush for Oil, Cheney for Everything Else

Now this is just a little bit of easy reading for a friend of mine (you know who you are). The question came up, and I paraphrase, Why would we attack Iraq and leave all these other countries that had their hand in 9/11 alone? It has become so cliché to say "He did it for the oil". It rolls off my tongue so easily I forget what it means sometimes.

The pipeline through Afghanistan.

Halliburton dips it’s hands in Iraq uncontested. (You may want a little bit more time to absorb this one)

So that’s just a taste. This day's for you LD

Ha Ha Ha Ha. Are the enemies the Arabs or the Old White People

Funny. The bush administration has forgotten who the enemies are.

Nepotism At It's Finest

Look what Atrios found,

Washington - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The article goes on to say "The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the 9/11 hijackers." [link added by me for emphasis]

So cronyism comes into play. The bush administration is more concerned with lining their pockets than with the security of our nation.

Abu Ghraib Images: II

While you wait to see Whittington's face (if that's ever going to happen) here's the second installment of pictures from Abu Ghraib: "Homicide, Torture and Sexual Humiliation"

Coming to Theaters

Dead, But Stable

Only nurses, doctors and hospitals should be allowed to use the term stable. Politicians and reporters abuse of the word "stable" in describing someone's conditions allows for deceptive reporting. A person can nearly be dead and still be "stable". Sharon has been in a coma for 38 days but at least he is stable. Dick Cheney sent Harry Whittington to the intensive care unit but Whittington was stable. Heck, Terri Shiavo had a liquefied cerebral cortex but she was still stable.

Politicians and reporters should be required to give a mandatory description of the injured condition ranging from excellent (only needed a band-aid) to critical (life hangs in the balance). Maybe the republicans need a color coded system. They seem to understand color.

Our state can't possibly make sense to half the country.

Our state can't possibly make sense to half the country.

Why does a president need extraordinary wartime powers when we are not in wartime? If this is a war why have we not made a declaration? Why have we gotten "Authorized use of force" instead of war? This is not palatable. We are not fighting a threat. If Iraq is such a threat why are we not at full scale war? Why are we not being supported by a league of nations (the coalition is/was/and forever will be a joke)

I don't have the energy. I don't know what common sense is anymore.

If terrorists are such a threat to our country why are we still eating butter? Why are 30,000 people being laid off at Ford instead of being kicked into high gear in order to build more military supplies? Why are people walking around without being taxed feeling like there is nothing going wrong? Can't you just taste something is wrong. Why am I able to type this down without any worries? Where is the draft? I don't even see people riding around with flags any more. Is it possible that 9/11 was a fluke?

Maybe we aren't destined to not be attacked ever. Maybe, just maybe, 1775, 1812, 1865, 1917, 1941...maybe the Cold War and Vietnam, Maybe something is going to happen to us. We are not invincible. We do not live in a bubble. We are part of the world. if we are struck every 40 years it is not because we are not focusing on the "terrorists". It is because as a citizen of the world we must interact with others. Sometimes others will be mad at us. I don't know one person who is friends with everybody. Someone will be mad at you because you're friends with everybody. But in this country's case we're just jerks.

It is completely understandable that 9/11 occurred. I'm not going to belittle any of the people's lives or anything but get over it. You can do everything you can possibly do outside of putting tags on ever citizen and non citizen in the U.S. (and I mean tagging their brain so you can press a button and off us) and there is still the possibility of getting hit. Put that on top of our mentality to put others down in order to stay ahead and you will always have an enemy. Iran is going to hate us for stopping their nuclear energy program. Russia already warned us about messing with Iran and China has got it's hands in Iran's pockets (much like they have their hands in the rest of the worlds pockets). You can't account for all this. it's a complex system that can lead to trouble whether or not you soft step everything. If it wasn't 9/11/2001 it may have been 2/26/2015.

