Rudy’s Biggest Headache - Brave New Films

Just when you thought that there was hope for Democracy in America. This morning, I was thrown out of a Rudy Giulliani press conference in Santa Monica, California after being told I was welcome to attend. The reason? They found out I worked for Brave New Films.

We were all curious as to why Rudy Giuliani did not think it was important to attend the Republican presidential debate tonight at Morgan State University in Baltimore, a historically black college. The debate, hosted by Tavis Smiley will focus on issues important to minority communities. Giuliani’s campaign suggested there were “important scheduling conflicts”. So, we decided to see what was more important than listening to and addressing the concern’s of African-American voters.

We discovered that Giuliani’s schedule today was to include campaign stops in Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and Lancaster, California. According to the Bay Area Center For Voting Research,

Lancaster, California ranks among the top 25 conservative cities in the country. It’s population is also 63% white and 16% African-American. 

Clearly it was more important for Rudy to go pander to his white, conservative base in Lancaster, then to listen to and engage African-American voters nationwide.

The first stop in Santa Monica at 10AM was to be a press conference where he was to receive the endorsement of former Republican Governor of California Pete Wilson. Well we thought why not go and see if we could ask Pete and Rudy a polite question or two. So I called Giuliani’s press officer in New York, Alexis Garcia, who assured me and I quote,

The press conference was open to all interested parties and that no press credentials were needed.

I also confirmed this with the Fairmont Miramar hotel before I left, wearing a nice suit jacket and dress shirt. I arrived at the hotel at 9:45AM and checked in at the front door with a nice young woman with Giuliani’s campaign team. She wrote my name down on a legal pad and I again asked to make sure that no press credentials were needed. She smiled and said no, go right on in. I did and found myself a seat in the second row and waited for the press conference to begin. A few minutes later another woman, blond, tall and not looking happy came up to me and asked me who I was and who I was with. I told her my name is John Ehrenfeld, I am a writer for Brave New Films and my blog the Policy Room. She immediately said and I again quote,

I am going to have to ask you to leave.

I asked why and referenced all the other people in the room with no credentials hanging around their neck; she just glared and said again that I was going to have to leave. Security soon escorted me from the room, no histrionics, no muss no fuss. I was polite and did as I was asked and left the room. I was then approached by a reporter from KPCC radio Frank Stoltze who interviewed me. I have since has another conversation with Mr. Stoltze, on the phone, after the event ended. He told me someone in the roon, possibly with the Guiliani party said I had not identified myself. I suppose giving my name at the door and again when I was asked was not enough. What I think they really meant to say was, we don't like Brave New Films because they produced 'The Real Rudy' which exposed Rudy's lies and distortions on and after 9/11.

I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and proceeded to sit down on a couch in the hallway to make a few phone calls. Immediately security came up to me, even though I was well outside the room, in a public place, sitting on a couch talking on the phone. They told me that this was now “an incident” and that if I didn’t leave I would be arrested. They firmly escorted me through a side door of the hotel and barked out to the valet parking folks to get my car and to make sure I left the premises immediately.

It was rather an illuminating experience to see the power that Brave New Films and the free alternative press has and the perceived threat they present to the right-wing in this country. I can only imagine what a Giuliani presidency would be like.

Debate Is No Longer A Reasonable Undertaking

It was encouraging to see the American people take to the streets this weekend to loudly denounce the Iraq war and the policies of the Bush/Cheney administration.

Until the people make it clear by their actions that the status-quo is no longer acceptable; nothing will change. Mass demonstrations and civil disobedience is what helped bring the outcry against the Vietnam war to critical mass and that's what will be needed now if there is any hope of effecting change.

Debate is under most circumstances reasonable. But not when it comes to the astoundingly deplorable policies of this administration. Not anymore. There can be no reasonable debate as to whether or not the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the subsequent carnage it caused was warranted. There also can be no reasonable debate on whether the Bush administration’s assault on the Constitution and our civil liberties is warranted.

To do so would be to suggest that there are plausible and defensible positions to take in support of this administration's policies thus according them theoretical legitimacy. That's just not credible, and delusion whether intentional or not isn’t an appropriate state-of-mind for an individual and it’s certainly not a sound foundation for making decisions as to the future of this country.

One does not have a debate whether the criminal who lied his way into a home and held up a family at gunpoint was justified. One does not debate whether a child abuser was justified. Some things are egregious enough assaults on human decency that they don't warrant "debate".

George Bush and Dick Cheney's immoral, unnecessary and unjustified invasion and occupation of Iraq and the subsequent bloodbath that followed, was the biggest foreign policy disaster in US history and an assault on human decency. That's not open for reasonable debate. This administration's illegal and unjustified support of torture, illegal imprisonment and warrant less wiretapping are among the most blatant executive branch assaults on our freedom and civil liberties we have ever seen and an assault on human decency. That's not open for reasonable debate.

Many on the right suggest that debate on these issues is a sensible procedural path to take. That’s just not appropriate anymore.

Gates Says Bush Should Veto Troop Relief Bill

Well, looks like another back-stabbing assault on US troops by those they trust to look out for them. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday he is against a Senate proposal to give battle-weary US troops in Iraq more rest between tours of duty. Gates also said that he would recommend that Bush veto the proposal if passed. Incredible!

Gates hesitated and stumble his way through Chris Wallace's softballs and then Joe Biden clearly and articulately lay waste to Gates's position. When are those Republicans who claim to care for and support the troops so much going to wake-up and realize that no one supports the troops less than this administration! Inadequate body armor and Humvees, atrocious conditions for the wounded at Walter Reed and contaminated drinking water supplied by Halliburton's KBR subsidiary for 60 million dollars, demonstrate the contempt that the White House has had all along for our military in Iraq. Not to mention sending them to die for an immoral, unjustifiable war based on lies, oil and the enrichment of Bush and Cheney's war profiteer buddies. This is just another reprehensible example of the same.

General Betrayous Lies Through His Teeth To Congress

Don't believe a word that prevaricating Bush flunky said to Congress on Monday about the lessening of violence in Iraq and the success of the surge. He's an unapologetic liar.

The respected and impartial Associated Press writer Steven R. Hurst reported the real truth about Iraqi violence on August 25th, 2007. He said,

"The death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago. The figures are considered a minimum, the actual numbers are likely higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted."

He continued,

"Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year, an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year."

"Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders."

"Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago."

No, the right-wing would rather believe General Betrayous and Ryan Crock Of *hit, two biased, administration sycophants whose future as wealthy lobbyists for the war munitions industry depended on the lies they told Congress and the American people Monday.

It's a time-honored tradition after all in the Bush/Cheney administration. They lie and people die.

Bush Credits Thirty-Five Coalition Partners

Who knew!

The dictator-in-chief said in his speech tonight that a mighty coalition of thirty-five countries are fighting bravely alongside the US military in Iraq.

So, how about a shout out to those . . 12 brave ordinance specialists from Moldova, 29 courageous engineers from Kazakhstan and 35 studly munitions specialists from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wonder what the payoff was?

