7/7/07

More Bush McLiebercainman Success

Via Tparty at MLN:

Two weeks ago, on June 25th, U.S. Army Pfc. Andre Craig Jr. of New Haven was killed in Baghdad as the Humvee he was riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device, leaving behind a wife and a six-month old daughter who he had met for the first - and last - time just this past May.


The funeral was yesterday. And Sen. Lieberman, he who "grieves for every casualty of this war" so much that he is doing everything in his power to keep our soldiers in harm's way, wasn't there:


Among those not in attendance was U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman. He sent a representative in his place. That angered some of the mourners like the Rev. Anthony Brown Sr., as well as the curious who gathered in the small park across the street just in front of Dwight Elementary School.


"Sen. Lieberman voted for the war. But he wasn't here to pay his respects to a young man who lost his life," Brown said. "Lieberman should be ashamed of himself. But that's what politicians do. They send someone else to do the job. They send someone else's kids to die for their wars."



While he who "grieves for every casualty of this war" more than anyone else didn't have time to pay his respects to a fallen soldier from his own state yesterday, Sen. Lieberman did somehow find the time to do a radio interview on WNPR, and have an insane warmongering op-ed placed in the Wall Street Journal calling for even more of our troops to have their lives endangered by invading Iran.



Yes, all of Connecticut can be really proud of repulsed by neocon junior's recent behavior. Meanwhile, in Iraq:
Contra Lieberman:



Suicide bombings across Iraq killed nearly 150 and injured scores, including a massive truck assault in a northern Shiite village that ripped through a crowded market, officials said Saturday.



The violence came as the U.S. military on Saturday reported the deaths of eight American soldiers over the past two days, all killed in combat or by roadside bombs in Baghdad and the western province of Anbar. A British soldier was reported killed in fighting in southern Iraq.



The worst carnage unfolded in the Shiite Turkoman village of Amarly, 50 miles south of Kirkuk, when a suicide bomber rammed a truck laden with explosives into the central market, which is near a police station, officials said. The attack killed at least 115 people and wounded at least 210, according to district and hospital officials, adding that they expected the death toll to rise.



If this happened anywhere in America it would be used to justify a nuclear war against Iran. Bet on it. But it didn't happen in America and this wasn't a stupid BBQ tank car bomb that didn't go off.


Had enough of this CATASTROPHIC SUCCESS yet?
Here is another report on the catastrophic success in Iraq from retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez:
Calling the situation there bleak, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez also said America has been in the grips of a leadership crisis since 9-11, and that only a sweeping re-examination of Iraq and a renewed, long-term commitment there that includes a large U.S. troop presence will turn the tide of the conflict.

"I think if we do the right things politically and economically with the right Iraqi leadership we could still salvage at least a stalemate, if you will — not a stalemate but at least stave off defeat," Sanchez told the San Antonio Express-News. "It's also kind of important for us to answer the question, 'What is victory?', and at this point I'm not sure America really knows what victory is."

snip

"I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time and we've got to do whatever we can to help the next generation of leaders do better than we have done over the past five years," Sanchez said, "better than what this cohort of political and military leaders have done."

Again... For those of you that might not understand the picture of the Iraq situation and American leadership that Sanchez is painting for you:

7/6/07

Compare These Political Rally Plans

Via BSAlert and the ACLU:
The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit against a former high-level White House staffer for enacting a policy that unlawfully excluded individuals perceived to be critical of the administration from public events where President Bush was present. The policy is laid out in an October 2002 "Presidential Advance Manual" obtained by the ACLU.

"The White House has gone too far in its attempt to make dissent invisible," said Chris Hansen, a senior ACLU attorney who is lead counsel in this case. "When taxpayers foot the bill for a public event, the president does not have the right to use a partisan litmus test to stack the audience with his political supporters."

The ACLU filed today's lawsuit after obtaining a heavily redacted version of the Presidential Advance Manual from the Justice Department. This manual is the Bush administration's guide for planning presidential events around the country, and it repeatedly instructs organizers about "the best method for preventing demonstrators," "deterring potential protestors from attending events," "designat[ing] a protest area . . . preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route," and the like.

