Quote of the day--on fear and anger

"The older I get, the more it seems to me that fear is at the root of so many of our reactions to these events. But because we do not respect fear, we turn to anger as its less useful proxy... It seems strange to me that the richest and most powerful country on Earth, with a free-flowing access to information, many avenues to disseminate it, continues to be ruled in some important aspects by fear of the unknown, especially at a time when it is possible to know a very great deal. I wonder what kind of leadership it would require to allow us to experience this world as the wonderfully surprising place that it is, as my neighbor put it, instead of lurching from panic to panic." --Michel Martin, Commentator, Writer, Journalist for NPR, National Public Radio Link to original post: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128622297

You think it's good news... and then, wham

First you see the headline: Unemployment rate falls in 39 states in June Then you read the first line in the article: The unemployment rate fell in most states in June, mainly because more people gave up searching for work and were no longer counted. Dang. There went that hope thing. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100720/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_state_unemployment

More proof of why we need government, regulation and corporate oversight

In Monday's hearing before a joint panel from the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy (formerly the Minerals Management Service), Richard Godfrey, a lawyer for BP, testified that a September 2009 audit showed there was “overdue planned maintenance considered excessive—390 jobs amounting to 3,545 man hours.” Link to original post: http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/bp-attorney-rig-had-390-overdue-maintenance-items

This is why scientists think there is global climate change--and why we need to be concerned

Photos show dramatic shrinking of Mount Everest glaciers Glaciers on Mount Everest are shrinking, according to startling new photographs. The two pictures show an "alarming" retreat in ice over more than 80 years. The first was taken in 1921 by British mountaineer George Mallory, who later died trying to conquer Everest. The Asia Society commissioned the same picture to be taken of the main Rongbuk glacier on the northern slope of Mount Everest in Tibet in 2007. The new picture by mountaineer David Breashears show that the glacier is shrunk and withered. A spokesman for the Asia Society said the picture was proof the ice is melting because of climate change, threatening water sources in highly populated areas of India and China. "The photographs reveal a startling truth: the ice of the Himalaya is disappearing," he said. "They reveal an alarming loss in ice mass." It's not because Al Gore wants to benefit commercially from global warming or whatever we call it (though he may, I'm not disputing that---nor do I care). It's because the 2 ice caps and, to my knowledge, all the glaciers on the planet are melting and shrinking at alarming, heretofore unseen rates, folks. And that's hard scientific data--not opinion. Link to original post: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7895611/Photos-show-dramatic-shrinking-of-Mount-Everest-glaciers.html

Two headlines just now on Afghanistan

First this, from Hamid: Karzai calls for Nato troop withdrawal by 2014 And then this: Rogue Afghan soldier shoots dead two US weapons trainers Let's hope Hamid knows what he's talking about. Links: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7899795/Hamid-Karzai-calls-for-Nato-troop-withdrawal-by-2014.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7900826/Rogue-Afghan-soldier-shoots-dead-two-US-weapons-trainers.html

Quote of the day--guns vs. butter

"Why is nobody talking about the Afghanistan adventure as a cause of our plunging recession? Or at least citing the 30-year-old endless war as a major contributory factor in wasting our money to "nation-build" in the Hindu Kush while our own country falls to pieces on food stamps, foreclosures and child poverty – one in five kids – that would put the world's poorest nations to shame?" --Clancy Sigal, from The Guardian, "America: Hooked on War and Getting Poorer" Link here: http://www.alternet.org/economy/147567/america:_hooked_on_war_and_getting_poorer/

Quote of the day

The rightwing in today's economic story is like the child who killed both his parents and then pleaded for mercy because he was an orphan. The rightwing is to politics what the Menendez brothers were to family life. --Paul Abrams, Entrepreneur, professional iconoclast, co-founder BreakUptheBigBanks.com Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abrams/mano-a-mano-obamas-job-re_b_650660.html

Want unique? Creative? Intelligent? Compelling? Challenging? Suspenseful? Unpredictable? Fun?

