* American heritage – I have often wondered why, in a country so blessed with the footing of democratic and religious freedoms, there is much evidence of hatred and prejudice. Civil rights did not become a legal reality until the 1960s and even then it was not simply an extension of rights to all citizens. It required a big bang of legislation and legal enforcement. At this moment religious tolerance appears to be experiencing a backward spiral as the Republican brand encourages the narrowness and overreach of the religious-right. As we survey our country in the beginning of the 21st century that which permeates our presidential elections are issues of race, religion, hate and fear. It characterizes George Bush’s candidacies and administrations. Some may excuse these patterns as merely Rovian politics but, such seeds of ill will require a compatible environment to root. At one time I hopefully and naively believed that our society and much of humanity were on an ascending plane of betterment and concern for the common good. Our “avowed” commitment to faith in a universal influence and “belief” in individual freedoms has too often been as much surface as substance. How does one explain this failure to build upon the tenants of 18th Century Enlightenment that inspired the foundation of our country and the structure of our political framework?
Future generations of sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists will render theories and opinions as to the contributing factors that kept us underachievers of the democratic ideal. DNA experts may find genetic markers that preclude humans at this stage of evolutionary development from achieving the promise of fair, tolerant and moral behavior. With respect to America, perhaps there was a “genetic” flaw endemic to our founding. I thought about this on a recent visit to Monticello, the home of one of the greatest of our founding fathers – Thomas Jefferson.
By almost any standard Jefferson was a Renaissance man. Science, agriculture, botany, arts and letters were within his interest and grasp. He wrote the Declaration of Independence and thereafter spent 33 years in public life, including serving as President of the US from 1801 to 1809. Embodied in the Declaration were the words “all men are created equal” and have a right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In opposition to these lofty ideals, during Jefferson’s lifetime he owned over 600 slaves. This contradiction was noted by the Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenchman who believed in the idea of liberty and rights of man and who lent his considerable efforts to the American Revolution. Thirty-five years after the revolution he visited Jefferson at Monticello. A slave later related how Lafayette was critical of Jefferson for his support of slavery. Jefferson responded that perhaps some time in the future slaves would be free. Perhaps some time in the future the idealism and lofty goals enunciated at our nation’s birth will be broadly fulfilled and hypocrisy will be as ugly a footnote as slavery.
* Yes Virginia, democracy has been saved – The Virginia State Board of Elections has ruled that, “voters won't be allowed to wear clothing featuring John McCain or Barack Obama when they head to the polls on November 4th.”The ACLU says the ban violates the First Amendment’s right to free speech. “The board, however, said it has to weigh that against the right to vote free of undue influence or the tension that candidate advocacy might create.” I suggest that we all take a Xanax and go to the polls nude. This will abate our tensions and preclude undue influence should another voter be wearing a White shirt or a Black skirt.
* Quote of the Week – “Democracy and capitalism are the two great pillars of the American idea. To have rocked one of those pillars may be regarded as a misfortune. To have damaged the reputation of both, at home and abroad, is a pretty stunning achievement for an American president.” From an article by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, referring to Iraq, the Wall Street meltdown and the Bush legacy.
* Halloween arrived early for Republicans ~ the tricks have far-exceeded the treats – In July the McCain campaign stunned the political landscape by announcing that Sarah Palin was the selection for VP. The attractive and bubbly governor of Alaska was costumed as a reformer with executive credentials and she enthusiastically enhanced the façade by claiming foreign policy experience. McCain certainly was not fooled by Palin’s background because it was as empty as some of McCain’s campaign appearances. Palin was an offering to the religious-right and hopefully an attraction to women and small town and rural voters. She has agreeably accepted the role of attacking Obama and memorizing campaign sound bites. She has objectively done nothing to enhance her credibility as someone actually qualified for the position. What do the American people think about Ms. Palin three months after her grand entrance and two weeks before the election?
Two polls released on Tuesday indicate that the Palin selection is being seen for what it is – a trick. “Palin's qualifications to be president now rank as voters' top concern about John McCain's candidacy… Fifty-five percent of respondents now say Palin is not qualified to serve as president… for the first time, more voters have a negative opinion of her than a positive one. In the survey, 47 percent view her negatively, versus 38 percent who see her in a positive light…opinions of Palin have flipped in the last month, especially among the female voters she was expected to attract to the McCain ticket… Women, especially women under age 50, have become increasingly critical of Palin: 60% now express an unfavorable view of Palin, up from 36% in mid-September.” On November 4th it is likely that Christmas will have arrived early for the Republican ticket as the voting public appears ready to say to McCain and Palin, “Ho, ho, ho” and vote “Bah, humbug.”
