In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Keep the Faith: Change the President
- Michael 5:12 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Krugman: Medical Class Warfare
If past patterns are any guide, about one in three Americans will go without health insurance for some part of the next two years. They won't, for the most part, be the persistently poor, who are usually covered by Medicaid. They will be members of working families with breadwinners who have jobs without medical benefits or who have been laid off.
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What's the Bush administration's plan?
First, it offers a tax credit for low- and middle-income families who don't have health coverage through employers. That credit helps them purchase health insurance. The credit would be $3,000 for a family of four with an income of $25,000; for an income of $40,000, it would fall to $1,714. Last year the average premium for families of four covered by employers was more than $9,000.
A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the tax credit would reduce the number of uninsured, 44 million people in 2002, by 1.8 million. So it wouldn't help a great majority of families unable to afford insurance. For comparison, an independent assessment of the Kerry plan by Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University says that it would reduce the number of uninsured by 26.7 million.
Just read it... wait until you see how Bush's plan to insure the poor also leads to more uninsured poor, but provides a tax shelter for the rich!
Who says Bush is dumb... he's just a bad man pretending to be dumb.
- rob 2:02 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Great post today on Atrios
Today on Holden's Obsession with the White House Press Gaggle
Helen Thomas acts a simple question: Does the United States harbor secret detainees who are not available...
and after some back and forth...
MR. McCLELLAN: We work to address these issues that the Red Cross raises directly with the Red Cross. And any issues that they have, we respond directly to the --
Q That's not the answer to the question.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- Red Cross. We meet with them on a regular basis at a variety of levels, and we stay in close and constant contact with them. And I really don't have anything else to add to this issue.
Q You don't know whether we have secret detainees --
MR. McCLELLAN: Like I said, Helen, I don't have anything else to add to this issue.
Q Why?
MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.
- rob 1:40 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Meet the new boss... same as the old boss
Iraqi PM executed six prisoners: witnesses
Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad major crimes unit just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim Government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the executions.
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The witnesses did not perceive themselves as whistle-blowers. In interviews with The Age they enthusiastically supported Dr Allawi for the killings. One justified the alleged killings and said: "These criminals were terrorists. They are the ones who plant the bombs. Allawi said they deserved worse than death; that they didn't need to be sent to court."
The two witnesses were independently and separately found by The Age; neither approached the newspaper. Nor were they put forward by, or through, others. They were interviewed on different days in a private home in Baghdad, without being told that the other had spoken.
Yes, I used that title (almost) before: Meet the new boss, not the same as the old boss, certainly, but not nearly as good as the new boss should be
- rob 12:20 PM - [PermaLink] -
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The Bush Administration: Rewarding bad behavior
Treasury Dept. Picks KPMG as Auditor
Firm's Tax Shelters Under Investigation
The Treasury Department has tapped KPMG LLP as the first private firm to audit the agency's consolidated financial statements, even as the Treasury and Justice departments probe the accounting giant's marketing of potentially abusive tax shelters.
The contract has angered the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, who say it is part of a pattern of federal agencies condoning tax abuses -- from the Transportation Department encouraging abusive leasing arrangements to the Patent and Trademark Office issuing patents for tax shelters and the Interior Department participating in inflated land swaps.
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With $6.9 trillion in assets, the Treasury will be the largest audit ever for KPMG, although the value of the contract was not disclosed. KPMG will look over the books of Treasury's 12 bureaus, including the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Public Debt and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
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Republican and Democratic Senate Finance Committee aides agreed the award is extraordinary but for a different reason. By awarding KPMG this contract, the Treasury Department is undermining its own tax probe, they said.
"What signal does it send when the government is hauling one of the big accounting firms into the grand jury room over tax fraud while handing that same company millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts?" Grassley asked.
Umm it sends the signal that honest hard working folk are suckers? It sends the signal that the Bush administration believes the American dream is to stick it to the working man (its their tax money, because heck, thanks to KPMG the rich aren't paying taxes)? It sends the signal the corporate america has decided that it has no reason to exist except to make money; laws, ethics, and decency be damned.
It wasn't always that day, for all his faults at least Ford paid his employees extremely well, because he understood that they would be customers. Now employers squeeze employees like turnips. Hershey at the turn of the century build employees homes to live in, and a park for employees to enjoy after hours. When he died he left his enitre fortune ($40 million - a heck of a lot in those days) to an orphanage. That seems sadly quaint now.
