One more... (I can't help myself...!)

booman...

Pelosi? Conyers? You listening?

"In circumstances like this, the constitutional prerogatives of the president make it futile and purely political for Congress to refer to a U.S. attorney a contempt citation," White House spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday. "The legislative branch is not in a position to compel action on the part of the executive branch, other than in areas related to its legitimate oversight role."

It's Inherent Contempt or it's the end of the Republic.

i don't think he's exaggerating one tiny bit...

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Hot DAMN! I GOT it!

my son just tapped me on the shoulder and said, enigmatically, "ok now, i don't want you to forget to eat or go to the bathroom..." i wrinkled my brow and said, "uh, ok..." then he handed me the box he had behind his back...



and i didn't have to wait in line for three hours like aj either...

p.s. see y'all later...

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Tom Tomorrow: How the News Works

(thanks to salon via casey...)

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USS Enterprise to be target of false flag operation?

here's something that hadn't crossed my mind... certainly i had thought of the possibility of a staged "incident" sparking a u.s. attack, but with the enterprise due to arrive in the gulf soon (earlier post here), this bears some consideration...

It was suggested a year ago, that the USS Enterprise was a likely “false flag” target to provide the Bush administration with an excuse to attack Iran. The ship’s last spell in the Gulf passed without incident (let’s hope it will again), but it is now returning to apparently replace the USS Nimitz.

The USS Enterprise is due to be decommissioned in 2014-2015 and is the oldest aircraft carrier in the fleet (launched in 1960), so one could say it is “expendable” on the grounds of age. But what other reasons are there to believe that a carrier might be a possible target for a “new” 9/11?

[...]

A great deal of pressure has been placed on Iran (because of its nuclear program etc) and it is often accused of having links with Al-Qaeda and supporting insurgents in Iraq, a view that the Bush administration would like the world to adopt. But after the lies told before the invasion of Iraq, something more convincing would be required before any action is taken against Iran.

The sinking of an old aircraft carrier (with a crew of 5,000) might be sufficient, especially if we are told that Iran “allegedly” had some involvement in it (maybe a missile attack?). But who could say for sure whether such a missile was launched from Iran, or some remote area in Iraq?

an "incident" of that magnitude, the sinking of an aircraft carrier and the incredible loss of life that would go with it, would surely fulfill the dire predictions of paul craig roberts... i'm sure it's also the wet dream of folks like santorum, cheney and chertoff... the country would descend into total and complete shock, the dogs of war would immediately be unleashed, and any skeptical or dissenting voices would be silenced and probably arrested for treason... just one more item to add to the list of horrifying possibilities posed by our criminal president and his compadres...

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We have no choice, we gotta impeach the bastards

no if's, and's or but's about it... they gotta go...

robert parry...

If some historic challenge is not made to the extraordinary assertions of power by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the United States might lose its status as a democratic Republic based on a Constitution that adheres to the twin principles that no one is above the law and everyone is endowed with inalienable rights.

[...]

The current Democratic strategy of fighting and losing legislative battles over symbolic resolutions of disapproval or meaningless votes of no confidence only invites the consolidation of the Bush-Cheney vision of an all-powerful presidency.

The Democratic fecklessness also alienates the only logical allies in the fight to save the Republic, millions of citizens alarmed at the Bush-Cheney power grab.

In my neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, lawn signs have sprung up reading simply “Impeach Him” or “Impeach Them Both.” No one needs to say who the “him” and the “them” are.

From opinion polls, it’s clear, too, that Americans across the country are furious with Bush and Cheney. Many recognize that Bush and Cheney represent an unparalleled threat to core American principles, such as the concept of inalienable rights.

These millions of Americans are searching for some courageous politicians willing to take the lead. Instead, the people get all-night Iraq War debates that go nowhere – and empty promises that, some day down the road, the Democrats will finally get serious.

goddam it, i get so tired of saying the same things over and over and over, but i suppose that's simply the way of advocating for serious changes... so, here goes, yet again...

every congressperson and every 2008 presidential candidate from BOTH parties ought to be sounding the alarm from every courthouse tower in every county seat in the country... our constitutionally-based, democratic republic is in serious danger and there's not a moment to lose... george and dick not only have to go, every unconstitutional provision that they've put in place to exercise unfettered power has to be EXORCISED prior to 20 january 2009... i don't want ANY of those power levers available to ANY president of ANY party...

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The WaPo surpasses itself by stacking shit to record-breaking heights

there's simply nothing to be said for this latest atrocity that it doesn't say for itself...

The Phony Debate
Congress could agree on a new Iraq strategy, if its leaders would allow it.

Saturday, July 21, 2007; Page A12

THE SENATE Democratic leadership spent the past week trying to prove that Congress is deeply divided over Iraq, with Democrats pressing and Republicans resisting a change of course. In fact that's far from the truth. A large majority of senators from both parties favor a shift in the U.S. mission that would involve substantially reducing the number of American forces over the next year or so and rededicating those remaining to training the Iraqi army, protecting Iraq's borders and fighting al-Qaeda. President Bush and his senior aides and generals also support this broad strategy, which was formulated by the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton commission. Mr. Bush recently said that "it's a position I'd like to see us in."

[...]

The decision of Democrats led by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) to deny rather than nourish a bipartisan agreement is, of course, irresponsible.

and i suppose bush's "support" for a "bipartisan" agreement is fully evidenced by this scene which played out only this past monday...

Bush was described as folksy, adamant and mildly profane as he interrupted the meeting between senior White House communications staffers Tony Snow and Ed Gillespie and GOP leaders. His message: the policy on Iraq isn't changing. He is not backing down and no one on Capitol Hill should be confused into thinking he is letting up.

oh, fred... when are you going to finally come out of the darkness and into the light...?

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An analysis of the July 17 Presidential Executive Order: criminalizing the anti-war movement

here's the full text of the executive order...

Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq

here's an analysis...

A presidential Executive Order issued on July 17th, repeals with the stroke of a pen the right to dissent and to oppose the Pentagon's military agenda in Iraq.

In substance, the Executive Order entitled "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" provides the President with the authority to confiscate the assets of "certain persons" who oppose the US led war in Iraq:

"I have issued an Executive Order blocking property of persons determined to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people."

In substance, opposing the war becomes an illegal act. The Executive Order criminalizes the antiwar movement. It is intended to "blocking property" of US citizens and nationals. It targets those "Certain Persons" in America who oppose the Bush Administration's "peace and stability" program in Iraq, characterized, in plain English, by an illegal occupation and the continued killing of innocent civilians.

The Executive Order also targets those "Certain Persons" who are "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction", or who, again in plain English, are opposed to the confiscation and privatization of Iraq's oil resources, on behalf of the Anglo-American oil giants.

The order is also intended for anybody who opposes Bush's program of "political reform in Iraq", in other words, who questions the legitimacy of an Iraqi "government" installed by the occupation forces.

Moreover, those persons or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), who provide bona fide humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians, and who are not approved by the US Military or its lackeys in the US sponsored Iraqi puppet government are also liable to have their financial assets confiscated.

The executive order violates the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the US Constitution. It repeals one of the fundamental tenets of US democracy, which is the right to free expression and dissent. The order has not been the object of discussion in the US Congress. Sofar, it has not been addressed by the US antiwar movement, in terms of a formal statement.

[...]

This latest executive order criminalizes the peace movement. It must be viewed in relation to various pieces of "anti-terrorist" legislation, the gamut of presidential and national security directives, etc., which are ultimately geared towards repealing constitutional government in the case of an impending "national emergency".

more food for serious thought and, preferably, serious action...

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Beating the drum of fear, fear, fear

this kind of concerted push to convince us that another terrorist attack may be right around the corner simply can't be good... something's up and it smells like a dead skunk under the back porch...

Chicago's Sears Tower and other iconic buildings in Seattle, Dallas and Los Angeles still top al Qaeda's target list in the U.S., according to the top U.S. intelligence official.