* Speaking of costumes – The Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 to clothe and coif Sarah Palin and her family since her coming out party as VP nominee. The “values” mom who prides herself on appealing to regular folks and “real” Americans did not do her shopping at Wal Mart. "According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74. The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August." John McCain’s experience and knowledge of government may not have rubbed off on Ms. Palin but his wife Cindy certainly has become Sarah’s big sister when it comes to fashion and cosmetics. One can only hope that she does not spill beer on her haute couture. You betcha!
* Cause or effect? ~ the dumbing of the electorate - As the 2008 presidential campaign nears the end game fewer and fewer important issues are getting attention. It would be difficult to recall the last, if any, discussion about illegal immigration and an approach to the 12 to 20 million people residing in our country illegally. Iraq and Afghanistan are in deep background and one could conclude that Pakistan does not exist. Silence has accompanied the issues of food and product safety, greater inspection of food imports, broader inspection of shipping containers entering the country and increased security at chemical plants. Never on the table was discussion about our dwindling water resources and increasingly polluted water supply. Neither candidate, beyond promising to clean up Washington, addresses campaign finance reform or stronger congressional ethics rules and oversight or increased restrictions on lobbyists. After you have heard an Obama or McCain campaign speech one time there is no need to tune in to another. Both campaigns approach the listening public as if we do not have the ability to understand more than one issue at a time or two issues in a week or 3 issues in a month. Since campaigns are scientifically researched and designed to attract the maximum number of voters perhaps they have concluded that John Q. Public or Joe the Plumber cannot intellectually multi-task issues. Perhaps they are correct.
* “Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”
Gore Vidal - American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, short story writer and politician.
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
* Naked on the right - The demise of the most recent version of conservative economic and political policies has the populist talking heads of conservatism in a dither. Examples include Neil Cavuto and Rush Limbaugh from viral broadcasting and the right-sided writing of the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer. They currently are desperately grasping for a hold on respectability and relevance. In order to protect their message they have concocted faux targets to divert attention from misguided and wrong counsel. One of their disingenuous maneuvers is to place the blame for the current financial crisis on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” Look out for those liberal-supported policies designed to assist lower income families to invest in homes.” “Those damn left-wingers.” Fortunately, there are still some in the Fourth Estate doing their job.
The McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau just removed the wheels from the canard that conservatives are riding. The article is titled “Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis.” It was an unregulated private sector gone wild that brought our economy to its knees, not regulated government-assisted programs. I highly recommend a read of this article as an aide to understand what took place and, just as importantly, guidance for future policy. Republican conservatives bemoan the fact that the current financial crisis has altered the parameters of the upcoming election. I agree that it is unfortunate. We all had to suffer the effects before their failed policies were laid bare. The policies that they promoted should be evaluated and voted upon by the electorate, without spin and din.
To borrow an often used phrase of Barack Obama, “Let me be perfectly clear.” I do not advocate a national discourse devoid of conservative ideas any more than it would be appropriate to give voice exclusively to liberal thinking. It so happens that conservatives have dominated the national landscape while their views were implemented dishonestly and incompetently by President George W. Bush and the Republican Party. Liberal thinking and the Democratic Party are not without criticism. Going forward America’s best chance is a synthesis of views from all positions. It is likely that the first step will require that the political house be cleaned, with many more Republicans than Democrats being left for the trash pickup. A return to normalcy will be accompanied by a return to balance. At some point in the future this lesson will be forgotten and the process will cycle again. At best, we can hope for less dramatic swings of the political ideology pendulum and greater integrity in the people that we elect.
* Agreeing to disagree – I almost never agree with neo-con, conservative and Bush war cheerleader Bill Kristol. His column in the NY Times on Monday October 13th was no exception. Kristol wrote, “It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.” This comment comes after previous Kristol comments suggesting the McCain campaign do what he now criticizes. I say leave well enough alone. This is a McCain-selected campaign team of lobbyists, neo-cons, deregulators and slime campaigners scraped like barnacles from the Karl Rove ship of ghouls. They represent the political and economic philosophy and foreign policy that has put this country and its citizens in peril. My friends, I say do not fire them. Allow them to go down in flames with the current icons of these failures, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. I wish them GOP – Get Out of Politics - after the election.