Anyway, back to that fine company: KPMG
This is what KPMG thinks of the Rule of Law:
KPMG LLP in 1998 decided not to register a new tax-sheltering strategy for wealthy individuals after a tax partner in a memo determined the potential penalties were vastly lower than the potential fees.
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Mr. Ritchie recommended that KPMG avoid registering the strategy with the IRS, and avoid potential scrutiny, even though he assumed the firm would conclude it met the agency's definition of a tax shelter and therefore should be registered. The memo, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, stated that, "The rewards of a successful marketing of the OPIS product [and the competitive disadvantages which may result from registration] far exceed the financial exposure to penalties that may arise."
for more details on the tax-sheltering fraud (which the above quotes come from) and more detail about KPMG's scandals. Visit: It Just Gets Deeper and Deeper for KPMG.
And how does KPMG treat its employees?
KPMG Sued for Mistreating Man with HIV/AIDS
James Keith Lackie is suing one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, claiming his supervisor tried forcing him to wear latex gloves among other indignities after he revealed he was HIV positive.
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Two weeks later, Human Resources held a tense meeting between Lackie and Rogers where he revealed that the reason he couldn't work such long hours was because he was battling HIV/AIDS. "The H.R. representative said she admittedly didn't know much about the disease, but she was going to do her best to learn. [Rogers] said nothing."
Half an hour later, Rogers approached Lackie's desk telling him he would have to wear latex gloves while he worked. "She said it as if she was angry with me."
A witness says that's when Rogers raised her voice so everyone could hear her explain that she thought the gloves were necessary because no one else in the department had AIDS.
According to the lawsuit, Rogers wouldn't let the issue die. Another surpervisor within the department said Rogers revealed Lackie's HIV status, which is a breach of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Lackie described how the harassment continued. At one point Rogers had Lackie train other employees how to do his job and then transferred Lackie to the mailroom. According to the lawsuit, Rogers whittled away every responsibility Lackie had and enjoyed until all he was left with was sorting and delivering mail.
HR knew what was going on and did nothing. What swell folks.
- rob 12:13 PM - [PermaLink] -
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SHHHHHHHHHH! It's supposed to be a secret- Thursday, July 15, 2004 -
House strikes lawmaker's words after she says G-O-P 'stole' 2000 election
It all stared when Republican Congressman Steve Buyer proposed a measure Thursday that would bar any federal official from asking the U-N to observe the general election on November second.
Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown and several other House Democrats had made that suggestion. They say some black voters were disenfranchised in 2000 and that the problems could occur again this fall.
But when Brown said Republicans "stole" the election, Buyer demanded that her words be removed from the permanent record. The House did so by a vote of 219-to-187.
- rob 10:45 AM - [PermaLink] -
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Oh, I forgot to mention... we had a Monday earlier this week:
The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 163 - Democratic Underground
1. Team Bush
John Kerry picked John Edwards as his running mate last week - and the Republican attack machine immediately went into overdrive. Unfortunately Team Bush ended up spinning their wheels because they really couldn't find anything that bad to say about Edwards. About the worst they could come up with was the suggestion that Edwards was John Kerry's second choice after John McCain, and they attempted to hammer this message home all week. RNC spokeswoman Tara Wall referred to Edwards as "sloppy seconds" ([Real] video: skip to 6:30) which, in case you were wondering, is the term for the second person in line at a gang-bang. Charming. And when the RNC launched a video showing McCain praising Bush, the DNC promptly released their own video showing McCain demolishing him (funny how nobody ever calls McCain a flip-flopper, isn't it?). It should probably also be pointed out that Dick Cheney was Bush's second choice in 2000 (his first was - you guessed it - John McCain). But the dumbest thing about this whole GOP charade is the unfortunate fact that McCain was never Kerry's first choice - the Arizona senator told Tony Snow on Fox News that the VP slot "was never offered" to him. So as usual, Team Bush are just making shit up.
...
