The WAWG Blog

Oh, The Irony: White House Tells Pakistan To Never ‘Restrict Constitution’ To Fight Terror – Question at Press Briefing concerning Pakistan: Is it ever reasonable to restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism? Ms. Perino (White House Press Secretary): In our opinion, no. The Bush administration never suspended the U.S. Constitution; instead, it interpreted the document so broadly as to provide all the powers they desired.

Tom Delay’s Buddy Guilty in Republican Conspiracy, Bribery, Money Laundering and Wire Fraud – Brent Wilkes is guilty for his role in engineering the biggest bribery scheme in congressional history, a verdict that closed another chapter in the scandal surrounding former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. The defense contractor was convicted of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and honest services wire fraud. Wilkes and his friends donated heavily to Tom DeLay. For example, by mid-April 2002, Wilkes, his executives and ADCS had donated $45,000 to DeLay’s ARMPAC so that one of their executives could play golf with DeLay, Federal Election records show. AP reported that “Wilkes has been subpoenaed in the money-laundering case against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Prosecutors want to hear from Wilkes about a contribution to a DeLay fundraising committee at the center of the investigation that led to indictments that pushed the GOP leader from office”. Additionally, Wilkes’ company, Group W Advisers, hired the Alexander Strategy Group that employed DeLay’s wife to lobby for acoustic technology for the Navy.
DeLay and Doolittle
Connections to Tom DeLay money laundering case

U.S. Contractor Leaves Iraqi Police Barracks In Disarray, Human Waste Dripping From Ceilings – More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning. The project, where United States inspectors found giant cracks snaking through newly built walls and human waste dripping from ceilings, became one of the most visible examples of a $45 billion American reconstruction program that is widely seen as a failure.

Rush Limbaugh Attacks Alaskan Youth Who Testified to Congress About Global Warming – An 18-year-old Inuit from Alaska sobbed through her congressional testimony before Edward Markey’s committee this morning as she described Global Warming’s disastrous effects on her community. Of course, Rush Limbaugh didn’t hesitate to attack her on his radio show. Audio:

Lynne Cheney Visits Exclusive Dallas Country Club With Controversial Race Record – The club, which was founded in 1896, is a “haven for whites.” Cheney’s appearance at the traditionally exclusive club came in the same week that her husband visited a hunting lodge in upstate New York that hangs the Confederate flag.

Republican Ad On Eve Of Virginia Election Features Anti-Muslim, Anti-Gay Undertones – The Republican Party of Virginia sent out an anti-gay, anti-Muslim mailer.

Big Coal’s Xenophobic Slime Campaign – Sunflower Electric Power Corp., which wants to build two 700-megawatt coal-burning power plants in Kansas, funded ads that contend that the state’s decision to reject the coal-fired power plants in western Kansas will help Russia, Iraq and Venezuela.

Pat Boone Plays the Republican Gay Card in Kentucky Election – Boone is warning Kentuckians that if they vote for Democrat Steve Beshear against Republican incumbent Governor Ernie Fletcher, Kentucky will turn into another San Francisco.

George Bush’s Criminal Conspiracy of Torture

Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole Gets Big Bucks for Mostly Nothing – Are you paying Harris County commissioner Jerry Eversole $144,000 a year to go shopping? Going to Starbucks? Fixing his golf club? Going to Starbucks? Working out? Or just staying home? Did we mention going to Starbucks?

Regards,

Jim

I believe this nation will only survive as a republic by upholding all the extraordinary and very thoughtful measures our Founding Fathers, of the late 1700s, established in our Constitution. I also believe, as they did, that “we the people” are the foundation of the process and that if we fail to do our part, the entire system will devolve into a dictatorship.

After our Founding Fathers defeated the oppression of English rule and taxation without representation, they put their minds to creating a government that would be just strong enough to protect ‘we the people’ from both internal and external abuse and yet not so strong that it becomes abusive. To do this, they created the Constitution of the United States, which included a combination of extraordinary measures after much thoughtful deliberation.

The primary thoughtful measure is embodied in the Preamble of the Constitution. It declares that certain specific powers are being granted to the government by the governed. The power owners are enabling a new form of government.

Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

This was a significant departure from other governments of the time. To make sure this was clearly understood, they added the Tenth Amendment, powers of states and people:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

This Enumeration of powers limits federal government to what is granted by the Constitution and reserves all remaining power for the States or we the people. The doctrine of enumerated powers is our principal defense against an abusive government and being ruled by a dictator. If a power has not been granted, then it cannot be abused. That is, as long as we the people keep the government in its place.

What other thoughtful measures exist in the Constitution to protect we the people?

