All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others-Part 2

"This is an impressive crowd, the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base."
-- George W. Bush... Al Smith Memorial Dinner, New York, NY, October 19, 2000

Haves, Have Nots, and Have Mores
Republican economics: The rich, the poor. No middle

Submitted by lambert on Mon, 2006-09-18 11:09.

Haves, Have Nots, and Have Mores | class warfare

Elizabeth Warren has a great article in Harvard Magazine about how polarization by wealth in the United States is increasing under Republican rule. (The coming bursting of the mortgage bubble is one piece of this puzzle, thanks to “Bubbles” Greenspan pushing the Adjustable Rate Mortgage. The Man in the Grey Turtleneck has had his hair on fire on this one for some time.)

If you think of “making it” in the United States today as walking a tightrope, what the Republicans are doing is forcing you to do more tricks on the rope, while they’re also yanking the rope to make you fall off, and removing the safety net so that when you fall, you never walk again. Yes, there is class warfare. And most of us are losing it, without even knowing we’re at war.

Here’s her conclusion:

Every day, middle-class families carry higher risks that a job loss or a medical problem will push them over the edge. Although plenty of families make it, a growing number who worked just as hard and followed the rules just as carefully find themselves in a financial nightmare. The security of middle-class life has disappeared. The new reality is millions of families whose grip on the good life can be shaken loose in an instant.

During the same period, families have been asked to absorb much more risk in their retirement income. In 1985, there were 112,200 defined-benefit pension plans with employers and employer groups around the country; today their number has shrunk to 29,700 such plans, and those are melting away fast.

For younger families, the picture is not any better. Both the absolute cost of healthcare and the share of it borne by families have risen—and newly fashionable health-savings plans are spreading from legislative halls to Wal-Mart workers, with much higher deductibles and a large new dose of investment risk for families’ future healthcare. Even demographics are working against the middle class family, as the odds of having a frail elderly parent—and all the attendant need for physical and financial assistance—have jumped eightfold in just one generation.

From the middle-class family perspective, much of this, understandably, looks far less like an opportunity to exercise more financial responsibility, and a good deal more like a frightening acceleration of the wholesale shift of financial risk onto their already overburdened shoulders.

For those of us who are middle class—not all of us, I know—I think Warren’s description matches our worries if we’ve been lucky, and our experience if we have not been.

She also goes into some of the causes. Interestingly (to me, at least) much of her analysis conforms to my general sense that everything went to shit in the mid-1970s; that’s when the rules changed. (And, coincidentally or not, that’s when the winger billionaries started to fund the VRWC.)

http://www.correntewire.com/thread/haves_have_nots_and_have_mores

George W. Bush and Laura Bush describing 9/11/2001 in an interview with Peggy Noonan in Ladies Home Journal, October 26, 2003 (reprinted on Salon.com, June 1, 2006) ...

Bush: But the day ended on a relatively humorous note. The agents said, "You'll be sleeping downstairs. Washington's still a dangerous place." And I said no, I can't sleep down there, the bed didn't look comfortable. I was really tired, Laura was tired, we like our own bed. We like our own routine. You know, kind of a nester. Like the way things are. I knew I had to deal with the issue the next day and provide strength and comfort to the country, and so I needed rest in order to be mentally prepared. So I told the agent we're going upstairs, and he reluctantly said okay. Laura wears contacts, and she was sound asleep. Barney was there. And the agent comes running up and says, "We're under attack. We need you downstairs," and so there we go. I'm in my running shorts and my T-shirt, and I'm barefooted. Got the dog in one hand, Laura had a cat, I'm holding Laura --

Mrs. Bush: I don't have my contacts in, and I'm in my fuzzy house slippers --

Bush: And this guy's out of breath, and we're heading straight down to the basement because there's an incoming unidentified airplane, which is coming toward the White House. Then the guy says it's a friendly airplane. And we hustle all the way back upstairs and go to bed.

Mrs. Bush: [laughs] And we just lay there thinking about the way we must have looked.

Noonan: So the day starts in tragedy and ends in Marx Brothers.

Bush: That's right -- we got a laugh out of it.

http://www.thedubyareport.com/quotes.html

Monkey:

Thanks for the corentewire. We were asked on the inside to define what it means to be middle class in America. This is a chilling portrait.

I'm going to quibble with one item in your blog post. No standard commercial HMO will let you stay in the hospital one day longer than medically necessary according to their charts for the given procedure.

In fact, an amazing number of surgeries which used to be good for a 2 night stay at a minimum are now done as outpatient.

I have had the experience of my doctor wanting me to stay in the hospital one day longer and the insurance refusing to authorize it.

The VIP physical is for those willing to pay for it out of their own pockets.

It is not representative of the difference between HMO care offered as a government program versus a private employer. Any portrayal of it as such is false.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060919/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_34
Bush appeals to Muslims in U.N. speech
UNITED NATIONS - President Bush on Tuesday appealed directly to Muslims to assure them that the United States is not waging war with Islam as he laid out a vision for peace in the Middle East before skeptical world leaders at the United Nations. On the sidelines, Bush pressed Iran to return at once to international talks on its nuclear program and threatened consequences if they do not.

{{{"Appeals...?" I heard a lot of demands to do things your way and veiled threats between the words 'extremism, extremists, militants' - but I didn't hear any "appeals."}}}

"My country desires peace," Bush told world leaders in the cavernous main hall at the U.N. "Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror. We respect Islam."

