Coup averted or just delayed?

Congratulations, Corporate Crime Fighters! Coup Averted for Three Days! ...From Michael Moore

The Corporate Crime of the Century was halted by a vote of 228 to 205. It was rare and historic; no one could remember a time when a bill supported by the president and the leadership of both parties went down in defeat. That just never happens.
The 95 brave Dems who broke with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were the real heroes, just like those few who stood up and voted against the war in October of 2002. Watch the remarks from yesterday of Reps. Marcy Kaptur, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Dennis Kucinich. They spoke the truth. The Dems who voted for the giveaway did so mostly because they were scared by the threats of Wall Street, that if the rich didn't get their handout, the market would go nuts and then it's bye-bye stock-based pension and retirement funds.

Speaking of Dennis he said:

The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered. Why aren't we having hearings on the plan we have just received? Why aren't we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers' money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren't we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets?
Why aren't we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren't we helping American families faced with bankruptcy. Why aren't we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn't it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls.

But is it really averted? Or are the fat cats strong and ready with another bill that will be just as friendly to them?

Read more...

Banana Republic

Paul Krugman - speaking truth.

So what we now have is non-functional government in the face of a major crisis, because Congress includes a quorum of crazies and nobody trusts the White House an inch. As a friend said last night, we’ve become a banana republic with nukes.

Read more...

Let's prove him wrong!

Gates: Election Won’t Bring GIs Home

During a speech at the National Defense University, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cautions that “no matter who is elected president in November” the troops will remain in some capacity “for years to come.”

Whem Obama wins let's make sure we hold his feet to the fire to END THE WARS!

Love to prove Gates wrong.

Read more...

Turning back time

Great song and great claymation video. Maybe if we can turn back the clock we can change a few things (okay alot of things) so we wouldn't have to be in all the mess we find ourselves today.

Step one - count al;l the votes in Florida eight years ago.

Read more...

Whose October surprise?

US steps up Pakistan raids to thwart al-Qaeda 'October surprise' plot

US secret forces are intensifying their cross-border raids into Pakistani tribal areas because of fears of a high-profile al-Qaeda attack during the American election campaign, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Any attack in the weeks before the Nov 4 election - what is known in American political circles as an "October surprise" - would almost certainly give a decisive boost to John McCain, the Republican candidate who already holds a commanding lead on questions of national security.

So either we know who al-Qaeda supports or our own regime is "preparing" us for a homegrown "attack." Some of those sepcial ops could "accidently" trigger a minor explosion and then point the finger towards others. The calls for a tough military leader will be heard (or my own bet of martial law declared).
Would our own regime do this? You bet they would.

Read more...

Addicted

 

Mark Fiore's latest.

Our "culture" is addicted. Look at the cars we drive, look at the bags we use, look at the toys our kids play with, look at the food we eat. Time to change the mindset, change the "culture."

Read more...

Another War?

U.S. and Pakistan Exchange Fire

There are at least three differing accounts of exactly what happened on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border Thursday, but most agree that U.S. and Pakistani forces shot at each other. Cross border raids into Pakistan’s territory have inflamed relations between the two countries.

Is there no end to our madness?

Read more...

Postpone the debates?

McCain Stalls

Republican John McCain said Wednesday he is directing his staff to work with Democrat Barack Obama's campaign and the presidential debate commission to delay Friday's debate because of the economic crisis.
Obama's campaign says he is inclined to go ahead with Friday's presidential debate, even though his rival is calling for a delay.
In a statement, McCain said he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

Is this also giving up? Or is this the beginning of the calls to "postpone" the elections and have W serve a few more months? Martial law? October surprise?

It is time for revolution!

Read more...

Deeper in debt

Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine

I wrote The Shock Doctrine in the hopes that it would make us all better prepared for the next big shock. Well, that shock has certainly arrived, along with gloves-off attempts to use it to push through radical pro-corporate policies (which of course will further enrich the very players who created the market crisis in the first place...).
The best summary of how the right plans to use the economic crisis to push through their policy wish list comes from Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. On Sunday, Gingrich laid out 18 policy prescriptions for Congress to take in order to "return to a Reagan-Thatcher policy of economic growth through fundamental reforms." In the midst of this economic crisis, he is actually demanding the repeal of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which would lead to further deregulation of the financial industry. Gingrich is also calling for reforming the education system to allow "competition" (a.k.a. vouchers), strengthening border enforcement, cutting corporate taxes and his signature move: allowing offshore drilling.
So let's be absolutely clear: there are no saviors who are going to look out for us in this crisis. Certainly not Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the companies that will benefit most from his proposed bailout (which is actually a stick up). The only hope of preventing another dose of shock politics is loud, organized grassroots pressure on all political parties: they have to know right now that after seven years of Bush, Americans are becoming shock resistant

Quick solution #1: End the wars - just think of all those dollars that could be spent here at home. Solution #2: Tax the golden parachutes the Wall Streeter's are getting at ....how about 99%.

Read more...