What a deceitful propagandist this smirky Texas twit is to suggest that there is an enthusiastic world-wide effort in support of his immoral war of agression in Iraq. I wonder if that makes the families of the 3,700+ Americans killed and 27,000+ Americans wounded feel better tonight knowing that Borat's naighbor Nushuktan Tulyiagby is fighting at their loved one's side.

Bush Shares His Greedy Retirement Dream - As He Sends Thousands To Die In Iraq

The unbelievable audacity and arrogance of this embarassing, crass, pathetic excuse for a leader! As he continues to send thousands to die in Iraq for his war profiteer and oil industry buddies, Bush says he's looking forward to going out on the speaking circuit after leaving office to reap a financial windfall!

The New York Times on Sunday published excerpts from interviews with Bush for a book by Robert Draper to be published on Tuesday. No humility, no thoughtfulness, no sobering perspective on things, he just wants to get obscenely rich. Here are a few excerpts of what Bush said,

"I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.”

and then he added,

“I don’t know what my dad gets, it’s more than fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars a speech, and Clinton’s making a lot of money".

I guess Bush's 21 million dollars in the bank isn't enough for him. Perhaps Bush and Miss Teen South Carolina can go out on the road together. They can call it "The Articulation Tour 2009".

Former Reagan Deputy Attorney General Fein Says Impeach Bush

Well, maybe when the Reagan folks start clamoring for Bush's impeachment, even the fly-over states may take note. Bruce Fein a constitutional lawyer and Reagan's Deputy Attorney General said the following in an esssay published in Slate,

"President Bush's apparently criminal authorization of a warrantless wiretapping program is grounds for the House to begin an impeachment inquiry".

He went on to add that if Congress doesn't go ahead with impeachment, then it will become a,

"virtual dead letter".

Finally! Someone thinking about the long term effects of executive branch criminality on the future of our political process. It's critical to our democracy to establish clearly that no branch of government is above the law, that checks and balances do mean something and most importantly to make sure a precedent isn't established that the President of The United States can ignore the constitution and rule like a king in America.

Can't wait to see how Hannity et al tries to swift-boat this Reagan conservative. I'm seein' a Coulter/Malkin snake attack on Fox Noise any day now.

Leaked Red Cross Report - Possible Preparations For Bush War Crimes Trial!

According to Nat Hentoff of The Village Voice, a leaked Red Cross report  shows the accumulation of reams of evidence in possible preparation for an eventual Bush administration war crimes tribunal.

He quotes the New Yorker's Jane Mayer as having sources who have seen accounts of the Red Cross interviews with inmates formerly held in CIA secret prisons. In "The Black Sites" (August 13, The New Yorker). 

It's a sad state of affairs that the United States of America's leaders are being investigated for perpetrating the same crimes that have been committed by some of the most heinous, evil figures in history.

Bush In New Orleans To Celebrate His Katrina Lies And Attempt At Ethnic Cleansing – What A Disgrace!

Bush will fly into New Orleans on Tuesday to feign concern about the plight of New Orleans residents once again, two years after Hurricane Katrina killed 1,800 people, destroyed or severely damaged more than 200,000 homes, made more than 800,000 people homeless overnight and left thousands of poor, black and other minority American citizens to die. Two weeks after Katrina, Bush stood in Jackson Square and promised a massive reconstruction effort. What a liar.

At this very moment in New Orleans, large parts of the city are still in ruin. Crime, poor health care and crumbling infrastructure are still the norm and insurance companies are still doing their best to keep from paying. All this while hotels and casinos are buying up the land for pennies on a dollar that used to contain people’s homes.

Bush, his horse trainer Brownie and personal mortician Chertoff were all guilty of a woefully inadequate and indifferent immediate response to the disaster and then compounded their guilt by not devoting enough time, money and energy to the aftermath and cleanup. What a record of incompetence.

Astoundingly, George Bush continued with his vacation for four days after Katrina came ashore, reminiscent of him sitting paralyzed for eight minutes reading “My Pet Goat” after being informed America had been attacked on 9/11. He then flew to Arizona to eat birthday cake with John McCain while thousands were drowning or stranded on rooftops in New Orleans.

On course no worries, he had put Brownie and other incompetent political buddies in charge of FEMA who had no experience in coping with disasters other than the birth of a foal.

Remember, Bush also had cut federal spending by eighty percent for repairs on the New Orleans levees despite the Army Corps of Engineer’s strenuous objections and had sent three-thousand 3,000 members of Louisiana’s National Guard and two-thirds of the their vital equipment to Iraq to fight his immoral war of lies. All this while cutting $50 billion in food stamps, Medicare and energy assistance shifting hurricane relief onto the backs of the poor.

Bush has proven that he could have cared less about poor minority residents of New Orleans losing everything, as he continues to support government plans to rebuild New Orleans as a richer and whiter city. He cut taxes on the wealthy yet he also

Of course as with everything Bush, there are the lies. These are the biggest lies the Bush Administration told concerning Katrina.

1. Bush, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees". That was a lie!

On the September 1st broadcast of ABC's Good Morning America, President Bush told Diane Sawyer, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that protected New Orleans from flooding.

Bullshit! According to the St. Petersburg Times of 8/30/05, National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield talked about the force of Katrina during a video conference call to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas on August 28th!  The Washington Post quoted Mayfield as saying,  "They knew that this one was different. I don't think Mike Brown or anyone else in FEMA could have any reason to have any problem with our calls. They were told. We said the levees could be topped.

2. Michael Chertoff defended Bush, claiming the levee breaks and massive flooding came as a surprise. That was a lie!

This was more than 12 hours after local media reported them. The New Orleans Times-Picayune on August 29, 2 p.m. CT, reported, "City Hall confirmed a breach of the levee along the 17th Street Canal at Bellaire Drive, allowing water to spill into Lakeview."

This initial report on the Times-Picayune web site was followed throughout the afternoon and evening of August 29 by reports of other levee breaks and massive flooding.

3. Brown said. "We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day". That was a lie!

NBC News photojournalist Tony Zumbado reported on MSNBC, “I can't put it into words the amount of destruction that is in this city and how these people are coping. They are just left behind. There is nothing offered to them. No water, no ice, no C-rations, nothing, for the last four days.

They were told to go to the convention center. They did, they've been behaving. It's unbelievable how organized they are, how supportive they are of each other. They have not started any melees, any riots. They just want food and support. And what I saw there I've never seen in this country. We need to really look at this situation at the convention center. It's getting very, very crazy in there and very dangerous. Somebody needs to come down with a lot of food and a lot of water.

4. Chertoff said, "Apparently, some time on Wednesday, people started to go to the convention center spontaneously". That was a lie!

On the September 1st broadcast of ABC's Nightline, there was footage of a law enforcement official instructing survivors to go to the Convention Center. Beginning Aug. 31, other reports of survivors at the convention center emerged:

5. Chertoff pointed fingers: "New Orleans officials and the state officials ... called for the Superdome to be the refuge of last resort".