Impeach bush. he broke the law.
This is the "Authorized use of force on Iraq" not the "War on Iraq"
Gonzales is one weak puppet.

Maybe FISA doesn't need changing. Maybe Bush should just not break laws.

FISA never stopped anyone from stopping 9/11. There are many out there that would have you believe 9/11 is the fault of FISA. This is absolutely not the case. The real matter is a bunch of dumbells hired around a dumbell organization ran by a dumbell at the top didn't know how to go about doing their job.

Just like Iraq has nothing to do with....had nothing to do with Al Quaeda, just like Iran isn't building nukes, just like Iraq couldn't have attacked us if their lives depended on it, FISA statutes in no way shape or form interfered with gathering intelligence that could have stopped 9/11.


If anyone says FISA is responsible for 9/11 they are lying. Now, watch this drive

By the Way. Bush broke the law.

President Bush broke the law. Thousands of Americans have been eavesdropped on by the President without warrents and nearly all of them have been dismissed as potential suspects. That means there are thousands of people out there who have been secretly wire-tapped and they will have no idea what was taken by the government. As Senator Leahy asked "what is done" with this information? Are they going to throw it away? Are thousands of Americans now part of this new White House archive?

Come to think of it, what's to stop another Watergate from occurring right now? Speedy Gonzales is allowing the Executive Branch to go on without any checks or balances. We currently have the police policing the police. NSA officials who work under the president will watch their own organization and report to the president. What is it called when the governed are not governed. Are we under a tyranny or an anarchy right now? I think Mr. bush is being tyrannical. Yes, bush is causing a tyrannical problem right now.

You know, the bush crew is saying they cannot get everything done that needs to be done to stop another 9/11 from occurring under current FISA statutes. But no one is saying those statutes are static. The senate had a virtual 100 percent agreement on passing the Patriot act. Why would President Bush and his lawyers be afraid to go to Congress and fix the statutes? Is it possible that they have something to hide? When I have something to hide I generally try to step around the people who I'm hiding something from. Does that make sense?

The justice department did reject the bush administration's notion that they should be able to do NSA surveillance under "a reasonable basis" isntead of "probable cause" as standard of the Fourth Amendment. Perhaps bush Co. realizes some of the "Terrorist Surveillance" (oh screw that, it's unwarranted surveillance, the country is breaking the law and tapping your phones without a court order) did not come up to par with the court's idea of what is necessary to have a warrant issued.

Personally I think we should get democrats for '06 so we can uncover what's going on. If we can have the House back for one session let it be when we can find out what illegal procedures Bush and his cronies are doing.

I have finally found out what to call the American-Iraq Conflict

During Speedy Gonzalez's NSA questioning, (that involved a lot of question dodging and boiling it down to either we thought "we were doing it right" or "if we had done it the other way you might have squealed on our program") a Republican senator had implied that we declared war on Iraq. Gonzales was quick to rebut at the end of this senator's question that we had not declared war on Iraq. We had just given an authorization to use force on them.

OK. From now on it's called the "Authorization of force against Iraq" or the "Authorized use of force on Iraq". Let's get away from this whole "WAR" thing because I'm tired of hearing the chickenhawks say "in time of war", in "war of this widespread yada yada fuck you America such and such".

"Authorized use of force against Iraq" - you heard it here first.

Gonzales Aid's President in Illegal Surveillance

If you've been following CSPAN you're aware of Alberto Gonzales' smug interpretation of the law.

And while I was going to analyze everything Gonzales said wrong I saw this bomb at CrooksandLiars. I thought I watched the NSA questioning at least twice but apparently this slipped my mind.

Gonzalez is practically kicking us in the face and secretly laughing at us ( I say secretly because he is sort of holding the grin back).

Yes it is sick that the other side will sit there and pretend like everything is fine and dandy when you have scum puddles like this pushing the limits of their sick game and toying with the people of this country.