{{{If "MY country" desires peace so much, why did "my" country's "leader" wage an illegal war of aggression based on LIES, now occupied by US military forces who are getting killed in Iraq's civil war...? Anyone who gets their reliable news off the internet now knows full well the invasion and the occupation are WAR CRIMES, not to mention UNCONSTITUTIONAL, since our Founding Fathers dictated that a president does NOT have the authority to declare war. I haven't heard any propaganda coming from Mideast countries, but I've sure heard a $h!tload of propaganda come out of Lamestream Media TV stations in the US...!!! War is NOT how to wage peace, and this is not 1984, even if you run this country almost exactly on the Orwellian model, changing your propaganda wording as you see fit, and Lamestream Media and Congress goes along with all of your made-up revisions, never questioning your multiple LIES - as though they all have memory problems...! And, BTW, we remember that you set up a US propaganda machine in Iraq, even if you don't have any memory about it... ask Karen Hughes, your propaganda minister who's trying to 'interpret' Bu$hSpeak LIES into intelligible propaganda...! How is she explaining away your term "Islamofascists" if "we" (meaning you using the royal "we") respect Islam so much...?}}}

Addressing Iraqis specifically, Bush said, "We will not abandon you in your struggle to build a free nation."

{{{THEIR struggle...?!? But for the US's bungling illegal (war crimes) invasion and occupation done at your orders, Pretzilnitwit Big Brother, there wouldn't BE any "struggle" in Iraq...!!! WHY do US military troops need to be killed for the sake of someone else' civil war...? A civil war that would not have started if Saddam were still in power in Iraq...? Who, besides our Congress Critters, needs reminding that it was NOT the idea of anyone in Iraq to "build a free nation" there - that wacko idea (conceived after it was proved WMDs were never going to be found) was entirely a propaganda blitz instigated by the White House and the Pentagon... conveniently where so much oil is beneath the sands of Iraq, a location PNAC wants to control for the sake of the profits oil corporations could make if they control most of the world's oil reserves...??? Did ANY ordinary Iraqi citizens go before our Congress to beg to have the US invade their country, depose Saddam, and set up a puppet democracy....??? Hmmm...??? Anyone remember any ordinary Iraqi citizens begging to be rescued from Saddam...? Okay, I know he was a nasty man who killed his own people with weapons and biochemical WMDs the US supplied, but there were still no ordinary Iraqi citizens who went before our Congress Critters and begged to be 'rescued' and have a puppet democracy installed that would be run according to US dictates.... "Their struggle" - indeed.... the only "struggle" I see is their struggle and desire to see the backsides of the US military leaving their country so they can pick up the pieces of US destruction and rebuild their country - and hope they don't suffer horrible deaths and after-effects of depleted uranium from the bombs the US dropped....}}}

Bush said Iran "must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak to the body later Tuesday, but he was not at the country's table in the hall when Bush spoke.

Speaking to Iranians, Bush said their country's future has been clouded because "your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons."

{{{Er... 'scuse me...!!! Quite frankly, we have not heard one danged thing from ANY ordinary Iranian citizens complaining because they've been "denied liberty." Better ask the ordinary people of Iran their opinion before you start making empty threats, Bully-Boy Big Brother!!! Your imagination is working overtime!!! Don't forget, Lamestream Media only tells us your particular version of the fantasies in your head. We do not get to hear from real people in any other country first-hand - unless it's staged to square with your skewed perspective and propaganda written in advance (like with Iraq's Chalabi... remember?).}}}

Bush was speaking in the same room where four years and one week ago he made another plea for action in the Middle East. On that day, Bush said Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of deadly chemical and biological agents that the United Nations must confront.

He was wrong, but still forged ahead with war against Iraq without the support of many other nations. And he is still trying to rebuild credibility with the body, experts say.

{{{Bush continues to LIE, and he is wrong - AGAIN. He has NO credibility, even with the citizens of his own country who have an IQ above a rock; we KNOW he's been LYING every day of his residency. IF anyone believes one syllable that comes out of his LYING mouth, woe unto them...!}}}

Full text on link. I just couldn't resist deconstructing the idiocy of DimWit's words between certain paragraphs that struck me as LUDICROUS LIES and PITIFUL PROPAGANDA....

dwahzon:

Thanks for the clarification.

This example was given to me by the woman on the inside and was based on her real experience with her mother. Regardless of what HMOs do or do not do, this was THIS woman's experience, and may not always represent what some other HMOs do.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060919/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
Oil prices drop as supply threats ease
WASHINGTON - Oil prices fell Tuesday on the heels of a selloff in gasoline, as worries about supply threats eased and signs of economic weakness in the U.S. signaled a potential cooling of energy demand.

{{{Er.... huh? What about winter coming up and the increase in demand then...??? I guess we won't hear about that until after Nov. 7... will we...??? I'm assuming that within 24-48 hrs. after polls close on Nov. 7 we will experience a sharp increase in gas prices and heating oil prices for furnaces this coming winter.... Ooohhhh, shocker! All quiet for now with the dip in pump prices for the immediate moment. But, what the hey, eh? Americans have a short attention span and as long as pump prices stay down until after they vote, all's well in the corporate neoCon world....}}}

Thai army chief leads coup while prime minister away
POSTED: 2:49 p.m. EDT, September 19, 2006

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/19/thailand.coup.rumor/index.html

Senator compares Iran's president to Hitler
POSTED: 2:02 p.m. EDT, September 19, 2006
Adjust font size:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A senator compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler and made fun of his name on Tuesday during a congressional hearing on the U.S. strategy to end Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

"Ahmadinejad -- I call him Ahmad-in-a-head -- I think he's a Hitler type of person," Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/19/iran.usa.senator.reut/index.html

And these are the supposed grown ups that are running our country?