Go see the movie "Inception" out right now. It's all that and a bag of chips, for sure. It is, without doubt, THE movie of this year. It should win that, hands down, next March at the Academy Awards. If you go to Cinemark on the Plaza for the matinee', it will also only cost you $4.00 (if you don't get any treats). It will be the best value and exchange for your money, possibly ever. I won't go on and on about it but I can't say enough good things about it. Do not miss this film. Link here: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/

Alonzo Washington: possible "gang wars and killings in area--and it could get worse"

If you haven't yet read this entry from and by Alonzo Washington, go read it. He says the word in the Black community is that the gangs are out on a bit of a "war" already and that the drive-bys and shootings and killings are expected to continue and only increase soon. And yes, it's the hottest part of the Summer and we expect that to happen but I have questions, we have questions, I think: a) If this is the case, what are the area police supposed to do about this? How can they prevent this senseless violence from happening and, heavens forbid, from increasing? b) b) What can the Mayor and his office do about this, if anything? d) What can community and church leaders do about this ignorance, if anything? e) What can you, Alonzo, do about this, if anything? f) Area City Councils? g) What about us, the citizens of the area? Because I have to say, I know there is a pretty deeply and widely felt opinion in this town that there's nothing we can do but stand back, stay away and let them kill each other. A lot of us out here would like to see that not happen. Answers? Alonzo? Dr. Evans? Tony? Anyone? It's the most important conversation this city can have and we need to have it now, before this gets any worse.

Unsolicited advice for this President

The editors of The New York Times this weekend invited a number of people who have worked in politics to offer Obama suggestions as to how to turn things around. You always read a lot of ingenious offerings in these symposiums, but the true answer is not ingenious at all. Deliver prosperity, create jobs, and raise incomes; avoid wars, but when you fight them, win them; respond effectively to national disasters; keep clear of scandals. In short, do everything George W. Bush did not, could not or would not do. Link to original post: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/19/frum.obama.troubles/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_topstories+(RSS:+Top+Stories)

Two new ranking lists--and the US is on neither

I'll keep this brief. We're not on this one: World's 10 Best Places to Live And we're sure not on this one: In Depth: The World's Happiest Countries When you're as good at war and pushing for corporations as we are, you can't also be good about that "happiness" and "good lifestyle" crap, you know? Keep cool, y'all.

Things to notice about this President and his vacations

I think it needs to be pointed out that this President--in sharp contrast to several of the last Presidents, most particularly the last occupant of the White House AND Ronald the Ray-gun--is not taking and does not take the entire month of August off his job so he can vacation. Anyone in the Republican or Tea Parties want to notice that? No, I thought not. And check this out, on several of the First Family's vacations, the President has had his very brief getaways interrupted so he can take care of national business: "Their Memorial Day weekend in Chicago was overtaken by the Gulf oil spill. After the Obamas slept at their Chicago home for the first time in a year, the president got up and left for a daylong Gulf inspection tour. That followed the Obamas' Christmas trip to Hawaii, interrupted repeatedly for briefings and comment on the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jet. And it followed last summer's Martha's Vineyard stay, marred by the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose Boston funeral Obama and his wife, Michelle, attended. Then there was the planned visit to Indonesia, where Obama spent part of his youth. He'd hoped to show his daughters his old haunts. But the trip was scrubbed twice, first in March as health care neared its climax in Congress, then again in June because of the oil spill. It's now expected late this year. So besides passing the first health care reform in this country in about 100 years and putting back in place good financial reform measures to protect the country and lowering taxes on the Middle Class and all the other good things this President has done, accomplished and is doing, could we please give him and the First Family credit for working hard and not slacking? It won't happen but I thought someone should mention it. Have a great weekend, y'all. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

Quote of the day--Ladies and Gentlemen, the Republican Party

"When virtually all the gains from economic growth go to a small minority at the top -- and the broad middle class can no longer pretend it's richer than it is through debt -- the result is deep-seated anxiety and frustration." --Robert Reich, Former Secretary of Labor, Professor at Berkeley Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-root-of-economic-frag_b_644465.html

Can anyone really, factually deny this?

