BackyardPit

Michael Moore Reacts To Wisconsin Union Vote: "This Is War"

2011-03-10T03:16:00.000-06:00

Michael Moore Reacts To Wisconsin Union Vote: "This Is War"

The BP Ten | Friends of the Earth

2010-06-19T08:58:00.000-05:00

The BP Ten | Friends of the Earth

bpcommentary1.wmv

2010-05-18T02:02:00.000-05:00

G20

2009-04-03T04:14:00.002-05:00

Who are the G20?

The G20 is a group of twenty finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 of the world’s most wealthy economies and the European Union. These economies cover 80% of world trade and the countries themselves contain two thirds of the world’s population.
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“Capitalism isn’t in crisis, capitalism IS crisis!”
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If enough people take to the streets, the chasm that divides society will be illuminated
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Statement 3

“The current economic crisis has made capitalism more transparent then ever before. Finally the illusions are being stripped away. House prices may have tumbled but houses still stand tall, the price of food may have risen dramatically but the fields and hedge rows are still full of wonderful edible plants! We may no longer be able to afford ‘luxuries’ but today love and companionship is more real than ever.
We have been forced to unplug ourselves and have found that there is a whole world waiting for us. It’s time to kick capitalism whilst it’s down. The illusions they put before us have kept us working jobs we hate for too long, separated us from those that we love and are destroying the planet we rely upon to survive.

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Let’s smash the final illusion. Let’s tell them they don’t control our lives anymore!”

Not One Red Cent.

2009-03-18T03:59:00.003-05:00

Geithner, are you out of your f*****g mind? You’re going to give AIG another $30 billion, b******t!!!
I want every red cent of tax payers’ money for bonuses paid back before you even think about giving out any more bailout.
If this is the best Liddy can do, send him packing and the rest of the executives that are getting these big bonuses.
I here Chine is looking for executives.
“We as a Congress are not defenseless.” So, Congress, when are you going to do something, beside talk talk talk?

Bloomberg:
Geithner Vows to Recoup AIG Bonuses as Lawmakers Express Fury

Geithner, who has come under fire from Congress over the AIG payments, said in a letter to lawmakers last night the government will recover the money by requiring it be repaid from company operations and deducting the amount from the next $30 billion in aid being provided to the insurer.

Millions lost their jobs; it’s an outrage that the people who somewhat caused this problem are now paying themselves bonuses.

New York-based AIG paid $165 million in executive bonuses after taking taxpayer-funded bailouts totaling $173 billion. AIG also budgeted $57 million in “retention” pay for employees who will be dismissed, according to a March 2 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We will impose on AIG a contractual commitment to pay the Treasury from the operations of the company the amount of retention rewards just paid,” Geithner wrote. “In addition, we will deduct from the $30 billion in assistance an amount equal to the amount of those payments.”

The political heat generated by AIG bonuses indicates declining public and congressional support for shoring up beleaguered financial institutions with government funds, and may make it tougher for President Barack Obama’s administration to win approval for future bailouts.

Most appallingly, while millions of Americans struggle through this economy, those who have received the largest measure of taxpayer assistance from the Treasury Department have shown no restraint.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a speech on the Senate floor that he, Reid and other lawmakers sent a letter to AIG’s Liddy asking executives to return the bonuses to their “rightful owners।” He said if the money isn’t refunded, Congress will pass laws to “tax these bonuses at a very high rate.”
Quoting out of context, read the full story: Click Here

Scolding the Bonus Babies

2009-03-17T02:13:00.000-05:00

AIG, the insurance giant at the core of the financial meltdown, struck again over the weekend, disclosing that it would use some of its $170 billion in federal bailout money to reward its employees with $165 million in bonuses. And Obama was left looking like a pitiful giant as his aides explained that there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop the obscene payouts -- even though the government owns 80 percent of AIG.
But if the president wants to keep ahead of the public fury, he'll need to do more than share the concerns; he'll need to act on them. Now it's time to deliver.
Well said. He is the president for crying out loud, we the tax payers own most of AIG, if not the whole corpse. We have the power; he has the power if he has the balls to execute it. Nothing less than nationalizing, firing the oh-so-very "Talented" and breaking up the company will suffice. Do you have the balls Obama?
AIG needs to die. They are 13 trillion dollars in debt from credit default swaps; they have acknowledged paying 80 billion of that debt... We simply cannot afford to bring them back to life... the bankers, the insurers, the stockholders, the board of directors have to- must- lose their shirts and shuffle away in disgrace.
They are not talented, there f-students on a drinking binge.

Ouch

2009-02-23T08:03:00.002-06:00

James Paulsen:
"We have had a loss in confidence because the government keeps changing its playbook, and when that happens investors don't want to put any capital into the market," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.

WestTexasBliss:
You just don’t get it do you Paulsen. Investors’ loss confidence because of the corruption and greed.

Investors' Hopes for Turnaround Dim as Markets Decline Further
As fears over the economic crisis continue to erode investors' confidence, markets at home and abroad are feeling the effects.

That's not a decline, that's falling off a cliff.

No end in sight

Economic data expected to be disheartening this week.

GDP expected to be revised lower to show biggest loss since 1982

Armstrong has just written a cheery essay called "The Coming Great Depression. Why Government Is Powerless". In it, Armstrong forecasts:

We are facing a Depression that will last 23-26 years. The response of government is going to seal our fate because they cannot learn from the past and will make the same mistakes that every politician has made before them.

More on this topic

Health Care

2007-10-27T08:06:00.000-05:00

Health Care System:
I know what we need to do. We need a health care system, something like Canada has. The only way to get this is to tell the politicians that they are going to be on the same health care plan we the people have. No exceptions! Give them 90 days to fix the health care system. If they don’t get it fixed in 90 days all their past, present and future benefits Freeze and a 10% cut in pay after the 90 days. To me, they are not Democrats or Republicans, they are corrupt politicians. I bet if we give this problem to an independent think tank they can get this fixed.

Social Security:
I know what we need to do. We need a Social Security system that works. The only way to get this is to tell the politicians that they are going to be on the same Social Security plan we the people have. No exceptions! Give them 90 days to fix the Social Security system. If they don’t get it fixed in 90 days all their past, present and future benefits Freeze and a 10% cut in pay after the 90 days. To me, they are not Democrats or Republicans, they are corrupt politicians. I bet if we give this problem to an independent think tank they can get this fixed.

Education;
The same with Education. 90 days or we give it to an independent think tank.

Immigration;
The same with Immigration. 90 days or we give it to an independent think tank.

Where do we get the money to pay the independent think tanks? From the corrupt politicians. Fine them. Take a way their benefits. Fire them.

Can you see you and your child in a doctor’s office waiting to see the doctor and H. Clinton and her kid sitting next to you waiting to see the doctor?

If the politicians don’t fix are problem we can make it their problem to.

Don't Waver When The Moment Comes.

2007-10-13T07:18:00.000-05:00

Don't Waver When The Moment Comes.

Suddenly cool Al Gore looks like a good choice.

Al Gore could become the only man to win an Oscar, a Nobel Prize and his party's presidential nomination.

He already has collected an Oscar for his global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." (Actually, that's two Oscars, if you count best song.) He's Won the Nobel Peace Prize.

We hope he goes for it.

Gore has said repeatedly that he's happy doing what he's doing, while not irrevocably ruling out a run. Friends and former aides are hedging bets.

The first President Bush mocked him as "ozone man." Now, corporations seek his counsel on global warming.

"An Inconvenient Truth" has made environmental activism - and Gore, in all his woodenness - cool again. Thousands flock to his lectures on campuses. Rock stars go gaga over him.

But more important, international leaders, who turned against America when Bush scoffed at treaties and rejected diplomacy, respect and admire Gore.

However much he has achieved in the past seven years, President Gore could achieve what citizen Gore cannot. So bide your time, Al Gore, as Bobby Kennedy did in 68. But don't waver when the moment comes.

'Scooter' Libby Rewarded For Keeping Silent.

2007-07-04T10:37:00.000-05:00

With his decision to commute the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, President Bush again demonstrated that he considers his administration to be above the law.

Lie to cover up misdeeds and you will be protected is the message sent to those in the administration. And the president's action tells the American people that there are different sets of laws and punishments for the politically powerful and the common person.

Those are terrible messages to send on the week the nation celebrates its Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical king, also named George.

The day cannot come soon enough when the nation gains its independence from this George as well.

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Senate drops tax package, boosts auto fuel rules.

2007-06-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Senate passed an energy bill on Thursday that would raise the country's automobile fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 30 years.

But the Senate dropped $32 billion in clean-energy incentives after Republicans objected to about $29 billion in extra taxes on big U.S. oil companies.

Minutes before midnight, the Senate voted 65-27 to approve the Democratic rewrite of U.S. energy policy, which would mandate a four-fold use in ethanol in motor gasoline by 2022 and raise vehicle fuel-efficiency standards by 10 miles per gallon, or to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

H.R. 6 (CLEAN Energy Act of 2007)

Vote Summary

Question:
On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 6, As Amended)

Vote Number:
226 Vote Date: June 21, 2007, 11:25 PM

Required For Majority:
1/2 Vote Result: Bill Passed

Measure Number:
H.R. 6 (CLEAN Energy Act of 2007)

Measure Title:
An Act to move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers from price gouging, to increase the energy efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts:
YEAs 65
NAYs 27
Not Voting 7

Source:

Read The Full Story:

U.S. Short-Changes Climate Monitoring

2007-06-05T10:27:00.000-05:00

U.S. short-changes climate monitoring, report says.

Reducing the number of satellites places the global-warming program 'in serious jeopardy,' government scientists warn.

America will lose much of its ability to monitor global warming from space unless the Bush administration reverses course and restores funding for the next generation of climate instruments, according to a confidential report prepared by government scientists.

Read The Full Story

The Assault on Reason

2007-05-31T05:32:00.000-05:00

The Assault on Reason

In the months following the release of An Inconvenient Truth, I began to focus on why our democracy has been so slow to deal with the climate crisis. The unwillingness to solve this problem is not only the result of a lack of political will, but it has also been caused by the emergence of a new political environment dangerously hostile to reason, knowledge, and facts. In the long-term, this poses a threat to the very basis of American democracy: the ability of a well-informed citizenry to use the rule of reason to hold government accountable.

Book Excerpt: The Assault on Reason:

You can purchase The Assault on Reason by visiting:

START HERE

2007-05-24T03:58:00.000-05:00

~ Al Gore

START HERE:
Document is publicly viewable at:

Edited By WestTexasBliss

IPCC report upbeat on climate change Published

2007-05-07T02:52:00.000-05:00

BANGKOK: After two grim warnings on the impact of climate change, the world’s top experts were unusually upbeat in assessing ways to protect the Earth, but said that national leaders have no time to waste.
The report delivered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN’s top authority on the subject which met in Bangkok last week, said humanity could at least slow global warming with existing, affordable technology.
But the experts warned that time was of the essence to ward off the most destructive effects of climate change.
“We believe that human beings are capable of reducing the problems that we may get on climate change,” Ogunlade Davidson, the co-chair of the meeting, said.