* Clunk - That thud you heard this week was the approval rating of George W. Bush. Declining to 23% it surpassed Richard Nixon’s low of 24% and is a point away from the lowest in 70 years of polling, set by Harry Truman in early 1952. The ABC News/Washington Post poll also found that 90% of Americans believe that the country “is on the wrong track.” Contrary to Mr. Bush’s daydreams and prognostications, history will not absolve him of what will be one of the worst executive tenures in American history. I believe that as we learn more about a Bush administration that has been wrapped in secrets and deceptions the perception of the Bush years will worsen. The face of G.W. Bush will not displace the portraits of Washington, Lincoln, Jackson, Hamilton or Franklin on our folding money – even if there is any money left.
* Mea culpa – I recently criticized the Clintons for not campaigning more on behalf of Barack Obama. Perhaps their appearances were not showing up in my news sources. On Sunday I watched their speeches in Scranton, PA and both Clintons are active on the campaign trail promoting Obama, the jobs he will create and reinforcing the idea that we do not need a continuation of Bush-like policies. We each can ask ourselves what we are doing to bring about a change from the disastrous policies of the last eight years. The Obama campaign is urging people to volunteer at their local offices leading up the election on November 4th. With less than three weeks remaining before the most important presidential election in our lifetime there are opportunities to get out the vote, work at polls, help people to get to the polls. If you have been unhappy with the course our government has taken, the time to do something is now.
* Welcome to the 51st State of the United States ~ the police state - Talk about unfocused and misguided policy. Over the last couple of years we have seen evidence of federal, state and local police bodies targeting anti-war groups. Unlike the protests during the Viet Nam war evidence of violent intentions or behavior is lacking and yet the free speech of protesters is seen as terrorist activity. The latest example of such blurred vision and perhaps illegal action was committed by the Maryland State Police. Sisters Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte, each serving the Catholic Church for over 50 years, have been placed on a national watch list due to their participation in anti-war protest activities. “They were among 53 people added to a terrorist watch list in conjunction with an extensive Maryland surveillance effort of antiwar activists.” Many voices in our society are quick to criticize the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) but it is actions like that of Maryland law enforcement that reinforces the need for civil liberty watchdog organizations. Note: This portion of SVN is being written anonymously since I will be driving through Maryland later this week. You can be sure I will not be wearing a nun’s habit.
* Unwelcome results of government spying on citizens – The National Security Agency (NSA) is the primary eavesdropper on our communications. Bush has tried at every opportunity to allow such spying without oversight or court order. Before Bush the courts had to issue a warrant for a U.S. citizen to be spied upon. Recent legislation removed restraints and that is troublesome in a free society. Power unregulated gets abused. It is a natural law. In an ABC report, “two former military intercept officers who worked at the NSA charge that the government spying agency listened in on calls to the United States made by soldiers, journalists and human rights workers working in the Middle East, even after it was clear that the calls were not in any way related to national security. The NSA officials regularly passed around salacious calls such as the private "phone sex" calls of military officers calling home, according to the report.”
In the next administration and congress oversight of spying should be revisited and protections from spying abuse legislated. One J. Edgar Hoover was enough for this country. Hoover was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1936 and led the organization until his death in 1972. Known for abusing his power and exceeding his jurisdiction U.S. leaders feared him because he compiled secret files on them, information often collected illegally. His dirty tricks program included “infiltration, burglaries, illegal wiretaps, planting forged documents and spreading false rumors about key members of target organizations.” Hoover was not bashful about using these files to achieve his end. This is not an America that I envision.
* “The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
Henry Steele Commager (1902 – 1998) American historian
The McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau just removed the wheels from the canard that conservatives are riding. The article is titled “Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis.” It was an unregulated private sector gone wild that brought our economy to its knees, not regulated government-assisted programs. I highly recommend a read of this article as an aide to understand what took place and, just as importantly, guidance for future policy. Republican conservatives bemoan the fact that the current financial crisis has altered the parameters of the upcoming election. I agree that it is unfortunate. We all had to suffer the effects before their failed policies were laid bare. The policies that they promoted should be evaluated and voted upon by the electorate, without spin and din.