"Their intentions are mass casualties larger than 9/11 inside the United States," Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said in an interview with the D.C. radio station WTOP. "A very large building. The Sears Tower, or some large building in Seattle or L.A. or Dallas."

McConnell also confirmed publicly what senior officials had told ABC News privately.

"In some cases they've got people positioned, more in Europe -- we suspect here in the United States, but we have no clear and compelling evidence they're in the United States," McConnell told WTOP.

booman puts it quite succinctly...

The last time I felt this sick to my stomach was in December 2005 when the Bush administration responded to revelations that they were breaking the FISA law by insisting they had every right to do so...and then framed the 2006 elections around the wisdom of them doing so.

i agree... i have been feeling very nearly physically ill all day, actually for several days... like i said last week, every nerve in my body is a-tingle...

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"Their wrongdoing is extreme, and only equally extreme corrective measures will suffice."

oh, man... the temperature is going up - FAST...! (and, if it isn't, it needs to...)

glenn greenwald, in a typically excellent piece...

[Y]et again, the President declares the other two branches of government impotent and himself omnipotent. But we have had such a crisis for the last five years. We have just chosen to ignore it, to acquiesce to it, to allow it to fester.

There is no magic force that is going to descend from the sky and strike with lighting at George Bush and Dick Cheney for so flagrantly subverting our constitutional order. The Founders created various checks for confronting tyrannical abuses of power, but they have to be activated by political will and the courage to confront it. That has been lacking. Hence, they have seized omnipotent powers with impunity.

At this point, the blame rests not with the Bush administration. They have long made clear what they believe and, especially, what they are. They have been rubbing in our faces for several years the fact that they believe they can ignore the law and do what they want because nobody is willing to do anything about it. Thus far, they have been right, and the blame rests with those who have acquiesced to it.


It has been six months since the Democrats took over Congress. Yes, they have commenced some investigations and highlighted some wrongdoing. But that is but the first step, not the ultimate step, which we desperately need. Where are the real confrontations needed to vindicate the rule of law and restore constitutional order? No reasonable person can dispute that in the absence of genuine compulsion (and perhaps even then), the administration will continue to treat "the law" as something optional, and their power as absolute. Their wrongdoing is extreme, and only equally extreme corrective measures will suffice.

there can be no more delay... we've put off the inevitable for far too long... every day that passes, the danger to our constitutional republic increases dramatically... what's even worse is that in-your-face confrontation is only going to increase the danger, a reason perhaps why it hasn't been yet undertaken, but, seriously, what other choices do we have...?

(thanks to meteor blades at daily kos...)

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Allowing the executive to define the scope and limits of its own powers

this surprises me not in the least... it's perfectly in keeping with the road we've been marched down for the past 6 1/2 years, only instead of it being conducted under cover of darkness, in no media coverage signing statements and executive orders, unfettered executive power is now being baldly unveiled as the overarching imperative of our near-totalitarian state...

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

[...]

Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration's stance "astonishing."

"That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers," Rozell said. "What this statement is saying is the president's claim of executive privilege trumps all."

[...]

[T]he administration's stance "is almost Nixonian in its scope and breadth of interpreting its power," [Rozell continued]. "Congress has no recourse at all, in the president's view. . . . It's allowing the executive to define the scope and limits of its own powers."

congress had better act fast... time's running out...

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"If only more of you had believed me and supported my war on terror these new attacks would not have happened."

a hypothetical excerpt from george bush's speech following the next predicted terrorist attack...

more chilling perspectives from paul craig roberts, who writes with a tone of despair over america not heeding a clear wake-up call...

Isn’t it ... likely that Cheney and Rove have in mind events that will, once again, rally the people behind President Bush and the Republican Party that is fighting the “war on terror” that the Democrats “want to lose”?

Such events could take a number of forms. As even diehard Republican Patrick J. Buchanan observed on July 17, with three US aircraft carrier battle groups in congested waters off Iran, another Tonkin Gulf incident could easily be engineered to set us at war with Iran. If Bush’s intentions were merely to bomb a nuclear reactor, he would not need three carrier strike forces.

Lately, the administration has switched to blaming Iran for the war in Iraq. The US Senate has already lined up behind the latest lie with a 97-0 vote to condemn Iran.

Alternatively, false flag “terrorist” strikes could be orchestrated in the US. The Bush administration has already infiltrated some dissident groups and encouraged them to participate in terrorist talk, for which they were arrested. It is possible that the administration could provoke some groups to actual acts of violence.

Many Americans dismiss suspicion of their government as treasonous, and most believe conspiracy to be impossible “because someone would talk.”

There is no basis in any known fact for this opinion.

[...]

Bush has the Republican Party in such a mess that it cannot survive without another 9/11. Whether authentic or orchestrated, an attack will activate Bush’s new executive orders, which create a dictatorial police state in event of “national emergency.”

[...]

It is possible that Bush is now too weak, that suspicion is too great, and that there is too much internal resistance in the federal bureaucracy and military for any such scenario. If so, then my prediction prior to the invasion that the US invasion of Iraq will destroy Bush, the Republican Party, and the conservative movement will be proven true. The Democrats’ strategy of doing nothing except making sure Bush gets his way will produce the landslide that they expect.

However, this assumes that Cheney, Rove, and their neoconservative allies have lost their cunning and their manipulative skills. It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous assumption for Democrats and the American people to make.

Once the US experiences new attacks, Bush will be vindicated. His voice will be confident as he speaks to the nation: “My administration knew that there would be more attacks from these terrorists who hate us and our way of life and are determined to destroy every one of us. If only more of you had believed me and supported my war on terror these new attacks would not have happened. Our security efforts were impaired by the Democrats’ determined attempts to surrender to the terrorists by forcing our withdrawal from Iraq and by civil libertarian assaults on our necessary security measures. If only more Americans had trusted their government, this would not have happened.” And so on. Anyone should be able to write the script.

if you've been paying attention, you've watched in horror and disbelief as each new piece of the puzzle has been carefully put in place... we cannot allow this to happen and, yet, what can we do to stop it...? there is only one answer, and that is to remove the current criminal occupants of the white house... every day that passes that we don't do that, brings us closer to the very real possibilities that roberts describes...

(thanks to the unknown candidate...)

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The LA Times offers a feature article on Ed and Elaine Brown

in keeping with the story jim posted last evening, the la times has this tax protester story in today's edition...

Ed and Elaine Brown have been holed up in their home for six months, refusing to serve a five-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

[...]

The Browns stopped paying income taxes in 1996. They say the Constitution and Supreme Court decisions support their claims that ordinary labor cannot be taxed. But a judge ruled against them in January, convicting the Browns of conspiring to evade paying taxes on $1.9 million in income from Elaine's dentistry practice.

[...]

They have garnered national support, with blogs devoted to news about the standoff and supporters regularly showing up on the couple's doorstep with groceries.

it's a fairly comprehensive and, seemingly, reasonably objective story...

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Neither over-confident nor crazy, merely dogged and determined

from today's wapo roundup of the nation's op-ed pages...

Today's Hot Topic: Is Bush Confident or Crazy?

In the WaPo, Eugene Robinson worries that the leader of the free world has "really, truly lost touch with objective reality." He writes: "It's bad enough that Osama bin Laden is still out there plotting bloody acts of terrorism, convinced that God wants him to slay the infidels. Now we know that the president of the United States believes God has chosen him to bring freedom to the world, that he refuses to acknowledge setbacks in his crusade, and that he flat-out doesn't care what 'the polls' -- meaning the American people -- might think" ... in the NYT, Paul Krugman writes that Bush's continued optimism is "terrifying," and that it "doesn't demonstrate Mr. Bush's strength of character; it shows that he has lost touch with reality." He adds that "Mr. Bush keeps doing damage because many people who understand how his folly is endangering the nation's security still refuse, out of political caution and careerism, to do anything about it."

suggesting that bush has lost touch with reality misses the point entirely... the bush administration is on the homestretch of its - so far - quite successful campaign to turn our nation into an authoritarian state... a complete and total disregard for any and all external influences other than those that support that agenda is merely symptomatic...