GOP PLATFORM TOP TEN (from "Fred" at Alternet, see below): --Phase out Social Security --Deny Unemployment benefits --Oppose Wall Street reform --De-regulate Oil drilling --Tell rape victims to make lemonade --Play on peoples’ fears --Count on Peoples’ hatred --Alienate Minorities --Demonize homosexuals --“Liberals are coming for your guns!” Link to original post: http://blogs.alternet.org/fr41trek/2010/07/13/gop-platform-top-ten/

Something we'd love to hear David Glass say

Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next. --George Steinbrenner RIP George. Love you or hate you, you were a winner and definitely one of a kind.

What news report is going to change the "anti-global climate change" group's mind?

Breaking news report: NASA: First half of 2010 breaks the thermometer — despite “recent minimum of solar irradiance” July 10, 2010 Following fast on the heels of the hottest Jan-May — and spring — in the temperature record, it’s also the hottest Jan-June on record in the NASA dataset. It’s all the more powerful evidence of human-caused warming “because it occurs when the recent minimum of solar irradiance is having its maximum cooling effect,” as a recent must-read NASA paper notes. What further, additional science--hard data--will it take until we all agree on the science that something is afoot here and that there is at least some global climate change we need to take into consideration for our safety and our future existence? Fortunately for us, our military already believes it's something we need to believe in as a possibility and analyze, if for no other reason but possible national security. Link to original post: http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/10/nasa-hottest-year-solar-minimum/

Now if we could just have revenue sharing in MLB

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dies at 80 By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP)—George Steinbrenner, who rebuilt the New York Yankees into a sports empire with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across America, died Tuesday. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday July 4. Link to original post: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-obit-steinbrenner

Quote of the day--The Tea Party

"You have to understand the" Tea Party "mindset. They have this nostalgia for the America that they think was stolen from them, the used to be, that was better. It's really the 1950's, okay? That's what they think was 'Shangri-La' and you know what they never get is that it's kind of insulting to a lot of Americans to pine for this era because it wasn't that good for a lot of people. It was good for you if you were a white man. It wasn't that good if you were a Mexican. Or Black. Or Jewish. Or Disabled. Or Gay. Or a woman." --Bill Maher, from his latest HBO special "But I'm Not Wrong"

Movie prediction for next weekend

Check it: Next weekend, the new movie coming out Friday, "Inception" by and from Christopher Nolan (of "Memento" fame) and starring, among others, Leonardo DiCaprio, will be the number one box office film come Monday morning. You heard it here first. Link to movie site: http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/

More weak media coverage on the BP Gulf spill

The big story this Monday morning from "big media" that all the outlets seem to be repeating.. uh, covering...is that BP says their "Oil cap will be attached today." Okay, fine. But what they DON'T tell us is that it's been DISCONNECTED SINCE SATURDAY SO GUESS WHERE THE OIL IS GOING, FOLKS. Right, straight into the Gulf. LOTS more oil. LOTS more tar balls. Lots more oil slicks. Then, that's not enough, there's also this: "The BP executive was careful to keep expectations grounded, stressing that once the cap is in place, it will take days to know whether it can withstand the pressure of the erupting oil and feed it through pipes to surface ships." Then they add this: "The testing should last about 48 hours..." Right. Two days of testing. Again, keep in mind, in the meantime, GUESS WHERE THE OIL IS GOING? Lest we get overly optimistic, they add the following capper in the article: "Even if the tests show the cap is successfully holding in the oil, it will not be the final fix for the blown well. That will have to wait until one of two relief wells reaches the leaking well from underground and can inject heavy drilling mud and cement to form a permanent plug. BP expects one relief well will do the job, but it's drilling a second as a backup. Officials have offered varying estimates for when that work will be done, but mid-August is the most common timeframe. Just to be a total party-pooper and put the ultimate damper on your Monday, starting your workweek, scientists are postulating that BP's little mess down there in the Gulf may be cataclysmic for life--and humankind--in general: "...the BP oil spill could release massive amounts of methane gas and, as an end result, blow out the entire seabed, leading to “massive venting” and large fissures in the sea bottom. This, in turn, would kill us all just as other mass extinctions wiped out life on earth during similar ruptures 251 million years ago and 55 million years ago. The bottom line: BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling operation may have triggered an irreversible, cascading geological Apocalypse that will culminate with the first mass extinction of life on Earth in many millions of years. You should go to this second link, below, and read about this as it documents that some of the events are already beginning, they believe. Here's hoping the scientists are wrong. Happy Monday, folks. Link to original posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100712/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