To borrow an often used phrase of Barack Obama, “Let me be perfectly clear.” I do not advocate a national discourse devoid of conservative ideas any more than it would be appropriate to give voice exclusively to liberal thinking. It so happens that conservatives have dominated the national landscape while their views were implemented dishonestly and incompetently by President George W. Bush and the Republican Party. Liberal thinking and the Democratic Party are not without criticism. Going forward America’s best chance is a synthesis of views from all positions. It is likely that the first step will require that the political house be cleaned, with many more Republicans than Democrats being left for the trash pickup. A return to normalcy will be accompanied by a return to balance. At some point in the future this lesson will be forgotten and the process will cycle again. At best, we can hope for less dramatic swings of the political ideology pendulum and greater integrity in the people that we elect.
* Agreeing to disagree – I almost never agree with neo-con, conservative and Bush war cheerleader Bill Kristol. His column in the NY Times on Monday October 13th was no exception. Kristol wrote, “It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.” This comment comes after previous Kristol comments suggesting the McCain campaign do what he now criticizes. I say leave well enough alone. This is a McCain-selected campaign team of lobbyists, neo-cons, deregulators and slime campaigners scraped like barnacles from the Karl Rove ship of ghouls. They represent the political and economic philosophy and foreign policy that has put this country and its citizens in peril. My friends, I say do not fire them. Allow them to go down in flames with the current icons of these failures, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. I wish them GOP – Get Out of Politics - after the election.
* Clunk - That thud you heard this week was the approval rating of George W. Bush. Declining to 23% it surpassed Richard Nixon’s low of 24% and is a point away from the lowest in 70 years of polling, set by Harry Truman in early 1952. The ABC News/Washington Post poll also found that 90% of Americans believe that the country “is on the wrong track.” Contrary to Mr. Bush’s daydreams and prognostications, history will not absolve him of what will be one of the worst executive tenures in American history. I believe that as we learn more about a Bush administration that has been wrapped in secrets and deceptions the perception of the Bush years will worsen. The face of G.W. Bush will not displace the portraits of Washington, Lincoln, Jackson, Hamilton or Franklin on our folding money – even if there is any money left.
* Mea culpa – I recently criticized the Clintons for not campaigning more on behalf of Barack Obama. Perhaps their appearances were not showing up in my news sources. On Sunday I watched their speeches in Scranton, PA and both Clintons are active on the campaign trail promoting Obama, the jobs he will create and reinforcing the idea that we do not need a continuation of Bush-like policies. We each can ask ourselves what we are doing to bring about a change from the disastrous policies of the last eight years. The Obama campaign is urging people to volunteer at their local offices leading up the election on November 4th. With less than three weeks remaining before the most important presidential election in our lifetime there are opportunities to get out the vote, work at polls, help people to get to the polls. If you have been unhappy with the course our government has taken, the time to do something is now.
* Welcome to the 51st State of the United States ~ the police state - Talk about unfocused and misguided policy. Over the last couple of years we have seen evidence of federal, state and local police bodies targeting anti-war groups. Unlike the protests during the Viet Nam war evidence of violent intentions or behavior is lacking and yet the free speech of protesters is seen as terrorist activity. The latest example of such blurred vision and perhaps illegal action was committed by the Maryland State Police. Sisters Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte, each serving the Catholic Church for over 50 years, have been placed on a national watch list due to their participation in anti-war protest activities. “They were among 53 people added to a terrorist watch list in conjunction with an extensive Maryland surveillance effort of antiwar activists.” Many voices in our society are quick to criticize the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) but it is actions like that of Maryland law enforcement that reinforces the need for civil liberty watchdog organizations. Note: This portion of SVN is being written anonymously since I will be driving through Maryland later this week. You can be sure I will not be wearing a nun’s habit.
* Unwelcome results of government spying on citizens – The National Security Agency (NSA) is the primary eavesdropper on our communications. Bush has tried at every opportunity to allow such spying without oversight or court order. Before Bush the courts had to issue a warrant for a U.S. citizen to be spied upon. Recent legislation removed restraints and that is troublesome in a free society. Power unregulated gets abused. It is a natural law. In an ABC report, “two former military intercept officers who worked at the NSA charge that the government spying agency listened in on calls to the United States made by soldiers, journalists and human rights workers working in the Middle East, even after it was clear that the calls were not in any way related to national security. The NSA officials regularly passed around salacious calls such as the private "phone sex" calls of military officers calling home, according to the report.”
