* Sitting Shiva – This is not a reference to one of the supreme Hindu gods, often depicted meditating in the lotus position. The term is used in the context of Jewish tradition. It denotes a one week period of grief and mourning following the burial of a deceased, when family members gather in one place and receive visitors. I thought of this tradition as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held its annual coven in Washington D.C. last week. What is now the heart, core and soul of the Republican Party gathered to… well, I am not sure. Some of the leading speakers included Ann Coulter, Joe the Plumber and the whining star of the gathering, Rush Limbaugh, spokes model for the Republican/Conservative movement in America. The CPAC attendees desperately cling to an ideology launched in the Ronald Regan years that ultimately imploded during the George W. Bush years. The most recent incarnation of conservatism has been abandoned by the vast majority of the American people. The abandonment was not capricious. It earned its demise by yielding utter and complete failure. Let me count the ways:

Anti-unionism, unregulated free markets, deficit spending stapled to tax cuts for the wealthy, denial of science, ignorance of the needs of a deteriorating infrastructure, unconstitutional merging of church and state, abandonment of the needy and less fortunate in our society, policies that encourage greed and corruption, encouragement of a neocon philosophy that preaches preemptive war and imperialism and the promulgation that health care is a privilege, not a right. This is by far a complete list. I am confident that history will write a more comprehensive account of this movement that we now mourn and which has left us with considerable grief and bereavement.

How wide is the disconnect between CPAC ideologues and Main Street America? The Republican response to President Obama’s address to congress is telling. The person chosen to present the “other side” was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Frank Rich, writing for the NY Times, made the following observation: “But like all zealots, Jindal is oblivious to how non-zealots see him. Pleading “principle,” he has actually turned down some $100 million in stimulus money for Louisiana. And, as he proudly explained on “Meet the Press”, he can’t wait to be judged on “the results” of his heroic frugality. The state of Louisiana ranks fourth in children living below the poverty line and 46th in high school graduation rates. The well-being of the majority of Americans was never a consideration of Reagan or Bush or Bush. The well-being of the “royalty” of society was the premise and the policy. The ultimate widespread failure of the policies is apparent to almost anyone not part of the CPAC clique. Governor Jindal, you are far from being a hero AND you do not walk among heroes.

* The Guiding Light of hypocrisy ~ I was against it before I did it even though I am against it – Few can forget the homophobic Colorado mega-church pastor Ted Haggart resigning in disgrace when it was revealed that he was having a homosexual affair. It is even easier to remember vocally anti-gay Idaho Senator Larry Craig attempting to drop his Fruit of the Looms in a public restroom. It should come as no surprise that a recent study found that conservative states in the union, the Red states that want to ban the sale of vibrators, dildos and sexually explicit material, have a higher incidence of visiting pornography sites on the internet than the citizens of the heathen Blue states. “Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds… Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election.” I have often wondered how the holy rollers know what I should not be doing in the privacy of my own home. They certainly cannot be accused of not doing their homework. Now, just shut up and take a cold shower!

* Cynics of Green Energy ~ naysayers say no more – If anyone still believes that green energy solutions are impractical, unaffordable or unrealistic the prophets of profitability, also known as the Mafia, have spoken. “Italian police… arrested mobsters, businessmen and local politicians who allegedly used corrupt practices and bribes to gain control of a project to build wind farms in Sicily… Police in Trapani said the local Mafia bribed city officials in nearby Mazara del Vallo so the town would invest in wind farms to produce energy.” When the Mafia assumes the roll of lobbyist it is pretty certain that the business venture makes cents (sic). We are not talking about pie-in-the-sky idealists. Where is America’s own Al Capone when we need him?

* Drug efficacy ~ serious side effects – Last week, and on many previous occasions, I have noted evidence of congressman selling their vote to special interests. This week we learn about another hooker in pinstripes and silk cravat posing as a U.S. Senator. “The pharmaceutical industry that long has benefited from Sen. Orrin G. Hatch´s (R-UT) legislative efforts has directed large sums of money to a charity he helped found - and still raises money for - while also hiring the Republican lawmaker's son as a lobbyist.” This week our government begins exploring ways to reduce the outrageous cost of health care in America. Unless the decision makers such as Hatch are publicly and broadly exposed for their financially symbiotic relationship with the special interests that play a significant role in the high cost of health care, the American healthcare system and the economy will remain on life support. Ostensibly, Hatch represents the citizens of Utah. Among his extra-state constituents are pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Schering-Plough Corp., Eli Lilly and Co., Barr Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca Pharm LP, and Sepracor. Other Hatch “constituents” include medical equipment suppliers and health care providers. I suggest that the next time you want to write a letter to your congressman, drop it off at your pharmacy. It will get there faster.

