Republicans, Right or Wrong Respected, Still?

Have you noticed how Republicans are complimented routinely in the media for every decision they make. Just a few weeks ago a newscaster introduced a story about the passage of the hotly discussed Great Lakes Compact between eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces to protect the lakes from large-scale water diversions. Months after the Democrats approved the language, the Republicans acquiesced. The newscaster stated that after finally getting Republican approval, only now could Wisconsin be confident the agreement would be fair to all sides of the debate. This misplaced credibility is a result of years of market positioning.

The assumption is that they are the guardians of our liberal democracy, founded on liberal values. Go figure.

The same is true of our court judges and justices. Take former DA, state legislator and now state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser.

According to the Chicago Tribune; “Justice Prosser said he did nothing wrong when, as a district attorney, he talked with a bishop about a priest's inappropriate conduct with two young boys in the 1970s…he raised concerns about Pastor John Feeney's conduct, (the Bishop) said he would "take care of it." Prosser said, ’I assumed that when the Bishop said he would take care of it that he would remove this guy from the parish. I don't think he acted promptly."

Prosser, a grownup, should have known better. Even if things were "taken care of," it’s a crime to try and feel up little boys. Stranger still, “Prosser has recused himself from two cases on the docket this session that involve the Catholic Church and allegations of sexual abuse of minors.” Is there something a little deeper here?

“In a December 1978 letter, (the Bishop) wrote "I had to agree with the district attorney that the church would prefer to keep this out of court and out of the public eye…with which he agreed." Is Prosser really letting a pedophile Pastor off the hook? It took a few decades, but “Feeney, now 81, was convicted in 2004 and is serving 15 years in jail.”

And Republicans are filled with excuses and bothered by details. “Prosser said he didn't think he could win a case. He told the mother "that a trial was going to be a test of credibility of two young boys against a priest. I believed the boys. Their credibility would be attacked in court. They would be national news. It would be difficult for them at trial and in their small community." Prosser noted that the state's sexual assault laws were rewritten in the late 1970s -- changing from rape to sexual assault -- and were complicated and untested.”

Too complicated for a future Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice? Wisconsin can be proud.

Talking Points Primer, Again

I have a feeling this is going to be a difficult election year. For many of us, the presidential campaign will be a test of political wills pitting the Democrats against a Party of rabid Republicans with no socially redeeming legacy to speak of during their tenure.

It’s almost humorous to hear them beg on a platform of “We know we were crazy nuts with power and out of control spenders, but we’re gonna change…really. You wouldn’t vote against us due to the last 13 years, and two recessions would you. Don’t forget, the Democrats were in the same room with us and they poison everything with their liberal presence.”

Since they have nothing to show but higher taxes for future generations, they are now getting back to basics. And lying without redress.

In Wisconsin, Republicans were the guests and focal point of local radio and television talk shows due to their recent convention. Without skipping a beat, every media appearance pushed the same lie over and over, without a challenge by the moderator, that the polls showed McCain beating Barack Obama easily. I remembered something very different, which prompted me to research and discover the following chart of poll results at President Polls 2008.

Last Updated: 5/19/08

Pollster Date Barack Obama John McCain
University of Wisconsin 4/28/08 47.0 43.0
Wisconsin Public Radio / St.
Norbert College 4/5/08 46.0 42.0
Survey USA 4/17/08 49.0 44.0
Survey USA 3/20/08 48.0 44.0
Rasmussen Reports 5/7/08 43.0 47.0
Rasmussen Reports 3/26/08 46.0 48.0

Besides the Rasmussen Report numbers, the raw data tells a different story. The reliable polls from the University of Wisconsin (the Badger Poll), and St. Norbert College have a record of reflecting the public mood at the time. Technically, isolating the one poll that shows their candidate winning gives them cover and is the kind of spin one might expect from the Republican Party.

I’ve included this video from "Upfront With Mike Gousha" showing Republican National Committee Chair Mike Duncan dredge up a list of desperate rhetoric and shameless fiction (lying).




“Democrats are proposing bigger government,” actually re-regulating runaway corporate elites as a protection against investment losses and restoring consumer safety.

“Higher taxes,” for wealthier Americans, while maintaining the middle class tax cuts.

“A trillion dollars in new spending” with the Democrats “pay as you go” offsets. Bush borrowed about 3 trillion dollars for current and future Iraq and Afghanistan obligations that will have to be paid for by taxpayers.

“He’s proposing a one size fits all health care plan. That means that the doctors and patients have little to say, and we’ll have something like a department of wellness here in town.” There are so many lies in this one statement that I’m trying desperately not to pound my fingers through the keyboard at this point. Both Democratic presidential candidates are supporting a government run insurance plan, leaving for profit insurance companies to administer health care oversight. I would do away with the middle man here, but regardless, government has nothing to do with medical decisions between doctors and patients. If anything, insurance companies have a horrific record of health care denials. Only a lowbrow dimwitted numbskull would envision a “department of wellness.” My brain is starting to hurt.

“He’s for pulling our troops out, just immediately, and giving countenance to our enemy…we’ll create a breeding ground for terrorists for the future.” If the military saw a strategic need to withdraw, would that also give “countenance” to our enemy? Would the Iraqi’s allow a breeding area for terrorists? Remember, this is their country, not ours. If we leave, they’ll still be there.