In the next administration and congress oversight of spying should be revisited and protections from spying abuse legislated. One J. Edgar Hoover was enough for this country. Hoover was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1936 and led the organization until his death in 1972. Known for abusing his power and exceeding his jurisdiction U.S. leaders feared him because he compiled secret files on them, information often collected illegally. His dirty tricks program included “infiltration, burglaries, illegal wiretaps, planting forged documents and spreading false rumors about key members of target organizations.” Hoover was not bashful about using these files to achieve his end. This is not an America that I envision.
* “The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
Henry Steele Commager (1902 – 1998) American historian
Saturday, September 8, 2007
9/8/07
*Mad George, mad at George - My brother has a science background and has often told me that he does not believe in coincidence. There are 30 days in September and the Bush administration has selected the 11th for General Patraeus to give his Iraq report. If Bush could sell peace as well as he can sell fear he would be seen as Martin Luther King instead of King George III. In 1776 America revolted against Mad George III.
*View from the Canadian Rockies – Transitioning from a big eastern city to the mountains, lakes, parks, ice fields and glaciers of Montana, Alberta and British Columbia was quite an experience. The spectacular scenery and exhilarating vistas were a reminder of nature’s grandeur, power and interdependence. I was amazed to learn that the Columbia Ice Field melted over a triple continental divide flowing to the Artic, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The resulting rivers flowing to the Atlantic and Pacific nurture vast areas of wheat production and provide water and electricity to millions of people. I was saddened by the thought that our federal government has been so lax in protecting our environment and ignoring the effects that poor planning and policing will have on our future. It is as if these leaders, these elected officials, these watchdogs at the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and the EPA do not have children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and neighbors. Perhaps there is truth to the characterization that government employees are automatons that are produced in labs and factories. Where is the sense of responsibility? Where is the sense of humanity?
*Traveling to Canada requires a passport but I felt right at home reading the news:
-General Motors of Canada Ltd. will eliminate 1000 jobs (they employ just over 3000) at a truck plant in Ottawa. The U.S. market is the destination of 85% of this plant. This follows a cut of 2000 workers by Chrysler in Windsor Ontario earlier this year and the permanent shutdown of dozens of auto parts plants that supplied Detroit automakers.
-Three Canadian legislators are being investigated for influence peddling and misuse of funds.
-Millions in aid money by the Canadian government in Afghanistan has gone astray. There has been an absence of oversight. The Senlis Council, a think tank that examines security and development issues, has been working in Afghanistan for 2 years and says it is hard-pressed to find positive results of the $139 million expended during that time.
-Canadian Forces (CF) (air force) paid millions of dollars for maintenance work on its Airbus fleet that was never performed over the last 5 years. An audit showed that the CF are not supervising the elements of the contract that have been awarded to contractors. The audit did praise the quality of the maintenance work that was performed.
-In Calgary I saw a political ad on a park bench for the man running for 5th Ward Alderman. I thought that he had the quintessential name for a politician – Pay Jones. Later in the day I was disappointed to learn from another park bench with the same ad that Mr. Jones’ first name had been vandalized when someone painted over the right leg of the “R”.
*John Ibbitson writes a column about America for the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. With Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig all over the news for soliciting men in a restroom Ibbitson asks, “What is it about conservative politicians that drive so many of them to destroy their lives in pursuit of illicit sex?” He opined that many political careers begin in high school or college before they are fully socially or sexually mature. Because they advocate tolerance, liberal politicians have room to adjust their lives to their adult reality. But conservatives must adhere to the Victorian ideal at odds with their internal urges. They learn to rationalize public positions and embrace party platforms. This denial becomes corrosive. Ibbitson says, “People who lie to themselves (a life unexamined) are poor stewards of the public trust.”
*Larry Craig’s voting record on gay issues:
Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)
*Still under scrutiny 1 - Sen. Ted Stevens (Republican from Alaska) infamously known for the Bridge to Nowhere and more recently for multiple corruption investigations once again comes under our scrutiny. In June, the House of Representatives voted by a wide margin to stop subsidizing new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest, our nation’s largest national forest. Over the last 25 years, more than 1 billion taxpayer dollars have been spent to clearcut and build roads through this irreplaceable forest. Stevens is now working to offset this House decision as well as to shield the National Forest Service from the courts for dereliction of duty. Fortunately, there are organizations such as Earthjustice that work through the courts to protect our natural resources. You can sign a petition to your congressmen to neutralize Stevens’ efforts at this link: http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/Tongass_Alert_Sept_2007/wdn67ig24enet57?