OMG - Voinovich?? I thought he knew better than that. Unbelievable. Smart people in OH would tuck that away for when he's running for re-election.

Here's something that may be useful to those involved in local activism in their communities -- with a hattip to kevin w at dailykos...

I've not read through the study itself but thought I'd put it out here as a resource. Here's his description of the guide.

The Graduate School of Political Management at the George Washington University recently released a report, funded by CIRCLE (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), called Young Voter Mobilization Tactics. The report outlines what methods work in turning out young voters, arguing that method is more important than message, with an emphasis on face-to-face contact.

http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/Young_Voters_Guide.pdf

Presented without comment:

The GOP's tortured logic

The Republicans who now agree with the president that the War Crimes Act is too vague said something very different 10 years ago.

By Mark Benjamin

Sep. 19, 2006 | As he announced at a press conference earlier this month, President Bush wants to change U.S. law in two different ways that he says will allow CIA officials to keep conducting interrogations that he claims have produced valuable intelligence in the "war on terror." He has asked Congress to pass legislation that would sidestep the part of the Geneva Conventions that prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity," and he also wants Congress to rewrite the 1996 War Crimes Act in such a way that the Geneva Conventions would no longer be enforceable.

Though Bush's proposal would indelibly alter America's reliance on an internationally recognized standard for conduct during war, the Republican majority in Congress rushed to support his position. House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., embraced Bush's plan and successfully pushed it through his committee last week. Hunter said that the Geneva Conventions, and in particular that prohibition on "outrages upon personal dignity," are too "vague" to be enforceable, and that the War Crimes Act therefore needs to be changed.

But back on March 29, 2003, in a radio address during the opening days of the war in Iraq, the president claimed that American forces, as opposed to the Iraqis, were committed to following the laws of war. "The contrast could not be greater between the honorable conduct of our liberating force and the criminal acts of the enemy," he intoned. And Republicans in Congress followed Bush's lead. Less than a week after the address, Duncan Hunter chaired a hearing in which he promised proudly that enemy prisoners would receive "humane treatment" even when the enemy violated the laws of war. "The United States, more than any other nation in history, conducts its military operations in strict compliance with the law of armed conflict," Hunter said. The enemy's vile actions, he vowed, "will in no way alter the way we treat Iraqi prisoners."

John Kerry was branded a flip-flopper for far less. But last week's GOP turnabout becomes all the more startling when you realize that some of the very Republicans who now say the War Crimes Act needs to be amended were among those who helped write it 10 years ago. Duncan Hunter, in fact, was one of the 15 Republicans in the House (there were also three Democrats) who co-sponsored the original legislation, and he also co-sponsored an expansion of the act, covering even more potential transgressions, that passed the very next year. Similarly, in the Senate, the man who shepherded the original bill through that body in 1996, Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, is now a co-sponsor of the bill that would gut it.

Back in 1996, a vote for the War Crimes Act, which passed both houses with overwhelming support, could have been considered a vote for the U.S. to follow the Geneva Conventions to the letter. When a House Judiciary Committee panel first considered the War Crimes Act in June 1996, John McNeil, then a senior deputy counsel at the Department of Defense, testified that the bill was "an opportunity for members of Congress to endorse the idea that the United States, as a political matter, should be seen as fully in conformity with its international obligations in this very sensitive area."

But at the time Republicans were really focused on making sure U.S. courts would be able to prosecute war crimes committed against American citizens, not by them. Inhofe took to the Senate floor that August to say the War Crimes Act would protect "our young troops" in the event "a crime is perpetrated against them."

It was unthinkable back then that it might be the United States that was systematically violating the Geneva Conventions. "There was never any hint or clue that this might be applied to us," stated Gary Solis, an expert on the law of war at Georgetown University. Elisa Massimino, Washington director of Human Rights First, explained, "No one ever questioned that the U.S. would comply with the full range of the Geneva Conventions obligations."

That is, no one doubted the U.S. would comply until early this month. Stung by the Supreme Court's recent Hamdan decision, President Bush announced he had been forced to halt a CIA program in which the Department of Justice secretly approved what the president called "tough" interrogation techniques against high-value terrorism suspects. CIA interrogators had reportedly subjected suspects to simulated drowning, prolonged isolation, slapping, sleep deprivation, reduced food intake and exposure to bright lights and loud sounds.

read the rest here...
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/19/duncan_hunter/print.html

Speakin' of being equal...if you're one of the 14% who don't agree with "Christians" you should sit down and shut up. (Or so my inlaws told Nolie in a forwarded email.)

Here's their email:

Subject: Write it on The Back of your Envelopes

WRITE IT ON THE BACK OF YOUR ENVELOPES

WE THINK THIS A GREAT IDEA. WE'LL START WRITING IT ON THE FRONT OF OUR ENVELOPES, TOO!

You may have heard in the news that a couple of Post Offices in

Texas have been forced to take down small posters that say "IN GOD WE TRUST,"
The law, they say, is being violated.

Anyway, we heard proposed on a radio station show, that we should all write "IN GOD WE TRUST" on the back of all our mail. After all, that's our National Motto, and it's on all the money we use to buy those stamps. We think it's a wonderful idea.

We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed.

If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT. The idea of writing or stamping "! IN GOD WE TRUST" on our envelopes sounds good to us. WE'RE HAVING A STAMP MADE TOO!

It's been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God.

Therefore, we have a very hard time understanding why there's such a mess about having "In God We Trust! "on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance.