I’ve vented. Over and out.

Rush Thinks Obama Dumb Black Guy

Can the Republican Water Carriers Get Anymore Racist?

"If Barack Obama were caucasion, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago"-Rush Limbaugh May 2008

In God We Trust Equals Patriotism

Out of Lancaster California, comes the next step in tying religion to government, by joining religion to patriotism. Clever don’t you think? We can all thank the 1956 slogan, “In God We Trust” on our money, for the slippery slope to theocratic government. Here's the LA Daily News story with the details:

“The Lancaster City Council has unanimously approved placing the motto "In God We Trust" on the back wall of the council chambers. The city joins more than 30 others around the country. Resident Debbie Phillips said after the council action last week. ‘Not everybody shares the council's individual and collective religious beliefs. That's what makes our country great. We have a diversity of beliefs, and it seems this is discriminatory."

Closely watch how conservatives justify pushing the limits, despite the obvious ramifications, by claiming what they’re doing is “legal.” And technically it is. But even more insidious is the newer tact the theocrats are taking, and that is to make inseparable the idea that religion is patriotism. If you think I’m a bit paranoid, check out this comment from a local elected official.

“Councilwoman Sherry Marquez, who was elected in April, said she proposed the motto not to promote religion but rather to reflect patriotism. I'm not bringing my religious beliefs into here. I'm bringing my Americanism and patriotism in here. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

“Americans United for the Separation of Church and State spokesman Joe Conn said, “It's about pushing one religious perspective…the fundamentalist Christians want government to reflect their views of religion…this is a step toward that…"

Conn has the last part right. Again, this is an attempt to join Christianity to patriotism, plain and simple. It can't and won't be challenged in court. He is right to say; it is a step toward a Christian government.

The article also gives us a little background on the current legal precedent. “So far judges have ruled that the motto's use on currency does not violate the First Amendment's prohibition on the establishment of religion, The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 1970 that "its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise."

I hope you got that bit about “its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character.” That’s the Circuit Courts unintentional suggestion that perhaps being a God fearing Christian is also patriotic. But the kicker to this story; its only the beginning. “Bakersfield City Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan leads an effort to bring the motto to city halls across the state. (She says) ‘The highest form of American patriotism is love of God and love of country."

I feel an uneasiness that I have never felt before. Could this be the bullet that slowly and unavoidably kills our young democracy?

I never said I was an optimist.

Food, Demand and For Profit Global Predators

For those of us trying desperately to understand the details relating to the worlds food shortage and how we got to this point, a NY Times story, “World’s Poor Pay Price as Crop Research Is Cut” contains a few clues, which I have edited down here. I’m left to wonder what the World Banks former president, Paul Wolfowitz did or didn’t do to help this disaster reel out of control.

“The budgets of institutions that delivered the world from famine in the 1970s, including the rice institute, have stagnated or fallen, even as the problems they were trying to solve became harder. Agricultural experts have complained about the flagging efforts for years and warned of the risks. ‘Nobody was listening,’ said Thomas Lumpkin, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico.”

"With demand beginning to outstrip supply, prices have soared, and food riots have erupted that have undermined the stability of foreign governments. But cuts in agricultural research continue. The United States is in the midst of slashing, by as much as 75 percent, its $59.5 million annual support for a global research network that focuses on improving crops vital to agriculture in poor countries. The United States cut its support for agriculture in poor countries to $624 million from $2.3 billion. The center in Mexico has created drought-tolerant corn for Africa and higher-yielding, disease-resistant wheat for South Asia. But it does not have the money to get the varieties into the hands of poor farmers.”

“With Europe and the United States offering their farmers heavy subsidies that encouraged production, grain became abundant worldwide, and prices fell. Many poor countries, instead of developing their own agriculture, turned to the world market to buy cheap rice and wheat.”

Take note of this short sighted neo-liberal comment from a Reagan administration genius.

“In 1986, Agriculture Secretary John Block called the idea of developing countries feeding themselves ‘an anachronism from a bygone era,’ saying they should just buy American.”

“Advocates for agriculture fought a losing battle to stop the cutbacks — nowhere more than in the World Bank, the huge institution in Washington that makes low-interest loans to poor countries for development projects. Adjusted for inflation, the World Bank cut its agricultural lending to $2 billion in 2004 from $7.7 billion in 1980. At the World Bank, agricultural financing has begun to recover. Under a new president, Robert B. Zoellick, the bank has decided to double its lending for such programs in Africa.”

Former World president Paul Wolfowitz is not referenced in this article, so it would be premature to draw any conclusions about his contribution to the current food price hikes and shortages. But his mere presence is enough to set off alarms.

The point is, the global economic rules were written and executed by for profit interests with little concern for any possible consequences. Over 70 percent of the money the U.S. spends on supplying food to the world goes to private interests who store and ship the goods, short changing the people who need to eat. Europe has for years given cash to needy countries to spend on agriculture and technology. It's time we follow suit.

If Packing Heat Makes Us Safe, Why the Double Standard

Since I have had my fill of pointless debates regarding the meaning of the Second Amendment, the right to carry a concealed weapons and the radical nature of the National Rifle Association, I have narrowed my answer down to a few simple truths.