The ACLU said it is clear from the manual that the aim of the White House policy is to keep people who are critical of the president away from him and from the news media. According to the manual, "if it is determined that the media will not see or hear" demonstrators, then event staff can ignore them. The manual's guidelines are designed for use at all presidential events, not just fundraisers or political rallies. However, the ACLU noted that there are stricter constitutional guidelines for taxpayer-funded events than for privately- or politically-funded events.
(H/T to Buzzflash)

Via Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars:

Okay, this is really creeping me out…anyone else see some disturbing parallels?

It’s official. To be patriotic in Russia is to be a fan of Putin, specifically a Putin Youth. During the celebration on June 12th of Independence Day (Russia from the Soviet Union in 1990), “the only groups allowed onto Red Square were the youth group Nashi” - which means “ours” - “the Young Guard and Young Russia,” according to Sergei, a Nashi supporter.

Tickets were carefully dispensed only to the faithful near the Krasny Ploshad Metro from a truck, I finally discovered after questioning a dozen reluctant people holding the tickets.

The 120,000-odd Putin Youth members are perhaps the most creepy demonstration of Putin’s “Back to the Future” cult of personality - youth groups created, supported, and used by the Kremlin to harass, bully and intimidate opponents and critics.

“The idea was to create an ideology based on a total devotion to the president and his course,” says a Kremlin adviser, Sergei Markov. Obsessed by the color revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia, the Kremlin decided to create their own loyal youth brigades.

The article goes into details that are just bone-chilling.

Just a whole hell of a lot beyond creepy, huh?


Picture via POAC


Minor update: Welcome to Crooks and Liars readers and thank you to Simbaud, they are one of the best national Blogs on the net IMHO, and most of their readers, like myself, seem to be pretty rabid fans of what they do everyday!

One Review of Sicko


And it is worth the view:



This is definately a message that we are going to have to get out there because the powers that be are against us:

The other day I posted on Google getting caught doing evil:

Connecticut's own Politics in the Zeros Blog catches Google going against their "Don't be evil." motto:

They say this right on their Health Care blog in a post with the cutesy title, “Does negative press make you Sicko?“. Google is pitching that the health care industry buy ads from them whenever someone searches for “Sicko” or “Michael Moore, ” ads which will counter the message of Sicko.

Just so there’s no misunderstanding about which side Google is on

Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.

So all you health care advertisers, go spend your money at Google, combating the evil Michael Moore. We’ll have no criticizing of American health care.

This reminds of radical organizer Saul Alinsky’s dictum. “Pick a target and freeze it. The rats will crawl out to defend them, then you’ll know who your real enemy is.”


I wonder how well this diary (and Politics in the Zeros') will fare on a Google search for Sicko now? Google must hate the fact that they can't slip in any of their anti-citizen corporate addys here. heh

There is also an UPDATE over there worthy of all things bushy in the media these days...

Today an update from Boing Boing (Via Crooks and Liars) on just how low they will go in their "anti-citizen corporate addys":

Mike sez, "I thought you might want to know that Google doesn't even allow individuals to purchase ads critical of large companies. In May 2004, I set up a website to criticize the large medical-testing firm Covance. I bought -- and was willing to pay, out of my own pocket -- a Google AdWord so people searching for Covance would find my site. After a few days, Google told me that their 'policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'language that advocates against an individual, group, or organization'.' So, apparently HMOs criticizing Michael Moore is okay, but random-guy-with-a-website criticizing a large corporation is not okay. 'Democratic,' indeed. (The full text of Google's email to me is here).

It is pretty clear when Google says "Don't be evil." they mean towards their corporate friends and not the American citizen. If you haven't figured it out already, Corporate America will do anything they can to stop Single Payer Universal Healthcare, and they have no problems working together to discredit Michael Moore and his movie Sicko even though it is only telling you the truth about the failures of the Privatized American Healthcare system. If Google truly believed in its "Don't be evil." statement they would be running addys like this for free:

'What can I do?' - SiCKO

And this one as well:



If you haven't seen Sicko yet... Go Now! And make sure to take some of your friends. It is the must see movie of the year. And if you need to know about a healthcare plan that can fix many of the problems with our privatized ripoff:

The United States National Health Insurance Act

H.R. 676


"Expanded & Improved Medicare For All"

*introduced by Reps. John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott and Donna Christensen


"National health insurance is not only the best answer,

it is the only answer to eliminating health disparities.
"



If you live in CT-05 you may want to know that Rep. Chris Murphy has yet to sign up as a co-sponsor to this bill. Ya think it is time to remind him how important H.R. 676 is to all Americans?