Could it be that WE just need to take action and tell the 14% to "sit down and shut up"?

If you agree, pass this on, if not, delete

~~~ Here's her response...something tells me they'll take her off their email list after this!~~~

I find these incredibly offensive, as well as incredibly ignorant.

Maybe you forget that large pieces of my life are tied up in this 14% that you write off so hatefully. Family, friends, they are MORE than a number,and NO ONE deserves to be told to sit down and shut up.

Also, if you know ANY American history, you'd know that "In God We Trust" has only been our motto since the 50's-it was added to separate us from the "godless communists"... now THERE'S Jesus' message of love! Our founders tried to steer us exactly AWAY from just this. If you don't believe me, look up the Treaty of Tripoli. The evidence is all there if you open your eyes and hearts.

All of these hateful forwards scare me. Is this what has become of Jesus teaching us to love our neighbors, and not to judge?

And as for looking away from offensive material, you're quick to cry it hear when YOU are offended that you cannot preach God from our governments buildings and functions, but is this what you(collective) said when Janet
Jackson's wardrobe malfunctioned? Or when something that you didn't like came on the television? CERTAINLY not! Isn't it amazing how the rules change?

PLEASE stop sending me these. They are ignorant, and offensive, and against the principles that the Bible and Jesus were so outspoken about!

~~~~ And here's mine. Of course I copied and pasted to EVERYONE on that list including the very original senders of such vile trash!~~~

BEHOLD THE MAN: THE REAL JESUS

Many people are fascinated by the person of Jesus. Even when they find it impossible to accept Christian theology, they still feel that they can identify with Jesus the person and they can still find him and his ideology inspirational. They see him as someone who preached love and peace, and whose life embodied the greatest ideals.

When we look at Jesus in such idealized terms, many of the things done in his name seem blasphemous! How could people accept the extermination of the Jews and ethnic cleansing? How could the Crusaders have pillaged and destroyed entire com­munities in his name? How could the Inquisition have tor­tured people to death in the name of a man who taught that the foremost commandment was “love your neighbor as yourself”? How are such contradictions possible?

It is surprising to me that his followers did not live by Jesus' teachings or that we keep repeating the very worst part of history. We're living in a time when we are facing the reality of a commander in chief who promotes torture and begs us to accept it as the ethically and morally right way to behave. We live in a time when the American Christians are viewed world-wide as being the 'American Taliban' as they promote their own pillage, maiming, and murder upon innocent Iraqis (and other Mideast countries) and as they fire our bullets made with Depleted uranium into pregnant women, innocent children, and innocent men simply because of their race and religious beliefs. I never thought I'd live to see the day when WE (Americans) would be the ones perpetuating ethnic cleansing on other countries.

And after WWII and the Holocaust, I had hoped the the Christians and Jews and Muslims would come together and recognize the damage that their own hate speech causes. No! I will NOT hate Mexicans or build a wall and spread hate instead of love. No! I will not hate Arabs for the misdeeds of a select few.

So I will not write anything on the back of envelopes except "Love thy neighbor as thyself" or "Jesus is anti-war and anti-torture" or "God Loves all of us' or "War is NOT PRO-LIFE"!
But I will never write , "sit down and shut up" or "Piss on the (insert Bush's latest foe here' or "Torture is the RIGHT thing to do."

I agree with (nolie) here--hate mail has nothing to do with God, Religion, or politics.

Please, stop the hate speech and please lower the antagonism for other peoples' viewpoints. It's not healthy for anyone and it doesn't promote peace. I challenge you to rise above it and instead find something to share that brings peace and community to all of us instead of creating a cauldron of soaring anger....because something tells me that when God looks down at us and sees these vile acts of torture, the hate speech, the wars that he sheds a tear for each syllable uttered and each bullet spent.

Peace and Love,

(...)

**And an FYI: (Stolen from Dick! Thanks Dick!)
Depleted uranium is a waste product from the production of uranium for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. The material is the densest naturally occurring mineral, a property which makes it the best available material for penetrating armor. A depleted uranium shell fired into a tank cuts through the armor and explodes inside the tank, with the uranium vaporizing and bursting into flame. Untold numbers of American troops and Iraqi civilians are being exposed to the resulting radioactive dust. The U.S. claims that depleted uranium is not dangerous. There are numerous reports from Iraq that areas heavily contaminated with depleted uranium also have much higher levels of unusual birth defects. And many Iraqi veterans suffering from a variety of ailments suspect that depleted uranium is responsible for many of their symptoms.

Response to my email:

Delete my email from your list. We want NOTHING to do with you.

(yep...very Christian and loving.)

Posted by: cat'n sparrow at September 19, 2006 03:46 PM

Sounds like they are the kind of people who would line up to send their kids to 'Jesus Camp.' I saw a blurb about them on BBC news. Kids with camouflage painting on their faces, some in military garb, some with judo or karate poses with fake weapons (swords?) in their hands, some 'talking in tongues' - all decked out to "fight and die for Jesus." The leader of the camp said she likened the training to the schools who taught Islam, and was quite proud that the kids were indoctrinated in Christianity the same way. One little girl had tears streaming down her face with a tragic expression on it....

That blurb followed the story about the photographer who took candy away from kids and made them cry for her photos (which she later doctored digitally to make the faces look sadder).

I about cried for the children who were being brainwashed to hate and fear anyone who is "other" than they will be once the brainwashing is complete, wondering what kind of parents actually encourage and promote this kind of cruel brainwashing for their own children....

