Shit Or Get Off The Pot

Why I'm Not A Christian

The Rotten Apple Does Not Fall Far

It's remarkably common for a grandson to take up his grandfather's major project.

This occurred to me when I read recently of Thor Heyerdahl's grandson taking up his mission to cross the Pacific on a raft. But what really struck me was the BBC story aired on July 23rd, 2007, documenting President George W. Bush's grandfather's involvement in a 1933 plot to overthrow the U.S. government and install a fascist dictatorship. I knew the story, but had not considered the possibility that the grandson was trying to accomplish what his grandfather had failed to achieve.

Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895 to 1972) attended Yale University and joined the secret society known as Skull and Bones. Prescott is widely reported to have stolen the skull of Native American leader Geronimo. As far as I know, this has not actually been confirmed. In fact, Prescott seems to have had a habit of making things up. He sent letters home from World War I claiming he'd received medals for heroism. After the letters were printed in newspapers, he had to retract his claims.

If this does not yet sound like the life of a George W. Bush ancestor, try this on for size: Prescott Bush's early business efforts tended to fail. He married the daughter of a very rich man named George Herbert Walker (the guy with the compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, that now belongs to the Bush family, and the origin of Dubya's middle initial). Walker installed Prescott Bush as an executive in Thyssen and Flick. From then on, Prescott's business dealings went better, and he entered politics.

Now, the name Thyssen comes from a German named Fritz Thyssen, major financial backer of the rise of Adolph Hitler. Thyssen was referred to in the New York Herald-Tribune as "Hitler's Angel." During the 1930s and early 1940s, and even as late as 1951, Prescott Bush was involved in business dealings with Thyssen, and was inevitably aware of both Thyssen's political activities and the fact that the companies involved were financially benefiting the nation of Germany. In addition, the companies Prescott Bush profited from included one engaged in mining operations in Poland using slave labor from Auschwitz. Two former slave laborers have sued the U.S. government and the heirs of Prescott Bush for $40 billion.

Until the United States entered World War II it was legal for Americans to do business with Germany, but in late 1942 Prescott Bush's businesses interests were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Among those businesses involved was the Hamburg America Lines, for which Prescott Bush served as a manager. A Congressional committee, in a report called the McCormack-Dickstein Report, found that Hamburg America Lines had offered free passage to Germany for journalists willing to write favorably about the Nazis, and had brought Nazi sympathizers to America. (Is this starting to remind anyone of our current president's relationship to the freedom of the press?)

The McCormack-Dickstein Committee was established to investigate a homegrown American fascist plot hatched in 1933. Here's how the BBC promoted its recent story:

"Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy."

Actually, if you listen to the 30-minute BBC story, there is not one word of so much as speculation as to why this story is so little known. I think a clue to the answer can be found by looking into why this BBC report has not led to any U.S. media outlets picking up the story this week.

The BBC report provides a good account of the basic story. Some of the wealthiest men in America approached Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, beloved of many World War I veterans, many of them embittered by the government's treatment of them. Prescott Bush's group asked Butler to lead 500,000 veterans in a take-over of Washington and the White House. Butler refused and recounted the affair to the congressional committee. His account was corroborated in part by a number of witnesses, and the committee concluded that the plot was real. But the names of wealthy backers of the plot were blacked out in the committee's records, and nobody was prosecuted. According to the BBC, President Roosevelt cut a deal. He refrained from prosecuting some of the wealthiest men in America for treason. They agreed to end Wall Street's opposition to the New Deal.

Clearly the lack of accountability in Washington, D.C., did not begin with Nancy Pelosi taking Dubya's impeachment off the table, or with Congress' decision to avoid impeachment for President Ronald Reagan (a decision that arguably played a large role in installing Prescott Bush's son George H.W. Bush as president), or with the failure to investigate the apparent deal that George H.W. Bush and others made with Iran to not release American hostages until Reagan was made president, or with the failure to prosecute Richard Nixon after he resigned. Lack of accountability is a proud tradition in our nation's capital. Or maybe I should say our former nation's capital. I don't recognize the place anymore, and I credit that to George W. Bush's efforts to fulfill his grandfather's dream using far subtler and more effective means than a military coup.

bush the idiot grandson took office through a highly fraudulent election that he nonetheless lost. The Supreme Court blocked a recount of the vote and installed Dubya.

Prescott's grandson proceeded to weaken or eliminate most of the Bill of Rights in the name of protection from a dark foreign enemy. He even tossed out habeas corpus. The grandson of Prescott, that dreamer of the 1930s, established with very little resistance that the U.S. government can kidnap, detain indefinitely on no charge, torture, and murder. The United States under Prescott Bush's grandson adopted policies that heretofore had been considered only Nazi policies, most strikingly the willingness to openly plan and engage in aggressive wars on other nations.

At the same time, Dubya has accomplished a huge transfer of wealth within the United States from the rest of us to the extremely wealthy. He's also effected a major privatization of public operations, including the military. And he's kept tight control over the media.

Dubya has given himself the power to rewrite all laws with signing statements. He's established that intentionally misleading the Congress about the need for a war is not a crime that carries any penalty. He's given himself the right (just as Hitler did) to open anyone's mail. He's created illegal spying programs and then proposed to legalize them. Prescott would be so proud!

The current bush has accomplished much more smoothly than his grandfather could have imagined a feat that was one of the goals of Prescott's gang, namely the elimination of Congress.

Fuck bush and his criminal family.

Stupid Republican Criminals

If you or I refused to obey a subpoena we would certainly be under punishment.

