Don't Cry For Me Argentina

The House Republicans promote our Democracy's Devolution (unintelligent design?)

Right-Wing House Twists Arms, Thwarts Democracy To Pass Oil Industy Windfall

Emotions erupted on the floor of the House of Representatives this afternoon as the right-wing-led Congress held open yet another vote to twist arms and pass a bill that would line the pockets of energy company executives. The House leadership held the five-minute vote open for almost 50 minutes until they could convince three lawmakers — Reps. Wayne Gilcrest (R-MD), C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) — to change their minds. The bill passed 212-210. As the vote concluded, opponents of the bill chanted in unity: “Shame, Shame, Shame!”
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The vote was held on the “Gasoline for America’s Security Act of 2005,” a provision sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) to nominally “expedite the construction of new refining capacity.” But the bill is essentially a giveback to the oil industry — Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) called it a “leave-no-oilman-behind bill.”

Please watch the video they have on their site.

You will cry for America.

- rob 6:36 PM - [PermaLink] -

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White House denies Bush claimed divine inspiration

It was just the booze talking they explained.

- rob 5:55 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Dubya Screens Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court

- Edoc 4:56 PM - [PermaLink] -

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It just hit me (yes I'm slow)

But is "No Child Left Behind" just code - and the push intends to convert all American children to Christianity via the School system?

- rob 3:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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This would be fasinating. Harriet Miers's nomination may lead to TANG coming back into the news - and this time with a lot more currency (millions of dollars in currency)

Let Lawrence Littwin testify at the Miers nomination hearings

Back to Littwin, his lawsuit against GTech states that they used political clout to get him fired from his post as lottery director. As evidence of this political clout, he cited a $23 million payoff GTech gave to Ben Barnes when they released him from his contract; and the fact that GTech hired Barnes in the first place, since Barnes is a man who could have single-handedly ended Bush's political career by outing him as a draft dodging liar. Back in 1997, this was still powerful information. Afterall, how does a company overcharge the state of Texas by millions and keep their contract? Blackmail the governor! Sure explains why Texas didn't farm the lottery contract out to another company that said they would handle it for below GTech's costs.

Now, here's where it gets interesting.

Remember that $23 million payoff I mentioned GTech giving to Barnes in 1997? The payoff deal was negotiated in 1996, back when GTech first felt that they were really in danger of losing the Texas lottery contract. How do I know this? Because Greg Palast uncovered an anonymous letter sent to the US Justice Department which explained the $23 million payoff that Barnes got, and how it was negotiated when Bush sent an adviser of his named Reggie Bashur to talk with Barnes and make the deal.
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Here are the key details of the letter:

Several months ago many of us felt that the Lottery Commission should rebid the GTech contract when it came up for renewal. Leaders of the Republican Party strongly supported rebidding and I believe the Chair of the Commission also wanted to rebid. It is now time to disclose at least one reason why it was not rebid. Governor Bush thru Reggie Bashur made a deal with Ben Barnes not to rebid because Barnes could confirm that Bush had lied during the 94 campaign.

And here's where Harriet Miers comes into play. Again, the letter:

Bashur was sent to talk to Barnes who agreed never to confirm the story and the Governor talked to the Chair of the Lottery two days later and she then agreed to support letting GTech keep the contract without a bid.

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You know, I'd really like to hear what Lawrence Littwin has to say. Especially since he wants to testify.

A former Texas lottery official, who claimed that then-Gov. George W. Bush's desire to cover up his National Guard record helped steer decisions about a key lottery contract, said he wants to talk to senators about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' possible role in that effort.

"If I were to be subpoenaed to come to the thing, I would come," said Lawrence Littwin, who filed a lawsuit after he was fired as the lottery's executive director in 1997. "I would say the committee, I think, would be interested."

Like wow - how many different house of cards are falling right now?

- rob 3:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Juan Cole Dissects Yesterday's War on Terror Speech
Prof. Cole performs an admirable job cutting through the BS and pro-war propaganda of yesterday's presidential speech.

"A wise leader has to be able to judge the moment, and to see things in proportion to their importance. Bin Laden is simply not a Hitler. There is no country in which he or his minions are about to become Chancellor... Al-Qaeda is not even an organization. It is a loose set of radical ideas that small fringe groups can take up at will. It is not German National Socialism...

You can't 'stay the course' because you don't have a course. Get one."

Excellent read. Prof. Cole, as usual, provides illuminating commentary.

- Edoc 11:11 AM - [PermaLink] -

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And there are 57 communists in the Defense Department!

Bush Says 10 Plots by Al Qaeda Were Foiled

I've basically been offline for a week, I half expected the entire Bush administration to be in jail now. oh well.