In his Sept. 4 interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Chertoff attempted to place blame for the conditions at the Superdome solely with state and local officials. Chertoff said, "My understanding is, and again this is something that's going to go back, we're going to go back over after the fact . . .is the plan that the New Orleans officials and the state officials put together called for the Superdome to be the refuge of last resort."

The Washington Post reported on September 3, a FEMA official acknowledged participating in meetings in which the plan to use the Superdome as a shelter for thousands of evacuees was discussed:

For years, said another senior FEMA official, he had sat at meetings where plans were discussed to send evacuees to the Superdome. "We used to stare at each other and say, 'This is the plan? Are you really using the Superdome?' People used to say, what if there is water around it?

6. Chertoff falsely minimized federal government's role in Katrina response as subordinate to states. That was a lie!

The Bush administration has responded to criticism of its role in the Katrina disaster by attempting to deflect blame onto state and local officials in Louisiana. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security's December 2004 National Response Plan clearly indicates that in these situations, the federal government will pre-empt state and local efforts and provide immediate assistance to the affected area.

7. Wash. Post, Newsweek, Gingrich claimed that Blanco did not declare a state of emergency. That was a lie!

On Saturday Sept. 3rd, a senior Bush administration official said, “Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency". In reality, Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26th.

8. Newt Gingrich claimed that Nagin could have kept water pumped out of city had he ensured that pumps worked. That was a lie!

In fact, New Orleans had 22 "notoriously fickle" pumping stations, according to an August 31st New York Times article. The Times also reported that, according to Dr. Shea Penland, a coastal geologist, "When the pumping systems are in good shape, it can rain an inch an hour for about four to six hours and the pumps can keep pace. More than that, the city floods."

A June 2002 Times-Picayune article, part of a series exploring the probable consequences of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans, indicated that New Orleans' pumps would have been overwhelmed by the rapidly rising floodwaters.

What this administration did and didn’t do was unconscionable at best and criminal at worst,
 

Over Confident Democrats Better Wake Up!

There are way too many smug and over-confident Democrats braying about cabinet selections already. They had better stop it and get real.

Sure it’s exciting spending time talking about impeaching Bush and Cheney and getting all that frustration out. It's cathartic, it’s good for 'ya. It should be happening. But, the reality is they will be gone in sixteen months one way or another and if the world is still here, we better as Democrats look long and hard at some pragmatic political realities dealing with the future of our country rather than the past . . . and we had better do it soon, before it’s too late.

Despite all the political capital accumulated by Democrats during the Bush/Cheney reign of terror . . . why do I feel so nervous? Maybe it's because I know the Democrats can blow this one too. It is reminiscent of a poker player getting dealt two aces in a game of five card draw and asking for four cards.

I heard a frustrated caller on Thom Hartman's radio show the other day express his understandable disgust with the Democrats and Congress regarding Iraq and a myriad of other issues. I thought to myself, I hear 'ya brother. Then he said, if they don't get some cajones and do what they're supposed to do, I'm voting green or for a third party candidate.

Oh that's rich, all we need is another couple of voters like him and faster than you can say Ralph Nader, we will all be sitting around scratching our collective heads and wondering how the hell that reactionary Giuliani got to be president. I am all for voting one’s conscience, etc., but we had better start thinking seriously about who can win this thing so please, let's get that third party crap out of her heads once and for all. Another time and place, but not now.

More food for thought . . . Hillary Clinton has clearly dominated the Democratic party primary machine and seems to be on a fast-track to the nomination, much to the delight I should say of the GOP who love her negatives in the forties. There are far too many, “I would never vote for Hillary no matter what” independents I’m afraid. So is that really the right path for Democrats to take? After eight years of hell are we dooming ourselves to perhaps go through it again? You think poor John Kerry got swift-boated and vilified, you aint’ seen nothing yet. A Hillary candidacy would unleash the right-wing political attack beast like nothing the political world has ever seen, conjuring up old dirt and imagery that isn't exactly going to be inspiring to many voters.

As Elizabeth Edwards has said,

"I want to be perfectly clear. I do not think the hatred against Hillary Clinton is justified. I don't know where it comes from. I don't begin to understand it. But you can't pretend it doesn't exist, and it will energize the Republican base."

I’m all for fighting the good fight; I’m just wondering when it’s all said and done whether we will sit back and think, crap, John Edwards really could have won this thing.

Don't Believe Bush's Surge Lies! - Iraq Deaths Double What They Were A Year Ago!

Yes, I know it's a tough picture to look at. It makes you wince and think about that father's pain and grief and also about what that child's life might have been like in happier times. You wonder what his name is and then you look at your children and you want to give them a hug and hold them close. It's heart-wrenching yet it's important to not sanitize what death is really like in Iraq and not to let that child disappear into anonymity forever. That's what Bush and Cheney want to you to do, dehumanize people who suffer and wrap it all up in a neat, jingoistic package. Don't fall for it; remember this child.

This is the Iraqi people's reality every day and despite what the despots and liars in the White House are telling you . . . it's getting worse not better.

According to a new report from the Associated Press seen in newsvine.com,

"The death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago. The figures are considered a minimum, the actual numbers are likely higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted."

The AP findings state that,

"Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths throughout the country compared with last year, an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year."

"Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. AP reporting accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006. The United Nations and other sources placed the 2006 toll far higher."

"Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago."

"According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization, the number of displaced Iraqis has more than doubled since the start of the year, from 447,337 on Jan. 1 to 1.14 million on July 31."

Don't believe Bush's lies any more!

Bush's Immoral, Illegal Incarcerations Rebuked Again!

I remember when this country was admired and a shining beacon of justice for all the world. When we didn't eviscerate the constitution based on fear and a fake war on terror that doesn't exist. When we didn't torture, wiretap, kidnap, murder and imprison people without charges or an attorney. 

According to the Associated Press: today;

Twenty retired federal judges, two rear admirals and a Marine general joined 383 current or former members of the European and British parliaments on Friday in urging the Supreme Court to grant detainees at Guantanamo Bay full access to the U.S. court system.

The 383 European politicians of divergent political views said it is important that even when faced with the threat of international terrorism, all states, including the United States, comply with the standards set by international humanitarian law and human rights law by granting full court access.

"The treatment of petitioners currently falls short of these standards," the European diplomats said.

Bush's Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs Ready To Launch Against Iran!

As the right-wing hysteria over Iran increases egged on by Fox News, many Americans don't know or have forgotten that the Bush administration has already completed plans for a nuclear strike. One of the military’s initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites in Iran. It's time to pay attention people, this is serious. To the Bush/Cheney neocon war profiteers, Iraq was just practice.

According to Stephen M. Osborne, a freelance writer living on Camano Island in the Pacific Northwest and an 'Atomic Vet.' (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll 1956,) . . .

"The latest information I have had from the followers of Bush is that he has demanded and received permission to use nuclear “bunker busters” in Iran in a preemptive strike".

"As a nuclear veteran I can affirm that this is absolute madness. The bunker buster is a cute sounding name for a nuclear horror . . . Using bunker busters in Iran, or anywhere else for that matter, will vaporize hundreds of thousands of tons of earth, water and rock and send this radioactive soup downwind to kill and sicken whole populations. Those immediately downwind will die quickly, in hours or days."