“The only difficulty is to get the political will to do that,” he said.

~~~

My fear is this whole global warming crisis will bring out the worst of us, not the best. Can anyone realistically see humankind working together to kick this thing, or does the crisis have the propensity to bring out the Hitler like traits in us all? Idealistically I would like us all to work this out but realistically I see a horror that I will not spare any words on. May God have mercy on us all.

~ Paul M

Science triumphs over politics at UN climate change meeting

2007-05-06T04:42:00.000-05:00

SCIENCE had a rare victory over politics at this week's UN climate change conference, after a united call for action emerged despite fierce debate over how to best tackle global warming.

The UN's top body on climate change last Friday released a report approved by delegates from 120 nations, laying out how the world could avoid the worst impacts of global warming with minimal economic damage.

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting began in Bangkok last Monday, delegates warned that it was fanciful to believe all the players had the interests of the planet at the top of their agenda.

They said nations would inevitably fight to protect their own economic and political interests, and as the meeting got under way, reports crept out from behind the closed doors that some delegations were indeed playing politics.

But after all the battles, wrangling and interventions, most agreed that science had triumphed, with politics sometimes playing a helping hand.

"You could argue that some of the delegates that are most critical and difficult towards the text are the most important to the text," said Michael Williams, spokesman for the UN's Environment Programme.

"By challenging and nitpicking and asking questions, that just increases the chances of us getting a better text rather than just being polite about it."

The United States, usually fingered as a key culprit in protecting economic interests over climate change concerns, escaped largely unscathed from the conference, with most delegates pleasantly surprised by its performance.

"I was relieved to see the Americans behaving, that makes such a difference," said Stephan Singer, of the conservation group WWF.

Shouldering most of the blame for trying to stick a political oar in the proceedings was China, which was said to be trying to play up the costs of taking immediate action to battle global warming.

Michael Mueller, a German environment ministry official who attended the talks, accused China of impeding progress towards cutting greenhouse gases, and said its delegates had been "masters of deception and the art of interpretation".
BANGKOK 06-May-07

World Wide Strike, July 7, 2007

2007-04-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

My Solution

Submitted by Sherwy on Sat, 04/28/2007.

Well finally got the opportunity to watch AIT and my gut feeling on how I would feel after watching this mind bending truth of what society has created was right. It made me feel sad, scared and sick. Sad that this could actually have happened, sad for my children who will potentially grow up only knowing destruction, death, disasters, animal extinctions, disease………………………… Scared that we want do anything, scared that our ability to change will be taken from us by a handful of people, organizations, politicians and corporations. Sick of doing nothing, sick of listening to those in charge lying and manipulating us and I feel sick thinking about those poor animals and eco systems that also live in this world, having no idea no warning of this destruction that man is and has created.

We have to stop talking about the changes, stop talking about implementing small decreases of emissions by say 2012. Those kinds of discussions have been going on for 20+ years now and still only small changes have been implemented. In most cases increases in emissions have occurred, as we have seen in AIT in those years of talks the environmental impact of our current way of life is speeding this fatal process up. This will lead us to only one outcome as they say “to the end of life as we know it”. So if we don’t stop as a world wide society killing our planet WE WILL END LIFE we know this!!!!! Those people who are continuing this situation and controlling the people blinding and lying to us all to protect there annual profits will at the end of the day LOSE , because end in some form is coming life as we know it is on a knife edge. For me it has gone beyond just doing your bit, to now the only way is to unit as one world one society and make the changes required.

My solution is to implement sudden change by pre-empting that end. How???? By stopping simple stopping, you think if we as ordinary people just stopped going to work and protested across the world, who would be hardest hit??? We are lead to believe that we would suffer. If we stopped around the world and said enough they would have to listen and change would happen rapidly. If we spent those billions, trillions of dollars world wide that have been generated by that which is KILLING OUR PLANET us!!! If we as a world wide society just spent some time and money implementing those necessary changes, then I believe in 1year maybe 2years who cares how long we could divert a forced and inevitable destruction, that would have a far greater impact on man then 1 or 2 years of hard work.

We need to be not one person making change but one world making that world wide change.

Am I making sense here? I need some feed back, could this work??? What do you think???

Sherwy's blog:
-----
World Wide Strike
Submitted by WestTexasBliss on Sat, 04/28/2007.

Okay, how about doing this July 7, 2007.
Starting 12:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. 24 hours,

What do you think?

Wembley's Live Earth Lineup Announced
Madonna, Genesis, Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are to play at the new Wembley Stadium for a concert highlighting the threat of climate change.
Other acts at the London leg of the Live Earth series of concerts include James Blunt, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol, Razorlight and Damien Rice.

Seven Live Earth shows will take place around the world on July 7. The line-up for the UK leg of the 24 hour event was announced yesterday by Live Earth founder and executive producer Kevin Wall. He said: "This monster line-up will ensure Live Earth meets our goal of bringing together people from around the world to combat the climate crisis. Live Earth will not only span all seven continents, but the musicians who have answered our call span multiple genres and generations."

Read the Full Story,
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Boxer will 'hound' Bush on emissions regulations

2007-04-22T06:49:00.000-05:00

Sen. Barbara Boxer promised to pressure the Bush administration to adopt California-style global warming regulations, saying Wednesday that the Supreme Court "handed us a gift" with its recent landmark decision authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce greenhouse gases as a pollutant.
The decision "put the wind at our backs," the California Democrat said, vowing at the National Press Club to haul administration officials before her Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to ask them what immediate steps they will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are produced by the consumption of fossil fuels.
"I will hound them on this week after week after week after week," said Boxer, who chairs the committee. "It doesn't take China doing anything. It doesn't take India doing anything. It doesn't take Congress doing anything."
The administration has the power to act on its own, she said, and "I intend to move to make sure the administration uses its powers."

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Pelosi Opens Doors

2007-04-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

The Bush administration and its allies in the media have been heaping scorn upon House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for her trip last week to Syria to speak with Syrian President Bashar Assad.The conservative media claim Pelosi has undermined U.S. foreign policy. How? By ignoring the Bush administration's policy to not have direct talks with Syria, which they claim is one of the world's leading sponsors of international terrorism.
Some have gone so far as to call for Pelosi's prosecution under the Logan Act, which makes it a felony for any American "without authority of the United States" to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States."
If you agree with that line of argument, since we are at war, Pelosi is guilty of treasonous behavior. There's just one problem. The argument is total nonsense.

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Broad Irony

2007-03-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

The first rule when criticizing popular science presentations for inaccuracies should be to double check any 'facts' you use. It is rather ironic then that William Broad's latest piece on Al Gore plays just as loose with them as he accuses Gore of doing.

We criticized William Broad previously for a piece that misrepresented the scientific understanding of the factors that drive climate change over millions of years, systematically understating the scientifically-established role of greenhouse gases, and over-stating the role of natural factors including those as speculative as cosmic rays. In this piece, Broad attempts to discredit Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" by exaggerating the legitimate, but minor, criticisms of his treatment of the science by experts on climate science, and presenting specious or unsubstantiated criticisms by a small number of the usual, well-known contrarians who wouldn't agree even if Gore read aloud from the latest IPCC report.

This article is very disappointing, not just because it gets things so wrong, but because it misses an opportunity to address a much more substantive issue. It is inevitable that working scientists will find popular presentations of their work lacking in depth and nuance (after all, depth and nuance are what we do!). Whatever you may think about Al Gore's movie, it is indisputable that it has raised awareness of the issues and left a substantial part of the public hungry for more information. That hunger can only be fed by people who are closer to the science than Gore, and it is inevitable that the AIT will be used as a springboard or contrast for further presentations. A better article would have investigated how that is happening and how that is affecting public awareness of the science. Unfortunately, this article does nothing to improve public awareness, and that is deeply ironic.
~
Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt
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Edited by WestTexasBliss
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Read the Full Story: document is publicly viewable.
~

Global Warming Debate

2007-03-13T02:04:00.000-05:00

Along with Richard Somerville (UC San Diego) and Brenda Ekwurzel (Union of Concerned Scientists), I'll be appearing at a debate on Wednesday (March 14th) about whether Global Warming is a crisis (or not). That might have gone without notice (like most of my public talks), except that our opponents are Michael Crichton, Richard Lindzen and Philip Stott. The preliminary position statements (from me and from Philip Stott) are available on the ABCnews site. It's sold out, but the proceedings will be broadcast on NPR (for instance, WNYC 820 AM on Friday, March 23, 2007 at 2PM) and there will be a podcast (though I don't know if it will stream live). There's an online poll as well for what that's worth.

I'm quite looking forward to this, but I have to admit to conflicting thoughts. Does participating help perpetuate the idea that global warming per se is still up for debate? Is this kind of rhetorical jousting useful for clarifying issues of science that most people there will only superficially grasp? Can this be entertaining and educational? Or does it just validate the least serious opposition? Is it simply a waste of time that would be better spent blogging?
~
I'd be interested in any thoughts people might have.
~
Gavin
~

Gavin, RealClimate (Read the Full Story)

Swindled: Carl Wunsch responds

2007-03-13T01:52:00.000-05:00

The following letter from Carl Wunsch is intended to clarify his views on global warming in general, and the The Great Global Warming Swindle which misrepresented them.

Partial Response to the London Channel 4 Film "The Global Warming Swindle"

I believe that climate change is real, a major threat, and almost surely has a major human-induced component. But I have tried to stay out of the `climate wars' because all nuance tends to be lost, and the distinction between what we know firmly, as scientists, and what we suspect is happening, is so difficult to maintain in the presence of rhetorical excess. In the long run, our credibility as scientists rests on being very careful of, and protective of, our authority and expertise.

The science of climate change remains incomplete. Some elements are so firmly based on well-understood principles, or for which the observational record is so clear, that most scientists would agree that they are almost surely true (adding CO2 to the atmosphere is dangerous; sea level will continue to rise,...). Other elements remain more uncertain, but we as scientists in our roles as informed citizens believe society should be deeply concerned about their possibility: failure of US midwestern precipitation in 100 years in a mega-drought; melting of a large part of the Greenland ice sheet, among many other examples.

Swindled

Swindled: Carl Wunsch responds

RealClimate (Comments)

Al Gore's energy bill…

2007-03-01T05:02:00.000-06:00

I don't believe this; this is it? Al Gore's energy bill… This has ExxonMobil's finger prints all over it. This is a page out of Karl Rove's play book. Let me see if I have this straight. ExxonMobil $$$, Karl Rove's play book and Drew Johnson's Stink Tank and the best they can come up with is Al Gore's energy bill! This is a spin if I ever seen one. If, you ExxonMobil ($$$), Karl Rove (play book), Drew Johnson (Stink Tank) are going to have me believe that Al Gore is the bad guy, you better think again. I have seen what you did to people like McCain, John Kerry, Joseph C. Wilson and Valerie Plame. Typical smear campaign. Tell me Drew Johnson what is your energy bill? Where do you get your funding from? Maybe someone should start digging in your trash-can. Let me go over this again, ExxonMobil $$$, Karl Rove's play book, Drew Johnson's Stink Tank and Al Gore, devoted 30 years of his life to educating people about global warming.

You can attack the messenger but the message remains the same". Mr. Gore's fuel bills failed to tell the whole picture. All the energy used for the Nashville home came from a green power provider to the Tennessee Valley that draws its energy from solar, wind-powered and methane gas supplies, among other sources.

Laurie David, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, said that the furore was only to be expected. A leading global warming campaigner, she is familiar with criticism of this kind having been called a "jetstream liberal" for using private planes. "What this lame attempt to discredit Al Gore tells me is that we are winning.

Minn. Raises Bar on Renewable Energy Use

2007-02-22T20:25:00.000-06:00

Minnesota put its faith in a future fueled by renewable energy Thursday as the governor signed a law requiring utilities to generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and sun by 2025. Considering where Minnesota stands now - about half the power produced in the state is from coal, and only 5 percent from renewable sources - the move is the most aggressive in the country, analysts say.

"We have to break our addiction to fossil fuels," Gov. Tim Pawlenty said in signing the legislation.

The new law, which sailed through the Legislature, encourages the use of wind farms, hydroelectric power and solar energy, as well as cleaner-burning fuels.

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Al Gore's Musical Call to Action

2007-02-18T17:50:00.000-06:00

The hit-making record producer Pharrell Williams, the wizard behind the beats of everybody from Ludacris to Britney, promises it will be "the biggest party on Earth." How big?

At the news conference Thursday announcing this summer's ambitious "Live Earth" concerts -- designed as an exercise in "mass persuasion" about threats of global warming -- Al Gore described his vision: a 24-hour musical extravaganza across seven continents, featuring as many as 150 of the world's top recording artists, introduced by an army of "celebrities and thought leaders" (think: Cameron Diaz and Richard Branson), playing before a total live audience of a million people, and reaching 2 billion more via television, radio and the Internet on July 7.

~
Document is publicly viewable at...

Photovoltaics, or PV for short, is a solar power technology

2007-01-27T05:06:00.000-06:00

Photovoltaics, or PV for short, is a solar power technology that uses solar cells or solar photovoltaic arrays to convert energy from the sun into electricity. Photovoltaics is also the field of study relating to this technology.

Solar cells are regarded as one of the key technologies towards a sustainable energy supply.
Mankind's traditional uses of wind, water, and solar power are widespread in developed and developing countries; but the mass production of electricity using renewable energy sources has become more commonplace only recently, reflecting the major threats of climate change due to pollution, exhaustion of fossil fuels, and the environmental, social and political risks of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Many countries and organizations promote renewable energies through taxes and subsidies. Varying definitions of the term renewable energy have been adopted to define eligibility under these policies.

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Phaeton's Reins

2007-01-24T03:13:00.000-06:00

The human hand in climate change.

Kerry Emanuel.

Two strands of environmental philosophy run through the course of human history. The first holds that the natural state of the universe is one of infinite stability, with an unchanging earth anchoring the predictable revolutions of the sun, moon, and stars. Every scientific revolution that challenged this notion, from Copernicus' heliocentricity to Hubble's expanding universe, from Wegener's continental drift to Heisenberg's uncertainty and Lorenz's macroscopic chaos, met with fierce resistance from religious, political, and even scientific hegemonies.

The second strand also sees the natural state of the universe as a stable one but holds that it has become destabilized through human actions. The great floods are usually portrayed in religious traditions as attempts by a god or gods to cleanse the earth of human corruption. Deviations from cosmic predictability, such as meteors and comets, were more often viewed as omens than as natural phenomena. In Greek mythology, the scorching heat of Africa and the burnt skin of its inhabitants were attributed to Phaeton, an offspring of the sun god Helios, who, having lost a
wager to his son, was obliged to allow him to drive the sun chariot across the sky. In this primal environmental catastrophe, Phaeton lost control and fried the earth, killing himself in the process.

These two fundamental ideas have permeated many cultures through much of history. They strongly influence views of climate change to the present day.

The myth of natural stability.
So what saved the earth from fire and ice?
Greenhouse physics.
Why the climate problem is difficult.
Determining humanity’s influence.
The consequences.
Science, politics, and the media.
The politics of global climate change.

Like it or not, we have been handed Phaeton’s reins, and we will have to learn how to control climate if we are to avoid his fate.

Kerry Emanuel is a professor of meteorology at MIT and the author of Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes. In 2006 Time magazine recognized him as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.

SOURCE: Originally published in the January/February 2007 issue of Boston Review:

ME: Your document is publicly viewable at:

ME: BackyardPit:

Calling All Science Teachers.

2007-01-15T19:53:00.000-06:00

Climate science from climate scientists.

Calling All Science Teachers.

RealClimate.

Al Gore’s movie.

DVD Giveaway for Teachers.

Science a la Joe Camel.

Scientists' Report

ME.

To The Churches, A Pastor's Message.

2007-01-13T13:56:00.000-06:00

Al Gore and Global Warming: A Pastor's Message.

~
Chuck Cram, pastor of the Aspen Community United Methodist Church, is carrying a new message today: Global warming is happening and it's time to do something about it.

~
Cram has joined Al Gore's army of presenters for the "Answer the Call" program, a multi-media presentation based on Gore's book and 2006 film "An Inconvenient Truth."

~
After attending a Jan. 4-6 training session in Nashville, Tenn., Cram, along with 200 other trainees, is now qualified to present a version of Gore's computer-based slide show.

~
"I'm very excited and I want to get out and make some presentations, talk to people, field their questions and do what I can," Cram said.

~
While researching for a sermon on environmentalism in October, Cram stumbled across Gore's website www.theclimateproject.org . He saw the call for volunteers, applied and was accepted in December. The cost of the trip to Nashville came out of his pocket, he said, with a little help from the church.

~
"It was really an inspiring event," Cram said of Gore's training program. And Cram was humbled by his fellow trainees who ranged from NASA scientists, to professors, to business owners and other clergy members.

~
"The bios on these people were amazing. I didn't fit in," he joked.

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Gore welcomed the group on opening night and walked trainees through the slide show on the second day. One of Gore's science advisors answered questions.

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"We really learned a lot about the research and the vetting of the information," Cram said.

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"Within the scientific community there isn't any debate about global warming," Cram said. Any doubt about global warming comes from the media and the influence of large oil companies, Cram said. He called the misleading information "inexcusable."

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And Cram is frustrated by members of the religious right who spread the wrong message about global warming. He hopes his church will be on the leading edge of environmental action, and he sees his work spreading the message about climate change as an important part of that.

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"There isn't anything more important than being good stewards of God's creation," the pastor said. "That's pretty basic."

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There is no silver bullet to the problem of climate change, Cram said, but there is what he called "silver buckshot," or lots of small ways people can make a difference.