Ken Lay
Unfortunately Team Bush's attacks on Kerry/Edwards were somewhat undermined last week when long-time Bush pal Ken Lay surrendered himself to authorities and did the perp walk after he was indicted with "undisclosed criminal charges for alleged misdeeds." Last week the White House attempted to distance Our Great Leader from Lay, saying that "it has been a long time since they talked and suggesting it was only a passing friendship," according to the Associated Press. Ah, a passing friendship. Well that would explain why the Bush campaign only used Enron private jets a dozen or so times during the 2000 presidential election (and four times during the recount). And it would also explain why George W. Bush sent this extremely formal birthday note to "Kenny Boy":
Source: The Smoking Gun
And I guess it would explain why Poppy Bush says in this video, "You have been fantastic to the Bush family. I don't think anybody did more than you did to support George..." And I guess it would explain why Dick Cheney had a series of secret meetings with Enron executives - including Ken Lay - in 2001, and why Ken Lay was part of the Bush transition team. You know, just the normal things that happen during a "passing friendship." In fact, this kinda reminds me of the "passing friendship" the White House had with Ahmed Chalabi. Incidentally, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan tried to suggest last week that Lay has been a supporter of "Democrats and Republicans in the past." Right. Well, I guess since in the last five years Lay has donated 91% to Republicans and 2% to Democrats, McClellan's statement is technically true...
As always read it all, its fun (and sad).
I just thought I'd like to note that though we'll never know exactly what happened in those "secret meetings" we do know that they talked about Iraqi oil fields (interesting isn't it), in fact here is something discussed at that meeting:
For more on the history of that picture, read this TCS post from almost exactly a year ago.
- rob 5:00 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush Hates Free Thinking Americans!
(bah I'm done with this "bush hates this..." theme I started yesterday... at least for now)
Perception Gap in Iraq
Iraq's newly empowered politicians have not stemmed the violence and instability in their country. But nearly three weeks of partial sovereignty may have helped the Bush administration's drive to reduce its political vulnerability on Iraq at home.
Reducing that vulnerability is now the White House's most urgent goal. What happened at the June 28 handover ceremony in Baghdad was not so much a transfer of sovereignty as it was a transfer of political responsibility -- from President Bush to a willing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
Allawi has kept his part of the bargain with Washington by repeatedly appearing before U.S. television cameras on two missions: to thank Bush for freeing Iraq and to take on the responsibility for answering attacks on U.S. forces and Iraqis. U.S. officials took solace recently from Allawi's quickly televised vows of revenge and action for a bloody wave of coordinated bombings.
"This was a good day," one official observed, pointing to Allawi's television (further proving that even "good day" means something completely different in the Bush administration.
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Read through or watch Allawi's blunt, sparse statements and you too may be impressed by how much of his message is intended to reassure his American audience, rather than Iraqis. They are more keenly aware of the huge obstacles that Allawi faces in carrying out his ambitious promises.
To the relief of the White House, the American public and media seem to be slowly trying to tune out Iraq's continuing violence. Accounts of all but spectacular assaults slide deeper into network news broadcasts and the inside pages of newspapers as the summer and the U.S. presidential campaign progress.
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Bush has to win both politically and in policy terms if Iraq is not to become a disaster that will haunt him and America. But he faces this dilemma: Facts and judgments from the field that are inconvenient to the perception-management priorities of Washington get ignored or suppressed in this situation. Moreover, commanders and troops become confused by sudden switches in strategy and tactics driven by the politicians, as occurred recently in the siege at Fallujah and perhaps at Karbala.
- rob 2:54 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush Hates Humanity- Wednesday, July 14, 2004 -
Seymour Hersh finally tells of the children abuse at Abu Ghraib & CIA torturing continues?
Poor Man has this update from a Hersh speech at the ACLU convention last week:
Seymour Hersh says the US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher." ...
and from the Post we have this sane editorial about CIA's torturing techniques:
FOR DECADES the United States led the denunciation of despots whose enemies "disappear" -- vanish into official custody, with no accounting for their whereabouts or treatment, no notification of their families and sometimes, no acknowledgement that they are being held. Now that same term is being applied to prisoners held by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism. According to the International Red Cross, a number of people apparently in U.S. custody are unaccounted for. Most are believed to be held by the CIA in secret facilities outside the United States. Contrary to the Geneva Conventions, the detainees have never been visited by the Red Cross; contrary to U.S. and international law, some reportedly have been subjected to interrogation techniques that most legal authorities regard as torture. According to the independent group Human Rights Watch, this exceptional practice is "perhaps unprecedented in U.S. history." Like the Pentagon's mishandling of Iraqi detainees, it cries out for congressional review and reform.