Rep. Chris Murphy's contact info

Chris Murphy
(202) 225-4476,
1 Grove Street, New Britain CT 06053

General Odom: Withdraw, Cut Funding, Impeach

That is the short version of what he was saying in the title there considering what steps may be needed to force bush to end the war. For the longer version there is this via AmericaBlog:
General Odom was the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) under Reagan (think "Minority Report," and you have the NSA). They're the super-duper secret spy agency that's way more top secret than even the CIA. This guy's credentials are beyond stellar. Here is an excerpt of his recent essay:

To force him to begin a withdrawal before then, the first step should be to rally the public by providing an honest and candid definition of what “supporting the troops” really means and pointing out who is and who is not supporting our troops at war. The next step should be a flat refusal to appropriate money for to be used in Iraq for anything but withdrawal operations with a clear deadline for completion.

The final step should be to put that president on notice that if ignores this legislative action and tries to extort Congress into providing funds by keeping U.S. forces in peril, impeachment proceeding will proceed in the House of Representatives. Such presidential behavior surely would constitute the “high crime” of squandering the lives of soldiers and Marines for his own personal interest.

Well? Time for step two... But I am willing to go straight for step 3 given that bush is already soooo guilty.

7/5/07

Another Left Coast Republican Scandal

How about that Rep. Ken Calvert (R-California) movin' on up in the political world last month?

Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), for example, was forced off the Appropriations Committee in April after the FBI raided his home in Oakton, searching for records of his wife's business because she worked for now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists while her husband performed legislative favors for their clients.

In selecting Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) navigated a political minefield of ethical concerns and internal politics, as the 19 California Republicans lobbied on Calvert's behalf to keep the seat in the delegation's hands. Boehner, in a statement on the decision, tacitly acknowledged questions about Calvert's land deals and spending he has secured for projects near those properties.

"Congressman Calvert answered every question asked of him," Boehner said of the "candid" closed-door session of the GOP's steering committee.

snip

Calvert's rise had a beneficial domino effect for another lawmaker under scrutiny over Abramoff ties. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), who has been contacted by the Justice Department over his 2003 golf junket to Scotland with Abramoff, took over as ranking minority member of the Science and Technology subcommittee on space from Calvert, who was forced to give up all assignments to assume the coveted Appropriations spot.

Not a bad gig for a guy that even conservative Bloggers were against getting the promotion. Why were thy worried about it? Well, because of Calvert's penchant towards making shady land deals:
Boehner, meanwhile, faced criticism even in the conservative blogosphere for his decision last month to name Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) to replace Doolittle on the powerful Appropriations panel. Doolittle stepped down from the panel after the FBI searched his house in its investigation into ties he and his wife had with Abramoff. Calvert has faced scrutiny over land deals and their proximity to earmarks, and several GOP lawmakers openly opposed his selection to the committee.

HMMM. Not even a month has passed since Calvert's promotion and already he is in more trouble:
A California city government agency broke the law when it sold a four-acre parcel of land to a group of investors which included Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., an investigative grand jury has concluded.

Calvert and his partners planned to build a mini-storage facility on the property. The land could have served as the only community park in a predominately Hispanic, lower-income neighborhood, according to a former local recreation official.
And who would've figured it involved a shady land deal? And at the expense of a park for some poor minority kids to play in as well. Well, CREW might have been able to point out the obvious... Calvert was already named to their list of the 20 most corrupt politicians in DC before his promotion:

The Jurupa Community Services District, the entity that oversees many governmental services for the unincorporated sections of Riverside County, California, arranged a land deal with a partnership including Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA). Rep. Calvert was named by CREW as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress, in part, because he used his position to earmark funds to increase the value of his own property. In other words, the earmarks benefited Calvert's own land deals. One of those land deals we questioned was with the Jurupa Community Services District. CREW raised the concern that Calvert received "preferential treatment" in that $1.2 million deal.

Now, a grand jury has determined that the deal with the District violated California law:


The Jurupa Community Services District violated state law when it sold 4 acres of public land to Rep. Ken Calvert and his investment partners without first offering it to other public agencies -- including the local park district that wanted it, the Riverside County grand jury concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The grand jury recommends that the water and sewer agency turn over the $1.2 million it pocketed from the sale, minus costs, to the Jurupa Area Recreation and Park District.

