Right now we are seeing the Bush Administration pass a ton of executive orders to finally help all the big supports he has had in his back pocket but couldn’t help for political reasons. Well now that he is less than a month away from being out of office Bush is taking the gloves off and repealing everything from endangered species acts to the clean water act. So other than this being awful it brings to mind why does the president have this much power? Executive orders sound a lot like laws and last time I checked congress had to make the laws. So I think we should do away with these little laws and channel this process to the right people. Sure it is going to take long to get things changed for good or bad, but that is how a democracy works, it’s slow but it is more fair.
STICKING OUT NECKS IS A FINE POLITICAL ART
It is serious business as one’s political career often hangs in the calculation. I can appreciate that, as I’m sure many Americans who know only too well what a precious gift that employment is.
Ordinary Americans have made compromise after compromise for the past 30 years and with each compromise we have lost not only one more crumb of the cookie that we call “The American Dream” , but we have also lost brick by brick much of the foundation of our Democracy–bricks of habeas corpus, equal pay for equal work, separation of the powers of our executive, legislative and judicial branches and many more bricks to our Democracy laid by our forefathers. Most of these egregious affronts to our government and way of life and respect for humanity have been committed over the past 8 years by the current administration.
I am an American and I don’t like the current compromise that Congress is trying to effect with an administration that should have been impeached over a year ago.
I do not want the Bush Administration or any of their representatives in charge of handling this financial crisis. That is where I draw my line–not in the sand, but in concrete. To give Paulson the power to manage this deal is like turning an insane asylum over to the inmates.
If that is the best that Congress can do, then let the cookie crumble for everyone as it has already crumbled for many Americans. Let the rich conservatives feel the pain of what they have done for a change. Let them bear the brunt of their failed economic neo-liberal politics with its cynical view of government, free market, de-regulation, privatization, etc. Let them try to defend the indefensible. Perhaps that is the only way they will learn a basic lesson about democracy: it cannot function without a good and responsible government that provides oversight and regulation. What is coming home today is the result of allowing rich conservative foxes to guard the hen houses of Democracy for almost 30 years.
Queen’s Comments
Source:
http://iflizwerequeen.com
Americans no longer (and rightly so) have any faith in this administration who have done nothing but lie to us time after time. So why are we putting them in charge of dispersing $700 billion dollars of our money?
I don't know about you, but I'm calling my Congress people today and telling them that I don't want Paulson in charge of this.
Floyd Norris wrote a great article that appeared in tne New York Times this morning titled: Treasury would Emerge with Vast New Powers. This article asked many questions that the Queen has been asking over the past week. Our financial markets are in a mess. We know that a great part of this mess has been caused by the control of our government by the conservatives for the past 30 years. It didn’t just begin with George Bush. This began with Ronald Reagan and the ongoing rage for deregulation that in addition to all Republicans, has also been supported by conservative Democrats as well for the past 30 years.
So, with this awareness in mind, why do we continue to allow a man such as Paulson to be the one who administers the funds that the American people have entrusted to our government? Do that make any sense? It does not to me.
Furthermore, Mr. Paulson is not exactly a disinterested bystander in all this. In four months he will go back to work for Goldman Sachs–a financial institution who is now an investment bank and stands to benefit from this $700 billion windfall from the taxpayers.
Read More »Introduced by NFL Hall of Famer and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, and Norma Margonari, a local activist who comes from a large family of coal miners, Biden opened his remarks by thanking Pittsburgh for pitching in to help his family. He choked up and somberly spoke about how after his wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident, Rocky Bleier, one of the Steelers, came to his sons’ hospital room to give them footballs to cheer them up, at the request of Dan Rooney’s dad.
Biden calmed fears when he said the Obama-Biden team would guarantee to keep Social Security intact. He answered questions on health care benefits and fixing the economy - but his most crowd-rousing comments were given about the Iraq War.
His statement, “Imagine a country where we only go to war when it is absolutely necessary” brought a big round of applause.
Biden continued, “and when we do….. we go with the support of the rest of the world.” More big applause. And then, ” Ladies and gentlemen, we will end this war.” Standing ovation.
Senator Biden’s got a personal interest in six-year long war, since his family learned their oldest son, Beau, currently Delaware’s Attorney General, and a captain in the National Guard, will be deployed to Iraq next month. But he’s been blasting the Bush Administration for several years for their lack of commitment to benefits for vets returning home, including making it extremely hard to be considered “eligible” for education and health benefits once their tours of duty are over.
Last year, the senator’s bill to provide funding for MRAPs, mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, paved the way for construction and distribution of these V-shaped hull tanks, directly leading to a dramatic drop in the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who were hit by roadside bombs. The bill was passed by a vote of 75-24. The one remaining vote was Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was absent in the Senate that day.