"Get involved, think about your house and your vehicle," he recommends. People can make use of existing technology to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By using efficient light bulbs, driving efficient vehicles, avoiding idling auto engines - a host of "little tiny things" - people can make a difference.

~
"It's very hopeful. We still need to convince a lot of people that there is a problem, and that's kind of what the first part of the message is about. And then we get into what we can do and how we respond to this problem," Cram said.

~
Cram called the former U.S. vice president "very accessible." Cram expected little more than a cameo during the training from the former U.S. vice president, but Gore spent a lot of time with trainees. Cram called Gore "very accessible."

~
"He doesn't put on airs," Cram said, and added Gore has a great sense of humor.

Cram is ready to schedule presentations of "Answer the Call" in the Roaring Fork Valley. He offers 20-, 40- and 60-minute versions of the slide show. Cram cannot accept a fee to give the presentation, but said it is reasonable for individuals or organizations to cover his travel expenses. He plans to hold the first presentation in coming weeks at the Aspen Community Church.

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To arrange a presentation, contact Cram at the church at 925-1571, by cell phone at 319-0458, or by e-mail at revccram@earthlink.net.

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Charles Agar's e-mail address is cagar@aspentimes.com.

~
Aspen Times:

TheClimateProject:

2006 Is Hottest Year on Record in U.S.

2007-01-12T00:51:00.000-06:00

Last year was the warmest in the continental United States in the past 112 years -- capping a nine-year warming streak "unprecedented in the historical record" that was driven in part by the burning of fossil fuels, the government reported yesterday.

According to the government's National Climatic Data Center, the record-breaking warmth -- which caused daffodils and cherry trees to bloom throughout the East on New Year's Day -- was the result of both unusual regional weather patterns and the long-term effects of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The center said there are indications that the rate at which global temperatures are rising is speeding up.

El Ni?o weather pattern in the equatorial Pacific also contributed to the warm temperatures by blocking cold Arctic air from moving south and east across the nation.

Advocates for more action to control carbon dioxide emissions also voiced concern.

The Bush administration has rejected proposals to cap carbon dioxide emissions or impose carbon taxes as a way to limit global warming. Lawrimore said he believes the problem could and should be addressed by developing new technologies for powering vehicles and industry.

Read The Full Story:

An Icon For Climate Change: The Polar Bear

2007-01-05T03:29:00.000-06:00

The Polar Bear.

READ THE FULL STORY...

I fervently believe that climate change, with the destruction that it is wreaking on our fragile, sacred earth, has become the most profound religious issue of our times.

A Jewish Response to Climate Change

2006-12-28T16:44:00.000-06:00

Planet-Hunter Searches For Second Earth

Probe to investigate distant solar systems

Goldilocks' zones may be site of extraterrestrial life

The hunt for a second Earth began in earnest yesterday with the launch of a space probe that will peer beyond the solar system to distant planets

warmed by the faintest of stars.
At 2.23pm UK time a modernised soyuz rocket tore into the sky over Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Corot, the first space telescope

designed to find habitable planets orbiting stars in remote solar systems.

The mission, which will take place over a two-and-a-half-year period, will look for rocky worlds about twice the size of Earth that lie in what space

scientists call habitable zones, the Goldilocks regions of space in every solar system where heat from the nearest star is neither too hot nor too cold

to sustain liquid water - believed to be the essential ingredient for life.

Planet-Hunter Searches For Second Earth

Time to Get Serious

Peak Oil

Ian Sample, Science Correspondent
Thursday December 28, 2006
The Guardian

2006-12-27T06:11:00.000-06:00

Health Officials Puzzled By Whooping Cough Outbreak

What city health officials at first thought was an outbreak of whooping cough among employees at Children’s Hospital Boston may have been

something else entirely.

But exactly what is still in question.

It started when a 19-month-old patient came down with the classic symptoms of whooping cough, a respiratory disease also known as pertussis.

Symptoms include a runny nose, sneezing, slight fever, and mild cough, which can develop into a violent and persistent cough.

A laboratory test confirmed he had the disease.

Three dozen hospital employees and one other patient tested positive for whooping cough from late September through early November.

But further testing, different from the initial tests, could find little evidence of the highly contagious bacteria. Now no one can say for sure what

made the workers sick, but pertussis hasn’t been ruled out.

Federal and state health officials joined the city in trying to figure out exactly what ailed the workers, all of whom recovered.

The Children’s Hospital cases were at first confirmed through a test called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR.

Based on the tests, Children’s moved to contain the outbreak.

“Children’s, much like we do at the local health department, really relies on laboratory tests to guide us on what the diagnosis is, especially

illnesses that can look like a lot of different things,” said Dr. Anita Barry of the Boston Public Health Commission. “Having accurate test results early

on, particularly when they’re consistent with the clinical symptoms, really launches us into control steps.”

State lab workers then performed other tests, including the laborious task of culturing samples and taking blood samples from hospital workers.

The additional tests were almost uniformly negative for pertussis.

Samples were sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

“The results were inconclusive,” said Dr. Amanda Cohn, a medical epidemiologist for the federal agency.

There are competing theories, ranging from a cold virus to a bacterial relative of pertussis to the virus that causes the condition commonly known as

walking pneumonia.

It’s unlikely that the causes of all the respiratory illnesses will ever be fully known.

“What I can say is that whatever it was, it went away,” Barry said. “And that’s the good news.”

Read The Full Story, Boston Herald...

2006-12-17T04:42:00.000-06:00

Climate Change, What Can I Do?

I am sending this e-mail to all family members; you can share it with your friends. I feel this is one of the most important e-mails I have ever sent.

You probably heard a lot about climate change in the news by now.

You’re going to here, in the news a lot about it. News writers are not climate scientist. News writers will take a climate scientists papers and take things out of context and add to it to get your attention and to make the story interesting.

There are a lot of doomsday-errs out their. So, take care of what you read. One doomsday-errs is (I like to refer to him as Dr. Doom Pianka) Dr. Pianka is not a climate scientist; he is a biology professor at the University of Texas. Another scientist to be careful of is Steven Milloy. Read about Steven Milloy at http://n.l.bliss.googlepages.com/science_junkscience and follow the links. (Milloy had received extensive funding and direction from Phillip Morris, RJR Tobacco, and Exxon Mobil).

Now for the good guys, the best I know of is Al Gore. Al Gore has been working on climate change for years. He is working with some of the top climate scientist in the world. Al Gore will gather information from climate scientists and explain it so lay-people can understand it. If you are interested in what you can do about climate change, see Al Gore’s documentary, (now on DVD) “An Inconvenient Truth”. You owe it to yourself to see this film. Become part of the solution. One of the most important films of our time. The Blue Marble (planet earth) needs your help. Moral Challenge. Moral Obligation.

If you are interested in more information on global warming see my website http://backyardpit.googlepages.com/. I update it daily. Follow the links. I try to stay away from doomsday scientist. I have one, Dr. Pianka. You’re not going to believe his answer for global warming.

Read about Dr. James E. Hansen, the top climate scientist at NASA and the others scientists and follow the links. They are some of the top climate scientist in the world; very interesting people and they look like kids.

Links:

Website, (BackyardPit) http://backyardpit.googlepages.com/

Dr. James E. Hansen http://backyardpit.googlepages.com/dr.jamese.hansen

Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. http://backyardpit.googlepages.com/albertarnoldgore

An Inconvenient Truth http://www.algore.com/

RealClimate (climate scientists) http://www.realclimate.org/

The Threat of Climate Change

2006-11-26T03:24:00.000-06:00

The Threat of Climate Change

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Energy Firms Come to Terms With Climate Change

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Read complete Post coverage on the science and politics surrounding the threat of human-induced climate change.

~
Station 618...

Special Report...

Go Green

Save The Earth; Destroy Humanity

2006-11-22T18:08:00.000-06:00

Save The Earth; Destroy Humanity

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It is the crusade of the 20th century. A holy war to reverse the ‘destruction of the ecological balance caused by self-serving, ego-centric human activities’.

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Is this crusade prompted by a concern for humanity, or the opposite? Let’s ask Biology professor Eric Pianka of the University of Texas…

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Professor Pianka just received the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist award at the Texas Academy of Science's annual meeting. He also gave a very enlightening talk at the meeting. Most enlightening:

~
"Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine," Eric Pianka cautioned students and guests at St. Edward’s University on Friday. Pianka's words are part of what he calls his "doomsday talk" — a 45-minute presentation outlining humanity's ecological misdeeds and Pianka's predictions about how nature, or perhaps humans themselves, will exterminate all but a fraction of civilization.

~
Though his statements are admittedly bold, he's not without abundant advocates. But what may set this revered biologist apart from other doomsday soothsayers is this: Humanity's collapse is a notion he embraces.

~
Indeed, his words deal, very literally, on a life-and-death scale, yet he smiles and jokes candidly throughout the lecture. Disseminating a message many would call morbid, Pianka's warnings are centered upon awareness rather than fear.

~
"This is really an exciting time," he said Friday amid warnings of apocalypse, destruction and disease. Only minutes earlier he declared, "Death. This is what awaits us all. Death." Reflecting on the so-called Ancient Chinese Curse, "May you live in interesting times," he wore, surprisingly, a smile.

~
So what's at the heart of Pianka's claim?

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6.5 billion humans is too many.

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In his estimation, "We've grown fat, apathetic and miserable," all the while leaving the planet parched.

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The solution?

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A 90 percent reduction.

Save The Earth Destroy Humanity .PDF

The Pearcey Report

The Gazette-Enterprise

Republicans & Conservatives: Archives

Avery and Singer: Unstoppable Hot Air

2006-11-21T18:00:00.000-06:00

Avery and Singer: Unstoppable Hot Air

Filed under: Climate Science Paleoclimate Greenhouse Gases— David @ 4:28 pm
~
Last week I attended a talk by Dennis Avery, author with Fred Singer of Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years. The talk (and tasty lunch) was sponsored by the Heartland Institute, and was apparently enthusiastically received by its audience. Still whoozy from a bit of contention during the question period, a perplexed member of the audience told me privately that he thought a Point/CounterPoint discussion might be useful (he didn't know I wrote for RealClimate; it was just a hypothetical thought). But here’s my attempt to accommodate.
~
Note: The Points are paraphrases from the slides and my notes from Avery’s talk.
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Point: The existence of the medieval warm and the Little Ice Age climate intervals, and the 1500 year D-O cycles in glacial climate, proves that the warming in the past decades is a natural phenomenon, not caused by human industry at all.
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CounterPoint: The existence of climate changes in the past is not news to the climate change scientific community; there is a whole chapter about it in the upcoming IPCC Scientific Assessment. Nor do past; natural variations in climate negate the global warming forecast. Most past climate changes, like the glacial interglacial cycle, can be explained based on changes in solar heating and greenhouse gases, but the warming in the last few decades cannot be explained without the impact of human-released greenhouse gases. Avery was very careful to crop his temperature plots at 1985, rather than show the data to 2005.
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READ ALL Point/CounterPoint
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Point: Environmentalists do what they do because they miss having their mommies reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales to them. They like getting all scared.
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CounterPoint: To hybrid-phrase Thomas Jefferson and Richard Feynman,

I tremble for humanity when I reflect that nature cannot be fooled.

You're damn right I’m scared.
~
Filed under: Climate Science Paleoclimate Greenhouse Gases— David @ 4:28 pm

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Federal Leadership Needed To Tackle Climate Change
~
Make a difference right now. Take Action!

Ex-Daley Aide Sentenced To Prison

2006-11-21T05:20:00.000-06:00

Read this news story below. This is why corruption runs ramp-pit in are government. You do the crime you don’t do the time; you get your hands slapped. The first thing these convicted elected officials (gangsters) pack when they are going to so call federal prison is their golf clubs, its like a vacation for them. Corrupt elected officials who commit crimes when in office need to go to a state prison and put in with the general population and stripped of all government benefits’ and after they do the maximum sent-tins they need to be kicked out of the USA for the rest of their life and if a government elected official commits a crime in war time they need to be put in front of a firing squad. And if big corporations and lobbyist or who ever are involved in the crime they get the same sentence. Just before a president leaves office he pardons convicted government officials. No more!

The President is doing a lot of cuts in benefits’ for Americans, so why not have cuts in his benefits’?

Ex-Daley aide sentenced to prison
Tribune staff report
Published November 20, 2006, 5:23 PM CST

Mayor Richard Daley's former patronage chief was sentenced today to 46 months in federal prison for his role in a hiring fraud scheme at City Hall. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Robert Sorich showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge David H. Coar delivered a tongue-lashing.
The offense is corruption — corruption with a capital C,'' Coar said. "For people to owe their jobs to political advancement rather than performance on the job stinks.
"I don't give a hoot whether this has been going on for 200 years," the judge said. "It still stinks.''
As Coar handed down Sorich's sentence, the former City Hall insider stood stiff-lipped while his wife and mother broke down behind him.
Sorich could have received as much as 57 months in prison, but Coar gave him the lowest end of the sentencing range.
Prior to the reading of his sentence, Sorich said, "I just want to stand before the court and my family and friends and let them know I am not a broken man."
He did not apologize or otherwise accept responsibility for the crimes a federal jury found he committed.
Sorich and three other former city officials were convicted in July in a trial that highlighted the inner workings of the mayor's political machine.
Prosecutors say Daley aides rigged hiring for thousands of city jobs and promotions in favor of political loyalists. The scheme allegedly was designed to enhance Daley's political power.
Lawyers for Sorich and his three co-defendants in the trial have argued that the requested sentences are unduly harsh.
They have noted that city workers convicted of taking bribes received relatively short sentences.
Sorich and Timothy McCarthy, his former aide in the mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, were each convicted on two counts of mail fraud.
Former Streets and Sanitation official Patrick Slattery was convicted of one count of mail fraud, while John Sullivan, a former Streets and Sanitation managing deputy commissioner, was found guilty of one count of lying to federal agents about political hiring.
Today, Slattery was sentenced to 27 months in prison, while Sullivan was given two months in custody and two months of home confinement.

Tribune

It's high time for politicians to be paying attention.

2006-11-17T08:13:00.000-06:00

Nancy Pelosi, you just don’t get it do you. Neither did the Republicans and look what happen to them.
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I want government transparency and accountability!
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I am fad up with the corruption in Washington.
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Get corporations out of Washington.
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FIRING ALL members of Congress (regardless of party) who are corrupt,

Nancy Pelosi Wants Total Crap

2006-11-17T06:48:00.000-06:00

House Speaker Pelosi's choice for Majority Leader, Draft Loving John Murtha, has this to say about the anti-corruption bill being pushed by Madame Speaker:

Even though I think its total crap, I’ll vote for it and pass it because that’s what Nancy wants.

I think he's brain-damaged but that gives Murtha too much credit. He's just corrupt.

Pelosi’s Endorsement of Murtha. Total Crap

2006-11-17T05:57:00.000-06:00

Nancy Pelosi was chosen by acclamation to become speaker of the House. Ninety minutes later, she experienced her first smack down.

Pelosi had only herself to blame for this briefest of honeymoons. Just five days after the Democrats' election victory, she shattered party unity Sunday by urging House Democrats to reject her longtime deputy, Steny Hoyer, in favor of antiwar firebrand Jack Murtha, who proceeded to brand House ethics reforms "total crap."

Yesterday, rank-and-file Democrats told Pelosi her endorsement was total crap: They overwhelmingly chose Hoyer to be majority leader.

Hoyer supporter Maxine Waters was holding forth on the impact of Pelosi's letter Sunday endorsing Murtha. "People just said 'I wonder why' and kept on moving and voted for Mr. Hoyer." It's true: Hoyer wound up with about as many votes as he forecast before Pelosi's endorsement of Murtha.

For Pelosi, who led Democrats back to a majority in the House after 12 years, yesterday should have been a coronation for the first woman to be speaker. Instead, her party had plunged into fratricide, and cable news was running nonstop clips of Murtha talking with FBI agents posing as sheiks in the Abscam sting.

Was this a great moment for Democrats, or "total crap"? "The latter," Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider had to admit as she surveyed the melee outside the caucus room.

Jack Abramoff Controversy

2006-11-16T06:56:00.000-06:00

Jack Abramoff Controversy

Abramoff Heading To Prison, Prosecutors Want Him To Roll On More Politicians

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Dorgan Tangled in Abramoff Web

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Dorgan has the North Dakota press wrapped around his finger. In a small state like North Dakota, Dorgan, Conrad et cetera are really important people who can really cause problems if the locals do Kiss their Bu**s.

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No brainer. Will be interesting to see how this unfolds. If the Dem’s are even halfway serious about ethics reform all this will come out. If not, then it remains politics as usual. No surprise there.

~
READ THE FULL STORY

Questions Surround Speaker Pelosi's Choice For House Majority Leader

2006-11-15T21:19:00.000-06:00

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Democratic-leaning watchdog group, accused Pelosi of compromising her ethical standards by endorsing Murtha.

Murtha has fought charges for years of using his senior status on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee to award favors to campaign contributors. He voted against a Democratic package of ethics reforms earlier this year

CBS News reporter Allison Davis

Representative Hoyer's supporters are reviving accounts of Murtha's less-than-decisive rejection of a bribe in the 1980 Abscam FBI sting operation. More recently, Murtha has battled allegations that he may have accepted favors from defense contractors.

Most immediately, Murtha's opposition to ethics reform, including past brushes with ethics issues, open Pelosi to charges that she hasn't heard voters on the importance of cleaning up the culture of corruption in Washington.

"Future House Speaker Pelosi's endorsement of Representative Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, shows that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes, with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group that took a lead in criticizing former GOP majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas over corruption charges.

By Gail Russell Chaddock

Who Killed The Electric Car ?

2006-11-14T08:06:00.000-06:00

Who Killed The Electric Car ?

Make a difference right now. Take Action!

Bush Pledges Bipartisan Cooperation

2006-11-13T05:13:00.000-06:00

Reaching out to newly ascendant Democrats for a second day, President Bush promised bipartisan cooperation to the Senate's top Democrats on Friday.

Bush called Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, to the Oval Office for about 45 minutes of discussions. Afterward, they pledged to put bitter campaign disputes aside and work together.

"The only way to move forward is through bipartisanship and openness," said Reid, D-Nev.

Looking for common ground, Bush noted that both he and Reid hail from the plainspoken West. "We tend to speak the same language," the president said.

READ FULL STORY: By JENNIFER LOVEN
Photo Pablo Martinez Monsivais_AP
~~~
Bush Pledges Bipartisan Cooperation, [Reply, BULL]

