McCain/Kennedy about to screw the middle class.

Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA)are about to screw the middle class with their Orwellen titled "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act". Senate S. 1033. Meanwhile in the House the shills are Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) who introduced the House companion, H.R. 2330.
It is an amenesty program for illegal aliens and as usual the middle class communities will subsidize this workforce with higher school taxes, medical costs and crime. You don't have to look to far to see who is behind this bill that will screw middle class communities.

Nuclear Nunnsense!

As I work my way back into the checking out the mass media after a week on the North Carolinia beaches one of my first stops was the NBC show MEET THE PRESS. It was a scary show with Tom Kean and others on the 911 commission along with Fred Thompson former Senator whose only purpose seemed that he was playing the President of the U.S. in an upcomming made for TV movie.
The funniest comment was when former Sam Nunn tryedto strech a point that since the U.S. was buying enriched uranium from old Russian decommissioned weapons then watering the stuff down and burning it as fuel in U.S. nuclear reactors that somehow manged to power the lights in the NBC studios. I like Sam Nunn and I think the organization he is now working on the Nuclear Threat Initiative is a good cause. But, making it sound that it was a good thing using nulcear weapons to power U.S. reactors is just a little to much P.R. spin for the nuclear industry. Where does Nunn get such ideas? Perhaps from being on the board of GE or maybe he has close ties to Georgia based Southern Company . It was just utter nonsense. I guess Sam Nunn is another one has not read the memo !

Back from the beach.

I've been away from Washington for the past week, relaxing and staring out to sea on the Outer Banks of North Carolinia. I've also been out of the media loop for the past week. No Newspapers, no cable news, no problem. It may take a day to get back into the swing of things. Stay tuned as they say in the broadcast biz.

Courts, Cronies and Fox News

The Texas cronies of George Bush are hitting the airwaves A commercial has been running here in Washington pushing for an up or down vote for George Bush's court nominees. One of the people in the commercial is Michael Williams. Who is Michael Williams? Let's let President Bush introduce him:

"Michael Williams is with us. Mike, good to see you. (Applause.) One time I was Michael's campaign chairman in the Republican primary in Midland County and helped him come in third. (Laughter.) He got rid of me as his campaign chairman, and now he's doing big things statewide in the state of Texas. (Laughter.)"

One of the BIG things Williams is doing is being a Texas Energy Commissioner.
What struck me about the commercial was that Michael Williams used the term "fair and balanced" when singing the praises of one of Bush's nominees. I wonder if FOX NEWS will take this use of their trademark to court?

THE COST OF LIBERTY

President Bush attended the White House News Photographers Association Awards Dinner last night. One wonders what went through his brain as he watched one of the award winners Andrea Bruce Woodall's photos of an Iraqi woman called Halla who lost her brother and husband in the Iraqi violence surrounding the war. She has now turned to prostitution to support her two sons and more than 30 family members. I wonder if President Bush will be making any speeches about how we have "liberated" women like Halla in the new Iraq?

TRUE LIES!

As military recruiters get desperate to try and meet quotas to get our young people to sign up to fight the Neocon's war in Iraq. They have increasingly resorted to lies to convince our kids to sign up. These recruiters are not to be blamed as the lies have been trickling down from the White House for quite a while now.

Newsweek and Military Newspeak

"We've not found any wrongdoing on the part of U.S. servicemembers," declared the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Of course he can not speak for the CIA and their out soucred interrogators.
Anne Applebaum puts the blame right where it belongs. Even as Rumsfeld and the Whitehouse continue to operate in full CYA mode.

How to lose friends and help enemies.

There was a lot of media hoopla reported over the recent action by Marines in western Iraq claiming the Marines killed 125 "insurgents". When ever I hear such reports I am reminded of this quote from an AP story of April 2003:

"The U.S. military does not compile its own count of civilian deaths, as Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Cassella explained to AP: "Our efforts focus on destroying the enemy's capabilities, so we never target civilians and have no reason to try to count such unintended deaths."

That was then and this is now.

OIL FOR FOOLS PROGRAM

Watching British MP George Galloway mop the floor with Senator Norm Coleman (one of our stupidest Senators) makes me wonder about changing my position in not allowing foreign citizens to run for President. Galloway took on this simple minded grand standing Senator and his investigation of the Oil for Food program. Even John Gibson at Fox/Bush News took notice of how badly the British MP beat up Coleman.
Coleman may be from Minnesota but, he is no Joe McCarthy though he seemed to try and use the same tactics in his committee. Hats off to Galloway for rubbing Coleman's nose it the stuff that he was trying to pass off as evidence of Galloway's guilt. I wish we had more politicians like Galloway on this side of the big pond standing up and speaking truth to power.

Newsweek or Newsweak?