* Taxpayers ambushed ~ the cavalry is coming – It was announced this week that the Obama administration will overhaul how government contracts are awarded that would save about $40 billion dollars a year. The new rules “would make it more difficult for contractors to bilk taxpayers and make some half-trillion dollars in federal contracts each year more accessible to independent contractors.” This would be a refreshing change to no bid, no oversight contracts. Such policy reached its nadir in Iraq where billions of U.S. dollars were funneled through insider private no-bid contractors – much of it unaccounted for, much of it wasted on projects never completed or completed projects that are unsafe and in disrepair. To complete the picture, many of these same private contractors are U.S. companies that set up off-shore corporations to avoid paying U.S. taxes. If Obama can have an impact on what we now know has been a pervasive breakdown in our federal government, my November vote will have been well cast.

* We can have a lead role in oversight ~ the audition is now – “For every foreclosure in a neighborhood, home values drop by an estimated 1%. Credit Suisse says that if judges have the ability to write down mortgages, it will stem the tide of foreclosures by 20% and it won't cost the taxpayers a single dime… President Obama says that allowing bankruptcy judges to write down mortgages is an important part of his plan to arrest the downward spiral of the foreclosure crisis.” HOWEVER, corporation-favoring Republican and Democratic members of Congress and bank lobbyists are trying to stop that. The banks want to unload their bad loans on taxpayers. We should not let this happen. The website Firedoglake.com is providing a petition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding that bankruptcy judges be allowed to write down mortgages. Pelosi and congress gave in to the banks and their lobbyists in 2007 when this idea was first proposed. If more and more citizens voice their opposition to “Congress for Sale” there is some chance that our democratic process will avoid total bankruptcy. If we do nothing, then nothing is what will be accomplished. Below is the comment I made on the petition that I signed:

It is beyond time that citizens take back our government - a government that our elected representatives sold to the highest bidders. If you refuse to represent the interests of the American people then we will work to ensure that you experience the unemployment line. Yes - that long line that your sellout to special interests helped create. Congress is draped in disgrace and the American people are suffering the consequences. Perhaps it is poetic justice since we elected you. Shame on all of us!

* Being our own lobbyists - President Barack Obama said: "the special interests and lobbyists ... I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I." One of the tasks and great challenges that Obama is taking on is health care reform. The special interests and lobbyists present major opposition and will attempt to influence the Obama administration and congress. One of the ways that the American people’s interests and voices can be heard on health care reform is through petition. Congress must know that we are paying attention and have expectations. MoveOn.org is providing a petition that will be sent to your representative and senators. Over 200,000 concerned citizens have already signed the petition. If you are concerned about the state of your own health care, the future health care of your children as well as the tremendous drain that the current system has on our economy, you may want to add your name. Consumers Union provides a similar petition.

* It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.”
David Brin

“Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today”
Mahatma Gandhi

* Patriotism or Avarice? – President Bush and Republicans are pushing Congress very hard to give immunity to telecommunication companies that broke the law cooperating with the government's illegal warrantless surveillance program. As of Friday the House has capitulated to the White House demand for telecom immunity and the Senate will debate the bill next week. We are told that companies such as Verizon and AT&T were being patriotic. Perhaps they were. Perhaps they were not. According to Washington Technology magazine, Verizon received $1.3 billion, Sprint $839 million and AT&T $505 million in federal prime contract revenue for fiscal 2007, for a total of $2.6 billion. While the companies have been government contractors for a long time, it still represents a significant increase in revenue. Glenn Greenwald has an excellent blog on the amounts being spent through lobbyists by this group in 2008 and the sleazy influence they have on Congress. One company that did not participate in illegal spying was Qwest and they subsequently lost hundreds of millions of dollars in contract opportunities. Qwest did not participate because they thought the program illegal. In a court opinion from 2006 U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker commented, "AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal." I will reserve judgment whether the telecoms were being patriotic. I do not doubt that the Bush administration waved a very lucrative financial stick with threat of strong reprisal when enlisting the telecoms to participate in an illegal venture.