In addition to enumerating power between federal, state and we the people, the Constitution further limits the power of the federal government by splitting the enumerated powers between three branches of government. It then adds to that various checks and balances of one branch on the others. Examples of these checks and balances include:

• Congress can write new bills, but the President has to approve them before they become part of the law of the land.
• The President can veto bills, but Congress can override that veto with a supermajority vote.
• The Judiciary can monitor both the Executive and Legislative to make certain neither is exceeding their enumerated powers. The Executive and Legislative checks the Judiciary by choosing and approving the judges.
• Congress was given the power to impeach the President.
• The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the military, but Congress controls the federal/military budget

This may seem like enough measures, but the Founding Fathers were still concerned that the new government would seek more power by limiting the power of the people. They soon added The Bill of Rights to assure certain that specific rights/powers of we the people could not be taken away by this government. The Bill of Rights was a short and important, but limited, list. Since they couldn’t list all our rights and powers, they did the next best thing. The Ninth Amendment protected all the rest of our rights and powers.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

And one of those retained rights is the power of the vote. We can determine who manages our Constitutional government.

Our right to vote is so important that protecting it has required additional constitutional amendments:

• The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits limitations on voting based on race, color, or previous status as a slave.
• The Nineteenth Amendment prohibits limitations on voting based on a citizen’s sex.
• The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits requiring payment of a tax for the right to vote.
• The Twenty-sixth Amendment prohibits an upper limitation on voting based on age.

But the power of the vote also represents the primary weakness of this plan to control government power and protect the rights of we the people.

What happens if more and more of us stop voting? Who is left voting? What happens if we aren’t calling or writing to our representatives? Who are our representatives listening to? What happens if those elected into office either abuse or ignore their powers? Who is ultimately responsible?

Indeed, fewer and fewer voting age citizens are using their ballot box power to keep our republic on an even keel. See voter turnout chart below. This chart is based on data from Federal Election Commission, Office of the Clerk, U.S. Census Bureau.

People Power – User It or Lose It

So who is voting while more of we the people don’t? Based on a recent Pew Form survey and voting results for 2004, the social-issue voters represent about 22 percent of the voting age population and they are the most cohesive, most likely to vote and consistent voting block in existence. If the rest of the voting age population stops voting and this group keeps voting, this republic becomes a single-party state by default.

Since most of us don’t take the time to communicate with our elected officials, who are they listening to? According to the Washington Post in June 2005, just during GWB’s first term, registered lobbyists doubled “to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent.” If we are not communicating with our elected managers of the federal government and the lobbyists are, this republic will be only influenced by corporations and other special interests.

Now add to this lack of voter participation and a single-party state controlled by corporations a group of elected officials that either ignore or actually redact the Constitution they swore to uphold and we the people have a confluence upon us that greatly threatens our nation and reduces our power.

We are so close to losing all our power and witnessing the end of our republic.

It should be obvious that with all the power we the people have in this republic, we are also its weakest link. If only a few of us, who vote blindly by party, use this power, if those who were elected see that as an excuse to listen to lobbyists, if any one branch of our government stops performing it’s checks and balances duties while another abuses its limited powers, what do you think will result?

All members of the three branches of our government are required to take an oath to support, defend and protect the Constitution. Maybe we the people should take an oath when we register to vote. Maybe then we will be less likely to squander our power to control this great nation and let it fall into such disrepair.

Republicans Speed Children’s Health Care Bill to a Vote to Make Sure it Gets Vetoed – A defiant Democratic-controlled Congress voted Thursday to provide health insurance to an additional 4 million lower-income children, ignoring President Bush’s threat of a second straight veto on the issue. The legislation cleared the Senate on a vote of 64-30. It passed the House last week, but supporters were shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override Bush’s threatened veto. In a situation of bewildering political complexity, Republicans dictated the decision to pass the legislation speedily. It appeared their goal was to short-circuit attempts by supporters of the bill to reach a compromise that could attract enough votes in the House to override Bush’s veto. Attempts by Reid to delay final passage of the bill until next week or longer drew objections from the GOP. the president told House Republicans in a private meeting that he would veto any measure that raised tobacco taxes.

Chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Gets Dozens of Trips at the Expense of the Toy, Appliance and Children’s Furniture Industries – The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children’s furniture industries and others they regulate. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards. The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency’s acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Mitt Romney’s Chief Adviser on Counterterrorism and National Security is Also a Top Executive of Blackwater – J. Cofer Black, who is now Mitt Romney’s chief adviser on counterterrorism and national security, is facing scrutiny for his current role as a top executive of Blackwater Worldwide, the international security firm whose alleged killing of 17 Iraqis prompted a congressional investigation and a demand from the Iraqi government that the firm withdraw from the country.

CIA Head George Tenet Gave “Curveball’s” False Information to Colin Powell despite a letter From German Intelligence Stating That There Was No Evidence to Verify His Story – The man whose fabricated story of Iraqi biological weapons drove the U.S. argument for invading Iraq was known as “Curve Ball” in intelligence circles. He is now known to be not only a liar, but also a thief and a poor student instead of the chemical engineering whiz he claimed to be. Curve Ball is an Iraqi defector named Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who arrived at a German refugee center in 1999. To bolster his asylum case and increase his importance, he told officials he was a star chemical engineer who had been in charge of a facility at Djerf al Nadaf that was making mobile biological weapons. He eventually wound up in the care of German intelligence officials to whom he continued to spin his tale of biological weapons. More than a hundred summaries of his debriefings were sent to the CIA, which then became a pillar – along with the now-disproved Iraqi quest for uranium for nuclear weapons – for the U.S. decision to bomb and then invade Iraq. The CIA-director George Tenet gave Alwan’s information to Secretary of State Colin Powell to use at the U.N. in his speech justifying military action against Iraq. Tenet gave the information to Powell despite a letter – a copy of which 60 Minutes obtained – addressed to him by the head of German intelligence stating that Alwan appeared to be believable, but there was no evidence to verify his story.