In fact, it used to be that laws in this country could be applied to everyone, even presidents. When President Richard Nixon refused to comply with subpoenas from a prosecutor, the Supreme Court told him he had to.

When Nixon refused to comply with subpoenas from Congress, the House Judiciary Committee passed an article of impeachment against him. Nixon claimed "executive privilege," and the Supreme Court and Congress both told him to take his privilege and stick it in a helicopter home.

bush and Cheney have refused to comply with numerous subpoenas, have instructed current and former staff not to comply, and have refused to enforce contempt citations arising out of their refusal to comply with subpoenas. They have also instructed current and former staffers who testified to refuse to answer certain questions, and to claim "executive privilege."

When the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed White House Political Director Sara Taylor and Deputy Political Director J. Scott Jennings a year ago, they showed up and refused to answer questions. A complete list of witnesses who have thus refused would be quite long.In many other cases, the Bush-Cheney gang has simply refused to produce documents or witnesses at all.

Subpoenas not complied with at all include:--A House Judiciary Committee subpoena for documents from the Department of Justice, issued April 10, 2007;--A House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoena for the testimony of the Secretary of State, issued April 25, 2007;--A House Judiciary Committee subpoena for documents and testimony of former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, issued June 13, 2007;--A Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena for documents and testimony of White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, issued June 13, 2007;--A Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena for documents and testimony of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, issued June 26, 2007;--A Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena for documents from the White House, Vice President Richard Cheney, the Department of Justice, and the National Security Council. If the documents are not produced, the subpoena requires the testimony of White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Chief of Staff to the Vice President David Addington, and National Security Council executive director V. Philip Lago, issued June 27, 2007;--A House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoena for testimony of Lt. General Kensinger;--A House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoena for documents from the Environmental Protection Agency, issued April 16, 2008.

This is a partial list based on no sort of thorough research whatsoever, and not all subpoenas are ever publicized.

So, who knows what the full extent of this pattern of behavior comes to?

The list already dwarfs Nixon's and is probably much longer. And, remember, these are actual subpoenas. These don't include rejected requests not in the form of subpoenas, or votes by committees to approve subpoenas that the chairman never bothers to send. And remember, too, that a number of these subpoenas are for unnecessary evidence related to crimes and offenses already solidly documented.

Congress members, afraid to produce articles of impeachment, have produced subpoenas instead, and then discovered that with impeachment removed from the table, the subpoenas have no teeth.We are in completely uncharted waters.

The White House has reduced the Congress to a debate club or a gang of court jesters, and Congress has gone along with the complete removal of its power.

But do Republicans want the power to subpoena the Obama administration? Do Democrats want the power to subpoena the McCain administration? Do any congress members with decency that reaches outside a party want the power to hold any future administration in check?

If so, then we need impeachment, even if it's on this issue alone. When your Congress member comes home next week, ask them to introduce this article of impeachment. They can copy Congressman Dennis Kucinich's 27th article already introduced. Or they can borrow from the third article passed against Nixon. Or they can give up the pretense of being an actual member of the U.S. government. Perhaps you can begin your conversations this way:"

So, Congressman, how does it feel to be impotent?"

Fight FISA

They were passed even as we in the Democratic party...activists we are called...were fighting back.

We were ignored.

They paid no attention at all.

We went to Iraq, the terrible bankruptcy bill was forced on us, the press conferences on the trade deals were held before the labor friendly Democrats even knew about what was happening.

Now FISA immunity is being forced through for no reason. It could have waited until we had a new president. There is no real reason for this to be happening now.

Again, we are as a party doing what makes the right wing 25% happy. (Actually it is less than 25% now) There is no listening to the ones in our own party who are speaking up. Even at Democratic forums, there are people saying don't be alarmed...there is nothing to the FISA bill at all. We are making too big a deal, they say. Just because they can now legally spy on us for 7 days before getting a warrant...no problem. Give this administration a big pass on the war lies...no problem.

We are told not to be alarmed just because spying can continue even if denied by the court.

We are told not to be alarmed that none of the spying on us prior to this time can be prosecuted....or even questioned. It is done, it is over.

• H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the
government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied
by the court. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire
appeals process, and then keep and use whatever it gathered in the meantime.

• H.R. 6304 ensures the dismissal of all cases pending against the
telecommunication companies that facilitated the warrantless wiretapping
programs over the last 7 years. The test in the bill is not whether the
government certifications were actually legal – only whether they were issued.
Because it is public knowledge that they were, all the cases seeking to find out
what these companies and the government did with our communications will be
killed.

Remember the rush to get the bankruptcy bill through? I will never forget this CNN interview which made me realize that our Democrats had the wool pulled over their eyes, just like before Iraq...supposedly. Just like now with FISA..supposedly.

CNN transcript

"SCURLOCK: Well, you know, if you the numbers, and you look at why people
declare bankruptcy and you look at why people are in debt, the only real
solution is to never go to the hospital, never get divorced and never lose your
job, which I don't I think is that realistic for most people -- and probably
never go to college.

...WASTLER: James, bang on Congress a little bit.
There was a big hearing...

SCURLOCK: OK.

WASTLER: ... this week
and everything. And they had all the big boy credit card companies come. Oh yes,
we promise, we're going to be more transparent with our customers, which is a
bunch of malarkey, quite frankly. I know you've been following it carefully, but
all of these banks have big lobbying organizations that help get their point of
view across in Washington. Is there any realistic chance that we'll get some
sort of change out of D.C.?