Yep... Go figure? Think Boehner will have any better luck on his next round of promotions? I doubt it. Finding a republican that isn't corrupt is hard work these days. And republicans aren't about hard work, only easy money for them. And YOU, unfortunately, are their mark.

Keep in mind that Calvert investigations were just offshoots from the Cunningham scandal:
DoJ wants information stretching back to 1997, and requests that broad could lead them to knock on many new doors. Independent reports have already confirmed that as offshoots of the Cunningham probe, the DoJ is looking into Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Katherine Harris (R-FL), and possibly others, as well as former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) -- and, of course, Cunningham himself.
Anyone else think there may be some more skeletons in this guy's closet?

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Another bush Power Grab

Another day, another demand from the Dictator in Chief (DiC) included in the newest cry from the wah-baby Bush's executive order:

_Requires agencies to identify "market failures," where the private sector fell short in dealing with a problem, as a factor in proposing a rule. The White House regulatory affairs office is given authority to assess those conclusions.

_States that no rulemaking can go forward without the approval of an agency's Regulatory Policy Office, to be headed by a presidential appointee.

_Directs each agency to provide an estimate of costs and benefits of regulations.

_Requires agencies to inform the White House regulatory affairs office of proposed significant guidance documents on complying with rules. Critics say this will create a new bottleneck delaying the issuance of guidelines needed to comply with federal regulations.

"This can only further delay implementing health, safety and environmental protections," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a private watchdog group that joined numerous labor and good-government groups, including the AFL-CIO, Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists, in opposing Bush's order.

Sit back and think real hard about the ramifications of such a policy, effectively taking away all rights of Congress to create the law and putting it in the hands of presidential appointees to rewrite as they see fit.

Colin McEnroe was 100% correct. These are the actions of a tyrant, a dictator, A despot.

July 4th is a good day to start calling it what it is -- "absolute Despotism." When you use "signing statements" to gut the meaning of new laws, you're a tyrant. When you hold people in prisons without even telling them what they're charged with, you're a tyrant. When you appove the use of torture by agents of the government, you're a tyrant. When you use your armies to attack another nation that has not attacked you, you're a despot. When you mislead your people about the reasons for a war, you're a despot. When you ignore a law you find inconvenient, you're a dictator. When you send your henchmen out to destroy your legitimate critics, you're a dictator. When you overturn the work of a rightful judge and jury to protect one of those henchmen, you're a tyrant.

Let's use the right words from now on. George W. Bush is not a knave or a fool or a bully. He is a tyrant, a dictator, a despot. He has ruled as a king on the soil of a democracy. His instincts are those of a cruel and perfidious monarch.


We now have a DiC that refuses to listen to the American people.

And I mean that literally:

Jane Hamsher:

The dirty unwashed masses who populate our juries are fit to judge each other, but evidently not the ruling class. David Broder can breathe a sigh of relief that People Like Him are safe from those overly zealous US Attorneys who might want to hold them accountable to the same absurd standards that the little people must live by. How quaint.

The White House has turned off their phone lines. Evidently they don’t want to hear what you think. There will still be phones tomorrow, and I don’t imagine anyone who cared enough to drop Dubya a line is going to forget.

They have literally shut down the phone lines and refuse to listen to American citizens that are mad as fuck. (h/t Crooks and Liars) Mad as fuck because bush has pardoned his own assistant in the outing of not just one CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson, but an entire network of covert CIA operatives that were tasked with the most important issue of our time, Counter-Nuclear Proliferation duties while under the most dangerous classification of non-official cover and working for the CIA fronted Brewster Jennings and Associates:

And so the cover up of a conspiracy of treason in the White House begins, as bush takes away Fitzgerald's lever to get at the truth:

President George W. Bush commuted Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence in the CIA leak case, sparing him from punishment the president called ``excessive.''

Bush acted after a U.S. appellate court today refused to let Libby, 56, stay out of prison during his appeal. Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators probing the 2003 leak of CIA official Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's backers had argued for a pardon.

``My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby,'' Bush said in a statement. ``The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long- lasting.''

The only thing worse than the traitors that gave up Valerie Plame Wilson, Brewster Jennings and all of the CIA assets associated with their cover for the anti-nuclear proliferation duties they were in charge of in order to protect the USA?

Finding out that your President is willing to aid and abet the cover up these guilty traitors.