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"Bush remains al-Qaeda’s most important strategic ally"

my question is, are they circumstantial and situational allies or intentional allies...?

U.S. officials have finally admitted what has long been obvious: that George W. Bush’s “global war on terror” has been an expensive failure, costing hundreds of billions of dollars and claiming possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, but making the world no safer and quite likely more dangerous.

[...]

Bush remains al-Qaeda’s most important strategic ally. Arguably, too, al-Qaeda serves a symbiotic role for Bush, helping to keep the American public forever afraid and thus unwilling to challenge the president's leadership.

i certainly have my suspicions...

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Thom Hartmann interviews Paul Craig Roberts

i really didn't need to read this before i hung it up for the night...

"Americans think their danger is terrorists," said Roberts. "They don't understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution. ... The terrorists are not anything like the threat that we face to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism. Americans just aren't able to perceive that."

Roberts pointed out that it's old-line Republicans like himself, former Reagan associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein, and Pat Buchanan who are the diehards in warning of the danger. "It's so obvious to people like us who have long been associated in the corridors of power," he said. "There's no belief in the people or anything like that. They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. ... Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. ... A person like that would do anything."

Roberts final suggestion was that, in the absence of a massive popular outcry, "the only constraints on what's going to happen will come from the federal bureaucracy and perhaps the military. They may have had enough. They may not go along with it."

the full interview can be downloaded here...

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Keith Olbermann: "Go there and fight, your war…yourself."

another powerful special comment... however, rather than closing with the special comment, breaking with tradition, keith OPENED the show with the special comment...



(thanks to crooks and liars...)

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Maybe there is something to this income tax protest after all

What if we could end the war by ending funding for the war, but not by waiting for the NeoCon co-dependents in Congress to act, but by acting ourselves?
From the folks at Cryptogon.

Attorney Acquitted on Federal Income Tax Charges
July 19th, 2007

Maybe the Browns should have hired this guy for their trial…

Via: Shreveport Times:

A Shreveport attorney who has challenged the government for years on the legality of filing federal income taxes has been acquitted on charges he failed to file returns.

A federal jury unanimously found Tommy Cryer not guilty this week on two misdemeanor counts of failure to file.

And according to Cryer, the prosecution dismissed two felony charges of tax evasion prior to trial.
[...]
“The court could not find a law that makes me liable or makes my revenues taxable,” Cryer said. “The Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot impose an income tax on anything but the profits and gains. When you work for someone you give your service and labor in exchange for money, so everything you make is not profit or gain. You put something into it.”(emphasis added)

I have discovered, in my research of the writings of the Founders, that there is a precedent for this idea.

Cryer was indicted last year on two counts of tax evasion. The indictment alleged he evaded payment of $73,000 in income tax to the Internal Revenue Service during 2000 and 2001.
[...]
“I determined that my personal earnings were not 100 percent profits, some were income,” Cryer said. “I refuse to file, I refuse to pay unless they can show me I have a lawful reason to pay.”
“What I earned was my own personal labor. I am giving something in exchange. I’m giving my property and I don’t belong to anyone else.”
Cryer says he stopped filing returns more than 10 years ago after he investigated claims that income tax was a sham. He contends the law doesn’t actually tax personal earning.

Hmm, I bet the crooks in DC act on this with legislation PDQ. Can't have folks running around exercising their rights by not paying a tax that isn't supported by law.
They might not be able to continue corporate globalization, the war, or the end of the US Constitution.
How would you like to join a class action suit against the Federal Gov't to recover all the income tax you ever paid?

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Robert Scheer echoes Jim on James Madison

yesterday, i pulled jim's comment, in which he quoted james madison about the dangers of an imperial presidency, and bumped it into a full post... today, i find this from robert scheer, the excellent former la times columnist (who, sadly, was replaced by that dipshit extraordinaire, jonah goldberg)...

George W. Bush is the imperial president that James Madison and other founders of this great republic warned us about. He lied the nation into precisely the "foreign entanglements" that George Washington feared would destroy the experiment in representative government, and he has championed a spurious notion of security over individual liberty, thus eschewing the alarms of Thomas Jefferson as to the deprivation of the inalienable rights of free citizens. But most important, he has used the sledgehammer of war to obliterate the separation of powers that James Madison enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

With the "war on terror," Bush has asserted the right of the president to wage war anywhere and for any length of time, at his whim, because the "terrorists" will always provide a convenient shadowy target. Just the "continual warfare" that Madison warned of in justifying the primary role of Congress in initiating and continuing to finance a war -- the very issue now at stake in Bush's battle with Congress.

In his "Political Observations," written years before he served as fourth president of the United States, Madison went on to underscore the dangers of an imperial presidency bloated by war fever. "In war," Madison wrote in 1795, at a time when the young republic still faced its share of dangerous enemies, "the discretionary power of the Executive is extended ... and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force, of the people."

scheer seizes on the very quote from madison that grabbed jim's attention...

Bush betrayed Congress, which in turn betrayed the American people -- just as Madison feared when he wrote: "Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it compromises and develops the germ of every other."

< sigh > we gotta get rid of 'em... we just gotta... every single day i wake up and think, my god, we simply CAN'T tolerate another day with that gang of criminals in office, and every night i go to bed thinking exactly the same thing...

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Felicia Miceli, Argentina's Minister of the Economy, quits after cash found in her office bathroom

ok... three things to keep in mind... one, it's argentina... two, it's a presidential election year in argentina - october 28 - ... three, miceli is a close ally of the current argentine president, nestor kirchner, whose WIFE (yes, his wife), cristina fernandez de kirchner, is running to replace him... why, my goodness gracious, the possibilities for political gamesmanship are positively breathtaking...

Argentina's economy minister has resigned after being asked to testify about storing $64,000 (47,000 euros; £32,000) in her office toilet. Felisa Miceli said the cash was lent to her by her brother to buy a house. But a prosecutor investigating the case called on Mrs Miceli to be questioned under oath about the money. The case has caused embarrassment for the government in Argentina, where tax evasion is common and officials are often suspected of corruption.

[...]

President Nestor Kirchner had initially stood by his minister, who presided over a period of dramatic economic growth in Argentina. But she could not provide any credible explanation and in the end her position became untenable, says the BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Buenos Aires.

[...]

In newspaper interviews, Mrs Miceli said the cash had been lent to her to buy a house in the capital, Buenos Aires. "I was naive, clumsy. It was a mistake... there could have been negligence but I am sure I haven't committed any crime," she was quoted as saying by Clarin daily.

"It's a political attack, not against me, but against the government during a political year," she said after the scandal broke. Presidential elections are due on 28 October in which Cristina Kirchner, the wife of the president, is a leading candidate.

The investigating prosecutor said he had traced the origin of the money and implied in a statement that that minister had been involved in a cover up, and was suspected of destroying documents. La Nacion quoted Mrs Miceli as saying the affair "makes me look suspicious and that truly hurts. The situation is much more simple and normal".

did i mention it's argentina...?

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A Thursday puzzler: find the missing piece in this Robert Kagan essay

in all the gobbledegook about democracy, power, influence, military supremacy, ideological convictions, freedom, oppression, catalyst for change, unique abilities, and unique responsibilities, there's one major - actually HUGE - underlying motive to america's foreign policy that is only faintly touched on, if it can be said to be touched on at all... see if you can guess what it is...