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What is known, mostly through leaks to the media, is that several of the CIA's detainees probably have been tortured -- and that a controversial Justice Department opinion defending such abuse was written after the fact to justify the activity. According to reports in The Post, pain medication for Abu Zubaida, who suffered from a gunshot wound in the groin, was manipulated to obtain his cooperation, while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was subjected to "water boarding," which causes the sensation of drowning. Notwithstanding the Justice Department opinion, parts of which recently were repudiated by the White House, U.S. personnel responsible for such treatment may be guilty of violating the international Convention Against Torture and U.S. laws related to it.
For America to regain its international moral standing (a treasure Bush threw away in such a short period of time) it isn't enough that these criminals get thrown out of Washington in November, some of them need to be thrown into jail.
- rob 2:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush Hates America
Busted budgets on the border
Among many federal agents along the U.S. border with Canada, Washington's warnings about the need for vigilance against another terror attack ring hollow.
Border agents tell NBC News that since April, they've been forced to release most illegal immigrants back onto American streets within hours of catching them — even some who are criminals or from countries known to produce terrorists.
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Along the New York and Vermont borders alone, at least 11 released were from so-called countries of special interest, including Pakistan and Morocco. T.J. Bonner of the Border Patrol Agents Association, who represents border patrol agents nationwide, says, "It's simply mind-numbing to the agents. We catch people who could possibly be terrorists and we're being told, 'Gee, we're out of money, we have to let them go.'" Emphasis mine.
Bush would rather spend over a hundred BILLION on a war that had nothing to do with securing America (and in fact made America less secure) then fund border patrol.
Its beyond pathetic, it is like he is actively working against America's interests.
- rob 5:51 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush hates Documentaries
Fahrenheit 9/11 Update (numbers via boxofficemojo)and other documentary news.
As of Monday F911 has been out for 20 days and has grossed $81 million domestically. It is currently number 4 at the box office, but its per screen average is better then King Arthur (the number 3 film) which has only been out only 6 days as of Monday. Again, the better it does, the longer it stays, the more people will talk about it. Talk is good (and though talk is cheap it may lead to action).
There are other Docs out there you might want to see.And speaking of Documentaries, my friends film Shelter Dogs is now available on video and DVD, check it out and see what The Boston Phoenix called: One of the Ten Best Documentaries of 2003. (which is impressive for a movie that came out in 2004 I think).
- OutFoxed which is where the below Fox News memos originally came from.
- Super Size Me (makes you hungry just reading the title, don't it)
- The Fog of War
- The Corporation
- Control Room
- The Hunting of the President (the true story of the right wing conspiracy that was trying to take down President Clinton from before he even took office).
- UPDATE: And don't forget to rent Journeys with George
If you're bored you can read what TCS said about it before it was even shown on HBO.
- rob 2:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Fox News Hates Accurate Reporting
or as Fox News itself says: The national forest as pot field story is pure Fox.
Wonkette has got them all in an amazing post:
Fox News Memos: The Whole Batch
From memos written by Fox News chief John Moody which he sends out each morning:Okay we all knew they weren't fair or balanced, but wow, they are so blatant about it internally.
- Let's spend a good deal of time on the battle over judicial nominations, which the President will address this morning. Nominees who both sides admit are qualified are being held up because of their POSSIBLE, not demonstrated, views on one issue -- abortion. This should be a trademark issue for FNC today and in the days to come.
- The tax cut passed last night by the Senate, though less than half what Bush originally proposed, contains some important victories for the administration. The DC crew will parse the bill and explain how it will fatten -- marginally -- your wallet.
- bush's G-8 trip is actually less important than his fledgling efforts to knock together the Israeli and Palestinian PMs' heads. Let's keep in mind that the G-8 contains the most obstreperous dissidents against the war on terror.
[actually the war on Iraq, but who cares about facts]- Heads of state don't leave G-8 meetings early unless they have good reasons. President Bush has two: he has to get to Egypt, and he doesn't like the French. Let's explain to viewers that despite the tepid handshake, Bush and Chirac are far from reconciled, as are the US and Germany. The early departure from Evian should take the sparkle out of the bottled water spa.