I would like to see these “ivory tower” Republicans, tucked safely away in their state capitals, allow hand guns in their legislatures. Remember, only those law abiding citizens who have gone through a rigorous screening process, will be packin' heat. What could be safer? It's true that some Democrats voted for these same carry laws, but lets be honest, they’ve had to give in to stay politically alive.

Michael Daly of the NY Daily News wrote about the blatant NRA hypocrisy and political cowardice of presidential candidate John McCain. If guns make all of so safe, then a demonstration of that concept should have been a part of McCain’s NRA visit.

“A small but startling sign welcomed the gun lovers who arrived at the National Rifle Association's annual gathering Friday. 'Firearms WILL NOT be allowed in Hall A during the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum.' Beyond this sign at the Kentucky Exposition Center was a row of 10 metal detectors. The alert, however, said nothing about pocketknives, which seemingly everybody here was carrying. Hundreds of convention goers finally reached the detectors only to be told they could not be admitted with an implement they had never even considered to be a weapon.”

“It's kind of ironic, isn't it?" Rob Stevens of Bedford, Ky., said. "We preach the right to carry everywhere, and we got to start by turning in a pocketknife."

And they wonder why the Republican Party platform is a failed social experiment.

Calling into Question Conservative Morality

Although I have done my best to document, with examples, the idea that conservative thought is somehow defective, I'm still not comfortable making that sweeping generalization. I have had extensive interactions with Republican ideologues, including a one year stint on talk radio teamed up with a female flamethrower. A friend of mine for the last 40 years is now a born again, gun toting(illegal in Wisconsin, but...)bigoted racist, and is totally unaware of the latter. I have witnessed an unwavering belief in boat loads of misinformation despite documentation to the contrary. People in poverty, to him, are quite content raising their families in squalor. He ranted for ten minutes about a woman in a grocery check out line buying shrimp with food stamps because it was something he couldn't afford to do himself on his meager income. He envied the food choice of person who doesn't know the kinds of freedom you and I take for granted because of her economic class.

Thom Hartmann made a similar point in a recent interview on Air America Radio. About 4:40 remaining in to his conversation, the point is made that even though conservatives are more comfortable with inequality, that alone shouldn't bring their morality into question at all. Sure it should, and Thom makes that point well.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence."

Crazy Florida Stories

Only in Florida, a crazy state filled with Republicans, could this surreal story rear its sick twisted tale.

According to the Miami Herald, “A Miami-Dade judge said the wife of a lottery winner cannot go forward with a lawsuit against her husband until she can provide a legal argument to support her claim for half of his jackpot. ‘Where does the law say you automatically have a right to participate in the proceeds?' the Circuit Judge.”

Would it surprise you that the Judge is a woman, who apparently doesn’t think marriage applies to both husband and wife equally?”

“Donna Campbell filed against her husband, after he hit a $19 million Florida Lotto jackpot last summer with 16 of his co-workers. Campbell has to prove the money used to buy the lottery ticket came from his work salary, which is considered a marital asset.”

Isn’t it strange that separately obtained items are exempt? We are talking about Florida though.

“Campbell, 48, a former model, says her husband of three years tried to keep his good fortune a secret from her when he hit the lottery last summer. She claims he disconnected the phone line in their Miramar home and kept her from watching TV so she wouldn't find out he was a winner. She found out when she Googled her husband's name and the lotto press release popped up.”

The Judge might have wondered what her husband was trying to cover up since he owed her nothing? Didn’t it seem like weird and unusual behavior for a marital partner?

This is my first entry documenting how a Republican dominated state like Florida descends into chaos. In an upcoming post, I’ll take a look at their rush to waste tax payer money on an unaccountable school voucher system.

Briefly, the GOP will foolishly denounce Europe’s health care system, but point with pride to the Swiss nations voucher program. The difference between what they want to do here and what's going on over there is that the Swiss require one curriculum and standardized test for all schools. Here there are no tests, no accountability and is a less than subtle attack on the public school system.

Positioning and Framing Democratic Party Problem

Throughout this blog I’ve revealed ways Republicans use “framing” and “positioning” as a way to define their opponents. It puts the opposition Party on the defensive, forcing them to explain themselves within the “frame” they’ve been “positioned” in. Democrats can win the discussion if the start by reframing the topic from their own ideological point of view.

I have also taken the Democrats to task for not taking every opportunity to redefine the entire debate. It has been frustrating, to say the least, when you have at least half dozen issues a day to work with and you do nothing. I remember what the great humorist Ernie Kovacs once said about his television show in the early 50’s, and I paraphrasing, “It’s a formula the media has been using for years, and that is, you take a good idea and beat it to death.”

It’s a formula conservatives have used for years. Look what they’ve done to the word “liberal.” Another recent example deals with voter ID. In the conservative mind, where they don’t trust the majority of people because they’re inherently evil, voters will cheat the electoral process by illegally casting ballots multiple times to win an election. Of course it doesn’t make sense and would be impossible to organize, but they have repeated this scenario over two decades, convincing many casual observers that it wouldn’t hurt to require ID’s. Never mind an April 2007 report by the Justice Department that turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections. A federal panel’s consultants for the Election Assistance Commission found there was little evidence of it across the country. Richard Hasen, an expert in election law at the Loyola Law School, said “what we see is isolated, small-scale activities that often have not shown any kind of criminal intent.”

Yet the majority of conservative Justices on the Supreme Court ideology decided that voter ID would not be a heavy burden to place on the electorate, despite the lack of evidence pro and con.