Overland Park: No. 7 of top 100 towns to live in in US

Okay, another national ranking story we're on: Yahoo! News reports on CNN Money's ranking of the top 100 small towns to live in in the US right now and get this--Overland Park comes in at number 7. Good for them. Good for us. Some of the highlights: Population: 175,000 Unemployment: 5.3% Pluses: Good schools, low cost of living Minuses: Some job losses, not much excitement Ask residents why they chose this Kansas City suburb and you hear one thing over and over: the schools. Other draws include a 300-acre arboretum and botanical garden, a biweekly farmers' market, and a brand-new 12-field soccer complex, which hosts local and national tournaments. Overland Park's biggest challenge in recent years has been from its largest employer, Sprint. The company laid off more than 3,000 people here from 2007 to 2009. But the town has had enough success attracting new employers that its jobless rate is still well below the national average. What's more, a division of J.P. Morgan plans to move 800 positions here early next year. Drawbacks for me? It's the suburbs, folks. It's way out and you have to drive everywhere to get anywhere or anything. Also, it's too bleached for my tastes but again, that's me. Finally, at least here, the traffic totally stinks. It used to be there wasn't much of anything or anyone out there, the traffic was light and you could get around. No more. Even coming in from farther out in Miami County, the traffic stacks up coming back into the city. It's crazy. Very unpleasant. But hey, what do I know? It's just not for me. Link to original story: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/100-best-places-to-live-in-america-2010-edition

My own "Solar Power Day", Part II

There is an article out today, just now, on Germany's mastery of clean, "green" solar power and the fact that they both get "percent of the country’s power from renewable sources like solar panels and wind turbines" already AND they're challenging themselves, as a country to "reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent between 1990 and 2020, and by 80-85 percent by 2050." I'm telling you, folks, not only do we need this and need it badly, but the country or countries that dominate clean energy, particularly solar power, are the ones that will dominate the planet for at least decades to come, if not the next century. We need to be on this. Have a great weekend, y'all. Link to original post: http://www.causecast.org/news_items/9862-germany-plans-to-switch-to-renewable-sources-for-all-electricity-by-2050?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+causecast%2Flatest_news+%28Causecast+-+Latest+News%29

We need clean, green, renewable energy, folks--and here's why

We need clean, green, renewable energy--and as soon as possible, badly, for the following reasons: --First, the country who masters this (particularly--almost solely--photovoltaic cells) will rule the next several decades, if not the next century; --Second, because we're throwing away a TON of money and giving it mostly to the Middle East AND IT'S BANKRUPTING US; --Third, because we have a lot of enemies in the Middle East; --Fourth, we need it so we can have much cleaner air, water and soil; --We need it so we get out of burning fossil fuels and fowling our air, water and soil; --We need it so we get out of coal mining which is so bad for the miners, even when they aren't killed; --We need it so we stop--and as soon as possible--"mountaintop removal", particularly in West Virginia but all over Appalachia; --We need it so we gain more independence from power companies; --We need it so we more our citizens into more, better, cleaner and smarter employment; --We need it so we also have clean, "green" electic transportation that is also run on solar power so it is also far less polluting; --It really would create a great deal of new work for the country and they really would be much cleaner, smarter jobs for a lot of us. Those are the bare minimums. The benefits of this one move, for the country, would be so vast it's almost dazzling that we don't all realize them and why we need to make this happen. It would be far more beneficial than, by comparison, President Kennedy's challenge to get us to the moon within a decade, as he challenged us so many years ago. We need to do this. Have a great weekend, y'all.