"The only way to move forward is through bipartisanship and openness," said Reid, D-Nev. [Reply, BULL]

Looking for common ground, Bush noted that both he and Reid hail from the plainspoken West. "We tend to speak the same language," the president said. [Reply, BULL]

If you think Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice and the rest of the Republicans who are making billions of dollars off the war (occupation) are going to lie down just because the Democrats won the election,

“Think Again”.
I wonder what kind of deposits these Democrats made into their checking accounts after this so called “Bipartisan Lunching”.

Reid, Durbin, Pelosi and the rest of you Democrats, I will be keeping an eye on you!

Nancy Pelosi, Said

2006-11-09T14:15:00.000-06:00

Nancy Pelosi has previously said a Democratic-led Congress will not be a rubber stamp for the White House. Nancy Pelosi, said she hoped there would be cooperation with congressional investigations -- part of the checks-and-balances system built into the Constitution. Nancy Pelosi also has said that in the first 100 hours of her speakership she will push for action implementing all 9/11 Commission recommendations on national security, raising the minimum wage to $7.25, eliminating corporate subsidies for oil companies, allowing the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices, imposing new restrictions on lobbyists, cutting interest rates on college loans and supporting embryonic stem-cell research.

Read Full Story: CNN's John King, Dana Bash and Ed Henry.

Nancy Pelosi, photo from Wikipedia

Chevron 3Q Profit Soars to 5 Billion

2006-10-27T15:34:00.000-05:00

A $5 billion third-quarter profit from Chevron Corp. lifts the cumulative results of the five major oil companies that reported July through September earnings this week to more than $31.5 billion.
The industry benefited from oil prices that averaged more than $70 a barrel, as well as its ability to earn more money from gasoline production and sales. Chevron's profits grew the fastest among its peer group, rising a whopping 40 percent from a year ago.

Washington Post AP Photo: Paul Sakuma

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

The Broken Branch

2006-10-18T22:11:00.000-05:00

Even before the Mark Foley scandal broke, the 109th Congress was suffering from intense partisanship, legislative impasses and near-record-low public approval ratings. Incumbents are scrambling for reelection in the Nov. 7 general election, in which the Republican majorities in both houses are at risk. Regardless of the outcome, few lawmakers expect to rack up enough triumphs in the Nov. 13 lame-duck session to send the 109th Congress into the history books with high marks.
Two of the most knowledgeable congressional scholars are Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. Their new book is "The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track." They recently answered questions about their findings and views.

Photo by PAUL J.RICHARDS

Read Full Store

Thomas E. Mann (Wikipedia)

Thomas E. Mann

The Brookings Institution

Norman J. Ornstein (Wikipedia)

Norman J. Ornstein

American Enterprise Institute

The Broken Branch

Federal Leadership Needed To Tackle Climate Change

2006-10-13T14:30:00.000-05:00

Federal Leadership Needed To Tackle Climate Change

Most Countries Still Failing On Global Warming - Need For Federal Government To Lead

Make A Difference Right Now.

Take Action!

Individual actions may seem small, but together they can change the world. Become part of the solution.
Climate change is. considered by many scientists to be the most serious threat facing the world today. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Solutions include phasing out coal plants, expanding renewable energy sources and public transit, and creating new efficiency standards for vehicles and buildings. Find out what you can do to help make a difference!
Greenhouse gas emissions can be greatly reduced many different ways. Most of the solutions involve increasing the efficiency of our energy use to reduce fossil fuel demand, while maintaining - or improving - our lifestyles. Many of the potential solutions have benefits beyond greenhouse gas reduction, such as increased employment, stimulation of the high-tech manufacturing sector, and reduced urban air pollution.
A combination of public interest and government sponsored programs can make these solutions a reality.