It looks like Newsweek magizine is about to become a lapdog instead of a watchdog media organization. As the Whitehouse and the Pentagon continue to try to hide and sweep the truth under the rug. The media like Newsweek try and walk the fence and get knocked to the ground by the administration spinmeisters, talk radio etc... and being the weasels they are refuse to get up and fight even though the truth is still out there.

Fox habla racism!

Vincente Fox was wrong when he said that Mexicans were doing jobs that even Amercian Blacks did not want to do. Here are some other "jobs" illegal immigrants are doing once they enter the United States.

Military Base Closings

Well the savings predicted by closing the Military Bases on the list reported yesterday would be about 50 billion over twenty years. Where will that saved money be going maybe here and here.

White House surprised by candor?

The action by the Senate Foreign Relations committee to send John Bolton's name to the Senate for a vote to be UN ambassador was an interesting point in the annals of advise and consent.
Forgetting that Bolton's "kiss up and kick down" management style reminds people of every psycho boss people have worked for.
What was more interesting was the White House reaction to Republican Senator George Voinovich who said: "It is my opinion that John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be," Voinovich said Thursday". A White House source told several journalists that they were surprised that Voinovich said publicly what he had told them in private. I guess truth and candor is something they are not use to in the White House.

Where's incurious George?

Let's see a wayward Cessna heads to Washington and the Washington goes CODE RED:

1) Evacuate the Dick Cheney!
Check
2)Evacuate Congress
Check
3) Get First Lady Laura Bush to a secure location.
Check
4) Is there anything we forgot?

Just another example of who is really in charge in Washington!

United we fall down.

The latest pull the rug out from under the middle class workers move is by United Airlines which is putting it's pension obligations onto the taxpayers back which will also reduce the benefits for the workers. This may only be the beginning of such moves by corporations let's if the golden parachutes for upper management are similarly curtailed.

Cablevison hates democracy!

Attention sport fans!
Cablevision and Time Warner Cable have reached an agreement that allows the remaining Mets games to be viewed on the Time Warner cable system.
Perhaps the same pressure could be applied to Cablevision to put on at least one CSPAN channel back on basic cable. Cablevision in Brookhaven took the one CSPAN channel it used to carry off of their basic cable package. Though they have FOUR Spanish Stations, shopping channels etc...on the basic plan. I guess allowing people to watch and keep informed on our Federal Government and Congressional debates is not as important as being able to watch Spanish Novellas on TV.

"It's your money!"

So said George Bush when talking about tax cuts he wanted to push through most of which went to the wealthy. Now comes this story about how auditors in Iraq may not be able to get an accurate estimate how much the ongoing projects will cost and have cost us taxpayers. It's still our money George and somebody should be keeping an accurate account of how it is spent in Iraq!

Social Security Insecurity?

Back in the 1983 I along with other working folks were asked to pay increased Social Security taxes to help insure that the Social Security system would remain solvent into the current century. We did that. Now George Bush has been running around the country like Chicken Little trying to panic the American people about Social Security while pulling the rug out from under the middle class workers who paid those increased taxes while giving tax breaks to all his wealthy cronies.
One of the best sites I have found that explains what's going on with Social Security and Bush is talkingpointsmemo.com. This post by Josh Marshall is especially informative on what needs or does not need to be done.

THE SMOKING GUN

If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied. – Rudyard Kipling

George W. Bush a loser?

House Democratic leader Harry Reid was wrong when he called President Bush a loser in front of a bunch of teenagers on Friday during a High School civics lesson. He called the White House and apologized for the remark. I think what he meant to say was that George W. Bush was a liar.

Hackworth a true American hero RIP

Sad news today that David Hackworth has died from disease caused by chemicals used to defoliate the jungles during the Vietnam war. He was an American warrior but, never had the flag wrapped around his eyes as many in Washington D.C. want our soldiers to do. Hackworth was also a soldier fighting for the truth and we need more like him.

A little bang in the BIG APPLE

It's hard to make out what yesterday mornings grenade/bomb explosion in New York means to us here in the U.S. It does not appear to be Blowback from the current Neocon snafu that is Iraq today. Was it aimed at the British? Lord knows England has enough people pissed off at it from it's days as an imperial power and we seem to be running down that road thanks to the Bush doctrine . I recall driving through Kenya back in the mid 1980's I asked our driver about how things were when Kenya was still a British colony. Our driver paused, stared straight ahead and diplomatically said "I have nothing to say about the British". Which said a lot to me.

Treason by another name.

The bombs that went off in New York this morning were nothing to the one that went off in Washington yesterday. Larry Franklin a Defense Department analyst was caught given classified documents to two officals of the AIPAC the American Israel Political Action Commitee. Let's hope the FBI and the Federal Government do the right thing and treat this as a case for what it is. It's time U.S. Government make acts of passing classified documents to groups like AIPAC who push the agenda of foreign governments be considered an act of treason.