Pittsburgh has a higher than average number of residents in the U.S. military. Speaking to the veterans and their families in the crowd, Biden continued, “The only people sacrificing right now are those who have children or husbands or wives who are serving, and the families that are left behind. And we don’t mention it often enough, but we have thousands of people who have died. We have over 30,000 who have been wounded.”
He continued, “Ladies and gentlemen, we owe them. We owe them more than we can ever repay them.”
The senator stayed to answer questions (unlike his counterpart, Gov. Sarah Palin, so far…) and left to a standing ovation.
Please do yourself and your country a favor and call your elected DC officials first thing on Monday Morning! Life as you know it may depend on how the Wall Street Meltdown is handled.
Please call your elected officials in DC tomorrow morning and tell, don’t ask, them to put a Bipartisan group of Democratic PROGRESSIVES in charge of oversight of the handling of the $700 billion check that George Bush and Company are demanding that we had over to them with no requirements.
WHAT CAN THEY BE THINKING? The Bush administration and conservatives from both parties think that the American taxpayer should just write out a check for $700 billion, an amount that is almost equal to the total amount we have poured down the black hole of space called Iraq for the past 5 years? AND hand it over to George Bush and his minions?
IF WE THE PEOPLE DON’T STAND UP TO THEM ON THIS, THERE IS NO HOPE.What makes you think that this administration would be any more responsible with this $700 billion dollars than they have been with all the other billions that we have turned over to bail them out from their failed disasters?
DO YOU WANT MORE OF THE SAME?
OR CHANGE RIGHT NOW!
It’s up to you and whether or not you call AND email your elected officials first thing on Monday morning. Tell at least five other people.
How do we effectively say: I don’t THINK so! We must! Please write to your Congress people today regarding this issue. As things stand now, Paulson would be in charge of channeling and using these funds.
It has largely been this administration’s philosphy of deregulation and disregard for the American taxpayer that have created this huge mess and we are going to put THEM in charge of straightening it out? This is just another definition of insanity and/or the conservative Republican and Democrats good cop/bad cop games.
STOP THEM. Call/write your congress people now and tell them that members of the Bush Administration are not to be trusted with your money! NO MORE BLANK CHECKS FROM THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS FOR GEORGE BUSH AND HIS CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS.
Managing the financial correction of the mess that this administration and their deregulation policies have created must be put in the hands of a bipartisan group and not left up to the Bush Administration. They do not deserve the trust of the American people.
To put the enormity of this latest financial demand from the Bush Administration into its proper perspective: they are demanding a blank check for an amount close to all the money that we have spent thus far on the Iraq war. I say we provide the check on the condition that they resign now. I’ll take my chances for the remainder of Bush’s term with Nancy Pelosi.
On the same day as Sen. McCain told reporters in Orlando "our economy is fundamentally strong," Biden pushed the envelope, pushing that there was not an ounce of daylight between Pres. George Bush and Sen. John McCain, and summarized the state of the economy as "a record number of home foreclosures. Home values, tumbling. And the disturbing news that the crisis you've been facing on Main Street is now hitting Wall Street, taking down Lehman Brothers and threatening other financial institutions."
"I heard that a Republican County Chairman right here in Michigan said that they're keeping a list of foreclosed homes, suggesting that if you've lost your home, you should also lose your vote," Biden stated. "I have a different idea. I think that if you're worried about losing your home, you should vote for the guys who are going to help you keep it!"
The guilty party is Macomb County Chair James Carabelli who told reporters in a telephone interview this week the local party wanted to make sure "that proper electoral procedures were followed."
Michigan State election rules allow parties to assign "election challengers" to polls to monitor the election.These challengers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they "have a good reason to believe" that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a "true resident of the city or township." The county Republicans planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being "true residents."
Biden added, "We've seen eight straight months of job losses. Nearly 46 million Americans without health insurance. Average incomes down, while the price of everything -- from gas to groceries -- has skyrocketed. A military stretched thin from two wars and multiple deployments."
"A nation more polarized than I've ever seen in my career," remarked Biden, "and a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a seat at the table, and everybody else is on the menu."
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) revealed his economic plan on Tuesday, suggesting he'd simplify the tax code so that any employed American with a bank account can do their taxes in minutes if they take the standard deduction. "There's no reason the IRS can't send Americans pre-filled tax forms to verify," he said, "with no more worry, no more wasted time, no more extra expenses for a tax preparer."
The Obama-Biden economic plan can be viewed HERE in its entirety.
I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal and it has left me wondering: just how long does it take to build levees?
I quote from the Wall Street Journal:
"Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned state residents that coastal Louisiana, including low-lying New Orleans, could be under as much as 12 feet of water when Hurricane Gustav rumbles ashore on Monday, thanks in part to still inadequate levee systems.