King W and our economy

'Taxpayer Ripoff': Many Economists Skeptical of Bailout

Many of the same economists and opinion-makers who'd provided a bipartisan sheen of consensus to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's previous moves have quickly begun casting doubts on the wisdom of a policy that would allow Treasury to purchase without oversight hundreds of billions of dollars of difficult-to-price assets from financial institutions.
President Bush is “asking for a huge amount of power,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University who was among the first to predict the crisis. “He's saying, ‘Trust me, I'm going to do it right if you give me absolute control.' This is not a monarchy.”

Here I always thought that a war would lead W to declare martial law and have Cardinal Dick declare him as King. It looks like the economic slide, helped along by W's policies and war spending, may just be a suitable replacement for the war scenario.

Read more...

Just change the focus

Pentagon boss slams Russia but plays down threat

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Moscow on Friday of "mauling and menacing small democracies" but said today's Russia did not pose a threat to the world like the Soviet Union.
Gates also said Russia's recent military action in Georgia was a Pyrrhic victory -- costing Moscow far more in the long term than any short-term gains it achieved.
"The Russian leadership might seek to exorcise past humiliations and aspire to recapture past glory along with past territory," he said. "But mauling and menacing small democracies does not a great power make."

Take a cue from us. Maul and menace all nations, do not limit yourself to small democracies.

Read more...

America wrecked

A Ripe Moment

It turns out the real hurricane blew through Wall Street last week, not Galveston. This morning, Manhattan is strewn chest-deep with the debris of banking and at this hour (seven a.m.) nobody knows how far, deep, and wide the damage will spread. The fear, of course, is that we are witnessing a classic "house-of-cards" or "dominos-in-a-row," situation, and that the death of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch will cascade into a generalized collapse of the entire consensus of value that supports mediums of exchange. At least one thing ought to be clear: this has happened due to the negligence and misfeasance of the regulating authorities, namely the Republican Party, and that now all the hoopla surrounding Sarah Palin can be swept away revealing that group to be what they actually are: the party that wrecked America.

As Kunstler writes:

I urge readers of this blog to identify the Republican Party by its new brand-name: the party that wrecked America. At least, then, we can reinstate one cardinal value into the juddering structure of what we claim to believe: that actions have consequences, that you can't just swindle and loot a society and walk away with the swag.

Read more...

War Pigs Profit

War in Iraq. War in Afghanistan. War in Iran. Now talk of war with Russia.

As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Let's check who is really pulling all the strings. Follow the bucks.

Read more...

Invade everyone

Palin Would Support War With Russia

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, emerging from media silence for her first serious interview as the GOP vice presidential pick, said Thursday that the United States might have to go to war if Russia were to invade Georgia again.
Palin said she had insights into U.S. relations with Russia because "they're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska ... from an island in Alaska."

Better watch out Canada and Mexico. We see you too. Sarah knows about you guys too. Tanks may roll soon.

Read more...

Another history lessen ignored

Quagmire, Phase 2: The Invasion of Pakistan

The United States has just invaded Cambodia. The name of Cambodia this time is Pakistan, but otherwise it's the same story as in Indochina in 1970. An American army, deeply frustrated by its inability to defeat an anti-American insurgent movement despite years of struggle, decides that the key to victory lies in a neighboring country. In 1970, the problem was the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia. Today it is Taliban and al-Qaida bases inside Pakistan, which the United States has been attacking from the air for some time, with controversial "collateral damage." George W. Bush has now authorized independent ground assaults on Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Pakistan's Tribal Territories, without consultation with Pakistan authorities. These already have begun.
This follows a period of tension, with some armed clashes, between American and Pakistani military units, the latter defending "Pakistan's national sovereignty." Pakistan public opinion seems largely against "America's war" being fought inside Pakistan. Washington's decision was made known just in time for the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that opened the first phase of the "war on terror," after which "nothing could ever be the same." We no doubt have now begun phase two.
The eventual outcome of the American intervention in Cambodia in 1970 was Communist overthrow of the American-sponsored military government in that country, followed by genocide. The future consequences in (nuclear-armed) Pakistan await.

Will we ever learn the lesson's from history? Based on the rhetoric and actions of our polticians - I don't think so.

Read more...

Invasion help from friends

U.S. to sell Israel Air Force new bunker-buster bombs

Despite reservations in Washington regarding a possible Israeli strike on Iran, the American administration will supply Israel with sophisticated weapons for heavily fortified targets, the U.S. administration announced.
The Pentagon's announcement, which came on Friday, said the U.S. will provide Israel with 1,000 units of Guided Bomb Unit-39 (GBU-39) - a special weapon developed for penetrating fortified facilities located deep underground. The $77 million shipment, which includes launchers and appurtenances, will allow the IAF to hit many more bunkers than currently possible.
The Pentagon's announcement also said that the U.S. would help upgrade the Israel Defense Forces' patriot anti-aircraft missiles - which Israel uses as part of its missile-interception array. Israel will also receive 28,000 LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) tube launchers for land forces.

Gee I wonder what they plan to do with this shipment?