But once again I say it was damn funny. I cannot stop watching it. Yes they have us hypnotized I sat there listening when it was live. I heard it yet I did not hear it. Only now so many hours later do I realize I have been made a fool of. Kind of sad but they say so much shit it just flows through your brain.

Did Dorgan get money from Abramoff Apolitically?

Senator Dorgan appeared on the Ed Schultz show today on air America. At around 12:50 PM he said that he hadn't politically received any money from Abramoff. I wonder why did he have to put the qualifier "politically" on it? That makes it sound as if he has personally or shall we say "non-politically" received money from Abramoff. If I were a politician I would say I never got one red cent from Abramoff.

How can Dorgan sit up there and have the nerve to say he was a whistle blower along with McCain? I don't know if I can trust the guy. I want to hear him say he hasn't received money in any way. I want to hear someone else ask him the question again to see if he consciously qualifies his answer.

p.s. I never scientifically published this entry.

Heave Ho, to the left they go

Bush told the crowd at the annual "Let Freedom Ring" performance that Congress must renew provisions of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that are set to expire next year. The president had previously declined to support the renewal until last month, and the crowd erupted in applause when Bush insisted that it be renewed.
I don't think I understand how people can't see this is a political gimmick. It's timing. I mean could he have said he was going to renew it 5 years ago or so? I wonder why he would support the renewal now? Could it be because there are election in '06 and this would be a nice talking point?

I guess it isn't as bad as Ah-nold's blatent swing toward the left recently. Is anyone going to push the fact that this man who has been riding a motorcycle for two decades does not have an M1 license? Is anyone going to point out this is the same man who says we have to "drive sensible and defensively" in the Calfiornia Drivers Handbook? I wish Ah-nold would pass a law that allowed every person who voted for the Goobernator to be slapped. I'd like every one of those voters to get one hard slap to the face for putting in the one-liner king.

So yeah, go ahead and vote for those left leaning Republicans...left leaning Republicans...left leaning Republicans. Jeez, it's almost as bad as that commercial where they call Democrats "RATS".

Those Republicans are oxymorons...oxyMORONS...oxyMORONS...

Wal-Mart Moves On, Gunman or No Gunman

[Insert Wal-Mart here]

A couple days ago, December 28, 2005 to be exact, there was allegedly a gunman in Wal-Mart at the Long Beach Tone Center at (where else?) Long Beach, California. My family and I went to Wal-Mart to get Alka-Seltzer (if I add a link can you pay me Bayer?) and we were not allowed to enter because a gunman was supposedly inside. Somehow they did not know who the gunman was but one woman who had been turned away earlier said there was supposed to be a black man who had been waving a gun around inside the store...(no description...just a black gunman...I'm sure he was going to be ok...) "Everyone" (black males) was checked when they left the store. I had been there 30 minutes watching officers (I saw at least 6 black and whites) wander around lackadaisically. SWAT was not called in and Wal-Mat ade sure that, while no one was allowed to enter, customers who were already inside at the time would be ushered through the checkout lanes as they finished shopping.

[insert shopping cart picture here]

Isn't that a trip though? A gunman is supposed to be inside, no one is allowed to enter, but you can finish shopping. Wal-Mart needs to make a new ad... "Wal-Mart, not even a gunman will stop you from shopping here."

They Recovered Enough Bodies Anyway...

After 4 months of searching for bodies of Katrina victims in New Orleans, I hear searches have stopped. These searches have ended despite still missing people and unsearched rubble. I was recently watching CNN where I heard a New Orleans resident say (and I paraphrase) police, the state, the country is ending their search and the police say it is not their responsibility. Perhaps it was just easier looking through rubble in New York in 2001.

I guess it's that paradoxical situation where you can stop looking for your dead yet you can't pull out of Iraq. Maybe I'm sleepy and that's not the same thing.

The irony. It takes Dick Cheney to make me come out of Hiding...

I also know how to use the term liar. Apparently Cheney has lost his knack for the English language.