It would appear the American public is beginning t…
It would appear the American public is beginning to wake up to the real failures of this administration. The latest poll numbers show a significant decline in public support for the war in Iraq. As an example on the question “WAS U.S. ACTION RIGHT THING, OR SHOULD U.S. HAVE STAYED OUT?”
Right thing
Now 47%
Last month 58%
3/2003 69%
Stayed out
Now 46%
Last month 37%
3/2003 25%
If you have any questions as to where the interest…
If you have any questions as to where the interests of this adminsitration lie, read this article.
PLEDGE YOUR VOTE - PLEDGE STATISTICS Ok folks, …
PLEDGE YOUR VOTE - PLEDGE STATISTICS
Ok folks, this is as cool as it gets for political junkies. Follow this link to pledge your vote for President and watch the States turn blue or red! As of this posting there are only 1557 votes, with Bush: 857 and Kerry: 700. Join in the fun!
ELECTION 2004 VOTERS GUIDE For anyone intereste…
ELECTION 2004 VOTERS GUIDE
For anyone interested in a comprehensive look at the candidates in your local Primary election (Pennsylvania’s is today), the League of Women Voters has put together DemocracyNet. GET OUT AND VOTE!
Now that’s news to me, Republicans actually do hav…
Now that’s news to me, Republicans actually do have brains!
What exactly is going on here? According to this e…
What exactly is going on here? According to this eye opening story published Friday in Slate, Our Hidden WMD Program - Why Bush is spending so much on nuclear weapons. By Fred Kaplan, the Bush administration is spending as much in real dollars on nuclear weapon development as the Reagan Administration did at the height of the Cold War. Given the history of this administration with regard to international treaties it looks like the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty will go the way of Kyoto. Some very valid questions arise from this article, most notably “Do we really need to be spending this kind of money on nuclear weapons? What role do nuclear weapons play in 21st-century military policy? How many weapons do we need, to deter what sort of attack or to hit what sorts of targets, with what level of confidence, for what strategic and tactical purposes?”
With the US Federal corporate tax rate at 35% you …
With the US Federal corporate tax rate at 35% you will be interested to know that more than 60% of US companies paid NO taxes during the period from 1996-2000. According to The Motley Fool,
“In 2003, tax revenues from corporations made up just 7.4% of total federal receipts — the second-lowest rate since 1934.”
This scandalous report from the GAO went largely unnoticed when it was released last week.
Most companies paid no taxes during the boom
This is a classic! GRAND THEFT AMERICA
This is a classic! GRAND THEFT AMERICA
In this article/review, Geraldine Sealey does an e…
In this article/review, Geraldine Sealey does an excellent job of summarizing how Faux News Channel has risen to such prominence. Since I do not subscribe to Salon.com I had to endure a multi-page ad for powells.com. Hopefully this link will be free of that ad, if not - it is a small price to pay to get to this article. Enjoy! Salon.com Books | Out-Foxed
Now where have I been for the last year? This is t…
Now where have I been for the last year? This is the first I have heard of Al Gore’s attempt to purhcase Newsworld International (NWI). It would seem that the deal is looking a bit shakey Gore TV Deal Is Stalled At The 11th Hour; Major Investor Pulls Out but the bottom line is that if Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt get their way they will convert NWI into a 24-hour newschannel geared toward people in their 20’s. Could these two possibly create an offering that can compete with Rupert Murdock’s Faux News Channel?
I think a theme is beginning to develope on this b…
I think a theme is beginning to develope on this blog, can you guess what it is? LOL.
Here is a little history lesson, in 1978 Jimmy Carter signed into law the Independent Counsel Act. Prior to that, the president alone appointed special prosecutors to investigate allegations of impropriety against government officials. This law was seen as necessary because in the wake of the Watergate scandals it had become clear that the president could not be trusted to lead impartial investigations of these types. Now fast forward 15 years or so, the congress lead by Newt Gingrich decided to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Clinton over a land deal at White Water Arkansas. As you no doubt remember, there was no wrongdoing found but $80 million and six years later the result was the impeachment of Clinton for lying under oath about his relationship with Monika Lewinsky.