Why America won't get out of the "war business" (guest post), Pt. I

Hope and Change Fade, but War Endures: Seven Reasons Why We Can't Stop Making War by William J. Astore Retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) If one quality characterizes our wars today, it’s their endurance. They never seem to end. Though war itself may not be an American inevitability, these days many factors combine to make constant war an American near certainty. Put metaphorically, our nation’s pursuit of war taps so many wellsprings of our behavior that a concerted effort to cap it would dwarf BP’s efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Our political leaders, the media, and the military interpret enduring war as a measure of our national fitness, our global power, our grit in the face of eternal danger, and our seriousness. A desire to de-escalate and withdraw, on the other hand, is invariably seen as cut-and-run appeasement and discounted as weakness. Withdrawal options are, in a pet phrase of Washington elites, invariably “off the table” when global policy is at stake, as was true during the Obama administration’s full-scale reconsideration of the Afghan war in the fall of 2009. Viewed in this light, the president’s ultimate decision to surge in Afghanistan was not only predictable, but the only course considered suitable for an American war leader. Rather than the tough choice, it was the path of least resistance. Why do our elites so readily and regularly give war, not peace, a chance? What exactly are the wellsprings of Washington’s (and America’s) behavior when it comes to war and preparations for more of the same? Consider these seven: 1. We wage war because we think we’re good at it -- and because, at a gut level, we’ve come to believe that American wars can bring good to others (hence our feel-good names for them, like Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom). Most Americans are not only convinced we have the best troops, the best training, and the most advanced weapons, but also the purest motives. Unlike the bad guys and the barbarians out there in the global marketplace of death, our warriors and warfighters are seen as gift-givers and freedom-bringers, not as death-dealers and resource-exploiters. Our illusions about the military we “support” serve as catalyst for, and apology for, the persistent war-making we condone. 2. We wage war because we’ve already devoted so many of our resources to it. It’s what we’re most prepared to do. More than half of discretionary federal spending goes to fund our military and its war making or war preparations. The military-industrial complex is a well-oiled, extremely profitable machine and the armed forces, our favorite child, the one we’ve lavished the most resources and praise upon. It’s natural to give your favorite child free rein. 3. We’ve managed to isolate war’s physical and emotional costs, leaving them on the shoulders of a tiny minority of Americans. By eliminating the draft and relying ever more on for-profit private military contractors, we’ve made war a distant abstraction for most Americans, who can choose to consume it as spectacle or simply tune it out as so much background noise. 4. While war and its costs have, to date, been kept at arm’s length, American society has been militarizing fast. Our media outlets, intelligence agencies, politicians, foreign policy establishment, and “homeland security” bureaucracy are so intertwined with military priorities and agendas as to be inseparable from them. In militarized America, griping about soft-hearted tactics or the outspokenness of a certain general may be tolerated, but forceful criticism of our military or our wars is still treated as deviant and “un-American.” 5. Our profligate, high-tech approach to war, including those Predator and Reaper drones armed with Hellfire missiles, has served to limit American casualties-- and so has limited the anger over, and harsh questioning of, our wars that might go with them. While the U.S. has had more than 1,000 troops killed in Afghanistan, over a similar period in Vietnam we lost more than 58,000 troops. Improved medical evacuation and trauma care, greater reliance on standoff precision weaponry and similar “force multipliers,” stronger emphasis on “force protection” within American military units: all these and more have helped tamp down concern about the immeasurable and soaring costs of our wars. 6. As we incessantly develop those force-multiplying weapons to give us our “edge” (though never an edge that leads to victory), it’s hardly surprising that the U.S. has come to dominate, if not quite monopolize, the global arms trade. In these years, as American jobs were outsourced or simply disappeared in the Great Recession, armaments have been one of our few growth industries. Endless war has proven endlessly profitable -- not perhaps for all of us, but certainly for those in the business of war. 7. And don’t forget the seductive power of beyond-worse-case, doomsday scenarios, of the prophecies of pundits and so-called experts, who regularly tell us that, bad as our wars may be, doing anything to end them would be far worse. A typical scenario goes like this: If we withdraw from Afghanistan, the government of Hamid Karzai will collapse, the Taliban will surge to victory, al-Qaeda will pour into Afghan safe havens, and Pakistan will be further destabilized, its atomic bombs falling into the hands of terrorists out to destroy Peoria and Orlando. Such fevered nightmares, impossible to disprove, may be conjured at any moment to scare critics into silence. They are a convenient bogeyman, leaving us cowering as we send our superman military out to save us (and the world as well), while preserving our right to visit the mall and travel to Disney World without being nuked. The truth is that no one really knows what would happen if the U.S. disengaged from Afghanistan. But we do know what’s happening now, with us fully engaged: we’re pursuing a war that’s costing us nearly $7 billion a month that we’re not winning (and that’s arguably unwinnable), a war that may be increasing the chances of another 9/11, rather than decreasing them. Later today--what we can do about this, from the same author. Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-j-astore/hope-and-change-fade-but_b_640026.html