I wonder how the Chinese are going to feel about radioactive clouds drifting overhead . . .

"Those further downwind will take longer. The global incidences of cancers and disease will again rise markedly. The land downwind will remain contaminated and unusable for generations."

Nuclear weapons are not good at busting bunkers or destroying chemical and biological weapons stored underground, as advocates claim. And they create severe fallout above ground.

This insanity is real, are we going to let this happen?

The Crandall Canyon Mining Disaster – Because The Squirrel Looked Him Square In The Eye!

It turns out, that Bob Murray the now infamous owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah is also a well known global warming denier. Geez what a shock huh. Murray has said . . . “I would describe Al Gore as the shaman of global goofiness and gloom and doom.” Now that’s rich, this rotund, greedy buffoon is calling Al Gore goofy? How’s this for goofy. The United Mine Worker's Of America Journal reported that according to Murray, he had just been let go in 1987 as CEO of North American Coal Company and was feeling extremely down about the whole situation. At home one day, Murray was sitting on his back porch, contemplating his future, when he was approached by a squirrel. Murray says the squirrel hopped up next to him, looked him square in the eye and said,

"Bob Murray, you should be operating your very own mines."

A SQUIRREL??? AT LEAST BUSH HAS GOD TALKING TO HIM!

(Couldn't make that up if I wanted to. A buck to your PayPal account to the first "investigative journalist" to produce a video of Murray and the squirrel)

Seriously, It's all just so sad isn't it, a horrific and senseless tragedy on every level and our hearts go out to the miners and their families. No one can imagine their pain.

Time and time again it’s the same old thing as corporate greed seems to take precedence over worker safety. The Crandall Canyon mine has had more than three hundred safety violations since 2004, with thirty safety violations in the past year alone according to CNN, including a recent one for not providing two required safety escape routes for each tunnel. Now gee I may be a little slow but I would imagine an additional escape route might cost Mr. Murray a few Big Macs huh?

John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO writing at the Huffington Post said . . .

“Safety concerns about the Crandall Canyon mine surfaced months ago, and experts warned of particular dangers in the “retreat mining” technique used there after it was approved by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. In retreat mining, coalminers essentially pull out roof-supporting pillars of coal as they work their way out of the mine. The retreat mining plan at Crandall Canyon, says United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts, appears to have been flawed, to say the least. In our opinion, that plan should never have been approved.

No one should be surprised it was approved, though. The Bush administration has been systematically dismantling and cutting funding for workplace safety rules and oversight since it came into office”.

OK, so do we really need an “investigation” to know what happened here?

The rambling, obnoxious blowhard of a greedy owner Bob Murray is one for the ages. Did you see his initial press conference? He rambled on about God and not leaving the mine and then went into a diatribe against unions and global warming. Carol Costello, CNN anchor said afterwards “You know he didn't hold a news conference today. He had a conversation about God, mining and America.” Murray owns eleven mines and according to the Wall Street Journal, makes $800 million a year. Yet Murray has already started criticizing the media and has stated that an earthquake caused the initial collapse. Looks like Murray doesn’t need to wait for an investigation either. A few years back there were also rumors of alleged illegal anti-Union practices at Murray’s Crandall Canyon Mine as well as unsubstantiated complaints of alleged intimidation and threats when the mine employees were considering unionizing and reports of anonymous phone calls made to the USDC voter fraud hotline in 2006. They alleged that a letter from Bob Murray, read aloud to his employees on Election Day, stated that if it were found that they hadn’t voted Republican, they’d be fired.

L.U. 1360 president John Yemich said this six years ago about Murray,

"Bob Murray is so anti-union that he wants to bust us even after we kept him in business. He has exploited his workers. We must stop his efforts to cut our members out of work."

The Salt Lake Tribune also reported this past Sunday that,

“The mine experienced serious structural problems in March, and, that miners had abandoned work in part of it after pressures within the mountain caused coal pillars to burst, affecting roof conditions. The poor roof was thought to be 900 feet from where the six miners remain trapped.” Harley Benz the chief scientist of the National Earthquake Information Center said the Crandall Canyon mine collapse was not caused by an earthquake. “Our preliminary analysis of the data suggests that what we observed was a mine collapse. The signal that we recorded on all of the seismic stations in the area and throughout the western U.S. had characteristics that were not typical of a natural occurring earthquake.” Maybe it was a squirrel.

'Anchorwoman' Trashed At Fox After One Episode!

Fox's sleazy, insulting, demeaning trashy reality show 'Anchorwoman' was unceremoniously flushed after one episode and an unheard of '1' rating! I mean, even Dick Cheney has a '1' rating!

Here is the actual, internal Fox memo that was distributed to Fox executives, courtesy of lostremote.com:

To: GENERAL MANAGERS GENERAL SALES MANAGERS PROGRAM DIRECTORS PROMOTION MANAGERS TRAFFIC MANAGERS

Fr: ANNE SCHWARZ, SCHEDULING

Date: AUGUST 23, 2007

Re: ‘TIL DEATH TO REPLACE ANCHORWOMAN

FOX will run back-to-back episodes of ‘TIL DEATH on Wednesdays for the next three weeks, and the remaining episodes of ANCHORWOMAN will not air.

On THREE WEDNESDAYS, AUGUST 29, SEPTEMBER 5 and SEPTEMBER 12, 2007, from 8:00-9:00pm (ET/PT), FOX will air back-to-back encore episodes of ‘TIL DEATH!

The Truth About Iraq

The Bush Administration's pre-war claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction were "manipulated, at least" to mislead the American people, former President Jimmy Carter has said."The decision to go to war was the culmination of a long-term plan to attack Iraq", Carter said on NBC's Today show. President Carter is yet another in a long line of people standing up and telling the truth. There were no WMD's in Iraq nor was their a connection between the 9-11 highjackers, Al Qaeda and Iraq. At least not pre-war. George W. Bush and his administration, namely Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and Rice made their case for war with Iraq to the American people and the world in a series of strongly worded accusations. That Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and were a clear and present danger to the United States. To be fair, at first it was hard to ascertain with reasonable certitude whether such accusations were the truth, lies, biases, or whether Bush and his administration were simply not competent. Now it appears to have been a series of deliberate deceptions as is slowly being revealed much to the chagrin of the Bush administration. In any case the people of the United States and the world were deceived and we went to war under false pretenses, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens and emboldening terrorists like never before.