- The president is doing something that few of his predecessors dared undertake: putting the US case for mideast peace to an Arab summit. It's a distinctly skeptical crowd that Bush faces. His political courage and tactical cunning are worth noting in our reporting through the day.
- Gas prices are at all time highs in the US. There are reasons for the surge, some economic, some mere business tactics. Remember: US prices, while they seem high to us, are a half or less the cost of gasoline elsewhere.
[i.e. remember to defend the President!- Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there? The US is in Iraq to help a country brutalized for 30 years protect the gains made by Operation Iraqi Freedom and set it on the path to democracy. Some people in Iraq don't want that to happen. That is why American GIs are dying. And what we should remind our viewers.
- As we worried yesterday, the death toll in the N Korean train wreck looks like it's being drastically revised downward. that doesn't mean we won't follow the story, to the extent we can get information from the Hermit Kingdom.
[awww... not as many people died... what a pity]- The president meets the PM of the Netherlands and talks about healthcare. Kerry, starting to feel the heat for his flip-flop voting record, is in West Virginia.
One part of a memo stood out for me, so much so I'm giving it a headline:
Fox New has a soft spot for terrorists (if they're white 'Christians')
We have good perp walk video of Eric Rudolph which we should use. We should NOT assume that anyone who supported or helped Eric Rudolph is a racist. No one's in favor of murder or bombing of public places. But feelings in North Carolina may just be more complicated than the NY Times can conceive. Two style notes: Rudolph is charged with bombing an abortion clinic, not a "health clinic." and
TODAY'S HEARING IS NOT AN ARRAIGNMENT. IT IS AN INITIAL HEARING.
Wow, that's very even handed for reporting about a terrorist (remember he may have done the bombing during the Altlanta Olympic games) you know they wouldn't be that even handed when it came to an Arab or Iraqi who placed a bomb anywhere. In fact they almost want to excuse his behavior (i.e. "an abortion clinic, not a 'health clinic'", I guess that makes it somehow okay?).
And Fox News wants to be very careful not to assume Rudolph is a racist, and yes, really, how could you assume that:
Eric Rudolph -- alleged bomber, Jew-hater
NEW YORK -- Eric Rudolph, the U.S. white supremacist arrested over the weekend for four bombings, including an attack at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, was apparently motivated by an anti-Semitic ideology known as Christian Identity.
Rudolph, 36, also wrote a paper espousing Holocaust denial while in high school.
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Rudolph "hated Jews more than probably any other race," Deborah Rudolph, who is divorced from Rudolph's brother, Joel, told ABC's "Good Morning America."
He "felt that, you know, they've been run out of every country they've ever been in. They've destroyed every country they've ever been in. They have too much control in our country," she said.
He considered the TV "The Electronic Jew," she said in an interview a few years ago.
"You could be watching a 30-minute sitcom and the credits would roll and there'd be Jewish names and, excuse my expression, but he would say, 'You f------g Yids.' Any little thing and he would start," she said.
- rob 2:07 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush Hates Free Elections
US could delay elections in event of terror attack
As reported a couple of times now on TCS:
(National) July 12, 2004 - What happens if the upcoming presidential election is disrupted by terrorism? Newsweek magazine reported Sunday that counter-terrorism officials are looking into the possibility of postponing election-day if terrorists attack then.
Would they delay, sure a type of delay has worked for them in the recent past:
GOP makes time for Patriot Act vote
Leaders successfully beat back challenge by extending roll call
Washington -- Republican House leaders, in an intense last-minute effort, pressured almost a dozen Republicans to switch their votes and save a controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows the FBI to monitor people's reading, e-mail and Internet habits at public libraries.
The effort, including more than doubling the usual time for the roll call vote, generated outrage from those trying to change the library provision, who argued the House leadership again manipulated the rules to help President Bush's re-election effort. Emphasis mine.
This isn't the first time the GOP controlled House leadership has done this under the Bush administration. If the vote doesn't go the way you want it delay the closing of the vote until you can strong arm some representatives into changing their vote.
Now here is the scenario. Bush is down in the polls, it is the first of November, a terrorist attack happens somewhere in America and the vote is delayed. Cue the media to begin stories about how to vote against Bush now would be allowing terrorists to win, and it wouldn't hurt to run a few fluff pieces about America's great tradition of rallying around the President in times of need. Wait to see the uptick in the polls and call for a quick election "to get America back to normalcy, to celebrate our love for democracy, and to show the terrorists they can beat American. Bush wins. Repeat as necessary.