"We told you so" comes quickly to mind

A Damning New Report on George W. Bush by CommonDreams.org by César Chelala George W. Bush is among the five least accomplished U.S. presidents, according to a new survey by the U.S.’s top 238 leading presidential scholars. They have been polled by the Siena College Research Institute’s (SRI) annually for the last 28 years. While president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country from 1933 until his death in 1945, ranked first in overall accomplishments, former President Bush ranked worst among modern presidents –and the fifth worst in history. According to the Survey of U.S. Presidents the top five, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, are Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The presidential scholars ranked the U.S. Presidents on six personal attributes (background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks); five forms of ability (compromising, executive, leadership, communication and overall abilities); and eight areas of accomplishment including domestic affairs, economic, working with Congress and their party, appointing supreme court justices and members of the executive branch, avoiding mistakes and foreign policy. If one analyzes just the Bush administration approach to foreign policy, health care and human rights one may consider among the biggest foreign policy blunders the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Bush administration blatantly ignored the advice from Gen. Eric Shinseki, who had estimated that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq. Even more seriously, the war against Iraq was based, from the beginning, on false premises. Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly stated that Iraq was “the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11,” in spite of the fact that there was no evidence for such assertion. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission itself found that Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaeda. Compounding the wrongness of the approach towards Iraq is the right to initiate a preemptive war, flaunting international law. The 2006 updated National Security Strategy of the United States had established that, “….The greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction –and the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack. There are few greater threats than a terrorist attack with WMD.” As was clearly demonstrated not only did the government of Iraq not have any WMD, but at no point it could have been considered a threat to the United States, given the obvious difference in military capability between both countries. This was no impediment for former President Bush and his closest associates to continue using that rationale for the war against that country. That war and the justification for engaging in preemptive wars are among the most serious and damaging foreign policy decisions of the Bush administration. If one analyzes the Bush presidency regarding its approach to health care one can find a policy of disregard for people’s health and support for corporate interests, which is, after all, only a reflection of the Bush administration decisions on almost all economic matters. The Bush administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drugs for seniors thus negatively affecting their health and quality of life, while simultaneously depriving American taxpayers of savings from the very marketplace competition touted by White House economists. The administration also went to court to block lawsuits by patients who had been injured by defective prescription drugs and medical devices. In addition, the General Accounting Office conducted a study that concluded that the Bush administration created illegal, covert propaganda to promote its industry-supported Medicare bill. The Bush administration record on human rights is dismal. Who can forget the photos of prisoners’ abuse in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq carried out by the U.S. Army and other U.S. governmental agencies and that have tainted forever the image of the U.S. as a defender of human rights? To compound the magnitude of the abuse, Janis Karpinsky, a commander at Abu Ghraib estimated later that 90% of the detainees in the prison were innocent. Recently Physicians for Human Rights has uncovered evidence that indicates the Bush administration conducted illegal and unethical human experiments and carried out research on detainees in CIA custody. In addition, medical personnel engaged not only in torture of prisoners but also in the crime of illegal experimentation, activities in clear violation of the Nuremberg Code. It would be naïve to think that all negative aspects of the Bush administration are the responsibility of former President Bush himself. He obviously is the face for members of his administration and others who were influencing policy decisions. But the ultimate responsibility falls on him. And he is the one that will have to respond to history for his actions. --César Chelala, MD, PhD, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award. He is also the foreign correspondent for Middle East Times International (Australia). --Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org --URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/06-0