End of Dreams, Return of History
By Robert Kagan


Robert Kagan

Since the end of World War ii at least, American presidents of both parties have pursued a fairly consistent approach to the world. They have regarded the United States as the "indispensable nation" and the "locomotive at the head of mankind." They have amassed power and influence and deployed them in ever-widening arcs around the globe on behalf of interests, ideals, and ambitions, both tangible and intangible. Since 1945 Americans have insisted on acquiring and maintaining military supremacy, a "preponderance of power" in the world rather than a balance of power with other nations. They have operated on the ideological conviction that liberal democracy is the only legitimate form of government and that other forms of government are not only illegitimate but transitory. They have declared their readiness to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation" by forces of oppression, to "pay any price, bear any burden" to defend freedom, to seek "democratic enlargement" in the world, and to work for the "end of tyranny." They have been impatient with the status quo. They have seen America as a catalyst for change in human affairs, and they have employed the strategies and tactics of "maximalism," seeking revolutionary rather than gradual solutions to problems. Therefore, they have often been at odds with the more cautious approaches of their allies.

[...]

So long as Americans elect leaders who believe it is the role of the United States to improve the world and bring about the "ultimate good," and so long as American power in all its forms is sufficient to shape the behavior of others, the broad direction of American foreign policy is unlikely to change, absent some dramatic -- indeed, genuinely revolutionary -- effort by a future administration.

[...]

Six decades ago American leaders believed the United States had the unique ability and the unique responsibility to use its power to prevent a slide back to the circumstances that produced two world wars and innumerable national calamities. Although much has changed since then, America's responsibility has not.

didja figure it out...? if you did, post it in the comments... extra points to anyone who figures out what it is AND goes to the full 11,835 word essay and finds i'm wrong and that it's actually discussed in any detail there...

p.s. it's people like robert kagan and his ilk that are providing the "intellectual" underpinning for united states foreign policy... if you have the stomach to read the entire piece, you will clearly see why we are in the mess we're in today...

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A headline that says it all

from today's wapo roundup of the nation's op-ed pages...

Today's Hot Topic: Rebooting the War on Terror

and just in case you had any doubt about what they might mean by that, here's the paragraph that 'splains it all...

War on Terror: After the release of the new National Intelligence Estimate on terror threats this week, the WaPo argues that the most urgent decision to be made is what to do about al-Qaeda's sanctuary in Pakistan. "If Pakistani forces cannot -- or will not -- eliminate the sanctuary, President Bush must order targeted strikes or covert actions by American forces, as he has done several times in recent years," the editors write ... the LAT argues that the report should reinvigorate Americans' interest in the war on terror. "The passage of time without another terrorist outrage on American soil has inspired complacency about continuing dangers and a reluctance to address issues -- such as the proper balance between liberty and security in an age of terror -- that are certain to recur," the editors write ... the WSJ argues that the report is "a stark reminder that al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups continue to pose an urgent threat to our security, and that 9/11 was not the terrorist one-off that some liberals wish it were so they can switch the subject to global warming and after-school programs."

it's hard to believe that these major media outlets are, once again, playing willing pawns to bushco fear-mongering... just look at the verbiage...

must order targeted strikes or covert actions

well, hey...! while we're at it, let's not stop with pakistan... we've got all that military firepower just sitting around in the gulf, let's go for a two-fer and bomb iran at the same time...

and these...

• reinvigorate Americans' interest in the war on terror

• terrorist outrage on American soil

• continuing dangers ... that are certain to recur

• stark reminder

• continue to pose an urgent threat

• 9/11 not the terrorist one-off"

and what would fear-mongering be without a wsj dig at the al qaeda-loving, dirty fucking hippie liberals...

so they can switch the subject to global warming and after-school programs

after all that's been revealed, discussed and written about, to still adopt these fear-mongering positions when it's patently clear that the "war on terror" has been the biggest manipulation of average citizens in modern history, is totally baffling to me... the only thing i can possibly imagine is that we're being set up for another terrorist attack so that these fine people can then say, "well, we told you so..."

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The "Tipping Point" We Missed?

ProfMarcus directed me to a video so I could put my engineering eyeball on evidence regarding the WTC collapse.
Like the Scholars for 911 Truth & Justice, these people are professionals in the fields of Architecture, Structural Engineering, and Controlled Demolitions.

I can say now, after reviewing hundreds of technical reports, videos, and eyewitness accounts that in my professional opinion the aircraft damage and ensuing fires did not lead to a spontaneous collapse of all three of these buildings. In fact, I think there is currently enough evidence to prove that none of the three spontaneously imploded as officially reported. This video puts that information into plain language, unlike my previous post which was necessarily technical.

This is a video, as painful as it is to watch, that we all need to see.
From Architects & Engineers for 911 Truth.
I still will not speculate as to whether our government in any capacity participated directly or indirectly in this destruction. However, our government HAS actively engaged in a cover up and disruption of any further investigation of how the ultimate destruction of these buildings occurred and who was responsible for their ultimate demise.
I know it was terrorists who flew planes into the building, but had they not collapsed, thousands of people would still be alive today. Maybe the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would have occurred anyway, but many of those folks in the Trade Center would still be with us.

This would have been the tipping point for any American had the truth been revealed by people we trusted.
Today, we know how politicised our government agencies have become. It takes no imagination at all to realize we have been mislead about the greatest tragedy to strike our nation since Pearl Harbor.
As if the attack on 911 isn't bad enough, that tragic day has been used as the basis for war and the attack on our rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

I submit that there is a third war taking place. It is, like the one before, a "Cold War". It is a war of fear, brinkmanship, cover ups, covert ops, and unreported casualties.
It is the war of the Government Of The United States Of America against The People Of The United States Of America.
My heart and soul are shattered. If the current leadership of this country is the best America has to offer, then indeed we are lost and the terrorists are victorious.

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Tom DeLay and Zell Miller are both certifiable

ordinarily, i wouldn't give the teeniest, weeniest crap about what comes out of either tom delay's or zell miller's mouth, but these are two for the books...

flatulent idiocy number one...

"I contend [abortion] affects you in immigration," DeLay told the Washington-area [gathering of College Republicans]. "If we had those 40 million children that were killed over the last 30 years, we wouldn't need the illegal immigrants to fill the jobs that they are doing today. Think about it."

flatulent idiocy number two...

Former Georgia Democratic Senator Zell Miller gave a speech to an anti-abortion conference earlier in the year that linked abortion to illegal immigration. Miller also blamed abortion for other societal ills, such as the state of America's Social Security system and difficulty in recruiting soldiers for the Armed Forces.

the reason illegal immigration has been tolerated (and continues to be tolerated) is that it's a steady source of cheap labor for american business people who want to continue to keep profit margins and executive compensation soaring... it's the very same reason george bush was supporting the failed immigration bill, because it would have kept the labor supply flowing over our southern border...

even without those unborn children, there are more than enough bona-fide american citizens to fill all those jobs, but, since the pay is shit and the working conditions are shit, and it's impossible to keep body and soul together by working those jobs, they're left to the desperate folks who manage to make it across the border, usually leaving their families and all they've ever known behind for the chance to work for shit wages, which are still 3-4x more than they could earn back home...

as for social security, illegal immigrants are the best thing ever to happen to that program... many illegals register with a fake social security number so that they can be employed... all that money that goes in, they will never see again... this has provided a windfall to the social security fund in the billions...

delay and miller are both yapping, pandering fools who couldn't find their asses with both hands...

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Welcome to the BRAND NEW Wall Street Journal under Rupert Murdoch

tom toles in the wapo...

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The super-rich get a LOT richer while we fight their very profitable wars

this article from alternet, citing the incredible gains made by the top .01 percent of the income pyramid, offers tax cuts as the principle explanation...

Saying that the majority of the country's economic gains in recent years have gone to the top one percent of the income ladder understates the trend. You have to cut the pie into even smaller slices to get the full picture. Because while the bottom half of the top one percent of the income distribution have done far better than the average wage slaves, it is a smaller slice still -- the top .01 percent -- that has grabbed most of the gains--seeing an impressive 250 percent increase in income between 1973 and 2005 -- from an economy that's grown by 160 percent.