Fox News Reporter Falsely Reports That Barack Obama Made a Little Girl Cry – On the November 2 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, co-host Megyn Kelly teased an upcoming story by saying: “Well, in other news, Barack Obama makes a little girl cry. What? That story … in five minutes.” Kelly added, “He’s made me cry many times.” However, Obama took “questions from a five-year-old girl after she shed a few tears and got his attention.

Fox & Friends’ Doocy falsely claimed Clinton would make driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants “necessary” – On the November 1 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, discussing criticism of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-NY) comments on a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, co-host Steve Doocy asserted that Clinton said in an October 31 campaign statement, “As president, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this necessary.” the statement issued by the Clinton campaign actually said: “As President, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make [the New York proposal] unnecessary”

See How the Presidential Candidates Line Up with Your Views on Issues
Take the quiz. – (Hint: You will get more questions about those topics that you express the highest interest in. You will not get any questions on topics with zero points.)

Regards,

Jim

Rumsfeld Pushed Hard to Create Link Between Iraq and Iran – Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pushed hard to create a link between Iraq and Iran. He argued that Muslims avoid physical labor and wrote of the need to “keep elevating the threat,” “link Iraq to Iran” and develop bumper sticker statements to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war. The memos, often referred to as “snowflakes,” shed light on Rumsfeld’s brusque management style and on his efforts to address key challenges during his tenure as Pentagon chief. Spanning from 2002 to shortly after his resignation following the 2006 congressional elections, a sampling of his trademark missives obtained yesterday reveals a defense secretary disdainful of media criticism and driven to reshape public opinion of the Iraq war.

Defense Contract Goes to Bush Buddies Who Submitted High Bid – A Defense Department medical services contract worth up to $790 million was awarded last month to a Wisconsin-based company three months after it hired a former Bush administration appointee who had supervised military health programs at the Pentagon for the last six years. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs from 2001 until April, joined Logistics Health Inc. as a director and consultant in June. The company is headed by another ex-official of the Bush administration — former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. The firm was selected over two other bidders with proposals that ranged from $80 million to $100 million less.

Bush Does Not Follow His Own Advice – Today Bush said, ““Some in Washington should spend more time responding to the warnings of terrorists like Osama bin Laden…” But remember when he said, “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” Or remember when he said, “I don’t know where he is. I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.” Or “Deep in my heart I know the man’s on the run, if he’s alive at all…I just don’t spend much time on it, really, to be honest with you.” And remember when he disbanded the CIA unit dedicated to finding bin Laden?

Another Conservative Republican in Gay Sex Scandal – Washington State lawmaker Richard Curtis is the third conservative lawmaker in just as many months to resign amid allegations of soliciting gay sex. Curtis had insisted to his local newspaper that he was not gay and that sex was not involved in what he said was an extortion attempt by a man last week. But in police reports, Curtis said he was being extorted by a man he had sex with in a Spokane hotel room. The other man contends Curtis reneged on a promise to pay $1,000 for sex.”

White House is Withholding More Than 600 Pages of Documents About the Activities of Convicted Lobbyist Jack Abramoff – The White House is withholding hundreds of pages of documents about the activities of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff on the grounds that these documents involve internal White House deliberations. President Bush has previously denied any connection to Abramoff, who was convicted on three felony counts and sentenced to more than five years in prison. “I don’t know him,” said the president in 2006. A number of similar statements have been made by top White House officials seeking to distance themselves from the lobbyist, including former senior advisor Karl Rove, who had described Abramoff as a “casual acquaintance,” through a spokesman. But former White House political director Matt Schlapp says he had monthly contact with Jack Abramoff on subjects that often involved official government business. He also says Abramoff and his associates ‘had many friends in the administration.’

What Kind of Person Says Waterboarding Can be Just a CIA-Sponsored Swim Lesson? – On CNN yesterday, conservative columnist Rachael Mardsen said in regard to waterboarding, “Well I think we do have to define torture. One man’s torture is another man’s CIA’s sponsored swim lesson.” What kind of person would say that? Maybe one who is a stalker. Maybe one who makes threatening phone calls and e-mails to a man. Maybe one who has to be escorted out of Fox News by security guards for “bizarre and erratic behavior.” Yes, even Fox News had to throw her out! Just another great American conservative defending the administration.
EYE-OPENER
Whazzup With Wingnuts?
Canadian conservative political columnist

Mounting Federal Earmarks Fund Religious Groups – Earmarks setting aside federal funds for religious organizations — including Christian groups openly focused on conversions and missionary work are on the rise in appropriations bills in both the US House and Senate. One earmark, proposed by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) consisted of a “$100,000 provision to fund a science education program by the Louisiana Family Forum. The LFF has long opposed the teaching of evolution-only science curricula in state schools, and the grant would have gone toward a project to encourage schools to teach creationist theories of development as well. Vitter later bowed to pressure from the ACLU and others, removing that specific earmark.