Republicans, Libertarians and now Tea Party members

Seven demographic characteristics of Tea Party supporters: --78% are Republicans or independents who lean Republican; --77% are non-Hispanic whites; --69% are conservatives; --62% are married; --56% are men; --47% are 55 or older; --23% are under 35; What they believe Seven defining attitudes of Tea Party supporters: --92% believe the federal government debt is a very serious/extremely serious threat to the nation’s future well-being; --90% believe terrorism is a very/extremely serious threat to the nation’s future well-being; --90% are dissatisfied with the way things are going in this country; --87% disapprove of the job congressional Democrats are doing; --85% believe the size and power of the federal government are a very/extremely serious threat to the nation’s future well-being; --83% say most members of Congress don’t deserve re-election; --83% say President Obama doesn’t deserve re-election; Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Polls taken May 24-25 and June 11-13 of 697 Tea Party supporters. Margin of error +/–5 percentage points. Analysis by Jim Norman. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_spec/20100701/pl_ynews_spec/ynews_spec_pl3006;_ylt=AuTyFFo0tMwX7xWzJOYkgDayFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTJvZmwxdWY5BGFzc2V0A3luZXdzX3NwZWMvMjAxMDA3MDEveW5ld3Nfc3BlY19wbDMwMDYEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3dob3RoZXlhcmU-

Word to Lt. Gov. Kinder on health care

The word? Don't do us any favors, Lt. Governor. You have a lot of nerve, pal, suing in federal court to keep health care reform, even this watered-down version, from taking place. We need health care reform. We needed more than this--far more. We need a "public option" so health insurance companies could and would be more competitive and fair and decent, instead of fleecing us the way they have been since the 1950's. Give us a break, sir. Withdraw your lawsuit. Sure, I know you won't but a) you should never have filed it and b) you really should withdraw it now. Government makes us get car insurance, right? Would you dare suggest the government can't require us to get health insurance? Would you dare suggest that the current health care system works? Because if you do or are, I'd be happy to show you statistics that prove you wrong. You're an obstacle to solutions here, Lt. Governor. Please get out of the way. Link to original story: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/07/2069501/missouri-lieutenant-governor-sues.html

Want better government? Get behind the "Fair Elections Now Act"

Everyone complains about government. Sure. We always have and always will. But doesn't it seem as though it's gotten far worse? Doesn't it seem as though the big corporate money and lobbyists and problems have pretty much taken over? Would you want to take our government back? I know I would. This is a big part of how we could do it: In a push to implement a publicly-financed election system and curb moneyed interests in politics, a pair of good-government groups is launching a television ad campaign with a noteworthy price tag. Common Cause and Public Campaign, two organizations known for exposing the murkier influences on legislative and electoral processes, are staking $8 million to try and burnish Congress with the willpower to pass the Fair Elections Now Act. And they're willing to spend as much as $15 million on their campaign-season gambit. We need to get campaign finance reform, shorten our elections as the British have done (this isn't pushing for that, unfortunately), and get big money, the corporations and their lobbyists out of our government. We need to take our government back and this is how to do it. You need to be aware of this and we all--Right, Left, Center, Republicans, Libertarians, Democrats, everyone--need to get behind this. It's not about taking a voice away from any one of these groups (except maybe fatcat, corporate Republicans). It's about giving a voice BACK to the American people. Let's do this. Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/07/good-government-ad-campaign_n_638887.html