That would mean, he said, "overtopping of levees" across much of southern Louisiana, leaving areas like Plaquemines, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes inundated by the Gulf of Mexico.
Making the situation worse, he said, is that the Army Corps of Engineers "is not nearly done with levee work that was supposed to have been done. Tremendous areas are not protected. We are still years away before they have 100-year flood protection done for New Orleans. The levees are not up to authorized heights."
"No one should assume these levees are back to where they need to be," Mr. Jindal said. At this point, he said, "they'll protect property, but not protect life."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122026058242587205.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Read More »This administration dissents an Iranian attempt to defend itself against the Israeli nuclear threat. Our government rewards Israel's hostile occupation of Palestine with MTHEL and high technology...
Foreign Policy
The second most insane thing that this administration has done is to set up conditions after "mission accomplished" that are designed to ensure a hostile petri dish for the establishment of a Democracy. First of all they fired the 400,000 soldiers in Saddam's army thus they created instantaneous unemployment. (What kind of work could these professional soldiers find?) Then the no-bid companies like Halliburton, instead of hiring local Iraqis for the jobs brought in "guest workers" (slaves) from Bangledesh to do the work at half the cost. As a result of such practices, today, five years later, most of the middle and professional class of Iraq have fled. Any one with two dinars to rub together is no longer in Iraq. Those remaining, except for the elite who live in the green zone, are by and large illiterate. One of the first prerequisites for a Democracy is a population that is literate. There is no foundation for democracy in Iraq. Whether by purpose or accident, the Bush administration has scattered it to the four corners of the Earth.
Here is what Raed, a native of Baghdad had to say on March 10, 2008:
". . . A U.S. withdrawal will not unleash a pending religious civil war. It will open up a space for political reconciliation to start,” said Raed.
During the 2005 Iraqi election, which the Bush administration hailed as a “watershed moment in the story of freedom” and a victory in the war on terror, the American people didn’t quite catch what was going on with all those voters’ purple fingers, said Raed.
The Iraqis voted for a majority of nationalists to be their legislative representatives. (They do not vote for their executive branch.) Their candidates, who won a majority, were against privatization of the oil industry, against partitioning Iraq into ethno-sectarian confederations and they wanted the U.S. to leave the country . . ."
More : http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/10/7588/
We murder their families and then offer them money in return.
Perpetuating fear for political gain has been the hallmark of the Bush Administration.
No administration has played the fear card with quite the skill as has the Bush Administration. But then look at all the assistance they had: Bush, Cheney,Rumsfeld, Coulter, Limbaugh, and a whole herd of religious fundamentalists. But make no mistake, the ones who have been their greatest assistants are the mainstream media GOP controlled pundits. In spite of their current denials, I hold them responsible for their irresponsible journalism.
Read More »
Veterans and the Bush Administration
http://www.vietnamveteransforbush.com/
Frustrated Veterans Accuse Bush of Breaking Promises
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1222-01.htm
Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301888
One in Three returning Vets suffer from Brain injuries, and mental health problems. and many are not getting care--it's a betrayal on an epic scale.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/82776/
Read More »The world of Pakistan politics can be venomous, savage and cruel. The death of Benazir Bhutto continues the brutal, poisonous trend in Pakistan’s malevolent political combat. Benazir Bhutto played this lethal game as well as anyone.
As the daughter of Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto grew up in a family of wealthy Pakistan landowners who were among the political elite. Her father’s reputation is one of arrogant tyrant who tortured political opponents, rigged elections and lived in a world of political corruption. He was executed on the orders of General Zia after a trial much like the trials Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had inflicted on his opponents. Two of Benazir Bhutto’s brothers were known as international terrorists involved in the hijacking of civil aircraft in the 1980’s.
When she was Prime Minister, Benzair Bhutto attempted to control the press and the judiciary just as President Musharraf does today. The death of Benazir Bhutto did not mark the end of her venomous attacks on her opposition; in fact, Benazir Bhutto carefully planned to reach out from the grave to stab at her opponent President Musharraf. Benazir Bhutto had sent an email to CNN prior to her death which was to be read after her death. In that email, and former interviews, she accused President Musharraf in advance of being responsible for her death. Benazir Bhutto’s book will also reach out from her grave with the power of a martyred author’s last words. Benazir Bhutto also left last instructions for her supporters and her party.