SCURLOCK: Well, I think the congressmen are
still sort of stinging from this bait and switch with bankruptcy reform where
they were told that if they passed the bill, about a year-and-a-half ago, that
all Americans would get this dividend in the form of lower interest rates. I
think they said it was $500 or $600 we were all paying because people were
gaming in the bankruptcy system.

And nobody has gotten a dividend check
yet and I don't think interest rates have come down. So and I think Congress is
very angry about this. And you have new -- the Democrats in charge of the
committees and oversight are they are really taking these guys to task.


Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have been pushing this FISA bill with
immunity for ages. The "policy shop" has advised this issue be pushed. It shows
who controls the message.

PPI says Democrats should allow immunity for
telecoms


..."However, it makes little sense to hold up progress on
modernizing the FISA bill to punish private companies that responded to White
House requests for information. Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has done
yeoman's work as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to forge this
compromise, and offered an explanation of his support for an immunity clause in
an October 31 Washington Post editorial: "These companies were assured that
their cooperation was not only legal but also necessary because of their unique
technical capabilities. They were also told it was their patriotic duty to help
protect the country after the devastating attacks on our homeland."

In a
separate editorial for The Hill on November 8, former senator Bob Kerrey stated,
"We cannot hope to achieve such unity of effort (to defeat the enemy) if on the
one hand we call upon private industry to aid us in this fight, and on the other
allow them to be sued for their good-faith efforts to help."

In sum,
since the telecommunications companies had no way of independently verifying the
program's legality and were pressured by White House invocations of the national
interest, efforts to punish them fail to address the real cause of the problem.

This was from November 2007. It is obvious who got the attention of Congress.

They listened to their think tank instead of listening to the people of the party.

Now we are told to not be upset. Just like we were told after the immoral invasion of Iraq, just like we were told after the passage of the bankruptcy bill which hurts elderly and the sick. Just like we were told after the trade deals were passed.

A Legend Is Gone

But he will never be forgotten.

The gifts that he gave the world will live on.

Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines
about drugs, dirty words and the demise of humanity, died of heart failure at a
Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday. He was 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at
Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material developed over 50 years, the bald, bearded Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television." A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission vs. Pacifica Foundation, the top U.S. court ruled that the words cited in Carlin's routine were indecent, and that the government's broadcast regulator could ban them from being aired at times when children might be listening.

The Grammy-winning Carlin remained an active presence on the comedy circuit. Carlin was scheduled to receive the John F. Kennedy Center's prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in November and his publicist said Carlin performed in Las Vegas this month.

His comedic sensibility revolved around a central theme: humanity is a cursed, doomed species.

"I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. I don't believe in this
country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in all these man-made institutional ideas," he told Reuters in a 2001 interview.

Carlin told Playboy in 2005 that he looked forward to an afterlife where he could watch the decline of civilization on a "heavenly CNN."

"The world is a big theater-in-the round as far as I'm concerned, and I'd love to watch it spin itself into oblivion," he said. "Tune in and watch the human adventure."

Carlin is survived by his second wife Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; and brother Patrick. His first wife, Brenda, died of cancer in
1997.

Cindy McCain - Drug Addled Cunt

It's sleazy as hell for one candidate to attack the other's wife.

But it's even weirder for him to use his own scandal-ridden wife to do it. What moral authority does Cindy McCain have to start throwing stones at Mrs. Obama? Only one candidate's wife is a drug addict who actually stole drugs from poor children in order to feed her addiction.

And that candidate is John McCain.

People who live in glass pill boxes shouldn't cast stones.

Cindy McCain is a drug addict and has stole drugs from children.

The non-partisan Web site, Snopes.com, had this to say about Mrs. McCain's illicit drug addiction:

In 1989, following two back surgeries, Cindy McCain became addicted to the
painkillers Vicodin and Percocet. To keep up with her daily need of 10 to 15
pills, she used other people's names for prescriptions and stole drugs from the
American Voluntary Medical Team, a mobile surgical unit she'd begun in 1988 to
provide emergency medical services around the world. A 1993 DEA audit of the
amount of painkillers her charity had obtained quickly uncovered her thefts. She
avoided prosecution for those crimes through an agreement with the Justice
Department in which she submitted to drug testing, paid a fine, performed
community service in a soup kitchen, and joined Narcotics Anonymous and her
medical charity was closed.

True Americans DO NOT steal medicine from children.

Neither should their wives.

The American Dream *revisited*

Growing up as a child in America, I kept hearing about “the American dream”.

I had it driven into my brain that America was the greatest, most powerful and richest nation in the world and that people from other lands would do anything to be American. To live the American dream.

For the estimated 3.5 billion homeless people living in America, that dream has become a nightmare.

Let’s look at some statistics:

• 40% are families with children—the fastest growing segment


• 41% are single males.


• 14% are single females.
  
• 5% are minors unaccompanied by adults.
  (this means that nearly 1.5 million of homeless people are under 18 – I bet all you parents are quite proud)

The mobile and often hidden nature of homelessness makes this group difficult to accurately survey and completely accurate and comprehensive statistics are difficult to acquire, however, these figures seem to be reasonably accurate.

• 49% are African American


• 35% are Caucasian


• 23% are veterans


• 28% have more than a High School education

These are people like you and me. They could be your neighbors, your friends, your family but they are looked at as the dregs of society and a burden to the communities they wander, asking a passer by for some change in the hopes that their next meal can come from somewhere other than the garbage.