Posted by: NonnyO at September 19, 2006 04:32 PM

Throw It Away
by Joe Jackson

Wake up this mornin' and the paper's on the mat
Poor getting poorer and the rich are getting fat, again
Up in the towers all the bosses sitting sneezing
A half asleep and the rest all start to squeezing

Don't worry 'bout it baby, don't try to understand
You got your answer in your hand, throw it away
Throw it away, throw it away
Throw it away, throw it away

Wake up this morning there's a letter on the mat
Big brother wanna know where little brother's at, again
Life is a peace of paper, goes on forever
Sign on the dotted line or end up in the river drowned

Don't worry 'bout it baby
Don't try to understand
You got the answer in your hand
Throw it away

Posted by: monkey at September 19, 2006 04:47 PM

Actually, I keep wondering who's going to be housed in those brand new concentration camps (aka 'detention centers') that Halliburton is building on US soil....

The "influx of illegal immigrants" media blitz has died down... but that leaves empty prisons that won't make a profit unless someone is in them and someone else is hired (paid by US taxpayer dollars) to "guard" (torture) the "suspects" - just "suspects," mind you, not people who have actually committed any crimes....

Hmmmmm......

Eugene Robinson | Torture Is Torture
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091906C.shtml
Eugene Robinson writes: "I just can't get past this torture issue - the fact that George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, persists in demanding that Congress give him the right to torture anyone he considers a 'high-value' terrorist suspect. The president of the United States. Interrogation by torture. This just can't be happening."

Excerpt:

But we shouldn't have to talk about the practicalities of torture, because the real question is moral: What kind of nation are we? What kind of people are we?

Bush's view of the world is based on the idea of American exceptionalism: that this country is unique, that its ideas and values are not just worthy or admirable but superior to any others. This attitude annoys the rest of the world to no end - a lot of other countries think they're pretty special, too - but accept for the moment that the American system is in fact the best of all systems and that the great experiment begun by the Founding Fathers was a signal event in the history of mankind. Accept, if you will, Bush's view that the United States is steadfastly blessed by a loving God.

What do you imagine God might think about torture, Mr. President?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{{{KA-Zing-g-g-g-g-er!!! Like Robinson, I can't get past this torture issue, haven't really been able to get past it since I first heard about it happening at Abu Ghraib, and NOW, the fact that a "leader" of this country actually wants to make torture legal... just can't get it to process in my brain... an actual [appointed/rigged election] "leader" of THIS country wants to make torture legal...! Can't get over it...! My brain just can't process the IDEA that a "leader" of THIS country wants to legalize torture, and, even worse, that Congress Critters are actually seriously talking about doing so; these are people who were "elected" to represent "WE the people" - and I suspect even conservatives abhor the idea... but if so, where is the conservative hue and cry against legalizing torture which should have hit the airwaves less than 24 hours of us hearing about it (aside from a few well-known Congress Critters who oppose legalizing torture)? Where is the moral outrage by average citizens, whether Democrats or Republicans or Independents? If Congress caves on this, or "compromises" and caves on exempting the administration and anyone else who has condoned or committed torture from prosecution for war crimes, there is just no hope whatsoever for this country until those idiots are all out of office. There's a second longer article about a person who survived Gitmo on this same link.... I've sent this story in an email to practically everyone I know.}}}

Boxer Slams Suppression of Media Study
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091906E.shtml
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Monday ordered a formal investigation into why two agency reports on media ownership were never made public. Martin was responding to a request by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who earlier in the day made public a second FCC study that she says was shelved by agency officials.

"Hotel Minibar" Keys Open Diebold Voting Machines
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091906P.shtml
Report shows that Diebold voting machines are easy to tamper with. The access panel door on a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine - the door that protects the memory card that stores the votes, and is the main barrier to the injection of a virus - can be opened with a standard key that is widely available on the Internet.

Sarah Olson | Marching Against the Freedom Agenda
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091906K.shtml
Sarah Olson reports that United for Peace and Justice is marching past the United Nations today, in an anti-war demonstration timed to coincide with President Bush's address to the UN General Assembly. The national anti-war coalition announced: "Enough is enough. We are marching - marching to demand that the troops come home now and to assert our right to peaceful protest."

From Victim to Accused Army Deserter
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091906F.shtml
Suzanne Swift is bracing for a possible court-martial. Arrested in June for going AWOL, she detailed three alleged sexual offenses to Army officials, who began an investigation. One incident had already been verified and the perpetrator disciplined. But last Friday, the Army ruled that the two other incidents could not be substantiated. It will soon decide whether to take disciplinary action against Swift for her five-month absence, spokesman Joe Hitt said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20060919/cx_nq_uc/nq20060919
Tuesday
Non Sequitur

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091801353.html
McCain's Stand On Detainees May Pose Risk For 2008 Bid
Opposition to Bush Could Alienate Republican Base
Excerpt:
In a reprise of criticism showered on McCain during his 2000 campaign, some prominent conservatives are branding him a disloyal Republican and an unreliable conservative because of his assertiveness on the detainee issue.

The senator's actions "are blocking our ability to gain from terrorist captives the vital information we need," said a front-page editorial Saturday in the Union Leader of Manchester, N.H., the largest newspaper in the state with the first presidential primary. Conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh said Friday that opposition to Bush's approach "is going to go down as the event that will result in us getting hit again, and if we do, and if McCain, et al. , prevail, I can tell you where fingers are going to be pointed."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR2006091801154.html
Ex-Workers Testify About Halliburton
Responsibility Questioned at Hill Hearing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700516.html
Call Cruelty What It Is

Sitting at Camp Democracy, where a large group is listening to Jeff Cohen of FAIR and late of MSNBC, and Ray McGovern speaking about speaking truth. We are about to watch the new film, "Rush To War".