Ted Poe’s Campaign Finances – A draft audit report of U.S. Rep. Ted Poe’s (R-Humble) campaign finances from his first year in office alleges multiple violations of campaign law, including the misstatement of cash on hand by $90,000 as well as inadequate identification of 40 percent of his donors.

Your Gold Ring Left 20 Tons of Polluted Mining Waste Behind – Open-pit gold mines are common now, where the grass and trees and every other living thing above the place to be mined are removed and the ore is blasted and scooped out. Not only do open-pit mines scar the landscape, they produce 8 to 10 times more waste than underground mining. Production of the gold needed for an average 18-karat gold ring leaves 20 tons of polluted mining waste behind. Gold is also extracted chemically from the ore by using a cyanide leaching process. Cyanide and other toxics eventually get into the surrounding land, surface water, and groundwater. In some cases, acid mine drainage, in which the sulfides in the now-exposed rock waste combine with water to form sulfuric acid, turns groundwater more toxic than battery acid. As for cyanide, an amount of it equivalent in size to a grain of rice will kill a human. Take the NoDirtyGold Pledge to help convince retailers, manufacturers, and mining companies that consumers want to see real changes in the mining industry and an alternative to “dirty gold.” Behind Gold’s Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions

Fred Thompson Makes Up Stuff About United Nations and Gun Control – Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said, “Last year, the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights declared that international human rights law requires all nations to adopt strict gun control laws. These minimum provisions are much more restrictive than any of those on the books anywhere in the U.S. and would almost certainly violate the Second Amendment of our Constitution.” However, The U. N. document actually:

Urges States to adopt laws and policies regarding the manufacture, possession, transfer and use of small arms that comply with principles of international human rights and international humanitarian law;

Also urges States to provide training on the use of firearms by armed forces and law enforcement personnel consistent with basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law with special attention to the promotion and protection of human rights as a primary duty of all State officials;

Further urges States to take effective measures to minimize violence carried out by armed private actors, including using due diligence to prevent small arms from getting into the hands of those who are likely to misuse them.

Fred likes acting and other pretend stuff.

A Poor Choice of Words – Touting his accomplishments as mayor while on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani crowed, “I took a city that was known for pornography and licked it to a large extent, so I have my own set of qualifications.”

Regards,

Jim

Fox News Distorted College Students’ Views to Bash Global Warming – Conservative host Sean Hannity made clear his disdain for CNN’s “Planet in Peril” series when the show Hannity co-hosts convened a panel of atmospheric science graduate students to discuss the program. Several students involved say their views were misrepresented, and they are now complaining the Fox talker made them out to be a bunch of science-denying rubes. “We … feel like we were sold out by Fox News,” Chris Hain, one of the participants. In its heavily edited segment, Fox cut students’ quotes short to mischaracterize their sentiments and accent the negative, Hain claimed. Hannity also didn’t tell his viewers was that the seemingly impromptu discussion was actually led by global warming skeptic John Christy.

White House Says Bush Plans Using Administrative Orders to Avoid Congress – The White House is now planning to implement as much new policy as it can by administrative order after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership. White House aides say the only way Bush seems to be able to influence the process is by vetoing legislation or by issuing administrative orders, as he has in recent weeks on veterans’ health care, air-traffic congestion, protecting endangered fish and immigration. They say they expect Bush to issue more of such orders in the next several months, even as he speaks out on the need to limit spending and resist any tax increases. According to a University of Tulsa research document on executive power, “Administrative Orders include numbered documents called determinations, and notices or memorandum designated by date,” the document states. “These orders often concern foreign policy decisions but may also include management decisions made by the President that concern Executive Departments.” (Will Bush issue an order to bomb Iran? – JLV)

Chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Doesn’t Want to Protect Consumers – Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff. Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistle-blowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws. Ms. Nord’s opposition to important elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the Bush administration over the last seven years. In a variety of areas, from antitrust to trucking and worker safety, officials appointed by President Bush have sought to reduce the role of regulation and government in the marketplace. Before joining the agency, Ms. Nord had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce. (With all that experience protecting companies, it’s probably hard for her to switch gears to think about protecting consumers. – JLV)

One of Every Eight Veterans Under the Age of 65 is Uninsured – About one of every eight veterans under the age of 65 is uninsured, a finding that contradicts the assumption many have that all vets qualify for free health care through the Veterans Affairs Department, says a new study. Researchers at Harvard Medical School projected that about 1.8 million veterans overall lack health coverage. That’s an increase of 290,000 since 2000. The researchers said most uninsured veterans are in the middle class and are ineligible for VA care because of their incomes. Still others cannot afford their copayments, or lack VA facilities in their community. ”Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people — too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor and a physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance.