Contrary to some people’s beliefs they are not all lazy and shiftless. They are not all drug addicts or drunks. They are not all mentally ill.

These are people that have become victims of years of failed mismanagement of their country, where livable wages get left in the dust of runaway cost of living expenses. That is IF they’re fortunate enough to still have a job.

How long do you think you and YOUR family could survive if your job was cut? Especially in an unstable economy where the job market offers even LESS than the meager salary you once had, making it even MORE difficult to survive. That is IF you are fortunate enough to find another job quickly.

So if you think that it can’t possibly happen to you, think again.

Look around you and see what has become of the American Dream. Look at the prices you pay at the pump and the grocery store. Compare the cost of living today to the same time last year.
Now do the same with your income.

Has your income increased at the same percentage as your cost of living?
If you are like the 90% of the American population the answer is: no. You are moving backwards. Falling behind.

But there IS one thing that has been saving people from becoming homeless, at least for a while, and that one thing is debt. Credit cards. Buying now and paying later. The American way.

But that is merely an illusion.

A temporary fix.

The band aid on the cancerous tumor.

Because in reality, this is just putting you more behind. Burying you further. Enslaving you. Holding you hostage.

Being a slave and a hostage is NOT the American Dream.

Not MY American Dream anyway.

Why is it yours?

Perhaps We Need To Speak Louder

Dennis Kucinich, this past week, released 35 criminal counts against george bush, calling for Impeachment, spending about five hours of the House floor outlining the charges.

35 criminal acts against America. Terrorist acts pulled off by the biggest "homegrown" domestic terrorist in America today.

He is being ignored by the media.

We all need to condemn the corporate media for their continued betrayal of the public trust by its silence on this. This betrayal is even worse than the corporate media aiding bush lies that got us into the illegal, immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq.

It is true that the brave Representative from Ohio has been marginalized and demonized by those in the corporate media. However, we must remember that that marginalization and demonization have not just been by the corporate media. There have been many willing partners in crime from within the political establishment.

More specifically, those within the democratic party.

People like Nancy Pelosi, the republican shill that pretends to be a democrat. Like Harry Reid, someone that has apparently been AWOL lately.

The corporate media blackout has had allies. For this blackout to be broken, Progressive Democrats of America, Move On and every other progressive group need to call for Senator Obama to publicly call for Impeachment. Make it clear that if he does not do so, right now,

We need to make the same case for every politician running. That if they do not support Kucinich that we will publicly not support them and will indeed support a more suitable candidate. One that hears the voices of We The People that allow them to have the job that they hold so dear.

Most importantly, having Senator Obama and others making it clear that they support an Impeachment investigation will force the corporate media to cover the story. This will then provide the evidence needed to convince the American public just how deep and insidious the crimes of the Bush Administration are.

This simple act of courage by progressive groups could propel Impeachment into the minds and consciousness of the public of our country. It can make the oft-heard term "holding their feet to the fire" have real meaning and relevance.

On the other hand, to not push this will do one thing and one thing only. It is unarguable that the democratic majority has proven to be worse than spineless. For progressives to not publicly pressure their leadership in this manner will actually reward them for their cowardice.

At this stage, this is the only leverage we have left.

Impeachment really is this important, and you all know it.

Make them prove that Impeachment was not taken off the table because they had something to hide under the table. Or we can assume that they did have something to hide, in which case, they do not deserve our support. It will be proof positive of their complicity, the fact that they are coconspirators in the crimes of the bush administration

If we all come to that horrifying reality, we can then be truly aware of how bad the situation is that we find ourselves in. It also gives We The People the responsibility to create real and lasting change for ourselves and the world in which we live.

This is America's opportunity to shine. To regain that respect we once had as a nation. We can once again say that we are proud to be an American.

Or we can allow these crimes to go unpunished. Ignored. We can send a clear message to all future administrations that they can do whatever, whenever they want to us regardless of constitutional laws that were meant to protect our rights.

The choice is ours to make.

Moral Values?

OK, so now I’ve seen everything.

I almost spit my coffee through my nose from the absurdity of the statement that I just read.

“Pope Benedict XVI personally thanked US President George W. Bush on Friday for his defense of fundamental moral values".

The more I thought about it, I began to see the irony.

Let’s take a look at these “moral values.”

To achieve his presidential goals, bush has deliberately mislead the world for the reasons to invade Iraq. His lies have caused the deaths of American citizens, the destruction of lives, mangled American bodies and minds. In Iraq, depending on whose numbers you believe, he is responsible for killing over one million people.

Of the seven deadly sins, greed seems to be bush’s favorite, as we see billions and billions of dollars going unaccounted for that was earmarked to rebuild Iraq, the nation he destroyed. His invasion has destabilized an already unstable region and oil prices have nearly tripled since bush took office.

The bush family fortune comes from oil company profits.

Did I mention how this invasion was the result of his lies?

The pope has some rather interesting “moral values” too. Not only does he actively participate in the covering up of sex abuse at the hands of his priests, but he goes as far as blaming society for the problem in the first place.

This is the same guy that once said that Buddhist meditation was actually a form of masturbation. He further stated that abortion and homosexuality were “obstacles” to world peace. This guys seems a little preoccupied with sex issues.

So it appears that these two men, these fine christian men, seem to have some of the same values after all.

Both are delusional. Believing in fantasy.

Both are hypocrites.

Both are in positions of ultimate power.

Both are liars. Both are guilty of aiding and abetting crimes.

But these are hardly what I would call “moral values.”