In a culture that prizes martyrdom, Benazir Bhutto not only used her role as a martyr well, but she also has played Pakistan’s ruthless political combat well. Many questions remain, not only about the circumstances of her death, but why the highly educated Condoleezza Rice supported sending Benasir Bhutto to her death. Surely the highly educated Condoleezza Rice and the ever-watchful CIA knew the dangers of Pakistan’s political environment better than this less-educated writer, yet Condoleezza Rice supported Benazir Bhutto’s return and her certain death. Given the history of the CIA, and given the Bush Administration’s failure to capture Osama bin Laden, one can not help but wonder if the return of Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan was a part of a greater CIA plot to remove President Musharraf because he had failed to provide enough assistance for the Bush Administration’s war on terrorism and because he had failed to bring forward democratic reform in Pakistan. Condoleezza Rice called Benazir Bhutto a “champion for democracy,” and also said, “The way to honor her memory is to continue the democratic process in Pakistan so that the democracy that she so hoped for can emerge.” Condoleezza Rice is clearly helping Benazir Bhutto reach out from the grave to stab at President Musharraf.
Written by Roxie Howard 12/29/07. Public domain.
NOTE: The source is the Islamic Republic of Iran's Press TV website: Former head of the CIA's clandestine service Jose Rodriguez claims he can take the White House down over a torture cover-up scandal. Rodriguez said he may testify before the House Intelligence Committee if he is granted immunity from prosecution, The Sunday Times reported. Intelligence sources believe Rodriguez is now quite determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the destruction of CIA videotapes showing the torture of terrorist suspects.
Why does this remind me of Oliver North and Iran-Contra? In the end, torture affects national security because it reflects on the core values of the nation.
George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan were responsible for our being convicted of being a state sponsor of terror by no less than the International Court of Justice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States
This was not "an attempt to overthrow a dictator" as is often purported (e.g. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2478 ) but a vicious campaign against an impoverished nation and fledgling democracy that had long suffered under a dynasty of corporate friendly American puppet dictators. A campaign that advocated targeting civilians and then disguising such actions as that of the democratically elected government of the Sandinistas.
Read More »Meeting the Iranian Challenge
Published: 12/03/2007
Senator Joe Biden
Iowa City Public Library
December 3, 2007
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
Today, I’d like to speak to you about Iran. I want to address two questions many of you are asking.
Is war with Iran inevitable?
And can we avoid the other stark alternative " an Iran armed with nuclear weapons?
The NIE
Earlier today, the intelligence community released what’s called a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear intentions and capabilities.
The conclusions are, figuratively speaking, explosive.
The Estimate found that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and, as of the middle of this year, had not restarted it.
Iran did resume work on uranium enrichment, which is the most likely method it would use to produce the fissile material for a bomb.
But at its current pace, the NIE concluded that Iran could produce that material no earlier than the end of 2009 " but that this is very unlikely. More likely is that Iran will be capable of making enough material for a bomb sometime between 2010 and 2015.
This means that the answers to the questions I posed are no, war is not inevitable and yes, we can prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. There is still time for diplomatic engagement and economic pressure to work. There is still time to protect our interests without using force.
Please read the rest. Read More »
"Of all the analyses and cheerleading I've seen on the presidential race, a column in the April 19 Des Moines Register by Richard Doak, a former editor there, made the fundamental point: 'Who will defend the Constitution? That should be the litmus test.' He continued: 'Most of the candidates, especially the leading Republicans, have failed to press any qualms about the claims of absolute executive power by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.' Read More »
Mon, 10/08/2007 - 10:08" newsdesk
Des Moines, IA (October 5, 2007): Yesterday, reports in the New York Times revealed that the Bush Administration authorized U.S. personnel to torture detainees and subject them to inhumane interrogation techniques. The authorization came in the form of secret Justice Department memoranda issued by new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2005, just months after the Department had publicly withdrawn a prior memo condoning torture, stating, "Torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international norms."
According to the Times, officials briefed on the secret memos regarded them as an “expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.” The memos, the officials said, for the “first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics.”
Sen. Biden issued the following statement:
Before these memos were drafted, the Administration publicly denied their use of torture and now it is clear to all that they were not telling the truth.
”These abhorrent policies have made us less safe in the world. The shirking of responsibility by this White House, from blaming Abu Ghraib on lower-level officers and firing others for their own incompetent Iraq policies, is a disturbing pattern of behavior that must come to an end.
”We need a change of direction in America. The American people need a White House they can be proud of here at home and one that commands respect abroad. As President, I will make that change my first priority.”
In July, Sen. Biden introduced the National Security with Justice Act to reform United States policies on the apprehension, detention, treatment and transfer of suspected terrorists. The legislation, among other things, unambiguously prohibits any United States personnel, including members of our intelligence services, from torturing and mistreating detainees. Specifically, Senator Biden’s bill closes this loophole by prohibiting all officers and agents of the United States from using techniques of interrogation not authorized by the United States Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation.
The legislation also closes black sites and extra-judicial prisons, prohibits extraordinary renditions, prohibits the torture and mistreatment of detainees in U.S. custody, modifies the definition of “unlawful enemy combatant,” and extends habeas corpus to detainees.
Source: Joe Biden campaign
Source website at: Link
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