US Taxation System Helps the Rich and Hurts the Middle Class – Multi-billionaire Warren Buffett was taxed at only 17.7% last year on his $46 million in income, while his secretary paid 30% of her $60,000. To be fair, it’s Mr. Buffet that’s doing the complaining about the unfair tax system. “The taxation system has tilted toward the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years,” Buffett, the nation’s third richest man, told Tom Brokaw of NBC. Buffett said he did an informal survey of federal taxes paid by his own office staff, and the average was 32.9%, compared to his 17.7%. “There wasn’t anybody in the office, from the receptionists on, that paid as low a tax rate,” Buffett stated, noting that “I have no tax planning, I don’t have an accountant, I don’t have tax shelters.”

Iraqi and U.S. officials have decided not to tell Iraqis About a Dangerous Dam That Could Kill as many as 500,000 Iraqis – The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials. Even in a country gripped by daily bloodshed, the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet. Iraqi and U.S. officials realize how serious the situation is, but have decided not to tell Iraqis, for fear of scaring them. Maybe if these citizens knew, the problem may be more likely to get fixed.

Corporate-Funded Research Designed to Influence Public Policy – Reports by well-known think tanks and individuals funded by telecoms are helping quash competition, increase phone rates and set up a corporate-oriented Internet system. Is there any reason to trust these reports? Or to trust experts who testify before regulators without revealing the sources of their funding?

Regards,

Jim

Campaign News Coverage Provides Relatively Little Information About Candidates Records or What They Would Do If Elected – A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy shows that 63% of the campaign stories focused on political and tactical aspects of the campaign. That is nearly four times the number of stories about the personal backgrounds of the candidates (17%) or the candidates’ ideas and policy proposals (15%). And just 1% of stories examined the candidates’ records or past public performance. The press’ focus on fundraising, tactics and polling is even more evident if one looks at how stories were framed rather than the topic of the story. Just 12% of stories examined were presented in a way that explained how citizens might be affected by the election, while nearly nine-out-of-ten stories (86%) focused on matters that largely impacted only the parties and the candidates. All of these findings seem to be at sharp variance with what the public says it wants from campaign reporting. A new poll by The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted for this report finds that about eight-in-ten of Americans say they want more coverage of the candidates’ stances on issues, and majorities want more on the record and personal background, and backing of the candidates, more about lesser-known candidates and more about debates

US Quietly Backing Egyptian Nuclear Program as White House Slams Iran for Nuclear Program

Declassified: US spying could top $50 billion in 2007 – The tab for US non-military spying in 2007 is a whopping $43.5 billion, according to figures released today by National Director of Intelligence Mike McConnell. A more complete budget figure for US spying is actually even higher. If still-classified totals for military-based programs were factored in, that number would reach $50 billion.

Conservative Pundant George Will Makes Up Stuff About Social Security – On ABC’s “This Week”, George Will said, “Sixty-five days from now, the first of 78 million baby boomers begun (sic) to retire. Most Americans who collect Social Security begin to collect it at age 62, which is absurd. We have the public subsidizing increasingly long and comfortable retirement of people for a third to a half of their adult lifetime. Now. That’s why one in four voters in 2004 was over 60 years old. The elderly have the biggest stake in the welfare state, which exists to transfer wealth to them. So this is, politically, a loser.”

The rules of Social Security say that while it’s true that you can begin collecting at the age of 62, you won’t get as much as if you wait until 65. George Will also complained about subsidizing people for up to half of their lives, but how many 124 year olds does he know?

Conservative Author Doesn’t Recognize Journalism Even When It’s Staring Him in the Face – Andrew Keen has written in the Weekly Standard (owned by News Corp. [Rupert Murdoch], which also owns Fox News). He also recently wrote a book called “The Cult of the Amateur” in which he lambastes citizen media for degrading our culture. In it he said, “It is not surprising then that these prominent bloggers have no professional training in the collection of news. After all, who needs a degree in journalism to post a hyperlink on a Web site? Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, for example, the founder of Daily Kos, a left-leaning site, came to political blogging via the technology industry and the military.” However, Markos earned two bachelor degrees at Northern Illinois University (1992-96), with majors in Philosophy, Journalism, and Political Science and a minor in German. The journalism department honored him as “Journalism student of the year.” He was editor in chief of the Northern Star in 1995. He did freelance for three years for the Chicago Tribune. In 2005, he spent two weeks in the UK reporting on the elections for the Guardian newspaper. (Conservatives like to talk, but not check facts.) [And neocons tell noble lies.]

Chief of Civil Rights Division of Justice Department Claims That Photo ID Laws Help Minorities to Vote (and Insults Them at the Same Time) – The Chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, John Tanner, said, “It’s probably true that among those who don’t [have Photo ID], it’s primarily elderly persons. And that’s a shame. Of course…our society is such that minorities don’t become elderly. The way that white people do. They die first.”

Your Homeland Security at Work – The Department of Homeland Security detained British international development minister Shahid Malik at Dulles Airport — ostensibly because he is Muslim — and searching him for explosives as he arrived in the U.S. to meet with… the Department of Homeland Security.