After the indictment of Scooter Libby and the outing of Valerie Plame, the world got a peek at just what this administration would do to attack and destroy people speaking the truth who they considered their enemy. Let’s look at the facts again and not at the the hyperbole as the Bush administration’s justification for war is stripped naked for all to see. The case for war was made based on a number of speeches Bush made including his State-Of-The-Union address and Collin Powell's illadvised presentation to the United Nations. This administration said that Iraq had chemical weapons and that satellite photos of buildings, bunkers, and trucks showed secretive movement to hide missiles and chemical/biological weapons. The US said that trucks at two sites were decontamination vehicles for use with chemical weapons. The facts say otherwise. These sites had been inspected about 500 times by U.N. inspectors and Hans Blix reported that his inspectors found no evidence that contraband had been evacuated. Norwegian U.N. inspector Jorn Siljeholm also told AP that he had followed up on similar intelligence and found that the vehicles were ordinary fire trucks and water trucks, that's all. Since that time of course, there have been no reports of anything being found. This administration also said that Iraq had VX a nerve agent where a single drop on the skin is fatal within minutes. In fact, most of the 4 tons of VX Iraq was supposed to have was destroyed in the 1990's under U.N. supervision. Iraq tried to prove before the war began that the rest had been destroyed by chemically analyzing soil samples at the VX dump site. British experts indicated that pre-1991 VX probably would have degraded to a safe compound by now, and there has been no post-war report that VX has been found. The US also said that by conservative estimates, Iraq had a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents and a CIA report from October, 2002 made a similar statement without specific evidence. A DIA report from September, 2002 said that there "is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons." No such weapons were used against US troops and none have been reported to have been found. Powell also said to the UN that Iraq had chemical weapon shells and warheads, namely unused 122-mm shells designed to carry chemical agents. Powell said these might be the "tip of the iceberg". No reports indicate that additional shells or warheads have been found. Those found through U.N. inspections were from the 1980's and were empty, still in crates and never used. The Bush administration in addition made the case that the Iraqis dispersed rocket launchers and warheads holding biological weapons to the western desert, hiding them in palm groves and moving them every one to four weeks. Nothing has been reported found, after months of searching by U.S. troops in the desert. Iraqi presidential science adviser Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi suggested the story of palm groves and weekly-to-monthly movement was lifted from an Iraqi general's written account of hiding missiles in the 1991 war. The US said Iraq had stockpiled biological weapons like Anthrax and were getting ready to use them. Iraq declared that it produced 8,500 liters of anthrax before 1991 and U.N. inspectors estimated it could have made up to 25,000 liters. Powell said that none has been "verifiably accounted for". No anthrax has been found. A confidential DIA report from September, 2002, said that the agency believed Iraq had biological weapons but had no information on types, quantities, or readiness for use. 3 weeks before the war began Iraq reported that soil samples confirmed its contention that a particular site had been used to dispose of anthrax stocks, and it supplied a list of witnesses to verify quantities. The war began before these witnesses could be interviewed. The US also reported that defectors reportedly described mobile biological weapons factories using trucks and train cars. Powell displayed an artist's conception of one. After the war two semi-trailers were found which the Bush administration says were such labs. The Iraqis say they were used to manufacture hydrogen for artillery weather balloons. Various U.S. and British intelligence teams disagree with identification of these as mobile labs. One of the most credible reports came from a Defense Intelligence Agency engineering team, which concluded that the trailers were in fact small-scale hydrogen factories. Records in England showed that British Marconi sold the same type of equipment in the trailers to Iraq in 1987 for production of hydrogen. Another accusation, another false one. Powell also showed a video of an Iraqi Mirage F-1 simlating delivery of anthrax by spraying from a belly tank. He said that four tanks were unaccounted for and that Iraq was building small unmanned aircraft (drones) for delivery of chemical and biological weapons. U.N. inspectors reported that the Mirage video predated the 1991 war, the Mirage was destroyed in that war, and 3 of the 4 spray tanks were destroyed in the 1990's. No drones have been found with the capability to deliver chemical weapons. The known Iraqi drones are small, with an 8-meter wingspan. Iraq declared their range as 34 miles, but said that two had been modified to fly 62 miles. U.N. inspectors did not have time to verify their range before the war started. Powell said "classified" documents found at a nuclear scientist's Baghdad home were dramatic confirmation of intelligence saying prohibited items were concealed this way. U.N. nuclear inspectors later said the documents were old and irrelevant, some administrative material and some from a failed and well-known uranium enrichment program of the 1980s. Powell also said that, "We have no indication that Saddam Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program." Mohammed El Baradei reported to the United Nations Security Council that the International Atomic Energy Agency had "to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq." Since then no additional evidence has been reported to support a current or recent nuclear program. One centrifuge for uranium enrichment was unearthed, after having been buried in 1991. Former Iraqi nuclear scientist Imad Khadduri reported that Iraq's nuclear program was shut down in 1991. Of course there is the now infamous attempt to acquire uranium from Africa. This item was not part of Powell's presentation to the U.N., its best known presentation was by George Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address. It is included here for convenience in producing a single reference for the most important points of the Bush administration's WMD assertions. "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This claim was based on forged documents portraying an attempt by Iraq to buy uranium from Niger. The documents were easily identified as a forgery, the IAEI reached this conclusion only hours after it was granted access to the documents. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson went to Niger at the request of Vice President Cheney's office and the CIA in February, 2002, a year earlier to investigate the validity of this source. He reported that U.S. ambassador Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick felt that she had already refuted these claims in reports to Washington based on her factual knowledge. The US also contended that aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq were for use in centrifuges for uranium enrichment, for nuclear weapons. IAEA inspectors, Energy Department experts, and the State Department's intelligence bureau did not believe this was likely. Substantial modification would be needed to adapt the tubes to centrifuge use, but their specifications precisely match those used in for the Italian Medusa 81 artillery rocket. Identically matched characteristics include alloy, length, diameter, wall thickness, and anodized coating. IAEA inspectors observed a factory in Iraq which was using these tubes to manufacture artillery rockets. Multiple intelligence sources indacted that Iraq was trying to buy magnets for use in uranium-enrichment centrifuges. IAEA inspectors traced about a dozen types of imported magnets to their end users. Neither the inspectors nor post-war investigators have found magnets for use in centrifuges for uranium enrichment. Intelligence sources say Iraq has a secret force of up to a few dozen prohibited Scud-type missiles, a program to build newer missiles with 600-mile range, and had put a roof over a rocket test stand to block view from spy satellites. No Scud-type missiles have been found. In the 1990s U.N. inspectors accounted for all except two Scuds formerly possessed by Iraq. No program to build new, longer-range missiles has been found. The Iraqis reported that the roofed test stand had been converted from vertical firing to horizontal firing and was roofed for the obvious reason, things get very hot in the sun. Iraq was violating a U.N. resolution by rejecting U-2 reconnaissance flights according to Powell's United Nations presentation. Iraq did object to U-2 overflights at the time of Powell's presentation. However, it authorized U-2 overflights 5 days later, on February 10, 2003. U-2 reconnaissance flights began on February 17, about a month before the war started. US says that Iraq was violating a U.N. resolution by rejecting private interviews with scientists by U.N. inspectors. Powell suggested that scientists withheld information on weapons of mass destruction due to fear of Saddam Hussein's regime. When interviews with scientists began news reports typically indicated that the scientists themselves had requested presence of Iraqi "minders". Fear of the regime probably was involved, but by early March 12 scientists had been interviewed privately. Since Saddam Hussein was deposed all known reports indicate that scientists have continued to insist that no WMD programs had been active for a minimum of several years, with most shut down in 1991.One former Iraqi nuclear scientist who defected to Canada in 1998, Imad Khadduri, has always insisted that the nuclear program never recovered from the 1991 war, and was stopped at that time. The facts are in and the end game as to why is just beginning. Stay tuned. (Factual reporting and information for the above was obtained from Charles Hanley, of the Asociated Press and from other sources.)