~ David Suzuki

More information

Station 618

Earth Headed for Warmest Temps in a Million Years

2006-09-27T17:40:00.000-05:00

Earth Headed for Warmest Temps in a Million Years

Scientists Also Rebuke Popular Author Michael Crichton

In about 45 years, temperatures on Earth will be hotter than at anytime during the past one million years, says the U.S. government's top climatologist in a new report released today.

According to the report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the planet is just two degrees shy of an average temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, which is what they believe the temperature was about a million years ago.

NASA's James Hansen, along with colleagues from the University of California and Columbia University, are for the first time, marking a calendar signaling the approach of temperatures that humans have never experienced.

"Humans are now in control of the Earth's climate, for better or worse," Hansen tells ABC News.

Based on a "business as usual" scenario in which greenhouse gasses continue to rise unabated, Hansen says we'll break the million-year-old record in about 45 years. But he stresses we can't wait that long to cut greenhouse gas pollution, because of the decades it takes for the climate system to respond to changes.

"We need to get started now," he says. "We can't wait another decade or two to take this seriously."

Those 2 degrees the scientists are talking about may not sound like much, but what that change means is that by mid-century, the world will experience even more record heat waves, wildfires, more intense storms and flooding.

In other parts of the world, the increase may worsen drought conditions as more mountain glaciers and snow packs vanish, no longer sending water to the valleys below.

And in a highly unusual move for a scientific paper, the authors devote eight paragraphs to systematically deconstructing the assertions of a prominent science fiction novelist. In the non-fiction sections of his 2004 book "State of Fear," best-selling author Michael Crichton wrote that Hansen's climate change calculations were "wrong by 300 percent."

Hansen says Crichton misrepresented his scientific work and, adds the scientist, has done so in testimony before Congress and in a meeting with President Bush — even though he is not a climate expert.

"He is propagating false information to the public," Hansen says.

Crichton, through a publicist, declined ABC News' request for an interview.

By CLAYTON SANDELL and BILL BLAKEMORE

Ohio Rep. Files Guilty Plea In Abramoff Scandal

2006-09-16T15:45:00.000-05:00

U.S. Rep. Bob Ney will plead guilty to federal criminal charges he made false statements and conspired to commit fraud and violate federal lobbying laws in the congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Ney, R-Ohio, had defiantly denied the charges for months. Now he faces up to 10 years in prison. The Justice Department said prosecutors will recommend that he serve 27 months based on federal sentencing guidelines. Ney became the first lawmaker to admit wrongdoing in the election-year investigation.

Ney agreed to plead guilty to making false statements and conspiracy to commit "wire and mail fraud," make false statements and violate post-employment restrictions for former congressional staff members.

Ney faces up to ten years in prison, but the Justice Department said prosecutors will recommend he serve 27 months based on federal sentencing guidelines.

Ney signed the plea agreement Wednesday, but it was not approved by the Justice Department or filed in court until Friday.

Don’t forget to take your golf clubs with you Anus Hole.

Images By

Novak vs. Armitage

2006-09-15T03:22:00.000-05:00

Novak vs. Armitage

Bull, I’ve got a bridge in Florida I want talk to you about.

"To Have A Recall Is A Hit. Part Of The Brand Value Is Quality."

2006-08-25T04:40:00.000-05:00

"To Have A Recall Is A Hit. Part Of The Brand Value Is QUALITY."

Holy smoke: Apple recalls 1.8 million laptop batteries. Fire hazard problem.

Holy smoke: Dell to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries. Fire hazard problem.

Holy smoke: Sony’s peace of crap, batteries.

READ THE FULL STORY... Apple... Dell...

Recall, Apple...

Recall, Dell...

Sony Batteries…

They may be Sony’s peace of crap batteries, but Dell and Apple served them!
~
Consumer Products Safety Commission

Photo by Photospin Thank You

FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Beat Swords into Plowshares

2006-08-11T12:26:00.000-05:00

When I was 8 years old a hornet's nest began to take shape in the back of our yard. I went out and watched with a combination of fascination and fear as it grew day by day.

Finally, unable to stand the suspense, I took a big brick and threw it at the nest, breaking off the bottom half and sending the hornets into a swarming frenzy. I ran away as fast as I could as the angry bees swirled behind.

When I think of the relationship of the United States to the Middle Eastern Muslim countries, my experience as an 8-year-old comes to mind. "Why do they hate us?" Americans ask. Well, we've thrown a brick at their hive.

Forget the rhetoric about World War III. Choose the rhetoric of the Middle Eastern prophet Isaiah: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Frank O'Hara is vice president of Planning Decisions in Hallowell.

By Frank O'Hara

READ THE FULL STORY...

FAIR VERSUE FREE

2006-08-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

The Federal Communications Commission seeks to enforce a "fairness doctrine" on radio and TV stations. We suffered numerous "fair trade" laws, until they were declared unenforceable. One businessman vies with another in proclaiming his faith in competition — provided that it is "fair."

Yet, scrutinize word for word the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and you will not find the word "fair." The First Amendment does not protect the "fair" exercise of religion, but the "free" exercise thereof; it does not restrain Congress from abridging the "fairness" of speech or of the press, but the "freedom" of speech or of the press.

The modern tendency to substitute "fair" for "free" reveals how far we have moved from the initial conception of the Founding Fathers. They viewed government as policeman and umpire. They sought to establish a framework within which individuals could pursue their own objectives in their own way, separately or through voluntary cooperation, provided only that they did not interfere with the freedom of others to do likewise.

The modern conception is very different. Government has become Big Brother. Its function has become to protect the citizen, not merely from his fellows, but from himself, whether he wants to be protected or not. Government is not simply an umpire but an active participant, entering into every nook and cranny of social and economic activity. All this, in order to promote the high-minded goals of "fairness," "justice," "equality."

Does this not constitute progress? A move toward a more humane society? Quite the contrary. When "fairness" replaces "freedom," all our liberties are in danger. In Walden, Thoreau says: "If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life." That is the way I feel when I hear my "servants" in Washington assuring me of the "fairness" of their edicts.

There is no objective standard of "fairness." "Fairness" is strictly in the eye of the beholder. If speech must be fair, then it cannot also be free; someone must decide what is fair. A radio station is not free to transmit unfair speech — as judged by the bureaucrats at the Federal Communications Commission. If the printed press were subject to a comparable "fairness doctrine," it would have to be controlled by a government bureau and our vaunted free press would soon become a historical curiosity.

What is true for speech — where the conflict is perhaps clearest — is equally true for every other area. To a producer or seller, a "fair" price is a high price. To the buyer or consumer, a "fair" price is a low price. How is the conflict to be adjudicated? By competition in a free market? Or by government bureaucrats in a "fair" market?

Businessmen who sing the glories of free enterprise and then demand "fair" competition are enemies, not friends, of free markets. To them, "fair" competition is a euphemism for a price-fixing agreement. They are exemplifying Adam Smith's remark that "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." For consumers, the more "unfair" the competition, the better. That assures lowest prices and highest quality.

Is then the search for "fairness" all a mistake? Not at all. There is a real role for fairness, but that role is in constructing general rules and adjudicating disputes about the rules, not in determining the outcome of our separate activities. That is the sense in which we speak of a "fair" game and "fair" umpire. If we applied the present doctrine of "fairness" to a football game, the referee would be required after each play to move the ball backward or forward enough to make sure that the game ended in a draw!

Our Founding Fathers designed a fair Constitution to protect human freedom. In Thomas Jefferson's ringing phrases from the Declaration of Independence, "Governments are instituted among Men ... to secure ... certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Milton Friedman, the winner of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, is the author of Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose . This piece originally appeared in the July 4, 1977 issue of Newsweek and was reprinted in Bright Promises, Dismal Performances: An Economist's Protest, a collection of his articles. Copyright 1983 by Thomas Horton and Daughters, 26662 South New Town Drive, Sun Lakes, AZ 85224.

By Milton Friedman

FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Free Market...I don't think so!

2006-08-03T19:35:00.000-05:00

A car company can move its factories to Mexico and claim it's a free market. A toy company can out source to a Chinese subcontractor and claim it's a free market. A shoe company can produce its shoes in south East Asia and claim it's free market. A major bank can incorporate in Bermuda to avoid taxes and claim it's a free market. We can buy HP Printers made in Mexico. We can buy shirts made in Bangladesh. We can purchase almost anything we want from 20 different countries
BUT, heaven help the elderly who dare to buy their prescription drugs from a Canadian pharmacy. That's called un-American! And you think the pharmaceutical companies don't have a powerful lobby? Think again!

Murtha Hits Rove In Backside -- But It's "Padded"

2006-07-17T06:05:00.000-05:00

~ by Lindbergh

Whatever Happened To Independent Investigations?

2006-06-26T05:37:00.000-05:00

I swear I saw Patrick Fitzgerald walking on the Potomac the other night. Those who maintain he's "above partisanship" will have no problem with such a cosmic vision.
Who and what is Patrick Fitzgerald? Certainly no one Rove needs to worry about he's mostly Karl's creation -- although one wonders why he'd be crossing the Potomac after studying Roe vs. Wade in Law School -- as the old SNL joke goes. And I really don't know why nobody has bothered to connect the dots on "Fitzy."
Someone should. We would see a far different picture of Fitzgerald -- both the man AND the legend. His fans would find this especially disappointing.

Murtha Hits Rove In Backside -- But It's "Padded" ~ by Lindbergh

Immigrants And Being An American In 1907

2006-05-19T22:55:00.000-05:00

In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room forbut one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Prosecutor Weighs Charges Against Rove in Leak Case

2006-04-28T06:56:00.000-05:00

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case, is expected to decide in the next two to three weeks whether to bring perjury charges against Karl Rove, the powerful adviser to President Bush, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday.
With the completion of Mr. Rove's fifth appearance before the grand jury on Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgerald is now believed to have assembled all of the facts necessary to determine whether to seek an indictment of Mr. Rove or drop the case.

Read The Full Store...

Sarcasm aside, I'm not getting my hopes up on a Rove indictment. Too many times over the last 5 years, something has happened that should have signaled the downfall of the current administration. Voting discrepancies, Katrina, Libby's indictment, NSA spying, and the list goes on and on. Yet either the topic was next thing to ignored by the media or by those who could actually take some action (Democrats), or it was somehow forgotten by the angry masses because of something new happening to divert our attention. In that way, Rove has been successful.
I fear for our country for the next 2-3 years. I've learned the hard way that bad things don't take long to happen, but it takes a helluva long time to correct them. Will we ever be able to crawl out of this hole or will this continue until there is nothing left of the U.S.A.?

WE Blog Posted by: RD April 30, 2006 at 11:36 AM

How Do You Wear Your U.S. of American Flag?

2006-04-15T04:51:00.000-05:00

I got an e-mail the other day. It was hard to believe the picture I saw of California kids in California high schools degrading the American Flag. It was hard to believe what I was seeing. Like it or not, if you were born in the U.S. you are U.S. citizens. Didn’t you, everyday in school pelage allegiance to the U.S. flag? You should be ashamed of what you did. I am a Hungarian American. I would never wear the U.S. flag upside down and the Hungarian flag over it. Never! Am I missing something? What allegiance do you owe to Mexico? I am a Hungarian and prod of it, but my allegiance is with the U.S. of American. I as an European American my insisters didn’t take this country away from you they took it away from Mexico and gave you better opportunities for a better life. You cross a river, my insisters cross an ocean for a better life. You have the same opportunities I have. The U.S. of American does not belong to Mexico or to Europeans; it belongs to us, we the people.
Now, I will wear my U.S. of American flag, high. And you can wear your U.S. of American flag upside down and the Mexico flag over it because your brothers and sisters made it possible for you to do this. And this is how they wear their U.S. of American flag.

I Am The Grandson Of Illegal Immigrants

2006-04-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

I am the grandson of illegal immigrants, my grandfather and grandmother came to the U.S. illegally in about 1800’s. My grandfather dug ditches for the city, with a pick and shovel, my grandmother wash the floors in the capital building on her hands and knees (I remember her little foam pad she used for her knees.) They were never on any government programs. If they could not afford it, they went with out. One time my grandfather past out at work and froze his legs, (he would drink wine to stay worm) the hospital wanted to amputate his legs; my grandmother went to his room, picked him up, took him home and made him well. He was never the same but he could work. They were never in any protest marches. The only marches they were in were the Fourth of July parade, the Easter parade, New Years Day parade… My two uncles and three aunts and my mother completed school. They were never in any gangs, they were never in prisons. My two uncles were in the U. S. Army and fought in WW II. My three aunts and mother worked in factories making tanks and airplanes. My grandfather and grandmother could not speak English. When my grandfather and grandmother passed away they were millionaires. My grandfather and grandmother gave the Catholic Church a lot of money to help the poor because it was the right thing to do and they know what it was like to be poor. So don’t tell me what you want, I’ll tell you what you can have and that is an opportunity to become millionaires.
What do you think the government is going to do when prisons are full of drug and alcohol addict etc. and the welfare system is overrun. And the government has to deal with gangs like Mexican Mafia, MS 13 and Sur 13 etc.