The palpable anger and deep concern about Iran, the voting, and the media lies and indifference.

Big round of applause for C-Span, taping this for future broadcast.

.... opposition to Bush's approach "is going to go down as the event that will result in us getting hit again, and if we do, and if McCain, et al. , prevail, I can tell you where fingers are going to be pointed."

Posted by: NonnyO at September 19, 2006 06:56 PM

Well, therein lies the rub, the no-lose scenario for Repukes everywhere. When they lose in November, and something terrible happens following that loss, the Dems will be villified forever, and this country will continue to come apart at the seams.

Once again, a terra-ist would hardly have to lift a finger to continue to destroy this country.

Speaking of which, I have a finger to point at the conservatives and all their blind followers.

What was that old parable about the blind men and the elephant again?

*koff koff*

And which finger would you be planning to use for that, sir?

The Fickle Finger of Fate
aka Tall Man

We just watched Olbermann from a few months back; where Ray McGovern took on Donald Rumsfield. It was so satisfying, but how many saw it? How many will see it?

"Rush to War" is beginning...I think I am feeling so deeply ill.

Posted by: Karen at September 19, 2006 09:00 PM

Sure, like Rush would ever go to war...

Chicken a la King

General says U.S. may increase troops in Iraq
Abizaid: Military likely to maintain force of 147,000 through spring 2007

Updated: 35 minutes ago

(AP)WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring, the top American commander in the region said Tuesday in one of the gloomiest assessments yet of when troops may come home.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said military leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed. Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become a widely unpopular war.

"If it's necessary to do that because the military situation on the ground requires that, we'll do it," Abizaid said of longer deployments. "If we have to call in more forces because it's our military judgment that we need more forces, we'll do it."

His comments came as violence around Iraq killed at least 16 civilians on Tuesday and wounded dozens of others. Iraqi lawmakers angered by the relentless violence demanded that the defense and interior ministers appear before parliament to explain what they are doing to eliminate the death squads that have claimed hundreds of Iraqi lives.

The U.S. military said a U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday by a suicide car bomber in northern Iraq, another died of non-battle related injuries on Monday and two others were killed Sunday.

Current levels called ‘prudent’
Abizaid said that right now the number of U.S. troops "are prudent force levels" that are achieving the needed military effect. Still, his blunt assessment was the first time officials confirmed that higher troop levels would continue into next year.

Abizaid, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace are expected to meet with members of Congress later this week.

President Bush, in New York for U.N. General Assembly meetings on Tuesday, told Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that the U.S. will keep soldiers in Iraq as long as necessary. "I've told the president of Iraq that America has given her word to help you, and we will keep our word. The people of Iraq must know that," Bush said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14912976/

Next comment in line:

"Tell you what, take me off your email list, as I do not wish to hear your clap-trap about how bad we American Christians are."

>>>>Boy...I guess the in laws might be mad at me now!

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping. "I'm empty and aching and I don't know why." Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all gone to look for America. All gone to look for America, all gone to look for America.

she said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy,
Otter

Posted by: monkey at September 19, 2006 09:34 PM

Not that Rushie McLimpDick who probably has little stones he hasn't seen under that fat belly of his has enough testosterone to do anything more than irritate our eardrums when his tongue flaps in the breeze - all puns intended - hard to say if he's taking Viagra because he's a little quick in the bush and wants more time to tickle his fancy, or if he needs Viagra to keep it at least as firm as a little sausage, or if... well, whatever. I'm not curious enough to care - except he got free publicity when someone else's Viagra prescription was found in his luggage, and I notice no one ever throws that or his pain pill addiction or prescription drug illegalities in his face, but the little twerp will criticize others for the very things of which he's quite guilty, as proved in a court of law.

Posted by: monkey at September 19, 2006 08:34 PM

On a more serious note, it's idiots like Rushie McLimpDick who will be blowing hot, fetid air until the day they die, senile and of old age quietly in their sleep about how "Clinton did it..." Evil like that tends to linger on and on and on, like skunk smell hanging in the air on a foggy night....

Quite true: no one has to lift a finger to destroy this country from within (with or without another "ter-ririst" attack, or another illegal war). The moral decay is well advanced as long as Congress Critters take legislation to legalize torture seriously and actually discuss it. If a majority of Congress Critters had any moral fiber, they would have laughed hysterically in Bu$hCo's faces and send the whole thing to the paper shredder. Observing the decline of this country is rather like the morbid fascination of watching time-lapsed photography of a decomposing dead body....

I still want out of this dadaist painting that's depicting the danse macabre.... Our Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves.

Posted by: monkey at September 19, 2006 09:50 PM

"May increas" the troop numbers, eh? How about some truth there... "Will increase" the troop numbers is more like it....

At least that horror bodes ill for the evil ones this fall who "support the war."

sparrow:

I should certainly hope so.

she's got a little list,
Otter

Cruel and Degrading Presidency
By Mike WhitBush’s ney
Washington is a moral swamp. When the chief executive can stand at the presidential podium and make an unabashed appeal for torture, then the American dream is dead.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15026.htm

Rogue Nation
Time to change the course of U.S. history
By Peter Stern
It is time for the American people to take back their nation from irresponsible and lackluster special interest-motivated elected officials. Impeaching top members of the Bush administration may be in order.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15028.htm

Speaking of inequities, exploitation, class distinctions & pecking order, here is a long sort of essay illustrated with photographs that I just did about Las Vegas.