So as bush and the pope lay down in bed together tonight, doing the things they have fantasized about in their rise for power, know full well that the morals that they exhibit, the beliefs that they hold, the crimes they commit, are transparent and expose them for the corrupt charlatan liars that they are.

Return The American Dream

To preface the point, I would like to first define what the American Dream is (was).

It can mean different things to different people. I, for one, think that the American Dream is grounded on being an entrepreneur. Living life on your own terms, which can be a good topic for another article.

To others, the American Dream can be a house in the suburbs with a doting wife and 2.3 children or it can mean owning a convenience store or a donut shop.

To others still, it could mean just being happy.

Enjoying life.

Sharing.

Caring.

It is this American Dream that I am referring to here. Our standards as a nation have been compromised. Let me explain:

People today may “appear” to be happy and content on the outside but when you look at what they have come to accept as “living” is actually quite pathetic.

When looked at realistically, their lives consist of going to a job that they hate and are grossly underpaid at, their salaries being left in the dust as the cost of living raises much quicker than their wage. This forces them to perhaps take on second and even third jobs to accomplish the same things they have done before and sometimes even less.

There is really no such thing, any more, as a one income household like we had when I was growing up. More and more of the children everyone claims to care about are going home after school to an empty house because mom and dad are both at work. That is if dad is even in the picture any more.

It’s no wonder crime is raising across America at such an alarming rate. Kids are killing kids, not just in an unjust war, but right here in America. Right in our own back yards.

But we can always trust our government to help us, right? Surely they will help keep the American Dream alive. However, their actions and inactions, as well as the facts, shine a different light of truth on their intentions.

We feel it first at the pump, where gas prices have sharply risen to ridiculous levels, which has an escalating effect on damn near everything that can be purchased. From groceries to __________________ . (FILL IN THE BLANK)

This is going on at the same time that billions and billions of dollars are being shipped off to fund a corrupt presidents war in Iraq, which by the way a significant portion of these AMERICAN DOLLARS has gone unaccounted for.

While the American economy seems to be crumbling all around us, with recessionlike retail numbers and more and more small business closing their doors unable to compete with the WalMart mentality of doing business.

We see our friends, family and neighbors in near panic mode, not knowing what to do about the downward spiral they seem to have found themselves in, seemingly losing the ability to think logically and become stupid, complacent sheep, blindly following what they hear on the nightly news about Hillary dodging sniper fire in Bosnia or what Obama’s former pastor has said or who the new American Idol is going to be.

We have become a nation steeped in stupidity and ignorance and those fortunate enough to still have possession of a functioning brain are becoming disenchanted with the way things are.

Things aren’t supposed to be this way. What happened?

What happened to the American Dream of, at the very least, being happy?

Have our standards of being happy lowered to THIS level?

Join us tonight on my blogatalk show where this topic will be discussed in greater detail. The show starts at 8PM CST and the call in number, if you feel compelled to call in, is 347-215-8200.

Feel free to post comments below.

A TRUE Patriot Act

Yesterday House Representative Dennis Kucinich stood on the floor of congress introducing a 35 count resolution to impeach bush.

Citing bush administration crime after crime after crime.

Kucinich claimed bush "fraudulently" justified the war on Iraq and misled "the American people and members of Congress to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so as to manufacture a false case for war." A fact that everyone with a brain seems to know true.

Kucinich said. ”by such conduct, bush is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office,"

Which on the surface might seem like a moot point at this time. bush will soon be out of a job. Nothing but a bad memory, annoying as morning mouth flem. But think about this for a second.

For one reason or another, which we won’t discuss just yet, people have been letting bush and his minions get away with being the crime family in America far too long. If the crimes of this administration go unchecked and unpunished, it sends a very dangerous message to future administrations.

Kucinich said in January that he planned to launch an impeachment effort against bush, but delayed his effort after meeting with members of the House Judiciary Committee. Its time John Conyers hears the voice of the people and acts on in the best interests of those that elected him into office. The Judiciary Committee hasn't acted on a bid Kucinich launched last year to impeach cheney.

Nancy Pelosi has said time and time again that impeachment was “off the table.”

Perhaps this is a problem with the system. We have elected leaders, public servants, that are doing very little, if anything, in the best interests of the people.

I mean shit, have you ever heard Conyers speak?

I can’t make it through two or three sentences before I fall asleep. The man is NOT what I would consider a great orator.

I would suggest everyone give Mr Conyers office a call and tell him to get off his ass, open his ears and do the bidding of the people, a position he has been hired by US to do, or he will soon be looking for a job himself.

DC Address:
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.

United States House of Representatives

2426 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

DC Phone:
202-225-5126

DC Fax:
202-225-0072

Email Address:
http://www.house.gov/conyers/contactform_zipcheck.shtml
WWW Homepage:
http://www.house.gov/conyers/

And while you’re at it, give that OTHER hose bag bitch, Nancy Pelosi a call too.

In my attempts to locate contact information for her I was greeted by a contact form with an email address and the warning that if you’re not a constituent in her ward, she’ll probably never even look at it.

Perhaps she could soon be on the unemployment line too.

So the ultimate responsibility fall right back in our own laps.

We The People decide what goes on in America, at least that’s how its supposed to be. It is We The People that give these people their jobs in the first place. It is We The People that give them their power.

And it is We The People that have sat back and allowed it too long.

It is time that We The People become Fed Up Americans.

Never Going To Leave

Dick Cheney wants the Iraqi government installed by the U.S. occupation to sign a “security pact” with Washington by the end of July. (The pact, including a status-of-forces agreement, would be signed by the U.S. president but not constitute a treaty requiring Congressional approval.)