An analysis by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez gives us the best perspective of what's going on for everyone else. They found that despite several periods of healthy growth between 1973 and 2005, the average income of all but the top ten percent of the income ladder -- nine out of ten American families - fell by 11 percent when adjusted for inflation. For three decades, economic growth in the United States has gone first and foremost to building today's modern Gilded Age. The recipients of those gains don't care about a fully funded Social Security system or a healthy Medicare program -- they don't need them.

Meanwhile, even as the top earners' incomes have gone through the roof, their tax burden has shriveled. At the same time, the share of federal revenues contributed by corporations has declined -- by two-thirds since 1962.

commenter and contributor, jim, fills in the rest of the picture...

(this is jim's comment to his earlier post, too salient to leave buried...)

At this point, the Elite, which is a very loose term for the top 1% of the population, have their assets protected in international financial markets.
They can afford to let the dollar decline.

The approximatley 200 or so largest trans-national corporations no longer totally depend on the dollar for their profitablilty and growth. This enables them to draw off incredible amounts of accumulated equity in this nation.

In addition, despite a declining dollar and a reduction in long term economic value, Americans will continue to consume at a rate that is far beyond their ability to pay, making this nation the prime marketplace to sell goods produced internationally. When the money finally dries up, corporations will simply move on.
How does the war fit in?

War is a wonderful profit opportunity. Thanks to the American taxpayer, the military industrial complex is recording record profits. Also, destabilization in the middle east drives up oil prices. On the political side, continued war and fear of war make it possible to control multiple facets of society.

None of this is a new philosophy. These ideas have been around for centuries:

"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
- James Madison, April 20, 1795

It's like he had a crystal ball.

We can't really do justice to these issues here. I think if you read from the published works of the Founders, you will find the answers.

not at all a pretty picture...

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Ejército Popular Revolucionario, the little-known group that's blowing up Mexican natural gas pipelines

mcclatchy has an interesting report on the group claiming responsibility for the bombings of the mexican natural gas pipelines on july 5 and july 10...

When saboteurs blew up several natural gas pipelines in central Mexico this month, temporarily shutting down production for U.S. automakers and other important manufacturers, a small and shadowy Marxist guerrilla group called the Popular Revolutionary Army reportedly claimed responsibility.

[...]

General Motors and Nissan are said to have lost millions of dollars in production at their plants in the region.

[...]

The Mexican government hasn't officially blamed the Popular Revolutionary Army, which is known by its Spanish-language acronym EPR, although major Mexican newspapers reported that the group has claimed responsibility and has demanded the return of two colleagues imprisoned or missing in the southern state of Oaxaca.

the website of the PDPR-EPR (Partido Democrático Popular Revolucionario - Popular Democratic Revolutionary Party - and the Ejército Popular Revolucionario - Popular Revolutionary Army)...



is anybody else but me reminded of the ezln...?

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"Rather than all-night debates about resolutions that go nowhere..."

robert parry tells it like it is, bless 'im...

If the Democrats Want to Win...

By Robert Parry
July 18, 2007

If the Democrats really want to prevail over George W. Bush on the Iraq War and on his authoritarian vision of presidential powers, they would put back on the table two options that their leaders have removed: a cut-off of war funding and impeachment.

Rather than all-night debates about resolutions that will go nowhere, the Democrats would make the case to the American people that Bush has trampled on the Constitution; he has ensnared the nation in a catastrophic war by lying; and he has his eyes set on more dangerous chicanery in the months ahead.

The Democrats would explain that Bush has refused to compromise when offered the chance; he has told the people’s representatives that their only war role is to finance whatever "the decider" wants to do; he has declared that he has the right to ignore or break the law; he has engaged in cover-ups of serious wrongdoing by his subordinates and is now counting on his right-wing judicial appointees to protect him from oversight.

The Democrats would call on the American people to stand up at this dangerous moment in their history – when the president and vice president have become enemies of the constitutional system devised by the Founders, a Republic based on the idea that all people possess inalienable rights and governments must ensure those rights.

Never have a president and vice president abused the public trust to the extent that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have. They have engaged in a consistent pattern of deception, not just political spin or cover-ups of petty matters, but lying about the most profound of issues, including war and the meaning of “freedom” and “democracy.”

[...]

[T]he reality is that Bush has eviscerated many of the most important civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

[...]

Psychologists may debate whether Bush is delusional or just an extremely accomplished liar, but either way he represents an unprecedented threat to the future of the American Republic and to the survivability of the planet.

So, what can be done?

If Bush is to be deterred, the country – and the Congress – must make clear that the public response will be commensurate to the threat personified by Bush and Cheney. In other words, half-hearted half-measures won’t do. The stakes must be raised and the battle joined.

Since Bush already has made clear he will spurn any constraining war resolutions from Congress, the Democrats must face up to their real options (aside from surrender): move to cut off war funding (beyond what is needed for an orderly withdrawal) and/or commence impeachment hearings for both Bush and Cheney.

i've been feeling particularly down in the mouth the last few weeks, watching the national dialog flirting with getting serious about the most critical crisis ever to face the united states, and then failing to go anywhere... i start to think that maybe it's my thinking that's awry, that i should join my more mainstream liberal colleagues and jump on the "out of iraq" bandwagon and continue to wring my hands over kristol, o'reilly, and michael o'hanlon... then i read robert parry and he snaps me back to my senses... hey, it's not like paul craig roberts doesn't do it for me, but robert parry has twice the investigative journalism credentials that roberts has... roberts is an insightful analyst who, i believe, has an intuitive grasp on the seriousness of our situation, but, reading parry is like hearing it from walter cronkite or edward r. murrow...

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The Real Threat To America

It can be argued that the war in Iraq and the war on terror are designed to distract us from the real insidious threat to our nation.
Remember, the Elites and NeoCons use war and fear to foster and enable their actual strategy of consolidating wealth and power.
Thanks to religious extremists playing along (here and abroad), they are gutting the economy of our nation like carpenter ants in an oak tree.
Story courtesy of the BBC

Why the dollar is falling so fast
Analysis
By Steve Schifferes
Economics reporter, BBC News

The US domination of the world economy may be at stake
The US dollar is plunging in world currency markets - and bringing down share prices in its wake.

But why is the dollar under pressure - and what would be the consequences for the US economy if it continues to fall?

Behind the problems of the dollar lies the huge and growing US trade deficit, and the large Federal budget deficit.

A fall in the greenback could hit Asian countries whose governments hold huge foreign currency reserves in dollars
[...]
For many years financial markets have worried about the growing size of the US trade deficit - the difference between the amount the US imports from the rest of the world, and the amount it can sell to the rest of the world.

That deficit is now heading above $800bn for 2006, or 7% of the US economy, and shows no signs of diminishing.

At the same time, tax cuts and the war in Iraq have led to a US budget deficit of several hundred billion dollars despite the booming economy. (emphasis added)
[...]
Together, the East Asian countries have accumulated foreign currency surpluses of nearly $1 trillion, much of it held in US Treasury bonds denominated in dollars.

Thus they are funding both the budget gap and the trade gap.
[...]
And when the world's largest economy begins to look shaky, it is not surprising that confidence among financial markets is weakened around the world.

We may win the war in Iraq and the global war on terror, but it will be a very hollow victory when we won't be able to bring our troops home. Our nation will be broke.
As a service and consumer economy, we don't even make enough goods anymore to dig our way out.
And worst of all, look who our "patriotic" leaders are selling our nation to, Communist China.

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Why is Congress pussy-footing around about issuing contempt charges for Harriet Miers?

huh...? inquiring minds want to know...

Former White House Counsel Harriet Miers has again rejected calls from the House Judiciary Committee to comply with a subpoena for her testimony on the firing of 9 US Attorneys in 2006 and 2007. The Committee had set a deadline of 5 PM for Miers to explain how she would comply with the subpoena.