* Unlawful acts engender their own momentum – Physicians for Human Rights has just released their report
Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by the US. It details torture suffered by 11 prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. As noted by the Washington Post, “One of the interviewed detainees, Ali al-Qaisi, detailed horrors of defecation, sodomy, excruciating pain and humiliation… The assessments of 11 men formerly held in U.S. detention camps overseas revealed scars and other injuries consistent with their accounts of beatings, electric shocks, and shackling.” ALL 11 MEN WERE EVENTUALLY RELEASED FROM CUSTODY WITHOUT BEING CHARGED WITH CRIMES. The Supreme Court ruling last week concluded that habeas corpus applies to prisoners being held by the U.S. military and that just cause must be demonstrated to justify incarceration. The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky commented in an editorial favoring the Court decision: “Critics should shelve their usual braying about ‘permissive liberal judges.’ Does American conservatism truly now embrace a doctrine of authoritarian executive power?... Due process, fair trials and timely resolutions are American strengths, not weaknesses. The Court has wisely cleared the way for them to work.” Once laws are ignored doors open to further abuses and this truth has been demonstrated repeatedly over the past 7 years. No oversight of imprisonment, the use of torture and illegal spying on Americans are examples of this administration’s acts that stain our country and our society. The America of George Bush and Dick Cheney is not the America that most of us envision. It is beyond time for Americans and Congress to comprehend and then reject the thorny road carved out by this President and Vice President. To do less multiplies their sins of commission and our sins of omission.

* Exercising exorcism ~ exorcising science – One of the leading candidates to be John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Mr. Jindal would bring a unique perspective to the McCain ticket. It is difficult to recall a VP candidate who claims to have rid a friend of cancer through an exorcism. In 1994, the now 37 year- old Republican, describes just such an event in an essay he submitted to the publication New Oxford Review. The article, ”Beating a Demon – Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare,” he describes using a bible, a crucifix and chanting Hail Mary to rid his friend of the illness. Furthering his maverick status the exorcism procedure Jindal used is apparently outside of Church law and protocol. Taking one nano step closer to “mainstream” ideas Jindal is a big proponent of Intelligent Design – the religious right alternative to scientifically based evolution. Appearing this past Sunday on Face the Nation Jindal “defended intelligent design as a legitimate scientific discipline that has a place in the nation’s classrooms… Jindal said that local school districts should decide for themselves what theories to teach and that federal and state governments should stay out of the equation.” This statement may have gravitas for strict adherents of states rights but not to anyone with a sense of the validity of science. The President of the National Academy of Sciences, Bruce Alberts, said in a NY Times op-ed, “Because ‘intelligent design’ theories are based on supernatural explanations, they can have nothing to do with science.” I think that Gov. Jindal is a good fit for a McCain campaign unburdened with truth and fact and policy positions as flexible as the predictions of a storefront psychic.

* Preparing for disaster ~ before it happens – The current Iowa flood disaster has regenerated interest in a plan that had stalled in the Pennsylvania legislature. The bill would create the state’s first dedicated fund for flood prevention and storm cleanup. The proposed funding appears to be simple and painless for residents. “The proposed PA Flood Grant and Assistance Program would require all property owners to pay a surcharge of 20 cents on every $100 of insurance premium payment.” For the average residential policy the cost would amount to $1 a year and generate $9.5 million annually. There is no cost to the state or insurance companies and the money spent to prevent floods could potentially save both parties untold millions and higher insurance rates for homeowners in the event of a disaster. Perhaps this plan requires a larger scale or a different approach but at a minimum it is creative and proactive toward preventing and addressing catastrophic events. It is well-documented that over-development, a deteriorating infrastructure and changing climate are placing many communities across America at risk. Attention to these issues now will save lives and treasure.