The first line is puzzling. Just who has reservations? Surely not McCain-Palin. Sarah may that quite clear to Charlie the other day - full speed ahead to bomb, bomb, bomb.

Read more...

Thank you Dennis

Impeach President Bush Now, says Dennis Kucinich

One day before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is presenting a petition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with 50,000 signatures urging the impeachment of President Bush -- adding to the 100,000 he has already filed. Calling the Bush administration's military response to 9/11 "errant retributive justice," the Ohio Democrat called for a Commission on Truth and Reconciliation to "compel testimony and gather official documents" on why the Bush administration went to war in Iraq.

Read more...

The God Particle

Boon or doom? Collider stirs debate

Will the Large Hadron Collider save the world, or destroy it? As the atom-smasher at Europe's CERN research center is readied for its official startup on Wednesday, researchers might wish that the general public was captivated by the quest for the Higgs boson, the search for supersymmetric particles and even the evidence for extra dimensions. The black-hole scenario is even getting its day in court: Critics of the project have called for the suspension of work on the European collider until the scenario receives a more thorough safety review, filing separate legal challenges in U.S. federal court and the European Court of Human Rights.

Just a few hours away. If it is doomsday - we won't have to worry about John and Sarah. If we see the sunrise - back to worrying about our future. We may be screwed anyway.

Read more...

Sarah from God (at least some god)

Palin's Wrongheaded View of God's Plans

In an address to an Assembly of God Church in Alaska, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin suggested that church members pray “that our national leaders are sending [soldiers to Iraq] on a task that is from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.”

Just what we need - another "bring about the EndTimes" leader. One who believes that killing is encouraged and supported by a Supreme Power.

Let us pray to the gods that voters look past the glitter and see McCain and Palin for what they really are.

Frightening to think that if they get into office, she is one beat away from the Oval Office.

I will move to a yet-to-be-named country.

Read more...

Sarah - Wildlife's Friend?

The NRA princess. Rush's darling.

Read more...

Say it's so Joe

Obama Might Pursue Criminal Charges Against Bush Administration

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Need another reason to support Obama/Biden?

I didn't think so.

Read more...

Ban all Cluster Munitions

Survivor Corps Criticizes use of Cluster Munitions

On August 15, 2008, Russia dropped cluster bombs on civilian areas in the neighboring country of Georgia, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding dozens more. This weekend, the Georgian government admitted to having dropped cluster bombs in certain locations between the Roki tunnel and Dzara road. This area links Georgia's South Ossetia with North Ossetia, which is Russian territory. Georgia claims not to have dropped any cluster bombs in civilian areas.

It really doesn't matter who started it - civilians are in danger -

sign the People's Treaty to say that YOU want to ban cluster bombs forever. Your Senators must tell the military to stop using cluster bombs, and your Senators like hearing from people like you! Tell your Senators to ban cluster bombs.

Read more...

The Real Cold war

BUSH PUSHING WORLD TOWARD ARMAGEDDON

Russia refuses to become part of neo-con New World Order; sleeping bear now roused THE NEO-CONNED BUSH REGIME and the Israeli-occupied American media are heading the innocent world toward nuclear war. Back in the Reagan years, the National Endowment for Democracy was created as a Cold War tool. Today, the NED is a neo-con-controlled agent for U.S. world hegemony. Its main function is to pour U.S. money and election-rigging into former parts of the USSR in order to ring Russia with U.S. puppet states. The neo-conservative Bush regime used the NED to intervene in Ukrainian and Georgian internal affairs in keeping with the neo-conservative plan to establish U.S.-friendly and Russia-hostile political regimes in these two former constituent parts of Russia and the Soviet Union.

Messing in other's business...we don't like it when others comment about our actions...

Read more...

Nine, 8, seven, six, 5....

End of the world due in nine days

SCIENTISTS are trying to stop the most powerful experiment ever – saying the black holes it will create could destroy the world. Dubbed by some the Doomsday test, it will be carried out next week in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located 300ft underground near the French-Swiss border. When its switch is pulled on September 10, this atom-smasher will become a virtual time machine, revealing what happened when the universe came into existence 14 billion years ago. New particles of matter are expected to be discovered, new dimensions found beyond the four known, as scientists re-create conditions in the first BILLIONTHS of a second after the Big Bang. Experts even predict that millions of tiny black holes will be produced — baby brothers of the monsters gobbling up dust and stars at the heart of the galaxies.

September 10 may be the end. And W is not even involved.

Read more...

Dear God...

An Open Letter to God, From Michael Moore

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled. I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Moore goes on to ask...

...let the storm die out at sea. It's done enough damage already.

Moore's prayers were not answered. N.O. is not taking the brunt, but Gustave is hitting the area.

The real scary thought is that just maybe the RNC's prayers are answered.

The White House announced today that Mr Bush will not address the convention in Minneapolis St Paul as scheduled on Monday night as he would be touring the Gulf Coast. Dick Cheney, his Vice President, will be at his side.

What better gift from the gods than the two criminals not even near Bomber McCain and his gun-toting, polar bear killing, string 'em up running mate.

Maybe the gods are registered Repugs!

Read more...