It took years, but Republican won that battle, even though it was a solution to a non-existent problem.

Another Republican position has been cartoon simple; if you don’t support the war in Iraq than you don’t support the troops. This jingoistic statement has kept Democrats back on their heels. The GOP brand, “the Party of Defense,” is starting to crumble and conservative party members are looking like the biggest hypocrites on the block.
We just learned that the VA sent out emails to employees stating; “Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest that we refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out.” That’s affects about 1 out of 5 troops who have served in our recent conflicts. Instead, it advises “consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder,” which doesn’t deliver the same level of benefits.

For a party that supports the soldiers, we’re not seeing a huge number of outraged Republican voters holding their elected representatives feet to the fire. In fact, we’re not seeing any public outrage by the “support our troops” magnet buying flag wavers. Infuriated Democratic voters are dismissed and “framed” as Bush haters. As inhumane as the conservative treatment of veterans is, the Party brand is intact.

In a much lighter, non political frame, the Colorado Springs Gazette feature an article on something called “The Tape Project.” It releases music on quarter inch tape, yes, the kind that plays on a reel-to-reel tape deck. I had my first one back in 1963, a Concord, which was then followed by a Wollensak. They are positioning this antique technology as “the most satisfying experience that has ever come from reproduced music.” Five dollar reels of tape sell for $200 to $329 with music on it, and only ten reels are released per year. WOW, I can’t wait.

The kicker for me was in the closing paragraph, framing this relic as if it were something special. “To truly appreciate the format, though, you’ll also need to pick up a sophisticated reel-to-reel player. That’s an extra $7,500.” Now that’s positioning on steroids.

“SOPHISTICATED reel-to-reel PLAYER?” Like my two used tape decks in storage? Oh my god, they even have a space age technology that can transform sound into organized magnetic particles by simply touching the highly advanced “record” button.

I’m taking offers…anyone?

Just for fun, here's a glimpse back to the future, from retrothing.com:

"This may not seem small to you, but for a quality reel to reel this is practically a Walkman!
Every part of this hefty recorder exudes quality. The cabinet is cool to the touch because it is made entirely of that mysterious material called steel. The functions are clearly labeled, and everything just plain works. The manual does stretch a point here and there - what they call "feather touch controls" I call 'horse-tooth sized ka-chunkers'. Maybe that's what it takes to make a product that lasts."

Loud and Clueless Talkers On the Right Please

I thought about writing my own blistering take on radio talker Kevin James' hapless appearance on Hardball, but someone beat to the punch. Enjoy.

Kevin James: The Poster Boy for What's Wrong with Talk Radio
Posted 5/16/2008 6:47 AM CDT
In a very funny, yet sad exchange on Hardball yesterday, host Chris Matthews humiliated right wingnut radio jabber Kevin James over the "appeasement" uproar stupidly started by GWB in Israel yesterday. This guy looks about 16 years old and is like a giant Chatty Kathy - just pull the string and he repeats the same talking points in order ad infinitum. Chris couldn't control the conversation, or this guy's mouth, so he tried to quizz him on appeasement by Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of Britain in the '30s, and the Munich Agreement where Britain ceded part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler. This guy didn't even know who Chamberlain was, how he got tagged with the appeaser label, or what he did.
After making a complete fool of himself, Kevin just started repeating "appeasement" faster and faster linking the accusation to Obama. I nearly fell out of my chair when the other guest, Mark Green. of Air America, who otherwise couldn't get a word in edgewise, finally blurted out, "When you're in a hole, you stop digging."

read on by clicking story title....

Support Our Troops, Not Our Vets

My dad is a former Marine, and Purple Heart recipient from WW2. He’s also a liberal and vocal critic of the pathetic Bush policies that have disenfranchised thousands of veterans. It was a hard pill to swallow when he heard how the Veterans Administration withheld information and benefit policy to discourage troops seeking medical attention and to hold down government costs. I don’t even want to be around when he reads about the administrations latest attempt to avoid the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Thanks to groups like Votevets.org, these shattered lives will get the help they were promised. Their web site posted this story:

“Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and VoteVets.org released an e-mail obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) stating that due to an increased number of ‘compensation seeking veterans,’ the staff should ‘refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out’ and they should ‘R/O [rule out] PTSD’ and consider a diagnosis of ‘Adjustment Disorder’ instead. The e-mail is available at http://www.citizensforethics.org/.”

(According to) “CREW, ‘It is outrageous that the VA is calling on its employees to deliberately misdiagnose returning veterans in an effort to cut costs.’ The RAND Corporation released a report that found that approximately 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and only about half have sought treatment.”

In a related story on PTSD, I discovered this chiller- “The Treasonous Letter,” by Michelle Gillett of Berkshire Eagle Online. She wrote:

“Laura Berg wrote the following to the editor of her local paper, the Alibi in Albuquerque, New Mexico in September, 2005: "As a VA nurse working with returning . . . vets, I know the public has no sense of the additional devastating human and financial costs of post-traumatic stress disorder; now we will have hundreds of thousands of our civilian citizens with PTSD as well as far too many young soldiers, maimed physically or psychologically — or both — spreading their pain, anger and isolation through family and communities for generations. And most of this natural disaster and war tragedy has been preventable . . . We need to wake up…and act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit."