"In light of the continuing directives to Ms. Miers and as previously indicated to your Committee, I must respectfully inform you that, directed as she has been to honor the Executive privileges and immunities asserted in this matter, Ms. Miers will not appear before the Committee or otherwise produce documents or provide testimony as set forth in the Committee's subpoena," wrote Miers' attorney, George Manning, in a letter delivered Tuesday to Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

HELLO...? HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE...? GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND SLAP HER WITH INHERENT CONTEMPT CHARGES, WILLYA, FERCRYINOUTLOUD...?

yeah, i know she's not the big fish we all want, but, for god's sake, show some spine and start asserting your constitutional power... i'm sick and goddam tired of watching you fiddle-fuck around...

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Amen!

(thanks to john at americablog...)

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Expect george's behavior to become increasingly bizarre and erratic as the pressure mounts

can't you just visualize the scenario...? bush hollers for tony or ed... neither respond... his assistant tells him they're in a meeting... he demands to know what they're meeting about... his assistant tells him... he then demands to know WHERE they're meeting... his assistant tells him... he marches out of the oval office and down the hall, finds the room, and busts through the door...

President Bush shocked Capitol Hill staffers and Republican leaders Monday when he crashed a meeting at the White House to deliver a blunt message that he wasn't backing down on Iraq and Republicans need to understand that.

"It was stunning," said one GOP aide who attended the meeting. "We couldn't believe he came in."

"We kept looking at each other, amazed he came in," said another Republican aide.

Bush was described as folksy, adamant and mildly profane as he interrupted the meeting between senior White House communications staffers Tony Snow and Ed Gillespie and GOP leaders. His message: the policy on Iraq isn't changing. He is not backing down and no one on Capitol Hill should be confused into thinking he is letting up.

brace yourselves... it's going to get weirder and weirder...

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Suppressing the vote on two fronts and, natch, the DOJ refuses to testify

a two-pronged strategy for voter suppression...

State welfare offices across the country are not offering millions of low-income Americans the opportunity to register to vote when applying for public assistance despite a federal law requiring them to do so, according to an analysis of a recent federal voting registration report and experts who say the Department of Justice and states are to blame.

and...

At the same time, the Justice Department's Voting Section, which enforces voting rights and supervises elections in some states, is pressuring 10 states to do more to purge voter rolls -- or remove ineligible voters -- before the 2008 presidential election, according to letters sent to state election officials this spring.

"We conducted an analysis of each state's total voter registration numbers as a percentage of citizen voting age population," wrote John Tanner, the Department of Justice Voting Section chief, in an April 18, 2007, letter to North Carolina's top election official. "We write now to assess the changes in your voter registration list ... and the subsequent removal of persons no longer eligible to vote."

say, does that name, john tanner, ring a bell...?

from TPMmuckraker yesterday...

The House Judiciary Committee was set to hold a hearing on the Civil Rights Division's voting rights section tomorrow, but no more. That's because the Justice Department has refused to allow the chief of the section, John Tanner, to testify. The committee has postponed the hearing until the Department allows Tanner to appear.

the reason the states aren't complying is because they know the doj won't enforce the law...

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Bush has divided the Palestinian people into two governments

george looks to re-start the middle east peace process... (seems to me iraq could benefit from having one in the first place...)

President Bush launched a diplomatic effort yesterday to revive the long-moribund Middle East peace process, announcing aid to the Palestinian government and calling for an international conference this fall aimed at paving the way for the creation of a Palestinian state side by side with Israel.

Five years after becoming the first president to fully embrace a "two-state solution," Bush acknowledged that it remains distant after violent clashes that have politically sundered the Palestinian territories. But Bush called this a "moment of choice" for the region and renewed his commitment heading into his final 18 months in office.

"Recent days have brought a chapter of upheaval and uncertainty in the Middle East," Bush said in a speech in the main foyer of the White House. "But the story does not have to end that way. . . . In the face of terror and cynicism and anger, we stand on the side of peace in the Holy Land."

now, for a slightly different take on bush's "revived" approach...

The President continued to base his policy on deepening the division among Palestinians, on pre-conditions to a two-state solution, and on an unwillingness to outline his own parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian endgame deal. Even the $190 million dollars of money pledged to the new PA government is mostly a repackaging of old commitments.

In most respects today was a rehash of his speech five years ago, albeit under less propitious circumstances. That speech encouraged a regime change that eventually (and one imagines inadvertently) brought Hamas to power -- the new speech may well drive Palestinian politics towards a period of even greater chaos that could create a space for al-Qaeda look-a-likes to gain a foothold.

The President continued to mistakenly conflate Hamas with al-Qaeda and the Taliban and, in so doing, almost guarantees the failure of his approach. In Iraq American policy is belatedly focusing on internal political reconciliation, but in Palestine it is still, sadly, all about deepening divisions.

and still ANOTHER take... (as a side note, i think it's highly debatable that internal political reconciliation has become a focus in iraq... that may be the official verbiage, but bush administration actions don't support it in any way...)

Israeli officials welcomed Bush's conference plan yesterday, but Hamas mocked the notion. "The promise to form a Palestinian state is old," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, according to the Associated Press. "It will not be implemented. The opposite, instead, has happened. Instead of two states, he has divided our people into two governments."

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Dick Cheney: "We must restore some balance" between Congress and the White House

this man is clueless...



the above surely must be one of jonah goldberg's favorite quotes... he's writing in today's la times, parroting once again the incredibly juvenile theme of, "Well, THEY did it too"...

My president's better than yours
Liberals who deride Bush's actions as extreme sang a different tune when their party's presidents used similar tactics.

At a candidate forum for trial lawyers in Chicago on Sunday, Hillary Clinton proclaimed that the Bush administration is "the most radical presidency we have ever had."

This is, quite simply, absurd. But such boob-bait for the Bush bashers is common today in Democratic circles, just as similar right-wing rhetoric about Bill Clinton was par for the course a decade ago.

[...]

For eight years, the right screamed bloody murder about Clinton's overreaching. He minted new executive privileges, "accidentally" rummaged through the FBI files of political opponents and sought electronic wiretapping powers — during peacetime — that today are denounced during the war on terror. Some on the right feared we were on a slippery slope to tyranny. Liberals often chortled about such right-wing paranoia.

Today, the dynamic is reversed. Liberals fret over creeping fascism while conservatives give Bush the benefit of the doubt. Both sides are open to charges of hypocrisy, and neither is immune to partisan amnesia. The only consistent crowd are the Libertarians, who distrust all government power.

here's what i wrote to the la times as an open letter to mr. goldberg...

Sir,

I don't disagree with your thesis. Presidents seem to have a propensity for seizing as much power as they can, a tendency foreseen by the founders and doubtlessly the reason they formulated such clear language about the separate but equal balance of powers.

I don't support any president of any party accruing unfettered power, and to claim that concerns about the constitution-trampling Bush administration are "absurd" only tells me that, one, you either haven't been paying attention or, two, you choose to ignore reality. The steps taken by George Bush and Dick Cheney to wield absolute executive power are among the single most disturbing developments I have seen take place in my country over a 60-year lifetime, a lifetime that's included 37 years of senior level management and university professorships around the globe. I am in daily touch with a number of friends both in the U.S. and abroad, a mix of lifelong Republicans, Democrats and independents, all of whom agree that the United States is facing the most critical constitutional crisis of its history, and that, if it's allowed to continue, we are in serious danger not only because of the time left to the current White House occupants, but, down the road, from ANY future president.

Rather than perpetuating the, in my opinion, patently ridiculous theme of "Well, THEY did it too," I would think you would be speaking out FOR the restoration of our precious Constitution to its rightful place as the fundamental underpinning of our nation. I never let my children (or, now, my grandchildren) get away with the "They did it too" excuse and I certainly expect better from someone who writes from the platform of the Los Angeles Times.