- rob 1:27 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush and the GOP hates working Americans
Chart via Daily Kos
- rob 12:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush hates the greatest generation
Medicare Law Is Seen Leading to Cuts in Drug Benefits for Retirees
WASHINGTON, July 13 - New government estimates suggest that employers will reduce or eliminate prescription drug benefits for 3.8 million retirees when Medicare offers such coverage in 2006.
That represents one-third of all the retirees with employer-sponsored drug coverage, according to documents from the Department of Health and Human Services.
No aspect of the new Medicare law causes more concern among retirees than the possibility that they might lose benefits they already have.
Bush shifts the burden of paying for drug benefits from corporations to the American tax payer (that's you and me), and retirees receive worse drug benefits. What's not to like about Bush's new medicare law?
- rob 12:41 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Bush Hates Freedom- Tuesday, July 13, 2004 -
Local residents arrested at Bush visit
TCS has reported this before, but here is some detail:
"We were told we couldn't be here because we were wearing these shirts that said we were against Bush," Nicole Rank shouted as police rushed her out.
Smithers said the pair had tickets to the event and wore clothing over their anti-Bush T-shirts. Once through the security checkpoint, they removed their outer layers and mingled in the crowd.
"We asked them to go out to the designated protest area but they refused," Smithers said. "They told our people they would not leave and sat down on their hands. We didn't have any choice."
The were arrested for trespassing but they had tickets. Silly people, they thought all of America was a free speech zone, not just some "designated area" that Bush's bubble would never encounter.
If Freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. - George Washington, a George W. who loved America and new what freedom meant. To Bush it is just another word, a branding tool, and nothing else.
- rob 12:21 PM - [PermaLink] -
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A Conversation with Hitler
At an intimate gathering in Berlin shortly after the National Socialists' rise to power, I heard Hitler reveal himself on the most important and profound problem of our great crisis: the ethical foundation of life. What I heard proved deeply upsetting. For the first time the true face of this immense revolution of destruction unfolded itself to me.
The call "Back to nature" resounds through all the great crises of human history. To shed the burdens of civilization has been man's continuous endeavor during great transmutations. However, what the leader of the the National Socialist movement sought was the deliberate destruction of the very earth whence our civilation had sprung. The great accomplishments of a long and painful history of human development were to be hurled overboard. His was no mere struggle to uproot outmoded forms in our civilization. His was a murderous assault on every form of higher human culture.
I wrote down the conversation as well and faithfully as my memory allowed. It may not be literal, word for word. But its spirit is authentic. I transmitted parts of it, in the spring of 1937, through a friend to the then Nuntius Pacelli, now Pope Pius XII. I sent excerpts to some Protestant clergymen who have been close to me. Other parts I published in my book, The Voice of Destruction....
The horrible destruction which now shakes the world makes clear to each of us today that the demoniac forces of disruption are more than mere expressions of the National Socialist's and imperialist's thirst for power.... Only today is it becoming comprehensive. It concerns all of us, Christians, Jews, and freethinking humanists alike....
By telephone Hitler had invited Albert Forster, Gauleiter of Danzig, and me, to spend the evening with him at the Reich Chancery.... Presently Hitler touched upon some important points in current politics. The Gauleiter of Franconia and Bavaria had approached him because of a certain opposition in Bavaria, and they were pressing him for a decision. At that time, the institution of so-called Reichsstatthalers was being discussed. The conversation was carried on in low voices.
Suddenly I heard Hitler scream in his well-known manner. He was standing in front of his desk, leafing through a scrapbook with newspaper clippings about him from the time of his struggle for power. "No," Hitler yelled at Goebbels and Streicher, who were standing before him. "I am not interested. Whether 'German Christians' or Roman Catholics or God knows what kinds of Protestant sneaks, I am not interested."
"Give them an inch and they'll take a yard," Goebbels agreed. "The enthusiasm of those 'German Christians' for our movement is as big a lie as anything that has come from Protestant quarters. By misusing us for their miserable 'Away from Rome' movement, they consider themselves particularly smart."