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker has been feverishly struggling to meet the deadline and to commit the next administration to the agreement’s terms. But that may be a tall order. Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki says negotiations are only in a beginning stage; public opinion is opposed to the pact based on leaked information about its content; and a majority of members of the Iraqi parliament have endorsed a letter to the U.S. government demanding U.S. withdrawal as the condition for “any commercial, agricultural, investment or political agreement with the United States.”

Few Americans are familiar with the proposed treaty. If they were, they might be shocked at its provisions, ashamed about its naked sadism.

It:

• grants the U.S. long-term rights to maintain over 50 military bases in their California-sized country
• allows the U.S. to strike any other country from within Iraqi territory without the permission of the Iraqi government
• allows the U.S. to conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting with the local government
• allows U.S. forces to arrest any Iraqi without consulting with Iraqi authorities
• extends to U.S. troops and contracters immunity from Iraqi law
• gives U.S. forces control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft.
• places the Iraqi Defense, Interior and National Security ministries, under American supervision for ten years
• gives the U.S. responsibility for Iraqi armament contracts for ten years

But Iranian political leader Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani hardly exaggerates in saying the proposed deal is designed “to turn the Iraqis into slaves of the Americans” and to create “a permanent occupation.” Many Iraqis use similar language. “The agreement wants to put an American in each house,” claimed a supporter of Shiite cleric and nationalist firebrand Mutada al-Sadr. “This agreement is poison mixed in poison, not poison in honey because there is no honey at all.” “Why,” he asks, “do they want to break the backbone of Iraq?”

The mainstream Shiite cleric and politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC; formerly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq or SCIRI), agrees that the proposed agreement would “violate Iraq's national sovereignty.” He claims a “national consensus” against it has developed. (President Bush in December 2006 met with al-Hakim, calling his “one of the distinguished leaders of a free Iraq,” and he is sometimes mentioned as Washington’s first choice for prime minister if al-Maliki doesn’t adequately put out. So his opposition is especially significant.)

Al-Hakim is close to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most widely respected Shiite cleric in 60% Shiite Iraq. The ayatollah is thought to oppose the pact but has not yet made a pronouncement about it. Meanwhile the Association of Muslim Scholars, the largest Sunni political group in the parliament, warns that the pact paves the way for "military, economic and cultural domination” by the Americans.

Al-Sadr’s followers staged rallies around the country after prayers last Friday and plan to continue weekly peaceful demonstrations demanding that the Baghdad government hold a national referendum on the security treaty issue. The U.S. opposes such a referendum, aware that pact opponents would surely win.

SOURCE

Police Fascism

WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The summer music festival season is FINALLY upon us.

And with it, special drug law enforcement aimed at festival goers in what could be called a form of cultural profiling. If years past are any indicator, music lovers should be prepared to encounter everything from announced "Drug Checkpoints" that aren't -- they are instead traps to lure the freaked out -- to real, unconstitutional, highway drug checkpoints masquerading as "safety checks" (complete with drug dogs) to undercover cops working inside the festival grounds themselves.

Nationally known festivals like Bonaroo in Tennessee and Wakarusa in Kansas, as well as countless lesser festivals, especially in rural areas, have drawn special law enforcement efforts in the past. With this year unlikely to be any different, festival goers will need to know their rights and how to exercise them when they encounter the cops.

The police enforcement actions are already getting underway. Last weekend, the 2008 Summer Camp Festival in Chillicothe, Illinois, drew some 13,000 fans to hear a diverse line-up of bands including the Flaming Lips, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Blind Melon, the Roots, and the New Pornographers. It also drew city and state police, who claimed 20 drug arrests -- for marijuana, ecstasy, and LSD -- between them in and around the festival.

The police were pleased.

"I think a lot of it had to do with all of the agencies getting together before the event and really planning out our attack (????)," Chillicothe Police Chief Steven Maurer. "Our goal is to prevent it from coming in and that's what we did a lot of."

Meanwhile, down in northeast Georgia, some other law enforcement agencies had also gotten together to plan an attack. This one wasn't aimed directly at concert-goers, but at the highway-traveling public in general. In what the Northeast Georgian described as "one of the county's largest highway interdiction and safety checks in at least five years," personnel from the Habersham County Sheriff's Office, Northeast Georgia Drug Task Force, Georgia National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Unit, Lee Arrendale State Prison, Phillips State Prison and Cornelia Police Department participated in a 24-hour checkpoint on a local highway.

Police bragged about the success of their checkpoint, which netted 74 arrests, 31 of them for drug offenses. "It worked well, I thought," said Habersham County Sheriff De Ray Fincher. "The operation resulted in a seizure of $36,000 in illegal drugs. And a total amount of currency, drugs and vehicles seized is estimated to have a value of $82,000."

Police did write some tickets for traffic offenses, Fincher told WNEG-TV 32 News. "We got a lot of people with no insurance, no driver's license or suspended license," he said. And some pot smokers: "The majority of our cases were marijuana cases; however, we did get several methamphetamine and we got one case of cocaine," Fincher explained.

In a 2000 Supreme Court decision, Indianapolis v. Edmonds, the high court held that indiscriminate highway drug checkpoints were unconstitutional since motorists were being stopped without suspicion for a law enforcement -- not a public safety -- purpose.