Tidal Wave of Illegal Immigrants

2006-04-11T06:12:00.000-05:00

Oceans of them there have been in the streets of the nation's cities, tens of thousands upon tens of thousands, and the Congress, when it reconvenes in due course, cannot permit itself to be deaf and blind to such magnitude in either this election year or those yet to come.
The demonstrations and shows of solidarity, here in New York and all across the land, made their point: There are enormous numbers of men and women, young and old, legal and illegal, Hispanic and non-, who are furious that many of Washington's lawmakers want only to criminalize the undocumented immigrants on American shores, and those who would feed, shelter and employ them.

Read The Full Story...

Illegal Immigration And The Cheap Labor Lobby

2006-04-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Democrats must stand on the side of American workers in dealing with the issue of border security and immigration control. The reality is that illegal immigration hurts workers near the bottom of the wage scale - many of whom happen to be Hispanic or African-American. If the Democratic Party and organized labor will not take a stand on behalf of wage earners, who will? Too many Democratic leaders like Howard Dean have joined the cheap labor lobby along with big business Republicans like George W. Bush and John McCain. Of course, many misguided progressives, Cato Institute types and the big business sponsored media will attempt to portray critics of illegal immigration as xenophobic and racist. Unable to win on merits on the issue, the apologists for illegal immigration feel that they must resort to smear tactics. The lack of border security and immigration enforcement is a economic and national matter - not a racial or ethnic issue.

Reuben Navarrette pointed out in the San Diego Union-Tribune last year that the great Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez (who founded the United Farm Workers) detested illegal immigration. Navarrette wrote:"Despite the fact that Chavez is these days revered among Mexican-American activists, the labor leader in his day was no more tolerant of illegal immigration than the Arizona Minutemen are now. Worried that the hiring of illegal immigrants drove down wages, Chavez – according to numerous historical accounts – instructed union members to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service to report the presence of illegal immigrants in the fields and demand that the agency deport them. UFW officials were even known to picket INS offices to demand a crackdown on illegal immigrants." http://tinyurl.com/qxku8

Read The Full Story...

Bush, Cheney Urged to Discuss Leak Case

2006-04-10T03:23:00.000-05:00

Bush, Cheney Urged to Discuss Leak Case

Sen. Arlen Specter says they should `tell the American people exactly what happened.' An ex-envoy adds they need to `come clean.'

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should speak publicly about their involvement in the leaking of classified information so people can understand what happened, a leading Republican senator said Sunday.

"We ought to get to the bottom of it so it can be evaluated by the American people," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Read The Full Story...

Scott McClellan

2006-04-08T09:59:00.000-05:00

Scott McClellan wanted to talk about promising economic figures and the immigration bill on Capitol Hill. So when he walked into the White House briefing room, he read a statement of the points he wanted to make. The White House press secretary was all too aware that might be his last chance to talk about the issues the administration wants to push.

Then McClellan took questions, knowing the onslaught that would come and that they'd have nothing to do with the economy or immigration. It would be about "Topic A" in Washington this week: court documents alleging that President Bush authorized a leak to a New York Times reporter about previously classified material on Saddam Hussein's nuclear intentions. In the documents former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby said Vice President Dick Cheney told him the president had given the green light.

In Court Filings, Cheney Aide Says Bush Approved Leak

2006-04-06T16:58:00.000-05:00

President Bush authorized Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003 to permit Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., to leak to a reporter key portions of a classified prewar intelligence estimate on Iraq, according to Mr. Libby's grand jury testimony disclosed in court papers filed late Wednesday.
The court filing provided the first indication that Mr. Bush, who has long assailed leaks of classified information as a national security threat, played a direct role in the disclosure of the intelligence report on Iraq and was also involved in the swirl of events leading up to the disclosure of the identity of an undercover C.I.A. officer.

The grand jury testimony by Mr. Libby, who has been charged with perjury and obstruction in the C.I.A. leak case, is said by prosecutors to indicate that Mr. Cheney obtained explicit approval from Mr. Bush to permit Mr. Libby to divulge portions of a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Read the Full Story…

I wouldn’t worry about this Republicans, the spineless good for nothing coward’s wimps Democrats aren’t going to do anything about this, but now Russ Feingold may forget about Censure and go after an impeachment. So what’s it going to take for you spineless good for nothing coward’s wimps Democrats to crawl out from under your rocks and do something? If you Democrats think you have a free ride in 2008 you better think again. The Republicans may be lying gangsters but they are not spineless wimps, they will kick your ass!

The Republicans are TRAITORS

2006-04-03T01:13:00.000-05:00

The Republicans are TRAITORS

Watching the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Feingold's censure resolution, I am struck, ONCE AGAIN, by the abysmal lack of integrity of the Republicans in Congress.

They have made their stand, behind the most criminal, deceitful and incompetent President in the history of the United States of America -- and they will not be moved. Not by facts, not by arguments, not by the very Constitution they swore to uphold and defend.

In this execrable display of mindless partisanship, the Republicans in Congress neither uphold nor defend that Constitution. It is patently clear that the Republicans hold partisanship above all else -- above truth, above country, above the Constitution.

They are traitors. They are GUILTY OF TREASON AGAINST THEIR COUNTRY.

Read The Full Story…

Ethics Reform Stalling In Congress

2006-03-26T04:27:00.000-06:00

Ethics reform stalling in Congress

Bills crafted to end abuses revealed by the Abramoff scandal falter in both House and Senate.

Prospects for robust ethics reform in the 109th Congress are dimming, even as the criminal probes that prompted it are intensifying.
It's a political calculation that could cost lawmakers in this fall's elections, if they misread the degree to which voters care about bribery inside the Beltway.

Read The Full Story…

Election 2006 Is the Key

2006-03-25T08:42:00.000-06:00

Election 2006 Is the Key

In the end, this issue is going to be resolved by the 2006 midterm election. If Republicans lose control of either the House or Senate, the investigations of the Bush/Cheney White House will begin. It won't be pretty. It will make dealing with lying about sex look like High School hazing. It will even make Richard Nixon look like a piker when it comes to staying within the law.

If the early polls are half correct, independent swing voters have had it with Bush. Democrats want no part of him. Moderate Republicans are keeping their distance; they are no longer willing to hold their noses and vote for him.

It will be up to the voters in this Fall's election to judge him, and to decide whether to sweep out of office those legislators who are preventing a full investigation of this matter.

But if this issue goes to court, Bush should worry. Even Republican-appointed judges would have to comprise their judicial integrity to rule in his favor.

By JOHN W. DEAN

READ THE FULL STORY…

You Cowards You Democrat Cowards

2006-03-13T19:46:00.000-06:00

Feingold Draws Little Support for Censure

Democrats Distance Themselves from Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold's Effort to Censure Bush

Democrats distanced themselves Monday from Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold's effort to censure President Bush over domestic spying, maneuvering to prevent a vote that could alienate voters. Republicans dared Democrats to vote for the proposal.
More…

You cowards, You Democrat cowards the Republicans have you right where they want you. You Democrats are afraid of the Republicans you spineless good for nothing wimps. The Republicans are nothing but lying gangsters and you Democrats, are nothing but spineless, good for nothing wimps. Russ Feingold is the only true Democrat out of all of you. STAND TALL RUSS FEINGOLD, The rest of you can go to …..!

You spineless good for nothing coward Democrat wimps, you left Russ Feingold out their all alone. If you Democrats think I am going to vote for anybody other then Russ Feingold you better think again! If this is an example of how you Democrats are going to run this country you can forget it. The Republicans are nothing but lying gangsters and they are robin us blind and all you Democrats can do is wine. And when you spineless good for nothing coward Democrats wimps finely get someone to stand up to those Republican lying gangsters you coward out. I'm about as pissed off as a person can get but you know what Democrats, the Republicans are laughing at you. I’m about ready to dump you!

A Call For A New American Civil War

2006-03-13T05:43:00.000-06:00

It's time, I think, for a New American Civil War.

Oh, I'm not calling for American citizens to take up arms and storm the White House and Congress. Instead, I'm suggesting we all need to step back, take a deep breath, and reexamine the entire concept of political and social discourse.

America is embroiled in an uncivil war - a battle defined by coarseness, division, bitterness and rancor. We substitute name calling for debate, anger for rational thinking and hate for understanding.

Our country sinks under the weight of partisanship, crippled by the spreading paralysis of divisiveness and consumed from within by a cancer of polarization.

Republicans call opponents "democraps" while Democrats assail the other side as "repukenuts." A common ground, if indeed one can be found, is buried beneath a mountain of self-destructive hetoric.

By DOUG THOMPSON

Read the full story...

You Don’t Get It Do You Stupid, It’s Not Just No, It’s HELL NO

2006-03-10T16:28:00.000-06:00

Bush Says Political Storm Over Port Deal Sends Wrong Message

President Bush said today that he was concerned that United States alliances would be weakened in the Middle East by fallout from the aborted takeover of American port terminal operations by a Dubai company.
More…

You don’t get it do you stupid, it’s not just no, it’s Hell No. If we ever do business with Dubai Company it will never be on your watch.

He Had It All

2006-03-07T05:41:00.000-06:00

I’m surprised sometimes at what smart people do, Take Bush for one, he had it all, the Presidency the Republican GOP, he could have gone down in history as one of Americans greatest man like Washington or Lincoln, but he decided to be a money grabber like Cheney, Rove and others. Now he will be remembered as being the worse President in history. What a waist! Now he has to deal with us. I don’t feel sorry for him, he made his bed now he can lay in it!

Is The United States of America A Battlefield Or Not

2006-03-05T20:12:00.000-06:00

To his critics, Gonzales is a Bush yes-man who never really left the White House and who continues to front for a commander-in-chief intent on illegitimately expanding his powers at the expense of civil liberties and in disregard of the legislative and judicial branches. Gonzales seems to have no agenda of his own, detractors say: He appears content to serve as the president's defense attorney rather than as the nation's top cop and prosecutor.

Will he be remembered in history books as an apologist of the Bush policies on torture and illegal spying?

The tension between serving two masters -- the Constitution and the president -- defined the tenures of many of Gonzales's predecessors

The ACLU considers independence the hallmark of good attorneys general, and by any measure, Gonzales certainly isn't neutral about Bush's agenda. "Attorney General Gonzales has displayed a shocking lack of independence.

Between advocating for renewal of the PATRIOT Act and defending the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, Gonzales spent much of his first year explaining the Bush administration's rationale for exercising presidential powers far broader than its critics -- and even some of its allies -- think the Constitution allows.

Last month, the attorney general grounded his most public defense of the administration in its war on terror. Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 6 to defend the controversial NSA program, Gonzales invoked various statutes, the Constitution, and several court rulings in contending that, despite restrictions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the president has the authority to eavesdrop without a warrant on U.S. citizens who are in contact with suspected terrorists abroad. Four of the panel's 10 Republicans, including Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, don't buy Gonzales's legal analysis. Neither does any of the committee's eight Democrats. Specter has drafted legislation to require the FISA court to review the legality and constitutionality of the warrantless eavesdropping.

Many Gonzales critics argue that the NSA's eavesdropping is only a symptom of a much larger malady -- that the attorney general is allowing the president to use the war on terror as an excuse to drastically curtail Americans' basic freedoms. "The administration's view is that the entire world, including every inch of U.S. territory, is akin to a battlefield and that, therefore, if the president decides that he wants to order an arrest or search, then warrants are not necessary," said Tim Lynch, a legal analyst at the Cato Institute. "The real controversy is, is the United States of America a battlefield or not?"

Gonzales's own legacy may well depend on whether his friendship with the president ultimately benefits the nation. "The bottom line is how power is used," professor Baker said. "Attorneys general ultimately disserve their presidents when they forget their other duties to the Constitution."

Full Story...

Bush Team Is Not Firing On All Cylinders.

2006-03-05T01:22:00.000-06:00

Why Bush team is stuck in rough patch

New video of disaster officials warning Bush of hurricane Katrina adds to public-relations stumbles.