- rob 10:13 AM - [PermaLink] -

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IAEA, El Baradei Share Nobel Peace Prize

That's some vindication. Recall that El Baradei was the official who told the US:

• There was no evidence that Iraq had resumed its nuclear weapons program (to which John Bolten said it was impossible)


• The documents alleging a uranium procurement deal with Niger were not authentic (Dick Cheney said El Baradei was wrong)


• There was no evidence that the aluminum tubes were intended for building a nuclear reactor. (Which Condi Rice ignored)

Congratulations to El Baradei and the IAEA, notable thorns in the side of the US pro-war propaganda machine.

- Edoc 10:02 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Tony Blair Tells Iran: Don't Meddle in Iraq

"Iran has no right to meddle in Iraq's affairs." Ok, Blair was talking primarily about terrorism and arms trafficking, but does he have any idea how these words sound? The subtext is that only Western powers have the authority to influence Iraq -- only the Coalition has the legitimacy to control a country they've horribly disfigured and driven to the brink of ruin.

- Edoc 9:45 AM - [PermaLink] -

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God Told Me to Invade Iraq, Bush Tells Palestinian Ministers (BBC Press Release)

Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ..." And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"

Wow, Halloween comes early this year. Seriously, though, people who hear voices in their heads need psychiatric care. If these quotes from the BBC are genuine, we have one terrifyingly dangerous Jesus-freak in the oval office. Right, right-- tell you something you don't already know.

- Edoc 3:28 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Return to Reality: US Senate Rejects Torture

Yesterday (Tues.), champions of human-rights cleared a critical gate-- the floor of the US Senate. Brazenly, the Senate found a collective spine and approved the McCain sponsored anti-torture amendment. It's the silver lining of a 440 billion military spending bill.

(Washington Post) Senate Approves Detainee Rules

"Defying the White House, senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held."

The ammendment clashes directly with the current administration's policy on torture and supplies fresh evidence that Congress is starting to slip from the stranglehold of the executive branch. The bill still needs to pass in the House, but my guess is that Reps will trumpet their support for the military spending.

What a welcome shift- first seen in public opinion, and now legislation. Momentum is building up against the Bush Presidency. Say no to torture! Say no to tyranny!

- Edoc 2:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Damn this guy would make a good President - too bad he only was elected, but wasn't appointed.

Gore on the Threat to American Democracy

I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse . I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America's fabled "marketplace of ideas" now functions.
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Our founders knew all about the Roman Forum and the Agora in ancient Athens. They also understood quite well that in America, our public forum would be an ongoing conversation about democracy in which individual citizens would participate not only by speaking directly in the presence of others -- but more commonly by communicating with their fellow citizens over great distances by means of the printed word. Thus they not only protected Freedom of Assembly as a basic right, they made a special point - in the First Amendment - of protecting the freedom of the printing press.
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As early as the 1920s, when the predecessor of television, radio, first debuted in the United States, there was immediate apprehension about its potential impact on democracy. One early American student of the medium wrote that if control of radio were concentrated in the hands of a few, "no nation can be free."

As a result of these fears, safeguards were enacted in the U.S. -- including the Public Interest Standard, the Equal Time Provision, and the Fairness Doctrine - though a half century later, in 1987, they were effectively repealed. And then immediately afterwards, Rush Limbaugh and other hate-mongers began to fill the airwaves.

And radio is not the only place where big changes have taken place. Television news has undergone a series of dramatic changes. The movie "Network," which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1976, was presented as a farce but was actually a prophecy. The journalism profession morphed into the news business, which became the media industry and is now completely owned by conglomerates
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The present executive branch has made it a practice to try and control and intimidate news organizations: from PBS to CBS to Newsweek. They placed a former male escort in the White House press pool to pose as a reporter - and then called upon him to give the president a hand at crucial moments. They paid actors to make make phony video press releases and paid cash to some reporters who were willing to take it in return for positive stories. And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President.

Do go and read.

(I'll be back more next week - thanks for stopping by)

- rob 5:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I'm swamped at work - so I don't think you'll see anything here for a few days.

And there is so much to post about.

Oh well.

In the meantime here's another Christmas present: Grand Jury Indicts DeLay on New Charges

- rob 11:44 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Harriet Miers: Supreme Crony
George W. Bush has chosen Harriet Miers to be the next justice on the US Supreme Court. What the !&#!@?. Ms. Miers has spent much of her career in politics, rather than the courts. Consider the following:

• Ms. Miers has never been a court judge


• She is George W. Bush's personal attorney


• She's stated that Bush is "the most brilliant man she's ever met"

Ok, I know this is a highly-selective cut of the details, but from what I see, her main credential is her gender and her undying loyalty to Bush. Naturally, Dubya is convinced she'll make a heck-of-a justice-- she'll strickly 'nterpit the Constitoosh'n, not "legislate from the bench", blah blah blah....

- Edoc 10:28 AM - [PermaLink] -

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