What was bush so afraid of that he yanked this lever to get Libby to testify truthfully out of Fitzgerald's hands?

bush is afraid of the TRUTH. Because the truth would have exposed a conspiracy to illegally out CIA agents. One that bush is now confirming he was part of.


Traitors. This ain't about a blow job. This is about treason against the USA at a time of war.

EVERY FUCKING SINGLE ONE OF THEM IN THE WHITE HOUSE ARE TRAITORS.

Via HuffPo:
The Libby Pardon: Dancing Around the Central Issue

The Huffington Post - The ONLY reason to send Libby to jail during his appeal is to pressure him to sing, and the ONLY incentive to pardon him if he is forced to go to jail is to buy his silence. For all those who say Libby's misstatements were the product of pressure and faulty memory, note this and note it well: Libby's lies were not random, as they would have been if he had just "misremembered". They were all carefully designed to obstruct the investigation from reaching the vice president.

(H/T to Oui at BooTrib)

I think bushies action speak to his own treasonous involvement as well.

I said the pardon clock was ticking... It only took a couple of hours for bush to admit his guilt. bush has obstructed any further investigations into these treasonous actions with his Commuting of his assistant's sentence.

Via TPM Muckraker... Joe Wilson on bush commuting the traitor's sentence:

"From my viewpoint, the president has stepped in to short circuit the rule of law and the system of justice in our country. In so doing, he has acknowledged Mr. Libby's guilt for, among other things, obstruction of justice, which by definition is covering up for somebody in a crime. By commuting his sentence, he has brought himself and his office into reasonable suspicion of participation in an obstruction of justice. The commutation of (Libby's) sentence in and of itself is participation in obstruction of justice."

Asked if he expected Bush to pardon or commute Libby's sentence, Wilson replied, "I have never known what to expect. The administration is now trying call this compromise. At end of day, it's allowing a neoconservative cult to engage in special pleading. …

We have had it with their illegal actions, their criminal intent to subvert the Constitution at every turn. If you are unclear on how bad it is in the eyes of the American citizen MSNBC had a Bush Impeachment Poll up at the end of May:

Live Vote
Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment? * 460598 responses
Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial.
88%
No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors."
4.3%
No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching.
5.8%
I don't know.
1.9%
Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.
It is long past time for Congress to take action and carry through on the will of the people. This is no longer a time for petty bipartisan bickering, the kind encouraged everyday by the hyper-partisan Joe Neocon the Warmonger Lieberman, this is a time for action in the interests of carrying through on Congress' oaths to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and protecting the rights and the will of the citizens against a tyrant, a dictator, a despot.

I defy anyone to take a good hard look at this document and not find equally numerous egregious actions, and many that surpass the actions of King George in criminality and despotism, taken by the current criminal and traitorous bush administration.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Once again it falls on a few real Patriots to begin the actions needed to remedy this intolerable situation of tyranny, abusive dictatorial actions, and despotism.

The one and only question that remains to be answered:

Are there any real Patriots in today's Congress?

7/3/07

Telcoms Still Out to Steal OUR NET!

Via The Crone Speaks, the FTC is about to kick us to the curb:

I don’t know how I missed this yesterday, but thankfully Kevin didn’t.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided to abandon net neutrality and allow telecoms companies to charge websites for access.

The FTC said in a report that, despite popular support for net neutrality, it was minded to let the market sort out the issue.

This means that the organisation will not stand in the way of companies using differential pricing to make sure that some websites can be viewed more quickly than others. The report also counsels against net neutrality legislation.

“This report recommends that policy makers proceed with caution in the evolving dynamic industry of broadband internet access, which is generally moving towards more, not less, competition,” FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras wrote.

Who the fuck are these people to tell congress not to enact legislation to do they job they were supposed to do?


They are the same fuckers that we have to beat back off of our internet day after day, month after month, and year after year. They will do everything they can to stifle our free speech. They are as UN-American as you can get. They are corporatist bastards that live to steal things from US citizens and give them to the HUGE CORPs that get fat on what should belong to all us.



Via Save the Internet:

You can help make the internet faster, more open and accessible to all. Tell Congress to preserve Net Neutrality and help ensure that the benefits and promise of the Internet are available to all Americans.

Tell your story to the FCC

Sign the petition and send a message to Congress

Call your members of Congress

Write a letter to your hometown newspaper

Support the SavetheInternet.com Ad Fund

Promote SavetheInternet on your blog or site

Tell five friends to join the fight for Internet freedom

Take action today!