But Fincher was open about his constitutionally-suspect highway checkpoint. "We are trying to do everything we can to prevent drug activity in Habersham County, whether it's just passing through or stopping here," he said, noting that drug arrests in the county were on the rise. "That just means we've taken a real aggressive approach to drug enforcement."

"In the wake of the Indianapolis case, law enforcement has tried to figure out ways to still conduct drug checkpoints that comport with that ruling," said Adam Wolf of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "Intent is the name of the game. If the intent is to conduct a checkpoint basically for law enforcement purposes, that's not okay. If it's for public safety purposes, such as sobriety checkpoints, that is okay."

A constitutional challenge to any given checkpoint would turn on intent, said Wolf. "If it turns out the intent was primarily to be a drug checkpoint, that would be an unreasonable search and not comply with the Constitution," he said. "That kind of checkpoint should be shut down, but it would take someone to challenge it."

Noting Sheriff Fincher's report of cash and goods seized, Wolf suggested the purpose of the checkpoints could really be about something other than law enforcement or public safety.

"So often these things are being done to fund law enforcement agencies. Asset forfeiture is really a cash cow," he said.

Whether the checkpoints or other special law enforcement tactics are to raise money, wage the drug war, or indeed for "public safety," experts consulted by the Chronicle sang a remarkably similar song: Be prepared, don't be stupid, and don't give away your rights.

"The most efficient way to get arrested for marijuana possession short of blowing pot smoke in an officer's face is to smoke marijuana while driving or parked in your car, especially on the way to a festival," said Steven Silverman of the civil liberties group Flex Your Rights, which has released a video instructing people how to flex theirs. "You have a minimal expectation of privacy, and it reeks. Officers can smell it, and if they can smell it, that's probable cause to search you."

"Keep your private items out of view," recommended the ACLU's Wolf. A baggie full of weed on the front seat is all the probable cause an officer needs to search the vehicle and arrest the owner.

"The only sure thing to do is not to carry," said Keith Stroup, founder and currently senior counsel for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "But the problem with that is there may or may not be good marijuana available at the festivals. If you're going to bring something with you, keep the quantity as small as possible, and for God's sake, don't smoke in the car!"

If you are stopped at a checkpoint (or pulled over for any reason) and you haven't provided police probable cause to search you or your vehicle, now is the time to exercise your rights. People in such situations should be polite but assertive, the experts said.

"If you are pulled over by police for any reason, the officers are very likely to ask you to consent to a search," said Silverman. "Don't do it. Never, ever consent under any circumstances. It might be couched in terms of a command, but it is a request. If you consent, you are waiving your Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. They won't 'go easier' on you; anything they find, they will confiscate, and arrest you and put you in jail. Don't do their job for them."

"There is no circumstance I can imagine where you should ever consent to a search," agreed NORML's Stroup. "If you give permission, you waive your Fourth Amendment protections. They may say it'll go easier if you cooperate, but that's bullshit. Their only reason for being there is to see if you have contraband and arrest you and put you in jail if you do."

"Just say no to warrantless searches," echoed the ACLU's Wolf. "Officers won't tell you you have the right not to consent, but you do, and it is one that people have held dear since the founding of the Republic."

There are other highway hazards for the unwary festival-goer. Law enforcement can be creative in its unending war on drug users and sellers.

"Anybody driving to see his favorite band should also be aware of fake drug checkpoints," said Silverman. "Drug checkpoints are unconstitutional, but what some sheriffs will do close to festival sites is set up a big 'Drug Checkpoint Ahead' sign, and then watch who turns off the highway at the next ramp or who throws something out his car window. Then they pull them over for littering or failure to signal a lane change or something. If you see such a sign, keep driving -- it's a bluff designed to see who it scares."

"When you see a sign like that, proceed ahead within the speed limit, driving safely through the area," advised Wolf.

Wolf has problems with the harassment of festival-goers that run deeper than particular law enforcement tactics. "Profiling based on race is not okay, profiling based on gender is not okay, and profiling based on the type of concert you attend is not okay," he said. "It's unreasonable and unjustifiable for police to target a group of people because they are going to any particular type of concert."

"Simply having a Grateful Dead sticker or dreadlocks doesn't constitute reasonable suspicion of anything," agreed Silverman.

But in the real world, it can. Festival-goers and other highway travelers need to be aware of their rights, as well as the realities of life in the contemporary US, as they hit the highway this summer.

And one last thing once you actually make it to the festival. "There's a big myth out there that police officers must reveal if they're an undercover cop," said Silverman. "That's wrong, and it's stupid to believe that. Police officers can and do legally lie in doing their jobs. Believing that has probably led to thousands of people being arrested."

SOURCE

Taking Her Ball And Going Home

Risky. Calculating. Selfish. And yes... CHILDISH.

These are the unflattering characteristics I'm witnessing in a candidate I once believed would make a great first female president. Gladly, she won't be our first. That historic moment will be awaiting another woman who shall get to the highest office in the land on her own merits.

I have never ever seen a democratic presidential candidate running for the highest office in the land exhibit the kind of behavior that Hillary Clinton has. When someone explained that she needed some "time" to retire from her campaign in a way of her own "choosing", I thought... this is someone who everyone said was strong enough to be commander in chief. She had balls of steel as one of her supporters alluded. Hillary Clinton, the candidate who talked tough and voted tough and threw back shots like she was just one of the boys needed to be treated with "KID" gloves? This is a woman who screams sexism then talks like a racist and she needs to be handled very carefully? She throws a tantrum it seems whenever she can't get her way. She starts out as the inevitable candidate with a boatload of money and a gargantuan machine and she ends her campaign in the back seat, in debt and a depleted army largely because of the mistakes she made and now she wants to blame Obama because he won like David over Goliath in large measure playing the cleanest game politics has ever seen?