*Still under scrutiny 2 – Rudy Giuliani continues talking about his impeccable role of hero following the attacks of 9/11 on the World Trade Center. He wants us to believe that this qualifies him to be President of the U.S. Robert Greenwald interviewed experts, police, firemen and their families to see if the Mayor’s claims have validity. You can be the judge. The link to the short video is: http://therealrudy.org/facts
*It has been 2 years since Katrina devastated New Orleans. In the days that followed I remember our president standing in the French Quarter and telling the citizens of New Orleans and the United States that America would help to re-build the city and help get its citizens back on their feet. What did follow were too many empty promises, incompetence and graft. Senators Dodd and Obama have introduced the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 aimed at addressing the inadequacies of the Bush plan. You can sign a petition urging your elected representatives to support this bill and force Bush to administrate responsibly. The link is:
http://pol.moveon.org/katrina07/petition/?r_by=&rc=paste
*At least it ain’t guns - Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, is the Minority Leader and front man for the Bush administration. He recently approved an $8.3 million contract for a company to provide iPod-like devices to Afghani tribesmen. McConnell’s former aid Hunter Bates was paid $200,000 for his connection to McConnell. Bates, representing the company, helped McConnell raise $120,000 in contributions from his clients. It is comforting to know that when the tribesmen’s laptops go down they can listen to Eric Clapton singing Cocaine while working the poppy fields. It is less comforting to know that too many of our country’s elected leaders continue to be low-class prostitutes earning high-class fees and the only ones getting screwed are the constituents.
*Obscene – would be the word to describe what federal authorities have allowed credit card companies to do with interest charges and policies that at one time would have been illegal under usury laws. The Federal Reserve Board is considering new rules favorable to consumers although not likely to put a reasonable ceiling on interest rates. You can sign a petition supporting rule changes that are more consumer friendly at:
https://secure.npsite.org/cu/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr007=xozg932f81.app7a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1647
*The longer we stay the ‘longerer’ we stay - I recently watched part of a C-SPAN interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter. He observed that the escalation and continuance of the Iraq War could result in an enlarged war that could last for 20 years in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The conventional wisdom is that Bush will leave the settlement of the Iraq War to his successor. The question now becomes how many successors?
*Crunched by the numbers – In 2006 the Iraqi ministries of defense, health and interior reported Iraqi civilian casualties to total 12,357. The U.N reported that the casualties were 33,717. Embarrassed by the high reported death toll, the Iraqi government refused the U.N. access to Health Ministry statistics in 2007.
*The devil takes many forms - In 2003 the Defense Department started an anti-terrorism data base called TALON to protect military bases in the U.S. It soon strayed from its intended mission and expanded the database to include reports by local law enforcement agencies and military security personnel about nonviolent demonstrations and anti-war rallies, activities protected by the First Amendment of our constitution. In 2006 the ACLU filed a lawsuit against this activity and it was just announced that the Pentagon will shut down the data base of secret information on peaceful groups. This is an excellent example of what can happen when government is allowed to conduct domestic spying activities with no oversight and guards. To those who advocate ceding freedoms to protect us from terrorists I would suggest that ceding freedoms ushers in equally dangerous threats.
*I dreamt in a dream – The war in Iraq is now costing $3 billion per week. With this amount of money how many children could receive health insurance, how many roads and bridges could be repaired, how many border guards could be hired, how many alternative fuel projects could be funded, how many diseases could be cured, how many …?
*He dreamt in a dream - Progress (definition): positive development; development, usually of a gradual kind, toward achieving a goal or reaching a higher standard - We will hear progress used frequently this week as Bush forwards his Iraq fantasy. Bush has claimed progress since 2003 while lacking a plan, a goal or a standard.
*Why I decided not to purchase Exxon/Mobil products – A report last February by 600 scientists from governments, academia, green groups and businesses in 40 countries concluded, "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Worse, there was now at least a 90 percent likelihood that the release of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels is causing longer droughts, more flood-causing downpours and worse heat waves, way up from earlier studies.” StopGlobalWarming.org reports that, “A conservative think tank long funded by Exxon/Mobil has offered scientists $10,000 to write articles undercutting the new report and the computer-based climate models it is based on.” Rather than garnering its vast resources to research and develop fuels more compatible with the environment and healthier for the human beings living on this planet, Exxon/Mobile has chosen to dig in its business-as-usual heels and obstruct both the truth and the progress for a better global community. Equal culpability belongs to our government which has been a tool of big oil interests rather than a progressive influence for constructive, positive change. Not to be forgotten in this equation is you and me. We have not been sufficiently pro-active in demanding better leadership from our elected representatives. AND, I am ticked that Mobil has stopped supporting Mystery Theater on PBS.