Every Blogger in the nation will not be safe until this constant effort to steal our internet is stopped. This has to do with the BIG Corporations trying to stifle every thing we have built in the Blogosphere, even here in our little Connecticut Blogosphere. But this is bigger than just Blogging. It is the biggest FREE SPEECH issue facing us today.

KO Special Comment Tonight BUSH RESIGN!


You want some Must See TV?




A preview of Keith Olbermann's Special Comment via The Newshole:

Our generation's willingness to state "we didn't vote for him, but he's our president, and we hope he does a good job," was tested in the crucible of history, and earlier than most.

And in circumstances more tragic and threatening.

And we did.... that with which history tasked us.

We enveloped our President in 2001.

And those who did not believe he should have been elected -- indeed those who did not believe he had been elected -- willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.

And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point...and stabbed this nation in the back with it.

Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.

Did so even before the appeals process was complete…

Did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice…

Did so despite what James Madison -- at the Constitutional Convention -- said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes "advised by" that president…

Did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder:

To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish -- the President will keep you out of prison?

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental com-pact between yourself and the majority of this nation's citizens -- the ones who did not cast votes for you.

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States.

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President… of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party.

And this is too important a time, Sir, to have a commander-in-chief who puts party over nation.

Tuning in tonight, for sure!

Google Caught Doing More Evil

Yesterday I posted on Google getting caught doing evil:

Connecticut's own Politics in the Zeros Blog catches Google going against their "Don't be evil." motto:

They say this right on their Health Care blog in a post with the cutesy title, “Does negative press make you Sicko?“. Google is pitching that the health care industry buy ads from them whenever someone searches for “Sicko” or “Michael Moore, ” ads which will counter the message of Sicko.

Just so there’s no misunderstanding about which side Google is on

Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.

So all you health care advertisers, go spend your money at Google, combating the evil Michael Moore. We’ll have no criticizing of American health care.

This reminds of radical organizer Saul Alinsky’s dictum. “Pick a target and freeze it. The rats will crawl out to defend them, then you’ll know who your real enemy is.”


I wonder how well this diary (and Politics in the Zeros') will fare on a Google search for Sicko now? Google must hate the fact that they can't slip in any of their anti-citizen corporate addys here. heh

There is also an UPDATE over there worthy of all things bushy in the media these days...

Today an update from Boing Boing (Via Crooks and Liars) on just how low they will go in their "anti-citizen corporate addys":

Mike sez, "I thought you might want to know that Google doesn't even allow individuals to purchase ads critical of large companies. In May 2004, I set up a website to criticize the large medical-testing firm Covance. I bought -- and was willing to pay, out of my own pocket -- a Google AdWord so people searching for Covance would find my site. After a few days, Google told me that their 'policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'language that advocates against an individual, group, or organization'.' So, apparently HMOs criticizing Michael Moore is okay, but random-guy-with-a-website criticizing a large corporation is not okay. 'Democratic,' indeed. (The full text of Google's email to me is here).

It is pretty clear when Google says "Don't be evil." they mean towards their corporate friends and not the American citizen. If you haven't figured it out already, Corporate America will do anything they can to stop Single Payer Universal Healthcare, and they have no problems working together to discredit Michael Moore and his movie Sicko even though it is only telling you the truth about the failures of the Privatized American Healthcare system. If Google truly believed in its "Don't be evil." statement they would be running addys like this for free:

'What can I do?' - SiCKO

And this one as well:



If you haven't seen Sicko yet... Go Now! And make sure to take some of your friends. It is the must see movie of the year. And if you need to know about a healthcare plan that can fix many of the problems with our privatized ripoff:

The United States National Health Insurance Act

H.R. 676


"Expanded & Improved Medicare For All"

*introduced by Reps. John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott and Donna Christensen


"National health insurance is not only the best answer,

it is the only answer to eliminating health disparities.
"



If you live in CT-05 you may want to know that Rep. Chris Murphy has yet to sign up as a co-sponsor to this bill. Ya think it is time to remind him how important H.R. 676 is to all Americans?

Rep. Chris Murphy's contact info

Chris Murphy
(202) 225-4476,
1 Grove Street, New Britain CT 06053

7/2/07

White House Refuses to Listen to America

And I mean that literally:

Jane Hamsher:

The dirty unwashed masses who populate our juries are fit to judge each other, but evidently not the ruling class. David Broder can breathe a sigh of relief that People Like Him are safe from those overly zealous US Attorneys who might want to hold them accountable to the same absurd standards that the little people must live by. How quaint.