She felt a sense of entitlement and the fact that someone would actually run against her and win shaded her with a fuming child-like vengeance. That's right... she is being vengeful toward a candidate she didn't beat. The many faces of Hillary Clinton have arisen during her long fought campaign. She was warm and fuzzy toward Obama one moment in a debate and ranting at her opponent in the next breath about mailers. She has changed the goal posts of victory so many times that the goalposts are outside of the arena. And many in the media, political circles let her do it when she screamed loud enough. Was it about delegates or super delegates? Delegates! No, ummm super delegates... um maybe. I'll figure it out for you. Michigan and Florida don't count! The media climbs on board with her insistence. Now that she's lost, Michigan and Florida do count. Yes! Of course they do. Delegate count? No! It's the Popular vote. Every time she wanted her baby bottle she got it. If she was full on formula and screamed loud enough for more, she got it, it seems without question, without hesitation.

Now that she has lost, instead of doing the right thing - suspending her campaign, conceding, endorsing the presumptive nominee - on the day Obama reached the victory number, what does she do? She throws a shit fit! She doesn't suspend her campaign but instead tells the world that she hasn't made a decision. She throws her thumb in her mouth and toddles off the stage. And like parents scolding a child, congressional Democrats (20) and senators who supported her told her that she made a grave mistake throwing that tantrum on what should have been Obama's proudest moment.

Clinton is a grown up, People! But you wouldn't know it. The decisions she made were grown up decisions. You wouldn't know it though. Everyone knows that when you change the rules in the middle of the game then that's called cheating. She is of the age where she should have known better on many different fronts. From her IWR vote, and her web of lies regarding Bosnia and NAFTA to the mismanagement of her campaign and her hijacking and using her supporters for political gain, I find it quite breath-taking that Super Delegates and supporters alike have enabled her to behave like this.

If people can't see that holding her supporters in an attempt to gain access to the white house, in affect trying to tell the presumptive nominee how to run things then you are as delusional as she is. When you've lost the nomination you don't get your way with his office. That's common sense. People... stop enabling and coddling a grown-up who doesn't know any better. It's time for tough love. We've already seen Democrats coddle one president. Once in our lifetime is enough. We don't need to exhibit this kind of dysfunctional behavior with a candidate who has lost not only the election through her own faults but who has lost her way to adult-hood.

It seems the only candidate who made all of the grown up decisions in this historic race for the white house was, indeed, Barack Obama.

America's next president.

SOURCE

The Fat Lady Has Sung!

Its FINALLY over.

On his first step in becoming president, Barack Obama has clinched the democratic nomination and WILL go on to trounce McSame in November.

Overcoming the trumped up bullshit thrown at him by the hose bag bitch, who has NOT conceded as of yet, he has handled himself in his campaign with dignity and class.

Demonstrating TRUE leadership qualities.

Qualities that are needed in the White House.

Leadership qualities that are needed in America.

Let the healing begin!

A National Call For Impeachment

The crimes of this administration are enormous: a widespread policy of torture and murder; a war that has killed a million Iraqis, 4,000 U.S. service members and devastated the lives of so many more; sophisticated programs for spying on U.S. citizens; lying to the public.

The future threats posed are ominous.

As Ramsey Clark recently wrote: "In his remaining eight months, bush will continue to threaten other nations in violation of international law and clearly intends to commit new aggressions in his belligerent presidency.

If not stopped by impeachment he may strike Iran's nuclear projects and immerse the United States in avoidable war for a generation far more exhausting than any we have known."

Today, Tuesday June 3, is the National Call-In Day for Impeachment.

Take a moment right now and call Rep. John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee at 202-225-5126, 202-224-3121, 202-225-3951, 313-961-5670, or 734-675-4084.

Demand that articles of impeachment be introduced by July 4.

Over one million people have voted to impeach bush, cheney and other high officials for high crimes and misdemeanors. It's time for Congressman Conyers to hear from you.

As Ramsey Clark wrote: "It is imperative that We, the People of the United States, demand of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and its Chairman John Conyers that they immediately commence consideration of the many allegations of impeachable offenses by bush, cheney and other civil Officers of the Untied States and present a comprehensive Bill of Impeachment for Committee consideration by July 4, 2008.

"I ask every American who cares about the integrity of our nation and the welfare of our People and those we assault to immediately demand Chairman John Conyers and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives commence hearings on a Bill of Impeachment of bush, cheney and others by July 4, 2008."

We will not rest until bush and his cabal have been held accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity and mass deprivation of civil rights and civil liberties.

This is an unstoppable movement for justice.

Make your call now!

www.impeachbush.org

The End Of An Error

When elected president, Barack Obama said one of the first things he wants to do is ensure the constitutionality of all the laws and executive orders passed while Republican President George W. Bush has been in office.

Those that don’t pass muster will be overturned, he said.

During a fund-raiser in Denver, Obama — a former constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School — was asked what he hoped to accomplish during his first 100 days in office.

“I would call my attorney general in and review every single executive order issued by George Bush and overturn those laws or executive decisions that I feel violate the constitution,” said Obama

This is good news. If we can get him to promise to make all this stuff public it would be even better news.

I have no doubt that we will see a much more transparent and open administration. But part of the new transparency must be telling the public the atrocities done in their name.