How--and why--America COULD get out of the "war business" (guest post), pt. 2

Capping the Wellsprings of War Each one of these seven wellsprings feeding our enduring wars must be capped. So here are seven suggestions for the sort of “caps” -- hopefully more effective than BP’s flailing improvisations -- we need to install: 1. Let’s reject the idea that war is either admirable or good -- and in the process, remind ourselves that others often see us as “the foreign fighters” and profligate war consumers who kill innocents (despite our efforts to apply deadly force in surgically precise ways reflecting “courageous restraint”). 2. Let’s cut defense spending now, and reduce the global “mission” that goes with it. Set a reasonable goal -- a 6-8% reduction annually for the next 10 years, until levels of defense spending are at least back to where they were before 9/11 -- and then stick to it. 3. Let’s stop privatizing war. Creating ever more profitable incentives for war was always a ludicrous idea. It’s time to make war a non-profit, last-resort activity. And let’s revive national service (including elective military service) for all young adults. What we need is a revived civilian conservation corps, not a new civilian “expeditionary” force. 4. Let’s reverse the militarization of so many dimensions of our society. To cite one example, it’s time to empower truly independent (non-embedded) journalists to cover our wars, and stop relying on retired generals and admirals who led our previous wars to be our media guides. Men who are beholden to their former service branch or the current defense contractor who employs them can hardly be trusted to be critical and unbiased guides to future conflicts. 5. Let’s recognize that expensive high-tech weapons systems are not war-winners. They’ve kept us in the game without yielding decisive results -- unless you measure “results” in terms of cost overruns and burgeoning federal budget deficits. 6. Let’s retool our economy and reinvest our money, moving it out of the military-industrial complex and into strengthening our anemic system of mass transit, our crumbling infrastructure, and alternative energy technology. We need high-speed rail, safer roads and bridges, and more wind turbines, not more overpriced jet fighters. 7. Finally, let’s banish nightmare scenarios from our minds. The world is scary enough without forever imagining smoking guns morphing into mushroom clouds. There you have it: my seven “caps” to contain our gushing support for permanent war. No one said it would be easy. Just ask BP how easy it is to cap one out-of-control gusher. Nonetheless, if we as a society aren’t willing to work hard for actual change -- indeed, to demand it -- we’ll be on that military escalatory curve until we implode. And that way madness lies. ______________________________________ William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and TomDispatch regular. He has taught at the Air Force Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School and currently teaches History at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. He may be reached at wjastore@gmail.com. Copyright 2010 William J. Astore Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-j-astore/hope-and-change-fade-but_b_640026.html

Republicans: Wanting America to fail?

There are two fascinating articles out right now, simultaneously, both either asking or proving the same thing basically and that is that the Republicans want this President--and so, the country, of course--to be really hurting or worse, so they can take the country back. I've written on it before. This is just more proof. The first one may be my favorite, if only because it isn't from an American or an American source, for that matter, but a very British one: The Guardian. Hey, if they say it, it must be true, right? Herewith: From now until 2 November, the Republican party will be the party of unemployment. The logic is straightforward: the more people who are unemployed on election day, the better the prospects for Republicans in the fall election. They expect, with good cause, that voters will hold the Democrats responsible for the state of the economy. Therefore, anything that the Republicans can do to make the economy worse between now and then will help their election prospects. It sure seems true from where I sit. And again, I wrote this last year, that they are heavily, heavily committed and invested in seeing to it that this President fails, America be damned (nearly literally) so they don't lose power to him and the Democrats for another 40 years, as happened with and after FDR. The second reference is from The New York Times and renowned economist Paul Krugman: GOP Economic Plan: Punish the Jobless to Screw Over Obama There are five unemployed workers for every job opening. That does not seem to concern the GOP lawmakers opposed to extending unemployment benefits. So there you are, Republicans--a challenge to you. Prove these people wrong. Prove us wrong, those of us who see what you are doing are believe that you're sabotaging the country. Show us you can work together with the Democrats and all other Americans so we can do what's right for America and solve our problems. Prove to us you aren't the "Party of 'No'". Until you do, you have earned this label. Don't take America down a road of failure. Please. We're begging you. Links to original posts: --http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/06/republicans-party-of-unemployment --http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/opinion/05krugman.html?_r=1&ref=paulkrugman