The White House has turned off their phone lines. Evidently they don’t want to hear what you think. There will still be phones tomorrow, and I don’t imagine anyone who cared enough to drop Dubya a line is going to forget.

They have literally shut down the phone lines and refuse to listen to American citizens that are mad as fuck. (h/t Crooks and Liars)

Google Caught Doing Evil

Connecticut's own Politics in the Zeros Blog catches Google going against their "Don't be evil." motto:

They say this right on their Health Care blog in a post with the cutesy title, “Does negative press make you Sicko?“. Google is pitching that the health care industry buy ads from them whenever someone searches for “Sicko” or “Michael Moore, ” ads which will counter the message of Sicko.

Just so there’s no misunderstanding about which side Google is on

Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.

So all you health care advertisers, go spend your money at Google, combating the evil Michael Moore. We’ll have no criticizing of American health care.

This reminds of radical organizer Saul Alinsky’s dictum. “Pick a target and freeze it. The rats will crawl out to defend them, then you’ll know who your real enemy is.”



I wonder how well this diary (and Politics in the Zeros') will fare on a Google search for Sicko now? Google must hate the fact that they can't slip in any of their anti-citizen corporate addys here. heh

There is also an UPDATE over there worthy of all things bushy in the media these days...

[update] There is more to this story here:

Google Caught Doing More Evil

After Bushies Treasonous Act Today

bush commutes Libby's sentence, a traitor that is trying to cover up a conspiracy to commit treason, are there any of you who still don't think these actions are necessary?







You are lying to yourselves if you think that anything less will stop these traitorous criminals in the White House.

Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence Before He Squeals

And so the cover up of a conspiracy of treason in the White House begins, as bush takes away Fitzgerald's lever to get at the truth:
President George W. Bush commuted Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence in the CIA leak case, sparing him from punishment the president called ``excessive.''

Bush acted after a U.S. appellate court today refused to let Libby, 56, stay out of prison during his appeal. Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators probing the 2003 leak of CIA official Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's backers had argued for a pardon.

``My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby,'' Bush said in a statement. ``The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long- lasting.''

The only thing worse than the traitors that gave up Valerie Plame Wilson, Brewster Jennings and all of the CIA assets associated with their cover for the anti-nuclear proliferation duties they were in charge of in order to protect the USA?

Finding out that your President is willing to aid and abet the cover up these guilty traitors.

What was bush so afraid of that he yanked this lever to get Libby to testify truthfully out of Fitzgerald's hands?

bush is afraid of the TRUTH. Because the truth would have exposed a conspiracy to illegally out CIA agents. One that bush is now confirming he was part of.


Traitors. This ain't about a blow job. This is about treason against the USA at a time of war.

EVERY FUCKING SINGLE ONE OF THEM IN THE WHITE HOUSE ARE TRAITORS.

Via HuffPo:
The Libby Pardon: Dancing Around the Central Issue

The Huffington Post - The ONLY reason to send Libby to jail during his appeal is to pressure him to sing, and the ONLY incentive to pardon him if he is forced to go to jail is to buy his silence. For all those who say Libby's misstatements were the product of pressure and faulty memory, note this and note it well: Libby's lies were not random, as they would have been if he had just "misremembered". They were all carefully designed to obstruct the investigation from reaching the vice president.

(H/T to Oui at BooTrib)

I think bushies action speak to his own treasonous involvement as well.

[update]
I said the pardon clock was ticking... It only took a couple of hours for bush to admit his guilt.

Via TPM Muckraker... Joe Wilson on bush commuting the traitor's sentence:

"From my viewpoint, the president has stepped in to short circuit the rule of law and the system of justice in our country. In so doing, he has acknowledged Mr. Libby's guilt for, among other things, obstruction of justice, which by definition is covering up for somebody in a crime. By commuting his sentence, he has brought himself and his office into reasonable suspicion of participation in an obstruction of justice. The commutation of (Libby's) sentence in and of itself is participation in obstruction of justice."