Dogs Provide Dick Cheney With Competition

Regards,

Jim

The Bush Wild-West Influence: Texas is Now Like Iraq; Shoot First, Gets Facts Later – Texas recently passed a law branding anybody breaking into a home or car as a real threat of injury or death to its occupants. John Woodson, 46, found that out last week when he ambled into Dennis Baker’s open garage in a Dallas suburb. A surveillance video showed the robber strolling inside, hands in his pockets. From the shadows, Baker opened fire and killed Woodson. Woodson had not tried to enter the bedroom near the garage where Baker had been sleeping. Another Dallas resident a few days earlier had killed his second robber in three weeks inside his home. (I’ve heard “an eye for an eye,” but this is “a life for some jewelry.”)

Is the United States Going the Way of East Germany? – Here’s an observation from Roger Ebert in his review of the film about the abuses of the East German government in “The Lives of Others”: “But the movie is relevant today, as our government ignores habeas corpus, practices secret torture, and asks for the right to wiretap and eavesdrop on its citizens. Such tactics did not save East Germany; they destroyed it, by making it a country its most loyal citizens could no longer believe in. Driven by the specter of aggression from without, it countered it with aggression from within, as sort of an anti-toxin. Fearing that its citizens were disloyal, it inspired them to be. True, its enemies were real. But the West never dropped the bomb, and East Germany and the other Soviet republics imploded after essentially bombing themselves.”

How This Administration Starts Wars – Iran had basically surrendered to us in 2003 — and we refused their offer of turning in all of their terrorist allies and completely stopping their nuclear program. If we actually cared about ending terrorism or their nuclear ambitions, we would have jumped all over this deal. But that is not what Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld cared about. The fake WMD threat and charges of terrorism are the same exact ruse they used in Iraq. And unbelievably, the media is going along with it just like they did in the lead up to the Iraq War.

The US Supreme Court Said it Would Hear an Appeal From Exxon-Mobil in the Valdez Oil Spill – In what was one of the biggest ever oil spills, 11 million gallons of crude were released into Alaska’s wilderness after the Exxon tanker hit a reef. About 1,300 miles (2,080km) of coastline was contaminated as a result of the oil spill. Captain of the Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood, admitted drinking vodka before boarding the vessel, but was subsequently acquitted of operating a ship while intoxicated. Exxon argues that it cannot be held responsible for the actions of Mr Hazelwood and says that the $2.5bn penalty is excessive under marine law and when compared with other federal rulings on punitive damages. Lawyers for the victims dispute the charge that the award is too high and argue that the damages represent “barely more than three weeks of Exxon’s net profit”.

Regards,

Jim

In 2006, John Dean made the following statements about social conservatives in his book Conservatives Without Conscience:

Social conservatives, whose core members are Christian conservatives, comprise the largest and most cohesive faction of conservatism. They are, by and large, typical right-wing authoritarian followers. Both neoconservatives [social dominator authoritarians] and social conservatives include countless conservatives without conscience within their ranks [Christianists].

Social conservatives are especially susceptible to irrational beliefs ….

… Social conservatives are deeply offended by atheists who want the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, yet … they recite … that pledge and its words: “liberty and justice for all.” For all but atheists [and moderates, liberals, peace mongers, scientists, climatologists, artists, gays, actors, except Fred Thompson, non-Republicans, non-whites, non-Christians, non-conformers, non-feelers or thinkers, hybrid owners, agnostics, union members, dissenters, suspected terrorists and anyone not like them] ….

Another more recent example of irrational beliefs, as shown later in the posting, is that more than 75 percent of them have a “favorable view” of Rudy Giuliani in spite of his lack of support for their social issues.

So, is there anything more current that reconfirms John Dean’s assertions? Based on a recent, October 15, 2007, survey by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the answer is, “Yes.”

According to the survey, “many 2008 Republican presidential candidates are vying for the support of an influential segment of the primary electorate – social-issue voters. These voters are Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters, many of whom are conservative Christians, who say social issues such as abortion and gay marriage will be very important in their presidential voting decisions.”

It goes on to report that 43 percent of the Republican voters say they will decide how to vote based on social issues.

The survey also shows that these social-issue voters differ in many ways from the rest of the Republican coalition.

• More religious.
• More conservative.
• Less educated
• Mostly from the ‘working class’ and don’t benefit from Republican tax law changes – more irrationality
• Attend religious services at least once a week
• Consider themselves to be white evangelical protestants
• More are women
• More consider themselves “strong Republicans”

These social-issuses voters also differ significantly from other Republicans on their issues and candidates:

• Stridently antiabortion
• A plurality oppose stem cell research
• Almost unanimously against gay marriage
• Most blindly obedient to GWB
• Favor Giuliani over Romney and McCain

I close with a couple of quotes about these fringe yet powerful Republicans.

In 1994, the same year Gingrich started remaking Congress in his own image, Barry Goldwater said this to John Dean who used it in the preface to Conservatives Without Conscience.

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.

And now for my most frequent quote from John Dean:

Probably about 20 to 25 percent of the adult American population is so right-wing authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds. They would march America into a dictatorship and probably feel that things had improved as a result. … And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going away.