Just when it seems the news can't get worse for the Bush administration, it does.
On top of the continuing uproar over the Dubai ports deal and record-low job approval, add to President Bush's woes the leak of a videotape showing disaster officials warning him urgently about hurricane Katrina, the day before it hit the Gulf Coast. The video reinforces the Democratic message that the administration had plenty of advance notice, but still reacted slowly. And that's just this week's bad news.
There's also the warrantless-wiretap controversy, the indictment of a top aide and the threat of more, and the flap over the slow publicizing of the vice president's hunting accident, all against a backdrop of an Iraq on the edge of civil war. Many Americans probably aren't aware that the economy has rebounded and could clock in at a handsome annual growth rate of 4 to 5 percent this quarter.

MORE…

U.S. Needs More Like Feingold

2006-03-03T12:50:00.000-06:00

U.S. needs more like Feingold.

In response to your recent editorial about Senator Feingold, I would paraphrase a historic American by saying that those who would trade their liberties for safety, deserve neither. This constant post 9/11 fear factor that is played over and over again like some trump card is disgraceful.

In the aftermath and rush to judgment and war of 9/11, when Congress hastily pushed through the Patriot Act, Feingold was the only clear headed and courageous senator to vote no. When it came time to renew the Act, Feingold again led the charge in demanding changes to it.
MORE…

Feingold good for president.

The Daily News' editorialist must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed the day the paper's Feb. 20 missive against Senator Russ Feingold was composed. How else could the writer explain such prickly prose as "wacko wing," "tantrum," and "sits down and shuts up"?

If there's one thing Senator Feingold doesn't do, its pander to one political faction or another. Remember his vote on the John Ashcroft nomination? What about his putting his own party and liberal 527 organizations on notice he didn't want big soft money contaminating his Wisconsin re-election campaign?
MOER…

Feingold recognition key to presidential bid.
MORE...

Land Of The Free Or Home Of The Homer?

2006-03-03T10:16:00.000-06:00

First Amendment: More people know about the Simpsons than their freedoms

In a contest between Americans' knowledge of "The Simpsons" and what they know about the First Amendment, Bart and Homer win hands down.

About one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment — freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances. But more than half of Americans can name at least two members of the fictional cartoon family, according to a survey.

The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.
More…

We the People.

Land of the free and home of the brave.

United States Constitution

The Constitution is the supreme law of the United States.

A River Runs Through It Into A Gulf Of Misfortune.

2006-03-03T09:22:00.000-06:00

There are few doctors left, and teachers have been sacked because the schools are closed. So is this what happens when a city in the richest and most powerful country in the world suffers a major, catastrophic event like Katrina?

Is it inevitable that the response to any future major disaster like this - either natural or man-made such as a terrorist attack - will be as clueless, as disorganized, as inept as the response to Katrina?

And is this inevitable, that six months after 80 per cent of an American city is drowned by flood, that virtually no rebuilding has begun and more than half the city's 460,000 population remains scattered across the country?

More…

Official Website of the City of New Orleans...

New Orleans, Wikipedia...

The Republicans ARE Corruption

2006-03-02T02:44:00.000-06:00

David Brooks has been getting some undeserved praise for this piece, in which he speaks rather harshly of Republican corruption and proposes some rather stiff measures which the Republicans should take to become the party of reform.

This is ludicrous. The present majority was put together with the help of billions of corrupt dollars, and the famous party discipline that allowed them to pass so many extremist bills was the result of corruption.

This is the most fiscally-irresponsible administration in American history, and vote-buying is the reason why. Every time a Republican starts to waver, Rove throws a hundred thousand into his campaign fund, or a billion-dollar "bridge to nowhere" into his district. The tremendous deficits we see are the result of vote-buying and nothing else.

My guess is that Brooks fears that the Democrats might take over, and is proposing the new ethics rules in order to make sure that they will be crippled when they do so. Brooks is telling the Republicans to pull up the drawbridge once they're done with their looting.

There's really nothing left of conservativism any more but militarism and low taxes. Fiscal responsibility and limited government are utterly gone. The Bill of Rights is almost gone. Even the militarism hasn't been very successful.

The time is now for conservatives to realize that they are not Republicans any more, but I don't really expect any of them to figure that out. (The time was yesterday and last year, too, but now would be fine). They'll grumble and whine, but the Bush coalition will remain firm.

However, when I talk about "true conservatives" I don't mean Brooks. I don't know if any real conservatives survive, but Brooks is just one of the cagiest and smoothest of the Republican hacks. He's offering the Republicans an "out" which will make it possible for them -- against all logic -- to look like good guys at the end of the movie.

By John Emerson

Forest...

Blogs Are The New Town Hall Meetings Of The 21st Century In America

2006-02-28T03:51:00.000-06:00

When Gallup polled Democratic voters this month on the party's 2008 hopefuls, it didn't even offer Russ Feingold as a choice.

But in one corner of the Democratic universe - the readers of liberal Web logs - the Wisconsin senator has emerged as a political favorite.

In an online poll last month on the nation's most widely read liberal blog (DailyKos.com), Feingold led the Democratic presidential field.

"He definitely is the most popular Democrat among the 'netroots,' " said liberal blogger Chris Bowers, referring to activists in the party who engage in online politics.

Bowers' blog (MyDD.com) did its own online poll in early February, and Feingold led that as well.

Blogs and different online media are new, exceptional ways to communicate and receive feedback in a fast, unfiltered manner. In many respects these blogs are the new town hall meetings of the 21st century in America.
More...

Senator Russ Feingold

2006-02-27T04:01:00.000-06:00

I plan to travel across the country, listen to others, speak out on important issues and advance a progressive reform agenda.

The challenges far too many Americans face every day did not go away with the past election. I will continue to give voice to those who believe we must work to provide health care for all Americans, protect and create jobs, ensure fiscal responsibility, and fight terrorism while also protecting our freedoms.

In both so-called red and blue states, people have a voice that needs to be heard. People in every state want a dialogue that moves beyond the electoral partisan politics and ideology that divides us.

That is why I intend to help begin a dialogue about how we move forward as a country united by the values we share and the challenges we face together.

Senator Russ Feingold

Feingold won big after voting against the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts, and having cast the lone vote in the Senate against the Patriot Act"
~ Chicago Tribune

"In fact it was at the Rockingham County event that he got something no other potential presidential candidate - Republican or Democrat - has received: a lengthy standing ovation just in the middle of his introduction."
~ PoliticsNH.com

"One of the most independent members of Congress"
~ Capital Times

Dubai Expected to Ask for Review of Port Deal.

2006-02-26T05:39:00.000-06:00

After two days of behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Bush administration and Congress, the Dubai company seeking to manage terminals at six American ports is expected to announce by Monday a deal inviting the government to conduct a broad new review of security concerns, senior administration officials and a company adviser say.

If an agreement is completed, the state-owned company, Dubai Ports World, will "voluntarily" ask the Bush administration to pursue the lengthier, deeper investigation that Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been demanding since controversy over the transaction erupted at the beginning of the week.

The White House plans to portray the action as the company's own decision, giving administration officials a face-saving way of backing away from President Bush's repeated declarations in recent days that there is no security risk in having the port terminals operated by a company controlled by the emir of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.
MORE...

Take a look at United Arab Emirates
President Bush asserts that we cannot refuse to allow the United Arab Emirates government controlled company to operate our ports, because we allow a British based company to currently control port operations.

Let's compare the two countries.
The UAE was one of three countries in the world that recognized the Taliban. The UAE has acted as a transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Libya. The FBI confirms that money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking systems. The Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating with efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden's bank accounts following the 9/11 attacks.
Harvard returned a $2.5 million gift from Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Nahayan, the leader of the UAE, because of the activities of the Zayed International Center for Coordination and Follow-up -- a think tank that among other things asserts that the Holocaust was caused by Zionists and not Nazis and the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the United States military.
The British, on the other hand, have been, and continue to be our greatest ally in the war on terrorism. It boggles the mind that our president cannot see the differences between these two countries. Maybe there is more here than meets the eye. I hope the Congress will continue to dig deeper into this ongoing story. I know I will.
JOHN CAMP...

Following the spirit of the law isn't enough.
There is too much 'let's move on' coming from the Bush administration.

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Rice Leaves United Arab Emirates

2006-02-25T02:16:00.000-06:00

There was no indication that Rice's reception in Abu Dhabi was any different from her meetings in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which both snubbed her call to isolate Hamas.

Washington wants Arab nations to isolate the radical Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel, but her message fell on deaf ears on stops in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which both reiterated their support for the Palestinian movement.

The Arab media have been calling for Rice to explain how the United States can push elections that brought Hamas to power, and then try to isolate the group, and Arab leaders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to cut off aid to a future Hamas-led government.

United Arab Emirates...

Dubai...

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not just NO -- but HELL NO.

2006-02-23T02:57:00.000-06:00

In regards to selling American ports to the United Arab Emirates, not just NO -- but HELL NO.

Bush's reputation as the Great Protector who will do anything -- anything! -- to keep us safe, even if it means torturing, spying, and trashing the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, is his one remaining political asset. And putting six of our major ports under the control of the United Arab Emirates threatens to undermine this rep in an irreparable way.

This deal is a nonstarter and a no-brainer. A Harriet Miers debacle to the hundredth- power. Next thing you know, the president will be assuring us that he knows what's in the heart of Dubai Ports World, Inc.

But instead of pulling back from the deal and hurriedly looking for the port operations equivalent of Sam Alito, the president stomped his feet, held his breath, and stuck out his veto.

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Dubai Harbored Hijackers? Big Deal, Bush Says

I wonder what the president feels like these days as 9/11, the default card used to start wars and squelch dissent, is being played against him?

Plunder Medicare for the drug industry? Done. Give away oil royalties to the energy industry? Done. Let the oil industry write the energy bill in secret? Done. Enrich insurance companies with Health Savings Accounts? Check. Appoint a lawyer to oversee disaster relief and homeland security when there are experts in the field who've devoted their professional lives to the subject? Oh, why not?

Bush says global trade and the feelings of an ally trump all else, and that's that. He's promising to veto any bill that would reverse the decision, which would be the first such veto by a president who has let the Treasury be overrun by sinfully profligate spending.

Bush adviser Karl Rove said a while back that Republicans have a post 9/11 view of the world and that Democrats have a pre- 911 view that is profoundly and consistently wrong. He might have to extend and revise those remarks. Dividing us that way isn't going to work anymore.

More...

How Many Bloggers Does It Take To Change A LightBulb?

2006-02-21T10:49:00.000-06:00

174 Bloggers

O YES, I Am Paying Attention.

2006-02-20T06:05:00.000-06:00

The Bush Budget's Hidden Gold: Dynamic Scoring Comes to the Treasury
By William W. Beach

All of the press commentary on President George W. Bush's 2007 budget proposal has paid virtually no attention to one of its most significant initiatives. And it is no wonder: how could a move to improve the way the government analyzes tax policy compete with cutting outdated programs, making the United States more competitive, and winning the global war on terrorism?

This little-noted initiative, however, may be historically important. Buried deep in the President's proposals for the Department of the Treasury is a plan to create a Dynamic Analysis Division within the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis. This division would advise the President and other key policymakers on how proposed changes to U.S. tax policy would affect economic activity. Inside the Beltway, this type of analysis is called "dynamic scoring." Outside the Beltway, this is called "economics."
Read The Full Story…

O yes, I am paying attention.

This article is so much bullshit, I don’t believe it. This is some more of that think tank crap. You want to cut programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Student Loans, Education, Transportation, Agriculture, etc. What about the corruption in Washington? If the corruption in Washington was cleaned up we could save trillions. So don’t try and tell me that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Student Loans, Education, Transportation, Agriculture are the problems. You are the problem, you lying neo-con gangster corrupt politicians. We need to deal with you first! You want to analyze something Mr. Beach, analyze the corruption in Washington then we will talk about Dynamic Scoring!

Who will feel budget's impact?

Bush Wednesday signs bill with $39 billion in cuts. His 2007 budget would point to more cuts ahead.

With President Bush's signature Wednesday, Medicaid recipients can expect higher copayments and deductibles. College students may face higher interest rates on student loans, as lenders are squeezed. Work requirements for women on welfare are likely to be tightened. Federal aid to states for child-support enforcement will be curtailed.
All told, the US government will save $39 billion over the next five years under the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005. The legislation is the first in a decade to rein in the growth of entitlement programs. And, along with a plan for $70 billion in tax cuts moving through Congress, it provides the backdrop to a fierce debate over government priorities with the unveiling this week of Mr. Bush's budget proposal for fiscal year 2007.
Read The Full Story…

So Much For Ethics Reform

2006-02-19T21:07:00.000-06:00

Ethics reform, seemingly on a fast-track in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, has slowed to a crawl in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The rush to revise ethics laws in the wake of the Jack Abramoff political corruption scandal has turned into more of a saunter.