Killing of Tillman and the truth.

An article from today's Washington Post shows that the Army initially covered up the truth about what happened to former NFL player Pat Tillman.

"The documents also show that officers made erroneous initial reports that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, destroyed critical evidence and initially concealed the truth from Tillman's brother, also an Army Ranger, who was near the attack on April 22, 2004, but did not witness it."

"A new Army report on the death shows that top Army officials, including the theater commander, Gen. John P. Abizaid, were told that Tillman's death was fratricide days before the service.

I'm shocked how could this happen in Bushworld? The government would not lie to us would they? Tillman gave up millions of dollars in NFL contracts to go serve his country in Afghanistan and they buried him under a "bright shining lie" . Bush says freedom is on the march but, he did not say anything about the truth.

Perhaps Gordon Lightfoot said it best:

The songs of the wars are as old as the hills
They cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills
They tell of the boys who went down to the tracks
In a patriotic manner with the cold steel on their backs
The patriot's dream is as old as the sky
It lives in the lust of a cold callous lie
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills

Now how about that Paula Abdul controversy on American Idol?

Teach your children well?

I woke up at 5 am to a commercial on WCBS Newsradio New York from the "Long Island Teachers" about why it was important to pass the school budget. Teachers and their union just don't get it. Probably because they have never worked in the business sector since they graduated college. Somehow this commercial equates passing a school budget with good teaching. I think the school administrators, teachers and their unions need to wake up and smell the coffee and outrage from the local taxpayers.
Being single I am particularly sensitive to the school budget. School taxes being the biggest part of peoples local tax bill. I don't mind paying taxes to help educate the neighborhood kids but, I don't like paying more than I have too. Case in point: New York State Law requires school districts to provide transportation to parochial school children up to 15 miles. My district transports students to religious schools 20 miles away. And they wonder why I vote no on the school budget.

Runaway Bride goes home to hide.

The bleeding hearts of Albuquerque New Mexico Police Department gave runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks all sorts of gifts for wasting everybody's time last week. Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schulz says "Law enforcement is really making a major move to deal with people in crisis" "Miss Wilbanks was definitely a person in crisis." Oh really?
So that's why they loaded her up with gifts before she got on the plane and put her butt down into that first class seat back to Atlanta. While in the photos that I have seen she does have that deer in the headlights stare I don't think running away from a wedding counts as a reason for a crisis. It's not every family that can offer $100,000 reward for her where abouts last week. A real crisis is my friends and neighbors who are trying to figure out how they are going to pay for their kids collage costs while trying to stay out of debt. A crisis is elderly people hoping to have enough money to pay taxes on their homes this year.
Let's hope the Gwinnett County District Attorney does the right thing and gives Wilbanks some time to think about what she did which was falsely report a crime. Not just a false local petty crime but, a Federal one. Let's hope he gives her time to do that thinking in a jail cell.
The next runaway should be her fiancee who should run away as fast as he can from this woman and her screwed up values. It's time liars are held accountable no matter how wealthy, poor or powerful they are.

England vs. England and Washington's War Lawyers

There are news reports that U.S. torture poster girl Private Lyndie England will plead guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. This no doubt was to avoid the punishment that Pvt. Charles Graner Jr received for daring to go to trial and bring the higher ups into the fray.
This is in contrast to reports out of Briton that the British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith met on February 11 2003 with four lawyers who are the architects for the legal rational for the going to war in Iraq. The lawyers were:
Alberto R. (which stands for nothing) Gonzales, Bush's controversial chief legal water boy who has been at the center of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and who finds elements of the Geneva convention "quaint" . Now promoted to attorney General for his years in protecting Bush's butt.
William Taft IV, then chief legal adviser to the then Secretary of State Colin Powell who is the great grandson of Republican President William Howard Taft.
Jim Haynes, chief legal adviser to Donald Rumsfeld in the Pentagon.
John Bellinger, chief legal adviser to Condoleezza Rice
and finally then U.S Attorney General, John Ashcroft.
The meetings were to assure Goldsmith that what the U.S. and England were about to do in Iraq was legal under International Law. Even British military leaders like Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the former Chief of the defense Staff demanded legal cover for following orders of the higher ups in the government in starting the Iraq war. He said "'I wanted to make sure that we had this anchor which has been signed by the government law officer ... "It may not stop us from being charged, but, by God, it would make sure other people were brought into the frame as well."
That is one smart military man too bad the poor soldiers like Lyndie England did not have the smarts to get such authorization. Because as so often happens with the Bush/Cheney administration the buck stops with someone else and they are the ones who get screwed..