Boycott the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino for Supporting Iraq War!

Obviously delighting in hundreds and thousands of deaths and the disdain of the entire world, Iraq War supporters today launched a $15 million propaganda offensive with the detestable goal of distorting the truth about the dismal failure that is Bush's Iraq policy and continuing the immoral carnage indefinitely.

The group, Freedom's Watch named billionaire Sheldon Adelson, CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation as one prominent backer of the effort.

Voice your disgust with this reprehensible, war-mongering ad campaign and exercise your right not to patronize the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, The Sands Expo and Convention Center, or any other Sands Corporation property the next time you are in Las Vegas.

If we are truly mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore, this is one small way to make our voices heard.

Steven Milloy, A Biased Mouthpiece For Fox News On Global Warming

We’re being stampeded into global warming regulation now.

So said Steven Milloy recently in his "Junk Science" column for Fox News.Com. Along with other "denizens of the creep" columnists like O'Reilly, Gibson, and Cavuto, the remorselessly fanatical Mr. Milloy is devoted to embracing issues that are near and dear to the cold steely hearts of the reactionary right and their greedy corporate enablers.

Milloy routinely attacks the respected scientific world, engaging in stupefying denials that pollution and global warming are connected and finding no correlation between second-hand smoke, pesticides and health risks to humans. Milloy is also a frequent on-air pundit on Fox Noise television, where he is presented as an independent journalist despite being criticized extensively for being on the payroll of the oil industry and big tobacco. Paul D. Thacker a science writer living in Washington, D.C. who has written for the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Christian Science Monitor and the New Republic said this about the Fox-Milloy relationship,

Objective viewers long ago realized that Fox News has a political agenda. But, when a pundit promotes this agenda while on the take from corporations that benefit from it, then Fox News has gone one disturbing step further.

A Fox News spokesperson stated that Milloy is . . .

Affiliated with several not-for-profit groups that possibly may receive funding from Exxon, but he certainly does not receive funding directly from Exxon” That is not true. In 2005, it was widely reported that non-profit organizations operating out of Milloy's home have received large payments directly from Exxon during his tenure with Fox News.

In 2000 and 2003, ExxonMobil gave $40,000 to the "Advancement Of Sound Science Center", which is located at Milloy’s home in Potomac, Maryland, according to the IRS. ExxonMobil also paid another $50,000 to the "Free Enterprise Action Institute", also located at Milloy’s residence. Milloy was a integral member of the so-called "Global Climate Science Team", which was started by ExxonMobil to develop a strategy to influence the media to “understand uncertainties in climate science." The Union Of Concerned Scientists reported that Milloy helped develop the GCST action plan, which involved "investing millions of dollars to manufacture uncertainty on the issue of global warming." Milloy has also been very critical of the Clean Air Act, arguing that it has forced Americans to . . .

Surrender many freedoms . . . and that air pollution in the U.S. is more of an aesthetic than a public health problem.

Another of Milloy’s favorite causes is defending the tobacco industry, particularly regarding the issue of environmental tobacco smoke. He dismissed the EPA's 1993 report linking secondhand smoke to cancer as "a joke." After a well known researcher published a study linking secondhand smoke to cancer, Milloy personally attacked her saying that she . . .

Must have pictures of journal editors in compromising positions with farm animals. How else can you explain her studies seeing the light of day?

Milloy also ran the Free Enterprise Action Mutual Fund along with former tobacco executive Tom Borelli and has also worked as executive director of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), a front group established in 1993 by Philip Morris. Milloy, was under contract to provide consulting services to Philip Morris through the end of 2005. When asked about Milloy’s connection with Phillip Morris, Paul Schur, director of media relations for Fox News, said . . .

Fox News was unaware of Milloy’s connection with Philip Morris. Any affiliation he had should have been disclosed.

The truth is that in 2000 and 2001, Milloy received a yotal of $180,000 in payments from Philip Morris For Consulting Services.Also, in August 1997, the New York Times reported that Milloy was one of the paid speakers at a Miami briefing for foreign reporters sponsored by the British-American Tobacco Company. The lecture ridiculed . . .

Lawsuit-driven societies like the United States for using unsound science to raise questions about infinitesimal, if not hypothetical, risks related to inhaling a whiff of tobacco smoke.

George Monbiot, a respected journalist for The Guardian newspaper wrote.

Even after Fox News was told about the money Milloy had been receiving from Philip Morris and Exxon, it continued to employ him, without informing its viewers and readers about his interests.

Milloy’s reprehensible vitriol is not limited to oil and tobacco causes. In writing a disgusting, offensive mind-boggling denial of the link between DDT and health risks, he said this in reference to Nazi concentration camp survivors . . .

They were drenched upon liberation with the pesticide DDT to kill disease-bearing lice.

Milloy is also widely known as a paid lobbyist but denies ever lobbying. In a 1998 email response to his registration as a lobbyist under EOP he wrote,

I do not lobby for anyone.

That is not true. The United States Senate Lobby Filing Disclosure Program lists Milloy as a registered lobbyist for the EOP Group for the years 1998–2000. The EOP Group's clients included the American Crop Protection Association (pro-pesticides), the Chlorine Chemistry Council, (pro-chlorine) the Edison Electric Institute (pro-fossil fuel and nuclear energy), the Fort Howard Corporation (pro-logging) and the National Mining Association (pro-miming). Milloy himself was also personally registered as a lobbyist for Monsanto and the International Food Additives Council and additional records show that Milloy represented the American Petroleum Institute, International Food Additives Council and Monsanto. Fox Noise and Steve Milloy a match made in heaven . . . unfair and unbalanced.

Wake Up America! - Bush May Want To Take Your Home

On July 17th Bush issued an Executive Order "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq". It has passed relatively quietly under the radar, but may be the biggest assault on our civil liberties and the constitution to date. If this doesn't frighten and mobilize people to immediate action, then the responsibility lies with us and we deserve the consequences. This presidential executive order is unique in that it criminalizes free speech and expression of thought for anyone who "in their opinion threatens the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq", or who "undermines efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq". How many times have we heard the Bush administration accuse Democrats of threatening the stability in Iraq in response to public speeches and written editorials? It's almost a daily occurrence. (Don’t you have to have stability to threaten it? Ooops sorry, didn't mean to interject any logic here)Particular clauses in the executive order are not directed at people who support violent acts, they clearly are meant to suppress free speech and the expression of ideas on Iraq that are not aligned with theirs. This executive order is particularly dangerous since the determination of a violation won't be made by an impartial jury, but by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense. Translation, anyone on the right with connections to the Bush administration who wants to punish someone for their political views can have that person's property seized. It's also worth noting that the property seizures can be done with "no advance notice" whatsoever. As his days in office dwindle, Bush is acting more and more like a wounded animal painted into a corner, but with his fangs intact. I fully expect to see more of these egregious attacks on our constitutional rights and the comfortably numb American people better hit the panic button now before it's too late.