* ”Perhaps Special Places exist only in the minds of the observer, the special places where the human spirit joins freely to the movement of the land, where happiness within is expressed in the beauty without.”
Tom Willock, Canadian photographer
*View from the Canadian Rockies – Transitioning from a big eastern city to the mountains, lakes, parks, ice fields and glaciers of Montana, Alberta and British Columbia was quite an experience. The spectacular scenery and exhilarating vistas were a reminder of nature’s grandeur, power and interdependence. I was amazed to learn that the Columbia Ice Field melted over a triple continental divide flowing to the Artic, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The resulting rivers flowing to the Atlantic and Pacific nurture vast areas of wheat production and provide water and electricity to millions of people. I was saddened by the thought that our federal government has been so lax in protecting our environment and ignoring the effects that poor planning and policing will have on our future. It is as if these leaders, these elected officials, these watchdogs at the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and the EPA do not have children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and neighbors. Perhaps there is truth to the characterization that government employees are automatons that are produced in labs and factories. Where is the sense of responsibility? Where is the sense of humanity?
*Traveling to Canada requires a passport but I felt right at home reading the news:
-General Motors of Canada Ltd. will eliminate 1000 jobs (they employ just over 3000) at a truck plant in Ottawa. The U.S. market is the destination of 85% of this plant. This follows a cut of 2000 workers by Chrysler in Windsor Ontario earlier this year and the permanent shutdown of dozens of auto parts plants that supplied Detroit automakers.
-Three Canadian legislators are being investigated for influence peddling and misuse of funds.
-Millions in aid money by the Canadian government in Afghanistan has gone astray. There has been an absence of oversight. The Senlis Council, a think tank that examines security and development issues, has been working in Afghanistan for 2 years and says it is hard-pressed to find positive results of the $139 million expended during that time.
-Canadian Forces (CF) (air force) paid millions of dollars for maintenance work on its Airbus fleet that was never performed over the last 5 years. An audit showed that the CF are not supervising the elements of the contract that have been awarded to contractors. The audit did praise the quality of the maintenance work that was performed.
-In Calgary I saw a political ad on a park bench for the man running for 5th Ward Alderman. I thought that he had the quintessential name for a politician – Pay Jones. Later in the day I was disappointed to learn from another park bench with the same ad that Mr. Jones’ first name had been vandalized when someone painted over the right leg of the “R”.
*John Ibbitson writes a column about America for the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. With Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig all over the news for soliciting men in a restroom Ibbitson asks, “What is it about conservative politicians that drive so many of them to destroy their lives in pursuit of illicit sex?” He opined that many political careers begin in high school or college before they are fully socially or sexually mature. Because they advocate tolerance, liberal politicians have room to adjust their lives to their adult reality. But conservatives must adhere to the Victorian ideal at odds with their internal urges. They learn to rationalize public positions and embrace party platforms. This denial becomes corrosive. Ibbitson says, “People who lie to themselves (a life unexamined) are poor stewards of the public trust.”
*Larry Craig’s voting record on gay issues:
Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)
*Still under scrutiny 1 - Sen. Ted Stevens (Republican from Alaska) infamously known for the Bridge to Nowhere and more recently for multiple corruption investigations once again comes under our scrutiny. In June, the House of Representatives voted by a wide margin to stop subsidizing new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest, our nation’s largest national forest. Over the last 25 years, more than 1 billion taxpayer dollars have been spent to clearcut and build roads through this irreplaceable forest. Stevens is now working to offset this House decision as well as to shield the National Forest Service from the courts for dereliction of duty. Fortunately, there are organizations such as Earthjustice that work through the courts to protect our natural resources. You can sign a petition to your congressmen to neutralize Stevens’ efforts at this link: http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/Tongass_Alert_Sept_2007/wdn67ig24enet57?