Now for what these Christianists want of you – to be just like them and not any of the following: moderate, liberal, peace monger, scientist, climatologist, artist, gay, actor, non-Republican, non-white, non-Christian, non-conformer, non-feeler or thinker, hybrid owner, agnostic, union member, or dissenter.

Unless you are ready to be remade in their image, you had best keep an eye on them, check Right Wing Watch occasionally.

Anyone know what Karl Rove has been up to lately?

Glenn Beck Says “A handful of people who hate America … are losing their homes in a forest fire today” – On the October 22 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Glenn Beck stated, “I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.” Beck’s comment came as forest fires ravaged parts of Southern California, leaving one person dead, four firefighters wounded, and forcing about 250,000 people from their homes.

Bush Gave ‘Marching Orders’ on Aggressive Interrogation at Guantanamo According to General – More than 100,000 pages of newly released government documents to demonstrate how US military interrogators “abused, tortured or killed” scores of prisoners rounded up since Sept. 11, 2001, including some who were not even expected of having terrorist ties, according to a just-published book. In Administration of Torture, two American Civil Liberties Union attorneys detail the findings of a years-long investigation and court battle with the administration that resulted in the release of massive amounts of data on prisoner treatment and the deaths of US-held prisoners. “[The documents show unambiguously that the administration has adopted some of the methods of the most tyrannical regimes,” writes Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh. “Documents from Guantanamo describe prisoners shackled in excruciating ‘stress positions,’ held in freezing-cold cells, forcibly stripped, hooded, terrorized with military dogs, and deprived of human contact for months.”

Cheney ‘Interfered Directly’ to Get Terror Plea Bargain According to Australian Television – Vice President Dick Cheney cut a deal with the prime minister of Australia to orchestrate a plea bargain with an Australian terror suspect that would keep him out of sight until after Australia’s national elections next month, an Australian television station reported. Cheney “interfered directly” to secure Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks’ guilty plea to material support for terrorism, the Australian Broadcasting Company reported Tuesday. Cheney’s intervention, according to a Harper’s article cited by the ABC, was “part of a deal” with Prime Minister John Howard, who is facing a re-election fight next month. Howard denies the deal.

State Department Cannot Account for Most of $1.2 Billion paid to DynCorp to Train Police Officers in Iraq – A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assails the department for poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability involving armed security companies like Blackwater USA, according to people who have been briefed on the report. In addition to Blackwater, the State Department’s two other security contractors in Iraq are DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. At the same time, a government audit expected to be released Tuesday says that records documenting the work of DynCorp, the State Department’s largest contractor, are in such disarray that the department cannot say “specifically what it received” for most of the $1.2 billion it has paid the company since 2004 to train the police officers in Iraq. The four-member panel found serious fault with virtually every aspect of the department’s security practices, especially in and around Baghdad, where Blackwater has responsibility.

Telecom Companies Seeking Immunity Donate to Democratic Senator – Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping. The surge in contributions came from a Who’s Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports. The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr. Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio. Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged last week as the most important supporter of immunity in devising a compromise plan with Senate Republicans and the Bush administration.

White House Cut Deal With Panel on FISA – Senate Judiciary Committee members yesterday angrily accused the White House of allowing the Senate Intelligence Committee to review documents on its warrantless surveillance program in return for agreeing that telecommunications companies should get immunity from lawsuits. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking Republican, said any such agreement would be “unacceptable,” signaling that legislation granting immunity to certain telecom carriers could run into trouble. Leahy and Specter demanded that the documents, which were provided only to the Intelligence Committee, be turned over to the Judiciary Committee as well.

AEI Warmonger On Hardball: There Are No Alternatives – BOMB IRAN NOW – On Monday’s Hardball Chris Matthews talked with Jim Walsh from MIT and Joshua Muravchik from the American Enterprise Institute to discuss Iran and whether or not the U.S. should attack. In what was one of Matthews’ more palatable segments, he grills Muravchik, who says he doesn’t care when we attack Iran just as long as we do it soon because, in his words, there are no alternatives. Both Matthews and Walsh fail to mention Sunni militants, supported by Saudi , who are actually responsible for the majority of attacks on U.S. soldiers and the fact that the Bush administration doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge it.
Stopping the New War Before It Starts

FBI Coerces Confession From Innocent Man – An Egyptian national, Abdallah Higazy, was staying in a hotel in New York City on September 11 and the hotel emptied out when the planes hit the towers. The hotel later found in the closet of his room a device that allows you to communicate with airline pilots. Investigators thought this guy had something to do with 9/11 so they questioned him. According to Higazi, the investigators coerced him into confessing to a role in 9/11. Higazi first adamantly denied any involvement with 9/11 and could not believe what was happening to him. Then, he says, the investigator said his family would go through hell in Egypt, where they torture people like Saddam Hussein. Higazy then realized he had a choice: he could continue denying the radio was his and his family suffers ungodly torture in Egypt or he confesses and his family is spared. Of course, by confessing, Higazy’s life is worth garbage at that point, but … well, that’s why coerced confessions are outlawed in the United States.