“A few weeks after her letter was published, Berg's office computer with all her case files on the veterans she treats was confiscated and VA Secretary James Nicholson requested a thorough investigation of the letter-writing nurse. Berg was shaken and angry even after…the VA admitted that no evidence was found implicating the use of Berg's work computer with her letter. However, in a memo to Berg, he justified the investigation by saying ‘the agency is bound by law to investigate and pursue any act which potentially represents sedition.’ Sedition is a plot or conspiracy to use force to overthrow the government and can result in 20 years in jail.” Even though the VA admitted it was wrong, Berg has been told that it would be preferable if she not mention she works for the VA in future correspondence with editors.”

“A few weeks ago(April 2008), Laura Berg received the new PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award, which honors a United States citizen or resident who has fought courageously to safeguard the First Amendment's right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word. PEN Freedom to Write Program Director Larry Siems praised Berg's ‘determination to express her views in print and courage in the face of the most heavy-handed and overbearing official reaction."

This was a shot over the bow. It was a chilling account of intimidation.

It was also a reminder to our troops that once they put on their civilian clothes, they’re on their own. Thanks for nothing.

GOP Parting Gift, Gut Open Internet

If we’re not careful, a new administration might be left with decidedly different, more limited, speed bump laden information superhighway.

eCampus Today reported, “The five-member FCC looked into "net neutrality," the principle that all Internet traffic be treated equally. Many schools and universities have come out publicly in support of measures to ensure that Internet service providers cannot serve as arbitrary gatekeepers to online content or create a two-tiered delivery system: One for users who can pay extra for preferred status, and a slower one for those who can't. Comcast Corp. and Cox Communication have blocked some of its customers who upload videos, music, and other large data files from using its network during peak traffic times.”

FCC commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein want to prevent Comcast and its competitors from blocking some customers. But Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell worried that burdening the industry regulations was not the answer.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin thinks the agency's Internet policy is sufficient, going with the anti-regulation conservatives. As if to placate the fears of the net neutral crowd, Martin said the FCC's policy needs to be enforced to guarantee that whatever actions internet service providers are taking "is tailored to a legitimate purpose."

Making money is legitimate, so blocking and means tested access sound fair too, right? Anyone think that adding more bandwidth might be the solution?

Martin said. "Consumers must be fully informed of the exact nature of the service they are purchasing." So once they are informed, the Internet disparity begins to broaden dramatically.
Hey, we were warned. But even that has a downside to free marketers. Commissioner McDowell fears that such disclosures could force companies to expose trade secrets.

But wait, Comcast, Cox and other service providers say the FCC's Internet policy is advisable only, and not enforceable.

Copps pointed out the problem the other commissioners failed to consider. "These are evolving technologies, and sometimes the line between reasonable network management and outright discrimination can be less than crystal clear."

He’s right. Who would know the level of discrimination ISP’s might use to pad their bottom line? Just as long as they can without burdensome regulations.

Oh Say Can You See, A Rogue Nation?

The article “Army whistle-blower says hotel with journalists on target list” by Amy Goodman, tells a story of reckless disregard for life and the value of a free press. Breathtaking in its implication, I’ve come to the conclusion that we are all witness to a country that has become the world’s largest and most dangerous rogue nation. What was once unthinkable is now policy. Dick Cheney’s exploration of the dark side has extended like a shadow over the planet like a scene out Dr. Strangelove or an animated WW2 propaganda film. As you’ll see, the moral high ground is now a quaint antiquated notion relegated to the dust bin of forgotten histories.

As Amy Goodman writes, it all began with “the shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by a U.S. Army tank on April 8, 2003. The tank attack killed two unembedded journalists, Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and Jose Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco. Couso recorded his own death. He was filming from the balcony and caught on tape the distant tank as it rotated its turret and fired on the hotel. A Spanish court has charged three U.S. servicemen with murder, but the U.S. government refuses to hand over the accused soldiers."

"The story might have ended there, were it not for a young U.S. military intelligence veteran who has just decided to blow the whistle. Adrienne Kinne is a former Army sergeant who worked in military intelligence for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. Trained in Arabic, she worked in the Army translating intercepted communications. She told me in an interview that she saw a target list that included the Palestine Hotel. (Kinne recalls) ‘(P)utting one and one together, I went to my officer in charge, and I told him that there are journalists staying at this hotel who think they're safe, and yet we have this hotel listed as a potential target, and somehow the dots are not being connected here, and shouldn't we make an effort to make sure that the right people know the situation? And unfortunately, my officer in charge ... basically told me that it was not my job to analyze ... someone somewhere higher up the chain knew what they were doing.’ She said the officer in charge was Warrant Officer John Berry.”

"Kinne's account directly contradicts the official line of the U.S. government. On May 2, 2003, Colin Powell, then secretary of state and a former general in the Army, visited Spain. He said of the Palestine Hotel: 'We knew about the hotel. We knew that it was a hotel where journalists were located, and others, and it is for that reason it was not attacked during any phase of the aerial campaign.' If Powell was telling the truth, then why was the hotel included on the list of targets that Kinne says she read in a secure e-mail?”

What government would give an alleged war crime a pass from judicial scrutiny to determination the guilt or innocence of the accused servicemen?

That would be a country that has stacked its own courts with ideologues and politicized its legal system to escape accountability. That would be my country, the one I don’t know anymore.

Now Do You Believe?