*Still under scrutiny 2 – Rudy Giuliani continues talking about his impeccable role of hero following the attacks of 9/11 on the World Trade Center. He wants us to believe that this qualifies him to be President of the U.S. Robert Greenwald interviewed experts, police, firemen and their families to see if the Mayor’s claims have validity. You can be the judge. The link to the short video is: http://therealrudy.org/facts
*It has been 2 years since Katrina devastated New Orleans. In the days that followed I remember our president standing in the French Quarter and telling the citizens of New Orleans and the United States that America would help to re-build the city and help get its citizens back on their feet. What did follow were too many empty promises, incompetence and graft. Senators Dodd and Obama have introduced the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 aimed at addressing the inadequacies of the Bush plan. You can sign a petition urging your elected representatives to support this bill and force Bush to administrate responsibly. The link is:
http://pol.moveon.org/katrina07/petition/?r_by=&rc=paste
*At least it ain’t guns - Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, is the Minority Leader and front man for the Bush administration. He recently approved an $8.3 million contract for a company to provide iPod-like devices to Afghani tribesmen. McConnell’s former aid Hunter Bates was paid $200,000 for his connection to McConnell. Bates, representing the company, helped McConnell raise $120,000 in contributions from his clients. It is comforting to know that when the tribesmen’s laptops go down they can listen to Eric Clapton singing Cocaine while working the poppy fields. It is less comforting to know that too many of our country’s elected leaders continue to be low-class prostitutes earning high-class fees and the only ones getting screwed are the constituents.
*Obscene – would be the word to describe what federal authorities have allowed credit card companies to do with interest charges and policies that at one time would have been illegal under usury laws. The Federal Reserve Board is considering new rules favorable to consumers although not likely to put a reasonable ceiling on interest rates. You can sign a petition supporting rule changes that are more consumer friendly at:
https://secure.npsite.org/cu/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr007=xozg932f81.app7a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1647
*The longer we stay the ‘longerer’ we stay - I recently watched part of a C-SPAN interview of Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter. He observed that the escalation and continuance of the Iraq War could result in an enlarged war that could last for 20 years in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The conventional wisdom is that Bush will leave the settlement of the Iraq War to his successor. The question now becomes how many successors?
*Crunched by the numbers – In 2006 the Iraqi ministries of defense, health and interior reported Iraqi civilian casualties to total 12,357. The U.N reported that the casualties were 33,717. Embarrassed by the high reported death toll, the Iraqi government refused the U.N. access to Health Ministry statistics in 2007.
*The devil takes many forms - In 2003 the Defense Department started an anti-terrorism data base called TALON to protect military bases in the U.S. It soon strayed from its intended mission and expanded the database to include reports by local law enforcement agencies and military security personnel about nonviolent demonstrations and anti-war rallies, activities protected by the First Amendment of our constitution. In 2006 the ACLU filed a lawsuit against this activity and it was just announced that the Pentagon will shut down the data base of secret information on peaceful groups. This is an excellent example of what can happen when government is allowed to conduct domestic spying activities with no oversight and guards. To those who advocate ceding freedoms to protect us from terrorists I would suggest that ceding freedoms ushers in equally dangerous threats.
*I dreamt in a dream – The war in Iraq is now costing $3 billion per week. With this amount of money how many children could receive health insurance, how many roads and bridges could be repaired, how many border guards could be hired, how many alternative fuel projects could be funded, how many diseases could be cured, how many …?
*He dreamt in a dream - Progress (definition): positive development; development, usually of a gradual kind, toward achieving a goal or reaching a higher standard - We will hear progress used frequently this week as Bush forwards his Iraq fantasy. Bush has claimed progress since 2003 while lacking a plan, a goal or a standard.
*Why I decided not to purchase Exxon/Mobil products – A report last February by 600 scientists from governments, academia, green groups and businesses in 40 countries concluded, "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Worse, there was now at least a 90 percent likelihood that the release of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels is causing longer droughts, more flood-causing downpours and worse heat waves, way up from earlier studies.” StopGlobalWarming.org reports that, “A conservative think tank long funded by Exxon/Mobil has offered scientists $10,000 to write articles undercutting the new report and the computer-based climate models it is based on.” Rather than garnering its vast resources to research and develop fuels more compatible with the environment and healthier for the human beings living on this planet, Exxon/Mobile has chosen to dig in its business-as-usual heels and obstruct both the truth and the progress for a better global community. Equal culpability belongs to our government which has been a tool of big oil interests rather than a progressive influence for constructive, positive change. Not to be forgotten in this equation is you and me. We have not been sufficiently pro-active in demanding better leadership from our elected representatives. AND, I am ticked that Mobil has stopped supporting Mystery Theater on PBS.
* ”Perhaps Special Places exist only in the minds of the observer, the special places where the human spirit joins freely to the movement of the land, where happiness within is expressed in the beauty without.”
Tom Willock, Canadian photographer
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