* A view from abroad ~ President Bush concludes his final European jaunt – A leading British newspaper, The Independent, ran an opinion piece titled, “The Tragic Legacy of a Disastrous President.” The entire article is worth a read because it provides a perspective of America from one of our closest, long-term allies. One excerpt is most telling: "Perhaps Mr. Bush's most significant legacy, as far as Britain is concerned, will be the destruction of the instinctive trust of America and its leaders that once prevailed here. It is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Bush has done more damage to relations between our two nations than any president in living memory. This rupture is not an accident of circumstance; there are no impersonal forces of history to blame. This sorry state of affairs is the consequence of the actions of a single leader and his small coterie of advisers. ... And whatever the future holds for transatlantic relations, there will be very few in this country who watched President Bush's plane depart yesterday without a feeling of profound relief that the end of this disastrous presidency is finally in sight." An overwhelming majority of Americans will share this feeling on January 20, 2008.

* The worse laid plans… – When President Bush initiated his “exporting democracy” policy several years ago few imagined it would result in millions of people being “freed” - from their homes and a life of normalcy. The UN Refugee Agency is reporting that currently 3.1 million refugees are Afghans and 2.3 million are Iraqis. Let freedom ring!

* Gay rights ~ wedding bell blues – I applauded the California Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Many gay couples have begun taking advantage of the right to have their relationship receive legal status through civil ceremonies and in some cases ceremonies conducted in a house of worship. However, the extension of rights to one group should not result in the diminishment of the rights of others. There are some religious denominations and particular houses of worship that refuse to conduct marriages for couples of the same sex. This refusal is resulting in lawsuits that strike a faulty note. Gaining the right to same-sex marriage does not void another’s right to their belief system. That should not have to be adjudicated.

* Disingenuous dissertation ~ de rigueur – Republicans, instead of directing their attention to a responsible energy plan, want to drill for oil off our coasts and in wildlife preserves in Alaska. Once again lies and fear justify their agenda. “In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, VP Dick Cheney said…that waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, long off limits to oil companies, should be opened to drilling because China is already there pumping oil (off the Cuban coast).” Red China, Communist Cuba and the boogeyman would surely be an influential cocktail to win the day! When it was documented that none of these assertions are true the Vice President’s office “acknowledged that he was mistaken”. Well, okay – some things have changed. Following Cheney’s initial lies about China drilling off Cuba the U.S. did not bomb the island.
~ The benefits of off-shore oil to consumers are meager. A Philadelphia Inquirer editorial noted that off-shore oil exploration and construction will take three to 10 years at best, and an additional 10 years for full ramp-up, leading to a savings per gallon of . . . pennies.” Who does benefit from this approach? Can you say, “Big Oil?”

* Energy policy ~ who speaks for the people? – This week the Senate began debate on the Climate Security Act sponsored by Senators Boxer, Lieberman and Warner. The bill is opposed by energy special interests as well as John McCain. McCain says that he opposes it because it does not provide sufficient funding for nuclear power plants. That may be the case but perhaps there are other influences at work. Since 1990 McCain has received just over $2 million dollars in campaign contributions from oil, coal, electric utility, auto, chemical and nuclear industries ($1 million of it from gas and oil). The only Senator to have received more money from this group is Texas Senator (R) Kay Bailey Hutchinson at $2.8 million. Adding to the influence of special interests is the fact that “John McCain has at least 22 people working for his campaign, either as top fundraisers or as senior campaign staff that have lobbied for Big Oil.” There are many environmental groups that oppose this bill believing it to be weak and shortsighted – opposition based on merit and concern for the environment. Friends of the Earth provides a critical analysis of this bill. I do not believe that Mr. McCain is a member of this group.

* Government concern for consumers – For quite a long time this concept has been an oxymoron, especially with respect to a poorly regulated financial industry bolstered by laws and regulations clearly anti-consumer. The Federal Reserve Board and two other federal banking agencies are proposing a rule to reform some of the most unfair credit card tricks that include applying higher interest rates to an old balance and sending bills so close to the due date that many will wind up paying late charges. Not surprisingly, the banking industry and their lobbyists are opposing reform. The organization Americans for Fairness in Lending is providing a petition to the Federal Reserve Board supporting credit card reform.

* Speaking of oxymorons and empty rhetoric:
“At this moment, America's highest economic need is higher ethical standards -- standards enforced by strict laws and upheld by responsible business leaders.”
George W. Bush, current President of the USA, corporate responsibility speech - July 9, 2002

* "The only title in our democracy superior to that of President is the title of citizen."
Justice Louis Brandeis (1856 – 1941)