A month ago, Republican leaders in Congress called legislation on the topic their first priority, and promised quick action on a measure that would alter the rules governing the interaction between lawmakers and lobbyists.

Comments:

Why is this news? Isn't this just another dog bites man story?

The depths of corruption in Washington knows not nor will know the bottom until "We The People" show'em where it is. Only then will we know where the bottom was.

How about we form another Commission...no wait..a "blue-ribboned" Commission... to ask them when they're gonna stop playing us for the fools we seem to be.

The ONLY needed reform in politics is, . . . "Don't lie, cheat and steal." What are so difficult and time consuming about the basic truth leading to good ethics?

Why are people constantly falling into entrapments of UNPURE NONSENSE? It is costing EVERYONE their life, money, time, and future.

We are beginning to think others who speak from far away lands are correct when they extend their farewells to America!

For America of the “FREE” no longer dwells. All that is visible remaining is UNPURE IDIOCY!

More…

A Portrait Of Who They Were.

2006-02-19T10:43:00.000-06:00

Between March 20, 2003 and May 6, 2004, 759 US troops died in Iraq. This is the longest, fiercest, sustained combat Americans have seen in a generation.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died on April 24, in Taji, Iraq, when mortar rounds hit their camp. The four soldiers were assigned to the Army National Guard's 39th Support Battalion, 39th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Hazen, Ark. Killed were:

Capt. Arthur L. Felder, 36, of Louisville, Ark.

Chief Warrant Officer Patrick W. Kordsmeier, 49, of North Little Rock, Ark.

Staff Sgt. Billy J. Orton, 41, of Humnoke, Ark.

Staff Sgt. Stacey C. Brandon, 35, of Hazen, Ark.

At least 433 children have lost a parent and 284 spouses have lost a partner in Iraq.
The bottom gets cut out because of low educational levels, lower mental aptitude scores, poor health, or criminal records. The top pretty much excludes itself.

Of all 535 members of the US House and Senate today, only half a dozen have children in the military (and just one of those is in Iraq).

More…

Win Without War

Sleeping Giant.

2006-02-19T03:45:00.000-06:00

Top NASA Scientist Says He's Being Silenced on Global Warming

Claims Backlash Is Part of Bush Administration Effort to Downplay Climate Change
A top government scientist is speaking out about what he says is an effort to keep him quiet about global warming.
NASA's chief climate scientist James Hansen says the space agency's backlash is part of a Bush administration effort aimed at those trying to sound the alarm on climate

change.
More…

Greenland ice swells ocean rise...

Sea levels likely to rise much faster than was predicted...

Guide to climate change...

Give Bush A Brain...

Can The GOP Clean Up Its Mess In Washington?

2006-02-18T08:42:00.000-06:00

With corruption indictments flying and more expected, suddenly everyone's a good government crusader -- even GOP Congressional leaders who about five minutes ago -- it seems -- were practically celebrating their big money embrace of K Street and the Washington lobbyist cash machine. Congress and the GOP need a stem to stern clean-up.

Read The Full Story...

CREW
JackintheHouse

Ethics Challenge

Ethics of the New Testament

At Last The Conservatives Stand Up To Be Counted.

2006-02-16T20:45:00.000-06:00

Conservatism, the arched eyebrow in a room full of ideas, questions power.

It's taken awhile, a little more than five years to be precise, but we may be witnessing the return of a respected and important political ideology in this town: conservatism. And its apparent ride back onto the political scene comes not a moment too soon.
Last week, when the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Democrats asked a lot of combative questions, as one might expect. But the real news was that some of the senators on the right side of the dais wondered aloud about whether the Bush administration's warrant less wiretapping program went too far in the way of expanding executive power.

Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina called some of the legal justifications the Bush administration used for the program (like its assertion that it didn't need Congress's or the judiciary's OK) "dangerous." Over in the House, Heather Wilson, a Republican from New Mexico, is calling for an investigation.

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Republicans Criticize Rice Over Bush Mideast Policy

2006-02-16T17:59:00.000-06:00

Republican senators criticized the Bush administration Wednesday over its policies in Iraq, Iran and the Palestinian territories, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's first testimony on Capitol Hill in months exposed her to a tough grilling from some members of her own party

"I don't see, Madame Secretary, how things are getting better. I think things are getting worse. I think they're getting worse in Iraq. I think they're getting worse in Iran," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told Rice as she appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rice also had a tense exchange with moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., over the pace of progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace and the implications of the Hamas victory in Palestinian legislative elections last month.

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Why Budget Critics Are Out In Force.

2006-02-14T21:41:00.000-06:00

President Bush's new federal budget has received a much tougher reception than his earlier ones did. Much of the press, and many fiscal conservatives, are hammering it hard.
"Federal spending has grown twice as fast under President Bush as under President Clinton," notes Brian Riedl, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative advocacy group in Washington

When the White House released the budget last Monday, Mr. Riedl stayed up until 3 a.m. to get out a 12-page outline of the numbers. He noted that federal spending has increased by 33 percent since 2001, from $1,863 billion to $2,472 billion. And inflation-adjusted federal spending last year neared $22,000 per household, the highest level since World War II.

The press was taking more seriously what Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), told this reporter in 2002 about the 2003 budget: "This administration stretches and spins the truth further than either party in the past 30 years."

A New York Times editorial, for instance, calls the 2007 budget "fiction masquerading as fact." The Boston Globe, carried a column headlined, "The deficit deceit." Even The Wall Street Journal noted, "Bush's Deficit Math Sidesteps Some Big Outlays."

More...

Fiscal conservatism is not a political philosophy, and more a tradition of prudence in government spending and debt. Edmund Burke, in his 'Reflections on the Revolution in France', articulated its principles:

It is to the property of the citizen, and not to the demands of the creditor of the state, that the first and original faith of civil society is pledged. The claim of the citizen is prior in time, paramount in title, superior in equity. The fortunes of individuals, whether possessed by acquisition or by descent or in virtue of a participation in the goods of some community, were no part of the creditor's security, expressed or implied...The public, whether represented by a monarch or by a senate, can pledge nothing but the public estate; and it can have no public estate except in what it derives from a just and proportioned imposition upon the citizens at large.

In other words, a government doesn't have the right to run up large debts and then throw the burden on the taxpayer; the taxpayers' right not to be taxed oppressively takes precedence even over paying back debts a government may have imprudently undertaken.

What’s going on?

American cities still lack the resources to prevent a catastrophic terrorist attack. And Washington sends $110 million in farm subsidies to an Arkansas co-op named Riceland Foods.

Many troops risking their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq lack the necessary equipment to protect themselves, such as body and vehicle armor. And several members of Congress vote themselves farm subsidies as much as 119 times larger than what the typical farmer receives.

Millions of overtaxed Americans live paycheck to paycheck. And Washington doles out these tax dollars to David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, basketball star Scottie Pippen and former Enron CEO Ken Lay.

This year, Washington will spend more on corporate welfare than on homeland security.

More...

Cheney May Have Broken The Law

2006-02-14T11:34:00.000-06:00

Dean puts spotlight on Cheney

On Monday, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Vice President Dick Cheney should resign if he ordered Libby to give classified information to reporters to defend the case for war in Iraq.

"If Vice President Cheney has, in fact, ordered the leaking of political information -- of intelligence information -- that means he has to step aside," Dean told CNN. "We don't know if it's true, but he has been accused of it. If it's true, he has to step aside."

A day earlier, Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said on Fox News Sunday that leaking intelligence information to make political arguments would be "inappropriate."

He added that Fitzgerald ought to "look closely" at the behavior of "whoever the superiors are" who allegedly authorized a leak.

Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican, said on the same program, "I don't think anybody should be releasing classified information, period."

The letter does not name who the superiors are. But Dean said Monday, "You only have one superior if you're the chief of staff, and that's the vice president."

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Cheney may have broken law

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that Vice President Cheney should resign if he ordered a top aide to leak classified information to the media to defend the invasion of Iraq.

On CNN's "American Morning" program, Dean repeated calls he first made Sunday, saying Cheney may have broken the law if he ordered his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to share secret information with reporters in 2003.

"If Vice President Cheney has, in fact, ordered the leaking of political information -- of intelligence information, that means he has to step aside," Dean said on CNN. "We don't know if it's true, but he has been accused of it. If it's true, he has to step aside."

On Sunday, Democratic and Republican senators said Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald should investigate Cheney and others in the CIA leak probe if they authorized Libby to give secret information to reporters.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, called the leak of intelligence information "inappropriate" if it is true, and said, "I think he Fitzgerald has to look closely at their behavior."

Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia, said a full investigation is necessary. "I don't think anybody should be releasing classified information, period, whether in the Congress, executive branch or some underling in some bureaucracy," said Allen, who appeared with Reed on "Fox News Sunday."

According to published reports last week, Libby told a federal grand jury that he disclosed in July 2003 the contents of a classified National Intelligence Estimate as part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq.

Fitzgerald said in the documents it was his understanding that "Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors."

The White House has refused to comment on the case.

More...

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down- up to a man's age-old dream; the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order- or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
~ By Ronald Reagan

Photo Shows Bush, Abramoff At Meeting.

2006-02-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

Photo shows Bush, Abramoff at meeting
Authenticity of picture confirmed, but level of interaction unclear
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff accompanied a Native American tribal chief he was trying to sign as a client to a White House meeting attended by President Bush, a newly published picture shows and a Bush spokesman confirmed Sunday.

Abramoff's presence at the meeting came to light after Time magazine and the New York Times published a picture of the president with Kickapoo Tribal Chairman Raul Garza. Bush chief political strategist Karl Rove is in the foreground, and the lobbyist is dimly visible in the background.

Photo…

More…

Libby Says 'Superiors' Authorized Leaks.

2006-02-11T13:40:00.000-06:00

Cheney's former aide told a jury that classified information he gave to journalists was OKd.

Former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has told a federal grand jury that his "superiors" authorized him to leak highly sensitive intelligence to journalists, including a New York Times reporter he allegedly tipped off to the name of an undercover CIA operative.

The revelation is contained in a Jan. 23 letter from Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald to lawyers for Libby, who was indicted in late October in connection with the leak of the operative's name. In the letter, Fitzgerald recounts testimony in which Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff admitted circulating portions of the National Intelligence Estimate to reporters in June and July 2003.

"It is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the National Intelligence Estimate to the press by his superiors," Fitzgerald wrote.

More…

CIA leak case, White House takes flak over Katrina

Washington's inadequate response to the catastrophic flooding unleashed by hurricane Katrina came under renewed scrutiny yesterday with the disclosure that top aides to President George W. Bush were told the levees had been breached the day the storm hit.

In a separate blow to the administration, Lewis (Scooter) Libby has reportedly told a grand jury that his former boss, Vice-President Dick Cheney, gave him the go-ahead to leak classified information on Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction capabilities.

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Ex-CIA official: Bush Administration Misused Iraq Intelligence.

2006-02-10T16:25:00.000-06:00

The Bush administration disregarded the expertise of the intelligence community, politicized the intelligence process and used unrepresentative data in making the case for war, a former CIA senior analyst alleged.

In an article published on Friday in the journal Foreign Affairs, Paul R. Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, called the relationship between U.S. intelligence and policymaking "broken."

"In the wake of the Iraq war, it has become clear that official intelligence analysis was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made," Pillar wrote.

Pillar, now on the faculty of Georgetown University's Security Studies Program, called for experienced intelligence officers to lead nonpartisan oversight of U.S. intelligence efforts as well as inquiries at the request of members of Congress.

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Libby: White House 'Superiors' OK'd Leaks

2006-02-10T09:51:00.000-06:00

A former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney told a federal grand jury that his superiors authorized him to give secret information to reporters as part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq, according to court papers.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in documents filed last month that he plans to introduce evidence that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, disclosed to reporters the contents of a classified National Intelligence Estimate in the summer of 2003.
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Yes Your Majesty.

2006-02-08T20:40:00.000-06:00

Did you see Alberto Gonzales testifying? What a coward, you could almost see Bush pulling the strings. All these dam Republicans are good at is bobbing and weaving around questions. It looked like a cupal of times Gonzales was about ready to stand up and holler, “The Bird Flu Is Coming, The Bird Flu Is Coming”.

Did you see Senator Russ Feingold tare into Alberto Gonzales? He really ruffled some feathers. Looks like Feingold is cutting a path to the Whitehouse. I can see it now Russ Feingold verses Condoleezza Rice. So far my dine is on Feingold. Rice’s into the Neo-cons more then I like. But you know she will have to protect her oil stock she got for being a good little girl. What Rice needs to do is go shoos shopping.

What do you think of John Boehner, What a jerk! If this is the best the Republicans can do to clean up Washington I have one thing to say. BYE BYE!