"But don't you think we ought to support the German religious movement of Professor Hauer and others?" Julius Streicher asked.
"All of this is cramped," Hitler replied contemptuously. "It is false and deceitful and without strength."
"And Chamberlain's book, Words of Jesus? Couldn't one cut the German churches loose from their connection with the Jewish Old Testament in the same manner? inquired Wagner, Gauleiter from Munich.
"Houston Stuart Chamberlain [race theorist from turn of the century who, with Arthur de Gobineau, argued the superiority of Aryans, having developed a Social Darwinist theory of criminality based on ethnic skull measurements -- ed. note] has had the right attitude toward many of our most urgent problems," Hitler answered. "But what he has been trying to do with this 'non-Jewish' Christianity idea of his is completely nonsensical."
"Marcion already tried to separate Christianity from Judaism," Goebbels interjected. "It never worked. It couldn't possibly work."
"Historically speaking, the Christian religion is nothing but a Jewish sect. It has always been and it will always remain just that, as long as it will exist," Hitler went on.
"We don't fight only the Christian circles, we fight against Christian ideas. They constitute the real poison in our blood," Streicher said.
"That's right. After the destruction of Judaism, the extinction of Christian slave morals must follow logically." Hitler began to pace up and down in his room. "I shall know the moment when to confront, for the sake of the German people and the world, their Asiatic slave morals with our picture of the free man, the godlike man."
"There is no difference between freemasonry and Christianity," Streicher exclaimed. "Both are instruments of secret Jewish world domination."
"There is much more behind this," Hitler began fanatically. "It is not merely a question of Christianity and Judaism. We are fighting againt the most ancient curse that humanity has brought upon itself. We are fighting against the perversion of our soundest instincts. Ah, the God of the deserts, that crazed, stupid, vengeful Asiatic despot with his powers to make laws! That slavekeeper's whip! That devilish 'Thou shalt, thou shalt!' And that stupid Mount Sinai! That poison with which both Jews and Christians have spoiled and soiled the free, wonderful instincts of man and lowered them to the level of doglike fright."
"The youth is on our side," Goebbels exclaimed triumphantly. "The youth of the whole world is no more interested in those old ideologies."
"The time for false considerations has ended. This is true. We no longer need to be considerate," Hitler went on. "Whatever is against nature is against life itself. That's why nations die out. They kill themselves under the curse of that 'Thou shalt' and 'Thou shalt not.'"
"Honor thy father and thy mother? No!" Goebbels interrupted. "Every boy revolts, and hates his father, and must do so to start his own life. It's an immortal law of nature."
"Thou shalt not steal? Wrong!" Hitler's voice was loud in the small room. "All life is theft." -- Herman Rauschning, preface, A Conversation with Hitler
July 20, 1933. A concordat is signed between Germany and the Vatican allowing the Church freedom in purely ecclesiastic and religious matters, but prohibiting political action.
July 23. The selection of delegates to the National Senate of the Protestant Church resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Nazi German Christians.
August 4. Nazi Army Chaplain Ludwig Muller is elected Reichbishop or "Bishop of the United German Evangelical Church."
December 4. Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich calls upon German Protestants to make common cause with the Catholics in resisting the policy of the National Socialists in religion.
December 8. The "German Christians," a Nazi party which attempted to gain control of the Protestant church in Germany, dissolves as a party.
"The newly elected Reichstag assembled on March 21, 1933, and on March 25 passed an Enabling Act which practically established a dictatorship to last till 1937 [this was written in early summer, 1933 -- ed. note]. By this act, which was to remain in force for four years, the Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, was authorized to appoint the cabinet and to issue governmental decrees on any subject, these to have the force of law unless they altered as institutions the two organs of the Reich, namely, the president and the Reichstag. Thus all constitutional guarantees were swept away, and the rights of individual citizens and of the component states of the Reich were placed in unmolested control of the government until 1937. After the passage of this law the Reichstag adjourned.
"By a series of decrees the Hitler government proceeded to uproot the federal characteristics of the German Reich. In most of the states the diets were dissolved and national commissions appointed by the cabinet. Beginning with the Communist party, the various political parties were outlawed, dissolved, or voluntarily disbanded, until in Germany, as in Italy and Russia, there existed but one legally recognized political party as a means of expressing public opinion. ...