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/

Good and interesting threads, homies. Thank you.

Don't get alot of time some days, but I still look forward to any time I can get to come here and read up!

Keep up the fight!

Our children and our country need us...

You guys are SO right on about the loss of the middle class, and the poor quality of health care in America.

Like I said, my parents had GREAT insurance, and had no problem getting treated wonderfully up until medicare became their primary insurance. Now their insurance won't pay for many things if medicare won't.

We met with a very nice nurse today who used to work for the hospital my parents have to use. Seems a treacherous fellow made a huge profit from "contracting" remodeling and building projects with that same hospital. By the time they found out the hospital was so deeply in the red they had to lay alot of hospital staff off, plus not admit people that would rack up a bill....therefore anything that medicare or insurance won't pay for doesn't get done. Period.

The same nurse said that it isn't just that hospital, it's the "SYSTEM". My dad said "Well, you can thank that darn old Bush for that."

Everybody is feeling it. And I don't even have insurance. I dread to see what it will be like in a few years.

SPARROW:

Good job! I have several loving Christians who won't talk to me because I tell them the truth. My new frame is: Be sure to vote opposite from me, and you won't have abortions. They will just wait until they are born to kill them.

Makes them think. (If they are capable of it.)

Oh, yeah, and then I say: "And you won't eat so good because you'll be buying medicine instead of food in a couple of years. And won't be able to get medical care......but abortions won't be legal!

September 20, 2006
Editorial
Rules for the Real World

The White House has been acting lately as though the struggle over the proper way to handle prisoners is a debate about how tough to get with Osama bin Laden if he’s ever actually caught. This week, we’ve had two powerful reminders of the real issue: when a government puts itself above the law, innocent people are put at risk.

On Monday, Canada issued a scathing report about the story of a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, who was abducted by American agents in late 2002 and turned over to Syrian authorities, who obligingly tortured him for 10 months until he signed a transparently false confession. The report said Mr. Arar never had any connection to terrorism. But the United States stonewalled Canada’s investigation, which concluded that the Americans misled Canada about their plans for Mr. Arar. Sending him to Syria, where he would certainly be tortured, was not just immoral and un-American, it was a violation of international law.

In Iraq, American authorities have been holding an Iraqi-born photographer for The Associated Press for five months without charging him with any crime. Military officials say they have evidence that Bilal Hussein has “strong ties” to insurgents, but refuse to show it to Mr. Hussein, his lawyers, The A.P. or even to the Iraqi courts. We don’t know the truth. But we know how to get at it: If the Americans have evidence against Mr. Hussein, they should present it. If he committed a crime, he should be charged. If not, he should be set free.

These two cases illustrate vividly why Congress needs to pass an effective law on the handling of prisoners that not only provides for legal military tribunals to try dangerous men like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is believed to have organized the 9/11 attacks, but also deals with the other men, perhaps hundreds, wrongly imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, and sets rules for the future.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/opinion/20wed1.html

The Daily Show has responded to Bob Novak's criticism of The Daily Show with a scorching indictment of Novak's professionalism and his public personality by host Jon Stewart.

On a recent broadcast of C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Novak described Jon Stewart as "a self-riotous comedian taking on airs of grandeur." Novak admits he's never seen the show.

Stewart seems to hold back nothing in severely mocking Bob Novak. Stewart looks into the camera, as if speaking directly to Bob Novak and says, "I know you have redeeming qualities. For example, when you're on television you let others shine. While you, generously, absorb all light and oxygen. When you leave an area it stops raining. And I know, in the past I referred to you as a 'douche bag'..."

Novak may not ever get to hear Stewart's commentary. "I've never seen that in my life," he insists, "and I'll go to my grave never having seen it."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_Daily_Show_rips_Robert_Novak_0919.html

Election season news...

Oil price pullback steepest in 15 years
Worries have eased about threats to supply; gas prices also lower

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 4 minutes ago

LONDON - Oil prices fell toward their lowest level in six months on Wednesday, extending the steepest plunge from a record high in 15 years, as traders waited for a fresh report on U.S. petroleum inventories.

The decline has come as worries have eased about supply threats and signs of economic weakness in the U.S. are being seen as a sign of that energy demand may cool. Gasoline prices have also been falling in the United States.

moreons...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

U.S. general: Attacks against GIs rising in Iraq
Increase follows call by al-Qaida in Iraq's leader to target American troops

Updated: 43 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Attacks against U.S. troops have increased following a call earlier this month from al-Qaida in Iraq’s leader to target American forces, the top U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.

Meantime, an Iraqi police headquarters in Baghdad was hit by a suicide truck bomb, killing at least seven people in a deadly 24-hour period that saw more than 45 killings throughout Iraq, authorities said.

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell also said that Iraqi and American troops were expecting violence to increase further during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week.

The attacks against U.S. troops were mostly carried out by suicide car bombers or roadside bombs. He added that the number of killings by death squads also had increased in the past week.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14920246/

p.s. No al-Qaeda terrorist haven in Iraq prior to U.S. invasion.

Something you should know about RE: midterm elections...From a Daily Kos diary (caps are part of the diary...sorry):

Critical Iraq report withheld to avoid "politicizing" Nov. 7th elections

Former [Representative] Lee Hamilton is co-chair of a committee along with Bush family consigliere James Baker called The Iraq Study Group. This so-called "bipartisan, independent" commission is charged with getting to the bottom of the problem with the U.S. war in Iraq and offering real solutions to the floundering Bush misadministration. It has already been at work for 6 months.