Isn’t it strange that someone can believe that the bible is a historical documentation of the earth’s beginnings and human creation, while not believing in man' contribution to climate change? The new data is in, and it’s not going to sit well with conservative ideologues and biased energy industry scientists.

According to the article, “Huge study documents changes from climate warming” the USA TODAY laid out these facts:

“A landmark new climate study reports that global warming is already changing
the life cycles of thousands of animals and plants — as well as hundreds of physical systems — worldwide. While previous studies have looked at single phenomena or smaller areas, this is a new analysis on a continental scale looking at data that had not been previously assembled together in one spot says a scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.”

“By analyzing data from each of the Earth's seven continents and the oceans, the study paints a clear picture of a world that's been undergoing rapid
transformation in just the past few decades due to climate change. ‘Humans are
influencing climate through increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and the warming
world is causing impacts on physical and biological systems attributable at the
global scale. These are things that are happening now, not projections of future changes."

“Some of the physical changes include:

Melting glaciers on all continents, specifically in Alaska, Peru, and the Alps.
Earlier break-up and thinning of river and lake ice in Mongolia.
Declining mountain snowpack in western North America.
Earlier spring runoff in North America.

Some of the observed effects on living things include:

Movements of species to higher latitudes and altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
Population of emperor penguins has declined by 50% on Antarctic Peninsula.
Rapid advance of spring arrival of long-distance migratory birds in Europe.

"It was a real challenge to separate the influence of human-caused temperature increases from natural climate variations or other confounding factors, such as land-use changes or pollution," says a co-author and climate scientist at the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. However, scientists reported in the study that "these temperature increases at continental scales cannot be explained by natural climate variations alone."

“The 1970 — 2004 time period was selected because it coincides with the rapid
recent warming of the planet. During that time, the Earth's temperature rose by
about 1 degree F. The study builds upon the consensus of the IPCC, which in 2007 declared manmade climate warming "likely" to have discernible effects on biological and physical systems.”

Sound kinda iffy to you? Of course, faced with new evidence and data, the old arguments will remain relevant to those who have made a profitable industry denying the obvious. In the meantime, the US has already fallen behind other industrialized countries by slowly catching on to the green revolution, where rebuilding a crumbling infrastructure can employ hundreds of thousands of workers. A recent article about wind power described how demand to expand the industry has slowed due to parts shortages. Who's supplying the parts for the wind turbine machines? European companies with European laborers.

The consequences of not acting soon enough, and allowing this vacuous argument to continue, will be felt for generations.

Election Free Zone

I really hate this election coverage. All the speculation and pontificating about matters that are meaningless.

God I hate this stuff. Isn't it sad to see liberals belabor every little comment like snot nosed right wingers.

Unless a topic drips with relevance; like the economy, health care, education....I refuse to waste valuable web space.



Thank you.

Wisconsin Democrats Advance “Edsel Agenda”

"A marketing disaster whose magnitude has made it a household word."-The Story of the Edsel by Thomas Bonsall

“Marketing disaster” is an appropriate description of the Democrats “Edsel agenda.” A lot of glitz and empty promises. Sen. Majority Leader Russ Decker is proudly driving this turkey down a road called “Missed Opportunity.”

First, what I’m not hearing in their interviews and reading in their press releases is the reason why the state legislature has to revisit the state budget: A federal economic mess created by a Republicans Congress and approved without veto threats by a Republican President. In the future, it might be wise to mention this first as a preface to any public response.

Or should we be inspired by Sen. Decker, who bravely proclaimed, "We got the votes. It's in the Assembly, so we're cool." Really? Sen. Decker’s short sighted plan was to temporarily protect SeniorCare, school aid, funding for road projects and child care subsidies. What protected programs will the Democrats throw off the cliff in the next biennium?

For some, like Sen. Judy Robson, the instinct doesn’t translate to commitment; “I firmly believe the Senate should have held out for a budget repair bill that leverages $408 million in federal Medicaid dollars. There is absolutely no reason…Wisconsin should pass up these federal dollars waiting for us. Instead of tapping into this legitimate source of funding, the budget repair bill digs deeper…Instead of putting ourselves on a sound fiscal track, we push off our budget problems for another day. I don’t believe we should have deferred to the Assembly Republicans on this point.” Well thought out and defensible, why couldn't Sen. Robson frame the debate with these same words before acquiescing to the bullies on the block?

For Republicans, the Party that can sell gay bashing, fear and health savings accounts, marketing and positioning is an art form. Republican Senator Alberta Darling has already written part of her Party’s fall campaign ad; “By not making tough spending decisions today, the state budget is set up for more shortfalls tomorrow.”

It’s time for the Democrats to drop the “Edsel agenda.” The public's not buying it.

Budget is a Moral Document

After what seemed like an eternity, we are starting to seeing a return to economic sanity in the Congress.

Democrats controlling Congress negotiated a House-Senate blueprint for the upcoming budget year. The compromise budget renews the tax cuts aimed at the middle class, including the $1,000 per child credit, relief from the marriage penalty, estate tax cuts and the 10 percent tax rate on the first $7,825 of income for individuals. But to produce a small surplus in the next few years, there’s not enough room to extend the cuts on income tax rates, capital gains and dividend income. The Democrats also dropped $196 billion worth of Bush cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, money meant to go to the nations poor and disabled.