Sincerely,

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"President Bush warns that U.S. withdrawal would risk 'mass killings on a horrific scale.' What do we have today, sir?' "

i seriously believe that it doesn't make one goddam, teeny-weeny bit of difference HOW many bush supporters jump ship, george bush isn't going to change course until hell freezes over (which, given that it snowed last week in buenos aires, it just might)...

The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide."

The editorial in the Tribune-Review added, "And quite frankly, during last Thursday's news conference, when George Bush started blathering about 'sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved,' we had to question his mental stability."

It continued: "President Bush warns that U.S. withdrawal would risk 'mass killings on a horrific scale.' What do we have today, sir?

"If the president won't do the right thing and end this war, the people must. The House has voted to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by April. The Senate must follow suit.

"Our brave troops should take great pride that they rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein. And they should have no shame in leaving Iraq. For it will not be, in any way, an exercise in tail-tucking and running.

"America has done its job.

"It's time for the Iraqis to do theirs."

again, there's a lot i don't understand about a lot of things, but i simply cannot grasp why our nation has not, en masse, marched on the white house with rakes and hoes, buckets of tar, and bags of feathers, and run these guys out of town on a rail...

TARRED AND FEATHERED AND RIDDEN OUT OF TOWN ON A RAIL

"At Salem, on September 7, 1768, an informer named Robert Wood 'was stripped, tarred and feathered and placed on a hogshead under the Tree of Liberty on the Common.' This is the first record of the term 'tarred and feathered' in America. Tarring and feathering was a cruel punishment where hot pine tar was applied from head to toe on a person and goose feathers were stuck into the tar. The person was then ignited and ridden out of town on a rail (tied to a splintery rail), beaten with sticks and stoned all the while. A man's skin often came off when he removed the tar. It was a common practice to tar and feather Tories who refused to join the revolutionary cause, one much associated with the Liberty Boys, but the practice was known here long before the Revolution. In fact, it dates back even before the first English record of tarring and feathering, an 1189 statute made under Richard the Lionhearted directing that any thief voyaging with the Crusaders 'shal have his head shorne and boyling pitch powred upon his head, and feathers or downe strewn upon the same, whereby he may be known, and so at the first landing place they shal come to, there to be cast up.' Though few have been tarred and feathered or ridden out of town on a rail in recent years, the expression remains to describe anyone subjected to indignity and infamy." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

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CREW Is On The Job

Go to the CREW site to read the full version of the report.

CREW RELEASES "CROSSING THE LINE: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S EFFORTS TO EXPAND ITS POWERFUL REACH"
Contact:
Naomi Seligman Steiner 202.408.5565 nseligman@citizensforethics.org

2 Jul 2007 // Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a report entitled Crossing the Line: The Bush Administration's Efforts to Expand Its Powerful Reach, which details the Bush administration’s repeated constitutional overreaching and abuse of executive power and prerogative.

Crossing the Line demonstrates that Vice President Dick Cheney is quietly, but diligently, working to establish case law that equates the power of the vice presidency with the power of the presidency; and that the Bush administration is intent on expanding the power of executive privilege well beyond constitutional bounds


Recently it was revealed that the vice president has unilaterally exempted himself and his office from the executive order that governs the safeguarding of classified national security information.
In response to a suit filed by Valerie and Joseph Wilson against Vice President Cheney and other top administration officials, Mr. Cheney argued that as vice president he is entitled to absolute immunity from suit.
In response to a CREW suit over visitor logs, the administration is attempting to reclassify Secret Service documents as presidential documents under the exclusive control of the White House. The vice president has argued that the constitutional protections afforded the presidency apply with equal force to his office.
In a suit filed by CREW over a FOIA request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Hurricane Katrina-related documents, the government invoked the presidential communications privilege, suggesting an attempt to cover-up what President Bush actually knew before, during and after the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast.
During the course of CREW’s FOIA lawsuit against the White House Office of Administration (OA) for documents relating to five million missing White House emails, the OA claimed that it was responding “as a matter of administrative discretion,” not because the OA is an “agency” bound by the FOIA.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today, “Vice President Cheney and Bush administration officials are working hard to reconfigure the executive branch to conform with their preference for absolute power rather than with clearly established constitutional boundaries. CREW’s report depicts an administration out of control.”

Hopefully, this will be picked up by the MSM and widely distributed. In the interim, we should spread the word as best we can.

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The New World Order

This is the post cold war modern world we are buying. A world totally supported by our government and the criminals in the Millionaires Club that infest it all the way to the White House.
And we wonder why they hate us.
You do have power to change what you see in this video. It's the power in your wallet.
Money can be used as an agent for positive change, if you take a little time to spend it wisely..

A documentary film by John Pilger

'Global economy' is a modern Orwellian term. On the surface, it is instant financial trading, mobile phones, McDonald's, Starbucks, holidays booked on the net. Beneath this gloss, it is the globalisation of poverty, a world where most human beings never make a phone call and live on less than two dollars a day, where 6,000 children die every day from diarrhea because most have no access to clean water.

Check out this video at The Information Clearing House.

I have seen total poverty aside incredible wealth first hand. It changes you in ways you never imagined. The greatest tragedy of all is that the ordinary individual need only give up a small amount to totally change the lives of the poor in America and the rest of the world.
Sometimes that small amount is just buying a locally made product, instead of the big name international brand that bombards you with slick advertising.
The point is, don't stop buying things you need or work hard to obtain, just spend wisely and it can make a big difference the world over.
Oh yeah, it will piss off the NeoCons if you get smart as well.
That makes it a double win.

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On a personal note, it's one of "those" days again

as i noted in a comment to a commenter, every nerve ending in my body is tingling... i think something big is brewing, but what, how, who, and when isn't at all clear... maybe it has something to do with reading paul craig roberts (see previous post) followed by russ feingold's seeming rejection of the necessity of removing those criminals from the white house before something truly horrible happens... otoh, maybe it's just the computer glitches i've been experiencing on three different machines today... (more likely, it's those two nasty, glazed donuts and the large coffee i just downed here at borders...!) whatever, i do know this... those bastards are still running our country and that means we aren't safe...

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Still more Paul Craig Roberts: cold chills down my spine on a hot, high-desert day

with apologies to fair use, this is too important to merely excerpt...

thanks to queen of swords at daily kos...

Impeach Bush And Cheney Now

By Paul Craig Roberts

Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.

Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and others suggest that Americans might expect a series of staged, or false flag, "terrorist" events in the near future.

Many attentive people believe that the reason the Bush administration will not bow to expert advice and public opinion and begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq is that the administration intends to rescue its unpopular position with false flag operations that can be used to expand the war to Iran.

Too much is going wrong for the Bush administration: the failure of its Middle East wars, Republican senators jumping ship, Turkish troops massed on northern Iraq's border poised for an invasion to deal with Kurds, and a majority of Americans favoring the impeachment of Cheney and a near-majority favoring Bush's impeachment. The Bush administration desperately needs dramatic events to scare the American people and the Congress back in line with the militarist- police state that Bush and Cheney have fostered.

William Norman Grigg recently wrote that the GOP is "praying for a terrorist strike" to save the party from electoral wipeout in 2008. Chertoff, Cheney, the neocon nazis, and Mossad would have no qualms about saving the bacon for the Republicans, who have enabled Bush to start two unjustified wars, with Iran waiting in the wings to be attacked in a third war.

The Bush administration has tried unsuccessfully to resurrect the terrorist fear factor by infiltrating some blowhard groups and encouraging them to talk about staging "terrorist" events. The talk, encouraged by federal agents, resulted in "terrorist" arrests hyped by the media, but even the captive media was unable to scare people with such transparent sting operations.

If the Bush administration wants to continue its wars in the Middle East and to entrench the "unitary executive" at home, it will have to conduct some false flag operations that will both frighten and anger the American people and make them accept Bush's declaration of "national emergency" and the return of the draft. Alternatively, the administration could simply allow any real terrorist plot to proceed without hindrance.