Progressive Hero Series - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert Kennedy, Jr. is a graduate of Harvard University. He studied at the London School of Economics and received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. Following graduation he attended Pace University School of Law, where he was awarded a Masters Degree in Environmental Law.

Never having run for public office, Kennedy is making more of a difference outside the Beltway than he ever could from within. As one of environmentalism's most powerful advocates, he is truly a progressive hero.

“Our generation faces the greatest moral and political crisis in human history. Will we take the steps necessary to avert catastrophic global warming or will we doom our children to a new Dark Ages in a world that is biologically and economically impoverished and defined by ever diminishing quality of life. According to the grimmest forecasts, extreme global warming could give us a future where erratic and chaotic weather, rising sea levels, and melting snowpack usher in an epic of drought, crop failure, famine, flood and mass extinctions and the political instability that invariably accompanies dwindling resources. Millions of environmental refugees uprooted by these calamities will challenge the existence of democracy, freedom, justice and human dignity in every corner of the globe”.

"The environment is the most important, the most fundamental, civil-rights issue. In the word ecology, the root "eco" is the Greek word for home. It's really about how we manage our home. The environmental movement is a struggle over the control of the commons -- the publicly owned resources, the things that cannot be reduced to private property -- the air, the water, the wandering animals, the public land, the wildlife, the fisheries. The things that from the beginning of time have always been part of the public trust".

" Environmentalism didn't begin on Earth Day. It's been recognized for thousands of years as a basic human right. The code of Justinian for the first time outlined environmental rights as essentially fundamental rights. If you were a citizen of Rome, you had an absolute right to cross a beach to catch a fish. The emperor himself couldn't stop you. In England, in the 13th century, they had a clean air act. It was illegal to burn coal in London. It was a capital crime and people were executed for it".

Take Him Away. Good Riddance Mr. Rove

Karl Rove, you should be arrested for your audacity and chutzpah, if not for the numerous crimes you have committed and your total disdain for the truth.

On Meet The Press when responding to a question about testifying before Congress and claims of executive privilege Rove astoundingly said, . . . “we swear to uphold the constitution” and . . . “the constitution should not be weakened.” Uphold the constitution? Not weaken the constitution? You have got to be kidding me! This White House under the guidance of Rove has done nothing but weaken and eviscerate the constitution. Even the ultra conservative, right-wing Cato Institute has said this on the subject,

“Unfortunately, far from defending the Constitution, President Bush has repeatedly sought to strip out the limits the document places on federal power. In its official legal briefs and public actions, the Bush administration has advanced a view of federal power that is astonishingly broad, a view that includes”

1. “A federal government empowered to regulate core political speech and restrict it greatly when it counts the most, in the days before a federal election.”

2. “A president who cannot be restrained, through validly enacted statutes, from pursuing any tactic he believes to be effective in the war on terror.”

3. “A president who has the inherent constitutional authority to designate American citizens suspected of terrorist activity as enemy combatants, strip them of any constitutional protection, and lock them up without charges for the duration of the war on terror, in other words, perhaps forever.”

4. “A federal government with the power to supervise virtually every aspect of American life, from kindergarten, to marriage, to the grave.”

5. “President Bush's constitutional vision is, in short, sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of our Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers.” Good riddance Karl Rove. You have managed to weaken our country and make us all less safe while helping destroying our reputation as a moral world power that believes in truth and equality.

If there is any justice in this world, you and Osama Bin Laden will be debating what it all means in jail together some day soon.

Rudy Says, Leave My Family Alone

Rudy, yesterday in Carson, Iowa you said, "The best thing I can say is kind of, leave my family alone, just like I'll leave your family alone". Rudy, we don't believe you, we think you're a liar. If elected president you won't leave our families alone. You will send them to war, eavesdrop on them, wiretap their phones, read their e-mails and intrude on their lives in an effort to impose your extreme, reactionary views on them. No, we don't believe you will leave our families alone.

Also, stop shifting the focus to your family Rudy, that's pretty classless. No one is criticizing your family, we applaud them running from you. The questions are about you, it's you we won't leave alone. Your policies, beliefs and moral judgments, including how you treat women and children are all relevant in helping voters to decide whether you are qualified to be President or not . . and the answer is a resounding, no you're not.

Your kids don't like you, your ex-wives don't like you, the New York Fireman don't like you, the ground zero rescue workers don't like you and many other New Yorkers don't like you. They remember all too well your abysmal record as mayor, how you treated the homeless and minorities and enabled the corporate takeover of the city. Soon the rest of the country is going to know the real you Rudy . . . and they won't like you either.

Even your sole claim to fame was a fraudulent one. Your public relations show at ground zero was just that Rudy, a show. NYC Deputy fire chief Jimmy Riches, who spent months digging for his firefighter son said,

"He is such a liar, because the only time he was down there was for photo ops with celebrities, with politicians, with diplomats....On 9/11 all he did was run. He got that soot on him, and I don't think he's taken a shower since."

Walking down a street in a dust cloud doesn't make you a hero and neither does suspending the search for bodies becuase you found the gold you were looking for.

We think your kids are right Rudy, you don't deserve to be president. So don't waste your breath asking again. The answer will be the same, no, we won't leave you alone.

The Malignant Legacy Of George Bush

George Bush and his diabolically iniquitous administration will be leaving Washington soon, either when they’re legally removed or when the clock runs out. What his troubling legacy is will be hotly debated for years to come as his record will be attentively scrutinized by historians, pundits and the press. Heated public debate will abound and severe verdicts will almost certainly be handed down.

A conclusion can be drawn however that George Bush’s most damaging endowment to our country will not be Iraq, his relentless assault on the environment or any other deeply disturbing policy or executive action. Much of what Bush has wrought can be changed by future leaders and almost certainly will be.

The most pernicious bequest of the Bush administration might be that for the first time in our history we will have had previously impenetrable constitutional barriers breached, realized unprecedented losses to our civil liberties and had our faith in the democratic uniqueness that is America challenged. Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of the National Review said, “The Bush regime's assault on the Constitution is an assault on America”.

Most dangerous of all some might say, is the precedent that has been established for future administrations to commit the same egregious acts again.

For the American people under the Bush administration have become so desensitized to governmental abuses of power along with the accompanying unprecedented weakening of our civil liberties and rights, that it’s almost inevitable the citizenry will accept this degradation far more readily in the future.

At first we may fear and rail against these abuses, but in the absence of any substantive punitive action today against this administration and as our attention turns back to the more immediate necessities of our daily lives we may wearily come to accept them as being a part of the landscape. “It’s just the way it is”.