I’m looking forward to the day the Republicans attack the Democratic plan for permitting many of Bush's tax cuts to expire. The idea was to stimulate the economy. Those tax cuts were written and approved by Congressional Republicans and signed by a Republican President to expire in 2010. That was the plan, their plan.

It a shameful display of unrestrained recklessness, Republicans will leave behind a $300-400 billion dollar deficit, $700 billion to 3 trillion dollar bill for Iraq and Afghanistan and an additional $161 billion debt in 2010 if the tax cuts were made permanent. That would also result in yearly shortfalls of $250 billion starting in 2011.

If that weren’t bad enough, (President?) John McCain would extend the Bush tax cuts, and eliminate the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which would add $2 trillion in accumulated deficits to the federal budget in the next ten years.

Let’s finally retire the cliché, “fiscally conservative.” Conservatives really don’t have a clue. Defaulting on our nation’s obligations to its citizens and world allies, while demolishing the underpinnings of government, is the ultimate in crapulence.

Preferring the Democratic Party’s plans, no matter how difficult or impossible, at least leads us in the direction of balanced budgets, investments in infrastructure, education, energy independence and a single payer health insurance plan for all.

We’ve all heard the economists say there isn’t enough money to pay for everything, but that’s assuming some of the changes will not pay dividends, in turn, paving the way to an economic turnaround.

It will be difficult for anyone to say that this is the wrong direction when the only other way is down.

A Day in the Life Of The Administration

This is what I would call a typical news day for the Republican Party and Bush administration.

The Anti Lobbiest Candidate and Bad Choices
The man chosen by John McCain's presidential campaign to run this summer's GOP convention--Arizonan Doug Goodyear--is CEO of DCI Group, a consulting firm that earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients…DCI was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's military junta, leading "a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing 'falsehoods' by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses." Ouch. –Newsweek (Add to that Burhma’s refusal to let aid workers in to help over 100,000 cyclone victims.)

Another Mad Cow Test
"The Bush administration urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease. The Agriculture Department argues that more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.
"They want to create false assurances," a Justice Department attorney said. Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone's push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too." –Tailrank.com (“Let the market decide” neo liberals don’t like it when the market demands additional testing for overseas customers. Can we have too much testing for mad cow?)

Not Another Regulation Protecting Workers Lives
"The Bush administration issued a veto threat against legislation to protect workers from combustible dust explosions such as one that killed combustible dust explosions such as one that killed 12 sugar refinery workers in Port Wentworth in February. The legislation would require OSHA to issue regulations for industrial dust that can build up and explode. The White House 'has serious concerns with the expedited and one-size-fits-all regulatory approach required by the bill, which will impact as many as 200,000 workplaces in a variety of industries." –ajc.com (the positive side is that 200,000 workplaces would become SAFER...aww, nevermind.)

War With Iran…Never Mind
“In a sharp reversal of its longstanding accusations against Iran arming militants in Iraq , the US military has made an unprecedented albeit quiet confession: the weapons they had recently found in Iraq were not made in Iran at all. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin.”-informationclearinghouse.info (So much for the run up to war with Iran.)

Voter ID Slippery Slope Really Really Slippery
AP-"The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote."

Nasty Pre-Election Threats against The Democratic Nominee
EDWARD N. LUTTWAK: “As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian…His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes...with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder. With few exceptions, the jurists of all Sunni and Shiite schools prescribe execution for all adults who leave the faith not under duress; the recommended punishment is beheading at the hands of a cleric, although in recent years there have been both stonings and hangings.” New York Times (Fear the Muslim, kill the Muslim traitor huh?)

Corruption Ignored in Iraq
AP- "The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to former State Department employees. The Office of Accountability and Transparency said their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored. The State Department's policies 'Contradicted the anti-corruption mission…indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government.' The U.S. embassy 'effort against corruption - including its new centerpiece, the now-defunct Office of Accountability and Transparency' - was little more than 'window dressing."


Lawless Blackwater Rehired by Pentagon
New York Times-"Even thought Blackwater Guards were involved in a shooting that left at least 17 Iraqis dead at a Baghdad intersection…prompted the Iraqi government to demand Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and led to a criminal investigation by the F.B.I., a series of internal investigations by the State Department and the Pentagon, and high-profile Congressional hearings...Blackwater is back to business as usual. The State Department has just renewed its contract to provide security for American diplomats in Iraq for at least another year. State Department officials said that they did not believe they had any alternative to Blackwater, 'If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.” (Who could have predicted that?)

Oil Costs To Offset Stimulus Package
Washington Post-"Since Congress and Bush unveiled an economic stimulus package Jan. 24, the price of the OPEC basket of crude oil has jumped by $32.51 a barrel, raising the cost of U.S. oil imports enough to offset the entire stimulus package over the course of the year."


War Profiteers Avoid Tax Obligations
The Boston Globe recently revealed that two Defense Department contractors operating in Iraq — KBR and MPRI — have avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Social Security and Medicare taxes by hiring its employees through “shell companies” based in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. AP reveals a third contractor assisting the U.S. military’s mission in Iraq that is also dodging Social Security and Medicare taxes. Combat Support Associates established CSA Ltd. in the Cayman Islands allowing it to avoid paying the taxes and evade scrutiny from the U.S. government: But Congress has taken notice of these contractors’ unethical practices. The House passed a bill last month — despite Republican opposition — to “stop federal contractors from using foreign subsidiaries to evade Social Security and other employment taxes.” (Let me understand this; the Republicans are opposed to war contractors paying U.S. taxes? How did they get away without a public outcry?)