A series of staged or permitted attacks would be spun by the captive media as a vindication of the neoconservatives' Islamophobic policy, the intention of which is to destroy all Middle Eastern governments that are not American puppet states. Success would give the US control over oil, but the main purpose is to eliminate any resistance to Israel's complete absorption of Palestine into Greater Israel.

Think about it. If another 9/11-type "security failure" were not in the works, why would Homeland Security czar Chertoff go to the trouble of convincing the Chicago Tribune that Americans have become complacent about terrorist threats and that he has "a gut feeling" that America will soon be hit hard?[Homeland Security chief warns of 'increased risk’ Chertoff bases 'gut feeling' on history, Al Qaeda statements By E.A. Torriero ,July 11, 2007]

Why would Republican warmonger Rick Santorum say on the Hugh Hewitt radio show that "between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen, and I believe that by this time next year, the American public's (sic) going to have a very different view of this war."

Throughout its existence the US government has staged incidents that the government then used in behalf of purposes that it could not otherwise have pursued. According to a number of writers, false flag operations have been routinely used by the Israeli state. During the Czarist era in Russia, the secret police would set off bombs in order to arrest those the secret police regarded as troublesome. Hitler was a dramatic orchestrator of false flag operations. False flag operations are a commonplace tool of governments.

Ask yourself: Would a government that has lied us into two wars and is working to lie us into an attack on Iran shrink from staging "terrorist" attacks in order to remove opposition to its agenda?

Only a diehard minority believes in the honesty and integrity of the Bush-Cheney administration and in the truthfulness of the corporate media.

Hitler, who never achieved majority support in a German election, used the Reichstag fire to fan hysteria and push through the Enabling Act, which made him dictator. Determined tyrants never require majority support in order to overthrow constitutional orders.

The American constitutional system is near to being overthrown. Are coming "terrorist" events of which Chertoff warns and Santorum promises the means for overthrowing our constitutional democracy?

and, despite the high respect i hold for senator russ feingold, i think he is completely wrong in his opposition to impeachment...

I certainly do believe in holding this Administration accountable and upholding the Constitution and the rule of law. That’s why last year I called for the President to be censured for his authorization of the illegal wiretapping program. I thought that was the appropriate course because it would have put the Senate on record in condemning the President’s wrongdoing. I still think that the censure resolution played an important role in focusing the public and the media’s attention on the issue. And I am working to make sure that Congress finally exercises its oversight responsibility by holding hearings and demanding information about the wiretapping program, the U.S. attorney firings and other abuses of power.

Many of you also wrote that if I recognize that the President and Vice President may have committed impeachable offenses, than it is our responsibility to impeach. As I pointed out, it is the role of the House to impeach, and it is the role of the Senate to try impeachments. But the Constitution left it up to the judgment of members of Congress whether or not moving forward with impeachment is best for the country.

senator feingold is reading and responding to comments here... go make your voice heard...

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Busharraf's Time Is Running Out

We're fiddling in Iraq while Afghanistan/Pakistan burns.

Pakistan Truce Appears Defunct
Insurgents Strike Police, Troops; At Least 44 Die

By Griff Witte and Imtiaz Ali Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, July 16, 2007;
Page A01

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 15 -- A controversial peace deal between the Pakistani government and local tribal leaders in an area where al-Qaeda is known to be regrouping appeared to collapse Sunday, as tensions escalated and a fresh wave of bombings killed at least 44 people.

[...]

On Sunday, local Taliban fighters proclaimed the deal dead and announced the start of an all-out guerrilla war against the Pakistani army.

Pakistani officials stopped short of conceding the agreement's demise, but the military has been moving tens of thousands of troops toward troubled spots along the border in recent days, after the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, last week announced a new crackdown on extremism.

Military officials said the troops were being deployed in a bid to keep the peace following last week's raid on the Red Mosque in Islamabad. That effort appeared to be breaking down Sunday, as security forces continued to take heavy losses in a series of attacks that killed more than 70 people over the weekend. Most of those killed were soldiers or police.

This is going to be a MAJOR problem. But we don't have the troops to lend a helping hand, since they're all guarding the oilfields of Iraq and the Unocal/Chevron pipeline in Afghanistan. Everyone stand clear..........the sh*t is ready to hit the fan.

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Constitutional hardball (translated: We've got some serious shit on our hands)

a high-stakes drama in three - possibly four - acts...

jack balkin via kagro x...

act one...

The first acts of constitutional hardball were by supporters of Bush to help get him into the White House. Some of those tactics-- purging voters from the rolls-- were actually illegal under the federal Voting Rights Act. Other acts of constitutional hardball, like the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, were based on implausible arguments that maintained the outward forms of law. Five members of the U.S. Supreme Court, who did not know what the outcome of the Florida recounts would be, stopped those recounts and twisted the law to ensure a Bush victory. Bush won this first round of constitutional hardball. Al Gore conceded, and Bush took office.

act two...

Once in office, Bush engaged in a second round of constitutional hardball. He pushed the legal envelope repeatedly following 9/11 in an effort to expand executive power and limit Congressional and judicial oversight and executive accountability. The list of examples is seemingly endless. The most obvious examples are, in no particular order, (1) the Administration's fetish with secrecy, (2) its use of Presidential signing statements to signal to executive branch officials to disregard certain features of law outside of public view, (3) its claim that the President has the power to round up people (including American citizens) and detain them indefinitely without any of the protections of habeas corpus or the Bill of Rights, (4) its domestic spying operations, (5) its detention and interrogation practices, including its system of secret CIA prisons, (6) its theory that the President does not have to obey Congressional statutes when he acts as Commander-in-Chief, and (7) its alternative theory that the September 18th, 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force gives the President a blank check to do whatever he wants.

[...]

This was a constitutional regime with an expansive (some would say limitless) conception of Presidential power to combat a potentially endless war on terror. The President justified his assertion and seizure of new powers through the rhetoric of war and emergency, but in fact the crisis had no ending point. It was, in effect, the declaration of a permanent state of emergency. This state of emergency required and justified a wide range of incursions on civil liberties and human rights.

welcome to act three...

The third round of constitutional hardball-- which we see at present in the fight over executive privilege-- has occurred in the wake of the Democratic takeover of Congress and the long-delayed investigations into the Bush Administration's machinations and acts of incompetence. Now the President is pushing the constitutional envelope by offering an expansive theory of executive privilege. He asserts, among other things, that he has the right to order individuals who no longer work for him to refuse to testify before Congress even though this violates the law.

This third round of constitutional hardball by the Bush Administration is occurring because Bush's previous acts of constitutional hardball did not take. He was not able to create a new constitutional regime that would maintain his party in a dominant position for the foreseeable future. He was not able to bootstrap actions of dubious legality into widespread acceptance and thus enjoy the benefits of winner's history and winner's constitutions. Instead, things are now crumbling about him and there is a very significant chance that his party will suffer for his miscalculations during the next few election cycles.

At this point in Bush's Presidency three things matter above all others. They motivate this final round of constitutional hardball: The first is keeping secret what the President and his advisers have done. The second is running out the clock to prevent any significant dismantling of his policies until his term ends. The third is doing whatever he can proactively to ensure that later governments do not hold him or his associates accountable for any acts of constitutional hardball or other illegalities practiced during his term in office.

and...? and...?

[I]f Congress and the public do not decisively reject Bush's policies and practices, some particularly unsavory features of his Presidency will survive in future Administrations. If that happens, Bush's previous acts of constitutional hardball will have paid off after all. He may not have created a new and lasting constitutional regime, but he will have introduced long-lasting weaknesses and elements of decay into our constitutional system.

as sobering as this is, i am glad to see someone with the sharp legal mind of a jack balkin affirming what i have been thinking for quite some time, namely, that we MUST ACT DECISIVELY to not only roll back but also to clearly and forcefully REPUDIATE the illegal and unconstitutional power grabs that have been a feature of bushco since BEFORE he even took office... serious shit, folks... very serious...

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