"In international affairs the National Socialists displayed a militantly nationalistic attitude ... and in October, 1933, the German delegation withdrew from the Disarmament Conference and formal notice was given that Germany would resign from the League of Nations.
"The economic condition of Germany remained confused. ... [The Hitler government] enlisted in a labor army many of the unemployed, and attempted to stimulate industry by government aid. ... In spite of some improvement in commerce in the early summer of 1933, industry and trade were still greatly depressed." -- Webster's New International Dictionary, Second edition, unabridged, with Reference History, 1936.
Fast forward to Paul Krugman:
In May 2001, according to yesterday's Washington Post, Enron lobbyists in Washington informed Ken Lay via e-mail that Mr. DeLay was seeking $100,000 in additional donations to his political action committee, with the understanding that it would be partly spent on "the redistricting effort in Texas." The Post says it has "at least a dozen" documents showing that Mr. DeLay and his associates directed money from corporate donors and lobbyists to an effort to win control of the Texas Legislature so the Republican Party could redraw the state's political districts.
The Texas redistricting, like many of Mr. DeLay's actions, broke all the usual rules of political fair play. But when you believe, as Mr. DeLay does, that God is using you to promote a "biblical worldview" in politics, the usual rules don't apply. And the redistricting worked — it is a major reason why anything short of a Democratic tidal wave in November is likely to leave the House in Republican hands.
The larger picture is this: Mr. DeLay and his fellow hard-liners, whose values are far from the American mainstream, have forged an immensely effective alliance with corporate interests. And they may be just one election away from achieving a long-term lock on power.
Draw your own conclusion.
- Michael 9:02 PM - [PermaLink] -
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Music to my ears:
Some Key Conservatives Uneasy About Iraq
(thus proving that all conservatives aren't morons, and that the koolaid may be wearing out... and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth)
"This war is not going well," said Stefan Halper, a deputy assistant secretary of state under President Reagan.
"It's costing us a lot of money, isolating us from our allies and friends," said Halper, who gave $1,000 to George W. Bush's campaign and more than $83,000 to other GOP causes in 2000. "This is not the cakewalk the neoconservatives predicted. We were not greeted with flowers in the streets."
Conservatives, the backbone of Bush's political base, are increasingly uneasy about the Iraq conflict and the steady drumbeat of violence in postwar Iraq, Halper and some of his fellow Republicans say. The conservatives' anxiety was fueled by the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal and has not abated with the transfer of political power to the interim Iraqi government. Emphasis mine.
Maybe because conservatives, unlike the media, know that at this time this "soverign government" set up by Bremer is not really a government. Some day Iraq may have an independent government. It does not now, however. So why does the media pretend it does?
- rob 5:59 PM - [PermaLink] -
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So I've been out of town for a few days and when I come back I hear heads exploding.- Monday, July 12, 2004 -
Ron Reagan to address Democratic Convention
WASHINGTON - Democrats have snagged a high-profile speaker — and a measure of political one-upmanship — for this month’s convention: Ron Reagan.
The younger son of the late President Reagan will address the Democratic National Convention in Boston about stem cell research.
People need to realize who horribly stupid and damaging George's stem cell research ban is. Hopefully this speech will make people realize how politically based Bush's decision is. If it was about saving these few cells then bush would have outlawed artificial insemination (in which these cells are routinely dumped in the trash). He didn't because he doesn't give a damn about saving some cells that someday if put in a womb could develop into a fetus (we are talking blastocysts here, not fetuses). This is about pandering to religious extremists.
Which reminds me of this great Tom the dancing Bug.
- rob 5:55 PM - [PermaLink] -
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LISTEN UP
If you didn't notice, the 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS SCHEDULED TO BE TERMINATED. You think I'm full of shit? Try this on for size.
American counter-terrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned....
Soaries noted that, while a primary election in New York on September 11, 2001, was quickly suspended by that state's Board of Elections after the attacks that morning, "the federal government has no agency that has the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election." Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call.
"We are reviewing the issue to determine what steps need to be taken to secure the election," says Brian Roehrkasse, a Homeland spokesman.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Committed to canceling U.S. elections.
You heard it here first. If terrorists don't do anything by early September, Bush will. Mark my words.
Be afraid.
- Michael 12:10 PM - [PermaLink] -
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"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
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"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
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