The Bush administration has done incalculable damage to the American political psyche, rendering previously assumed birthrights of citizenship to be nothing but superficial gifts granted at the pleasure of the all powerful Federal government. It was just this that the founding fathers warned us about so intently. Thomas Jefferson said, "The greatest calamity which could befall us would be submission to a government of unlimited powers." Throughout the Bush administration, there has been a slow but inexorable chipping away of the bedrock that protected the civil rights of the individual citizen. “The Patriot Act”, the diabolically named legal mechanism for the carnage wrought against the previously inviolate US constitution, carries with it the inescapable suggestion that you are not a patriot if you take issue with administration policy. “You are either with us or you are against us”. The line in the sand has been crossed and the examples of the Bush administration’s egregious contempt for the constitution are numerous and frightening. For the first time in our history, we can no longer say, we are America, we’re different.

1. The executive branch has declared that an American citizen can be apprehended and locked up with no arrest warrant, no reading of the charges against them and no need to inform their loved ones as to what has transpired.

2. A citizen can be imprisoned for an indeterminate amount of time, even for life, with no right to challenge their detention, to make a phone call or to retain a lawyer.

3. Federal officials can secretly enter your house with no warning and with no need to show a connection to a terror investigation.

4. The federal government can wiretap your phones, monitor your web usage and scrutinize your library habits and e-mail without probable cause.

5. We have tortured and sent detainees to other countries to be tortured.

6. Our elections are no longer assumed to be fair.

7. Our government routinely uses fear to intimidate, manipulate and control us.

8. The executive branch makes policy based on the secretive counsel of their corporate donors.

9. The administration selectively disseminates information to the public through a network of media sycophants operating under the guise of news organizations.

10. The administration has selectively suspended habeas corpus rights.

11. The government has decided to use satellites to spy on US citizens. Due to Bush’s ignominious legacy, I wonder if we will still be able to lead by example in the future. Will we be capable of saying with any degree of confidence that our country is a shining beacon of democracy for the rest of the world? Will we have the right to criticize others and what will be the world’s perception of our moral standing among nations? The answers to these questions would have been asserted confidently and proudly in the affirmative at one time, but unfortunately that’s not at all assured in a post-Bush future. This is his legacy. Ours will be determined by whether we allow it.

Prisoner 345

You may not know him, not many do. But you should. He is a journalist and a prisoner at Gitmo.

Since December 15th, 2001 after being arrested at a Pakistani town on the border with Afghanistan, Sami al Haj has been a prisoner of the United States. He was first jailed in Pakistan and then was transferred to the infamous Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan. Sami al Haj states that there he was tortured, had dogs attack him, was held in a freezing cage and was given little food.

He was then sent to Kandahar, where Sami al Haj alleges that he was subjected to sexual abuse by US soldiers, threatened with rape, forced into stress positions, forced to kneel for long periods on concrete floors, beaten regularly, had all the hairs on his beard pulled out one by one and was not allowed to wash for over a hundred days.

On June 13th, 2002 al Haj was transferred to an 8’ x 7’ cell at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where he was designated an enemy combatant and imprisoned without charges.What’s troubling is that Sami al Haj, prisoner 345, was arrested while traveling with a legitimate visa to work in Afghanistan as a cameraman. What’s even more troubling is that the mainstream media has largely ignored his compelling story.

Every indication is that Sami al Haj was just doing his job for Al Jezeera when he was arrested. He was assigned to work in Afghanistan soon after the military operations started there and was shooting for one of it’s correspondents while working out of a news bureau in Kandahar which was organized and run by CNN.

Many believe that al Haj is being detained as part of a widely reported US witch hunt targeting Al Jezeera. This seems to be backed up by accounts which stated that his interrogators were heavily focused on the news organization and not on al Haj or what he did. They seemed to be gathering intelligence on Al Jezeera, rather than investgating any wrongdoing on Sami al Haj's part.

Stafford Smith, al Haj's attorney said that at one point, U.S. military interrogators allegedly told al-Haj that he would be released if he agreed to inform U.S. intelligence authorities about the satellite news network's activities. He refused.

Interestingly, one of the Downing Street memos detailed a meeting between Prime Minister Blair and President Bush, at when Bush proposed to bomb Jazeera. Blair talked Bush out of it, but there were shootings directed and Al Jazeera personnel were killed.

I wonder if anyone is catching on yet. The playbook is very simple. If you are a Muslim male or in a Muslim organization, even a legitimate news network anywhere in the world, doing anything at all, at any time, the country that hails itself as the champion of truth and justice can just snatch you off the street. They can torture you, imprison you without being charged, with no right to legal representation and with no notification to anyone. Forever if they want.

Every human being is unique and should be valued. Especially the innocent who are persecuted and have their freedom taken from them unjustly. Especially journalists in dangerous places who are just doing their job. Don’t forget him. Sami al Haj, ISN 345 Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay P.O. Box 166, Washington, DC 20355

A Letter To Joe Lieberman - You Disgust Me!

Dear Joe,

I think I speak for many Democrats and progressives who care deeply about the future of our country when I say that you disgust me. Today in the Wall Street Journal you officially embarked on your next sabre rattling death crusade, this time targeting Syria. Where did you get this blood lust Joe? Tens of thousands of deaths were not enough for you in Iraq, so Iran became your next objective which many think is an inevitable conflict due to the war mongering despotism of people like you. Still not enough blood on your hands huh, so on to Damascus is it? I have some questions for you Joe and they are not all about your fear generating imaginary war on terror. You are after all a reactionary on so many other levels . . .

1. Why do you endorse an administration that is seeking to do away with your constituents constitutional protections?

2. Why do you support this administration apprehending and locking up American citizens with no arrest warrant.

3. Why do you support imprisoning a citizen for an indeterminate amount of time, even for life, with no right to challenge their detention, make a phone call or retain a lawyer?

4. Why did you back Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General? 5. Why did you back John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? 6. Why did you open debate on behalf of the GOP against Democratic bills to get out of Iraq?

7. Why are you in bed and buddies with right-wing reactionary bigots like Sean Hannity? 8. Why are you against affirmative action?

9. Why do you support torture? 10. Why do you support the expression of religious faith in schools? 11. Why do you favor the death penalty, even for minors? 12. Why do most right-wing evangelical Christian leaders call you an important ally?

13. Why do you support school vouchers? 14. Why did you say that war critics’ plans provides a road map for terrorists?

15. Why did you say that people who opposed the Iraq escalation are taking the bait of al Qaeda and terrorist sympathizers?

16. Why do you support illegal wiretapping?

Nice record Joe. We all know you are going to support a Republican candidate in the 2008 Presidential election Joe. So be a man for once in your pathetic life and shed the last fraudulent vestiges of progressive, enlightened thought you may have gathering cobwebs in your attic. Don't wiggle on the fence anymore Joe. You are a right-wing reactionary and we all know it. I personally would prefer that you just become a Republican officially, I'm not willing to sell my soul to the devil for a vote which you don't cast for us anyway. Please go. We'll be fine without you. We don't respect you and we don't want you with us. See ‘ya.

*Thanks to The Huffington Post for alerting me to the WSJ editorial!