Asked if he expected Bush to pardon or commute Libby's sentence, Wilson replied, "I have never known what to expect. The administration is now trying call this compromise. At end of day, it's allowing a neoconservative cult to engage in special pleading. …

No Delays For Traitor Libby

Via Bloomberg: (and a h/t to Daily Muck)
Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, must go to prison while appealing his conviction for obstructing a CIA leak probe, a U.S. appeals court said.

Libby may be behind bars within weeks after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today denied his request for release. The decision will increase pressure on President George W. Bush to decide soon whether to pardon Libby, 56, as the former White House official's supporters have urged.

Libby ``has not shown that the appeal raises a substantial question'' under federal law that would merit letting him remain free, the court said.



Earlier:
Scooter Libby has a new name: inmate number 28301-016. That's according to the Bureau of Prisons, which is ready and waiting for Libby's arrival.


Via Reuters, the appeal wasn't even a close call:
The three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected Libby's request in a one-paragraph order, ruling he has not shown that his appeal "raises a substantial question."

The ruling was issued by all three members of the appeals court panel. Judges David Sentelle and Karen LeCraft Henderson were appointed by Republican presidents while Judge David Tatel was appointed by a Democratic president.

Is the pardon clock ticking? Bush has always been by the book on pardons in the past.

NY Times on the Libby beat:
Judge Reggie B. Walton said today that he found no reason to postpone Mr. Libby’s sentence of two and a half years in prison for four felony counts. Defense lawyers had asked that he be allowed to remain free while pursuing appeals.

Judge Walton’s decision means that the defense lawyers will probably ask a federal appeals court to block the sentence, a long-shot move. It also sharpens interest in a question being asked by Mr. Libby’s supporters and critics alike: Will President Bush pardon Mr. Libby?

As for bushies' past record on pardons, well? I have already covered that a couple of times:
The only thing we have on record concerning pardons from Bush is something I caught in March from Newsweek:

Scooter's Pardon Problem - Bush By the Book

No (scape)goats in this book. But according to Isikoff and Hosenball at Newsweek this is what the (supposed) fall guy can expect:

Scooter Libby’s Pardon Problem :

"Those regulations, which are discussed on the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/pardon, would seem to make a Libby pardon a nonstarter in George W. Bush’s White House. They “require a petitioner to wait a period of at least five years after conviction or release from confinement (whichever is later) before filing a pardon application,” according to the Justice Web site.

snip

“You know, I get asked about pardons on a lot of different cases. And there’s a procedure in place,” he said at first. When Bush added that he has been telling members of Congress who have contacted him about the matter to “look at the facts in the case,” Cavuto followed up: “So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying … there is a process in any case for a president to make a pardon decisions. In other words, there is a series of steps that are followed, so that the pardon process is, you know, a rational process,” the president answered."

Get ready for prison now, Scooter...
You have plenty of time before sentencing to get your affairs in order NOW, so there should be no reasons to delay your entering the system as soon as the sentence is pronounced.

As a side note on this:
How strained must the relationship between bush and cheney be, when cheney has to make his plea for a pardon on the national news? Since when do Republicans take their "inner business dirty dealings" public like that? They usually do that stuff behind closed doors.
I would say that things do look particularly bad for Libby, and certainly for his band of merry traitors that don't want to chance Scooter flipping them to avoid prison. I have to start thinking about the possibility that MAYBE bush had nothing to do with the leaking, and as long as there is no pardon that line of reasoning might make sense. The reality is that as soon as bush does give a pardon to Scooter (if he does?), or anyone else that Scooter may flip, it is pretty much an admission of bushies' own guilt.

No matter how you look at it, there is no way to justify pardoning Scooter Libby without it being an admission of guilt by the President.

Any innocent President would be furious with Libby and wouldn't pardon him in a million years.

But Bush is not innocent. Libby lied for the President. And if Bush pardons Libby then we will know for certain that the President himself is the one that should be doing jail time for the crime that Libby covered up.

We shall see.

Yes, we shall. Unfortunately, we may have to wait for the dying days of this presidency to get the answer, as to the extent of bush's involvement in the leak.
The decision to send Libby to jail before an appeal doesn't change the possibility of a last minute out the door pardon from bush in the dying days of his present lame duck presidency, but it does put the screws to all those involved in the leak sooner rather than later.

And make no mistake about this: Any pardon from bush, now or later, is enough proof of bushies' involvement in this treasonous act against our nations' security.

Tick Tick Tick...

[update]
It didn't take long for clock to run out. bush is guilty.