Besides Global Warming, Pollution Still Dangerous
Washington Post-"Long-term exposure to the tiny, dirty particles in polluted air seems to increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis, which are blood clots in the thighs or legs, an Italian study finds. It is well-established that air pollution causes myocardial infarction [heart attack] and stroke. Such particles come from the exhaust of vehicles, especially those with diesel engines, and burning of fossil fuels, the researchers said."

Budget Cuts to Combat Crime
AP-"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said violent crime has increased in some cities in part because local police are too cash-strapped to fight it, echoing pleas by mayors across the country for more federal money to combat crime. The Bush administration, facing its own budget crunch while funding the war and reconstruction of Iraq, has scaled back money available to cities to crack down on crime.” ( The self fulfilling effects of smaller government and mismanaged economy.)

People Die, Get Over It
Miami Herald-"Residents of Tallevast, Florida blame toxins that leaked into the ground and their water supply as a factor in the 80 cancers of family members and neighbors over the years, and they want someone held accountable. For more than three years, neither the plant's owner nor Florida state regulators who had learned of the leak bothered to tell them. In 2005, Tallevast residents prompted a change in state law, the Tallevast Bill, that requires polluters to notify communities within 30 days. Why didn't the state inform the community? 'I don't believe we had a regulation,' said Pamala Vazquez, a DEP spokeswoman." (Hey, don't we have enough regulations already? We'd all be better off if government stayed out of it, right? And does one need a regulation in order to do the right thing? It's really a moral, ethical and humane response programmed into our DNA.)

I will be adding to this in the days, weeks and months to come. Check back.

The Supreme Court Greased Slippery Slope of Voter ID Battle

The conservative Supreme Courts most recent activist decision, and we must always qualify it as such, was the decision to allow voter ID laws to stand in states that have passed them. If you can ignore the partisan, lopsided state legislative votes requiring ID’s, then you will side with the Justices who found that that alone wasn’t blatant enough to reject it. By allowing the politicization of voter ID, the Justices have permitted the incremental expansion of exclusionary provisions.

So let’s apply the conservative argument; when Democrats try to pass laws, the slippery slope is always brought up as a way to amplify the extreme possibilities of crazy add on laws. We can now assume that this principal applies to Republicans. For example, we can point at this New York Times article “Voter ID Battle Shifts to Proof of Citizenship”:

“The battle over voting rights will expand as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote…allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court…part of an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from affecting the political process…measures are being considered in at least 19 state legislatures. In Arizona, the only state that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote, more than 38,000 voter registration applications have been thrown out since the state adopted its measure in 2004. More than 70 percent of those registrations came from people who stated under oath that they were born in the United States. The Missouri secretary of state estimated that it could disenfranchise up to 240,000 registered voters who would be unable to prove their citizenship.”

“In most cases, aspiring voters would have to produce an original birth certificate, naturalization papers or a passport. From October 2002 to September 2005, the Justice Department indicted 40 voters for registration fraud or illegal voting, 21 of whom were noncitizens.”

We would be protecting ourselves from ten people a year, while disenfranchising up to 240,000 registered voters. A fair trade off?

“Lillie Lewis, a voter who lives in St. Louis, said she already had a difficult time trying to get a photo ID from the state, which asked her for a birth certificate. Ms. Lewis, who was born in Mississippi and was 78 years old, said officials of that state sent her a letter stating that they had no record of her birth. ‘That’s downright wrong. I have voted in almost all of the presidential races going back I can’t remember how long, but if they tell me I need a passport or birth certificate that’ll be the end of that.”

“Thor Hearne, a lawyer for the American Center for Voting Rights, a conservative advocacy group, added that if states actively provided a free form of identification proving citizenship, the number of people who would be disenfranchised would be very low.”

“The number of people who would be disenfranchised would be very low” should not be an acceptable outcome. These preclusionary organizations like the American Center For Voting Rights, which I like to call “antipodal advocates,” love to inject a smattering of chaos into rights clearly stated in our constitution. The added requirements can only be met when a voter pays money to the state for documented proof of their citizenship, a fee easily described as a pole tax.

The Right to Vote:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.— Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1870)… shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.— Nineteenth Amendment (1920). . . shall not be denied or abridged . . . by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.— Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964)

Can you say birth certificate? To get a copy, you have to pay the state money. Without payment, you cannot vote. It’s a poll tax. Am I the only genius here, or is this common sense 101?

Health Care Problem? Are You Kidding?

Out of the Salt Lake Tribune, this horror story in Ogden, Utah – “Since she didn't have health insurance, Valorie Johnston got creative when her 6-year-old son, Tanner, needed stitches: She used Super Glue. She didn't take him to a dentist until she saw a rotting tooth - and then found out he had eight cavities. Last year, fearing her labor was starting too early with her third child, Johnston went to an emergency room, only to discover she had kidney stones. Without insurance, she explains, "You just wait until there's a crisis that happens and deal with it then."

This particular system of health care should sound familiar. It’s the one where “people take control” of their health care decisions. Not some government bureaucrat.

Or maybe this wasn’t the best example?