Lee Hamilton says that the next 3 months are CRITICAL for the survival of the new "unity" government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, BUT THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP WILL NOT RELEASE A REPORT BEFORE NOVEMBER 7TH U.S. MID-TERM ELECTIONS "TO AVOID POLITICIZING THEM".

IF THE NEXT 3 MONTHS ARE CRITICAL FOR IRAQ AS LEE HAMILTON ARGUES IN THE ARTICLE BELOW, IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR HAMILTON TO THEN TURN AROUND AND SAY THAT NO REPORT WILL BE RELEASED UNTIL AFTER THE NOV. 7TH U.S. MIDTERM ELECTIONS "TO AVOID POLITICIZING THE ELECTIONS." HALF OF THAT CRITICAL THREE MONTH PERIOD WILL BE WASTED BETWEEN SEPT 19TH AND NOV 7TH!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/20/6843/07038

One of the comments has this good link with more info:

You want to know what's coming from James Baker, and others, after the election? Read this: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/09/08/iraqs_reality_sinks_in.php

It is from a link on James Wolcott's blog. In the full article the author, Robert Dreyfuss, is basically making the case that the people in the know have already acknowledge privately and/or semi-publicly that the war is over and the U.S. lost. American people already know that Iraq stinks. Somehow those suspicions need to be fed the supporting set of facts as laid out in articles like this one.

Here is a summary paragraph but the entire article was almost more shocking to me.

What’s happening in Washington now is that the establishment political class—and that includes the military, moderate Republican and Democratic members of Congress, the jabbering pundits and op-ed writers, and the bulk of the thinktank denizens—are coming to grips with the stark fact that the war in Iraq is over. And that the United States has lost. It’s beginning to sink in, but it won’t be confronted directly by the political class until after the November elections. After that, all hell is going to break loose. If the Democrats win back Congress, it will happen faster—but even if the Republicans hang on, the gusting winds on Iraq now buffeting the White House will gather strength to become a full-fledged, Category 5 hurricane.

Posted by: madame defarge at September 20, 2006 10:20 AM

Gee, if I play Follow the Loser, I should be able to release my tax report to the IRS a few months after April 15th so as not to jeopardize the unity and survival of my bank account.

I Spy With My Little Lie, Something Yellow

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/united_nations
At U.N., Chavez calls Bush 'the devil'
UNITED NATIONS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the United States to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling President Bush "the devil." The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush's address Tuesday. "He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world."
~~~~~
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060920/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/un_venezuela_4
The leftist leader, who has joined Iran in opposing U.S. influence, accused Washington of "domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world."

"We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head," he said.

He also said the U.N. "doesn't work" in its current system and is "antidemocratic." He called for reform, saying the U.S. government's "immoral veto" had allowed recent Israeli bombings of Lebanon to continue unabated for more than a month.

"Venezuela once again proposes today that we reform the United Nations," he said. He drew tentative giggles at times from the audience, but also some applause when called U.S. "imperialism" a menace.

~ More on link. ~

From Peter Stern's article in the Baltimore Chronicle yesterday:

[snip]

The American people have been deceived. Here is a list of some of the ways:

* Starting a needless invasion and war with Iraq
* Sending our children on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were ill-conceived and absurdly planned with no victory in sight
* Cutting taxes for the rich, while spending more than $3 trillion on war costs
* Determining many U.S. policies and actions behind "closed doors"
* Providing false and/or misleading information and intelligence to the American people
* Eliminating urgently needed social programs for children and poorer citizens
* Doing little to prevent the diminishing quality of public education
* Permitting increased health care costs despite curbing "frivolous" medical lawsuits
* Permitting astronomical costs of fuel ---- gas, oil, electric
* Permitting increasing costs of tuition for higher education
* Outsourcing millions of American jobs and services without providing new opportunities for American workers
* Lying to the people of New Orleans and not providing needed emergency financing and services during the Katrina fiasco in a timely manner
* Selling off American public lands and ports for special interest gains
* Permitting only special interests to bid (or not even have to bid) on lucrative service contracts
* Permitting the "sale" of American government to the highest special-interest contributors
* Privatizing Medicare programs recklessly and irresponsibly for special-interest gains
* Pushing to privatize Social Security for special-interest gains
* Increasing voter fraud cases and countenancing lack of voting machine integrity (with these machines manufactured by special-interest campaign contributors)
* Cutting financing for public education during the past decade and diverting those tax dollars to other interests
* Promoting irrational and unneeded toll road plans to generate more profits for special interests
* Freezing gas taxes, which build and maintain roads, and/or diverting gas taxes to other special-interest needs
* Providing loose or no enforcement of immigration laws and policies
* Permitting illegal U.S. government spying and wiretapping on private citizens.

[snip]

Okay, then...

Given so damning a list of lies and often indictable offenses on the part of our allegedly elected officials, how can this charade continue?

How can a populace that was so unconsciously deceived by them remain so unconscionably deceived by themselves?

How can they-the-sheeple manage to keep on pulling the wool over their own eyes in the face of all that evidence?

Easy.

"La, la, la, la, la, fingers in me ears, I can't hear you..."

tell them lies tell them sweet little lies,
Otter

(And this one is for DiAnne and NonnyO: http://news.yahoo.com/comics/060916/cx_arlo_umedia/20061609 )

FoxFaith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1876612,00.html
Rupert Murdoch find God - at the Box Office

Posted by: Otter at September 20, 2006 01:52 PM

Dead On, Sir Fur Grrrrowl.

new thread up