So Higazy “confesses” and he’s processed by the criminal justice system. His future is quite bleak. Meanwhile, an airline pilot later shows up at the hotel and asks for his radio back. This is like something out of the movies. The radio belonged to the pilot, not Higazy, and Higazy was free to go, the victim of horrible timing. Higazi was innocent! He next sued the hotel and the FBI agent for coercing his confession. The bottom line in the Court of Appeals: Higazy has a case and may recover damages for this injustice.

Then it gets weird…

Mike Huckabee Makes Up Stuff About the Deceleration of Independence – At the GOP debate the other night, Mike Huckabee said, “When our founding fathers put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence, those 56 brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen, they said that we have certain inalienable rights given to us by our creator.” However, only one of the 56 was an active clergyman, and that was John Witherspoon. A few more of the signers were former clergymen, though it’s a little unclear just how many. But even if you consider former clergymen among the signers the best you could come up with is four. The Republican Debate on Fox News Channel

PR Firm is Old Hand at Polishing Republican Dirt – The firm that “coached” Blackwater CEO Eric Prince for a Congressional hearing previously represented Iraq intelligence launderer Ahmed Chalabi and is now working with AT&T to repair their image in the wake of their involvement in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. The communications firm BKSH, a subsidiary of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, is run by a man with extremely close ties to the Bush Administration. The founder and current head of BKSH is Charlie Black whose ties with the Bush family go back to 1972, when he and Karl Rove were jockeying for control of the College Republicans in a campaign so dirty that George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican National Committee, had to step in and sort matters out.

Wal-Mart’s Bid To Avoid State Taxes – In May 2001, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. issued an appeal to big accounting firms: Find us creative new ways to cut our state tax bills. Ernst & Young LLP swung into action. Senior tax experts at the big accounting firm swapped ideas via email and in a series of meetings. At least one gathering, according to an internal Ernst & Young calendar, took place in Wal-Mart’s headquarters in the “Tax Shelter Room.” The accounting firm, for example, helped Wal-Mart take tax deductions in California for dividends it never actually paid. And in Texas, Ernst & Young advised, the giant retailer could exploit a wrinkle in the tax law involving limited partners from out-of-state — a maneuver subsequently shut down by the state’s legislature.

Regards,

Jim

Evidence of Tax Evasion by Blackwater– The Blackwater employees responsible for considerable violence in Iraq as they go about the job of protecting State Department officials aren’t Blackwater employees at all — they’re “independent contractors.” Why would Blackwater chose to deploy scores of workers to a war zone to do incredibly difficult jobs and treat them as contractors? Of course, not making them employees absolves them of certain obligations. It allows them to evade paying Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes. And it places the burden of paying state and local income taxes on the employee. What’s more, a congressional investigation just found that the IRS specifically told Blackwater that in one case that the practice of treating what are for all intents and purposes employees as independent contractor was “without merit.”

Rudy Giuliani Trying to Distance Himself From Former NYPD Police Commissioner’s Criminal Investigation – Marc Mukasey the son of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, has been tasked by Rudy Giuliani to “to keep an eye on” former NYPD police commissioner Bernard Kerik’s criminal investigation. Earlier this month, media reports said that federal prosecutors were prepared to file charges against Kerik “that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice.” Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, pleaded guilty last year to two misdemeanor charges of taking payments from the same company that is alleged to have bribed him. A source familiar with the Kerik probe said Mukasey’s role in monitoring the Kerik case is “obviously trying to distance Giuliani from all [the allegations about Kerik], although obviously it all occurred on Giuliani’s watch.”

Republican Candidates That Ducked Black Debate Took Money From Firms Accused Of Racism – While the four top Republican presidential contenders missed the Sept 27 debate at Morgan State University in Baltimore organized to address minority issues, they were busy raking in cash from dozens of business and professional elites, including a top Wall Street banking firm that was sued that same week for racial discrimination. All in all, it was a grand and enriching week for the four white males most likely to represent the Republicans in the 2008 presidential race. Among them, they amassed over $9 million while they were too “busy” to attend the debate at Morgan State. The most egregious case is that of the banking house of Morgan Stanley that gave money to the three top Republican contenders during the same week of the minority debate. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) filed a civil rights complaint against Morgan Stanley and its mortgage lender subsidiary Saxon Capital three days before the debate. It was the first challenge against a Wall Street mortgage bundler that alleges redlining in minority communities throughout the United States under the Federal Fair Housing Act.

Bush Attempting to Roll Back Years of Social Justice Gains – President Bush has nominated Leslie Southwick to fill a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Bush previously tried to fill the seat with Charles Pickering and then Michael Wallace, both of whom faced significant opposition due to their disturbing legal records, especially on civil rights. “Regrettably, Southwick also has a troubling record and appears to be cut from the same cloth as the others,” said Ralph G. Neas, President of People For the American Way. “First Pickering, then Wallace, and now Southwick – Bush has completely struck out on the Fifth Circuit.” The PFAW, Magnolia Bar Association, AFL-CIO, NAACP and Human Rights Campaign all oppose his confirmation.

Our Revamped Constitution – It was a joke then, it’s a reality today.

Regards,

Jim