Now I am not going to invoke the “vast right-wing conspiracy” theory here but needless to say this was a gross misuse of the independent counsel law and $80 million of US tax payer money. Anyway, on June 30, 1999 that same congress sans-Gingrich allowed the Independent Counsel Law to expire throwing us back in time to the pre-Watergate era where the President is again responsible for policing his cronies and himself.
So here we are in April 2004 and it would appear that this President and his cabinet is embroiled in scandal that Richard Nixon could only dream about. Every day we hear allegations of insane lying and deceit by this administration but we lack the ability to appoint an independent counsel to investigate them. Instead, we are forced to listen to Rove-spin spewed at us daily in an effort to confuse the public, discredit the accusors, and generally stall the process of justice long enough to get “W” re-elected in November.
Why is this important? Well, it seems that according to Bob Woodward, this administration decided to tell Saudi Prince Bandar (before their own Secretary of State) about their plans for attacking Iraq. This was well before they came to the American pubic to plead this case for war and during which time they were claiming publicly that all diplomatic efforts were being employed to bring Saddam Hussein into UN compliance. Now it seems that this adminstration has put the pressure on Bandar to aid in their campaign of deceit CNN.com - Woodward: Saudi envoy trying to ‘fuzz up’ meeting - Apr 23, 2004.
All I can say is, if we could impeach Clinton for lying about a b!@#j#$ then the least we can do without an independet counsel law is drive this one out of office and indict him after the fact!
WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE …
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
-George Orwell 1984
In an attept to discredit Bob Woodward’s latest book “Plan of Attack” it seems the Ministry of Peace… um… the Pentagon, decided to practice a little revisionist history of their own today by omitting a key discussion with Donald Rumsfeld from a posting of Woodward’s transcripts on their website Pentagon Deleted Rumsfeld Comment. (washingtonpost.com) What do these people have to do to get the attention of the American public?!
How long will it take for the Post Gazette to stan…
How long will it take for the Post Gazette to stand up for the truth once and for all and call the White House out on their deceptions and lies? In Sunday’s article entitled “Cheney takes aim at Kerry in speech to NRA” James O’Toole reiterated the Republican assertion that John Kerry is a flip-flopper for voting in favor of the war resolution while opposing the $87 billion supplemental appropriation. It is clear that there was no funding for this resolution and that Mr. Kerry was simply voting his conscience to try and force the White House to find a viable way to pay for these appropriations. In addition, the same people that are chastising Kerry for this vote threatened to veto this legislation if it were to carry a provision to make $10 billion of that money a loan. “The White House threatened Tuesday to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress made reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement by Iraq.” [Firestone, New York Times, 10/22/03].
It is the responsibility of the media not only to report what is being said but to clarify and challenge these statements in order to inform the public. Continually repeating these lies without clarification in effect lends legitimacy to these claims. According to the preamble of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, “The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues” [Available Online: http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp]. I hope that as “One of America’s Great Newspapers” the Post Gazette will strive to do a better job of serving the public in the future.
Last evening my wife Vicky, daughter Gabrielle and…
Last evening my wife Vicky, daughter Gabrielle and I attended an event at Butler Community College in Butler, PA which was part of the International Tibet Independence Movement’s Peace Ride. In brief, this is a 600 mile bike ride from Washington, D.C. to Toronto, ON with the purpose of raising awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people and ultimately securing their freedom from Chinese occupation. Many of the riders are exhiled Tibetans who suffered incredible hardships during their lives in Tibet under Communist Chinese occupation and in turn had to escape on foot across the Himalaya mountains to freedom. The riders took turns sharing their stories with the people in attendance, it was a very engaging and emotional event. I encourage anyone who is on the path of these riders to please take some time to visit with them and contribute in any way possible.
Woodward Shares War Secrets CBS News | Woodward S…
Woodward Shares War Secrets
CBS News | Woodward Shares War Secrets | April 19, 2004?07:04:32
In the President’s highly scripted press conferenc…
In the President’s highly scripted press conference last night he repeated yet again that he had no idea that al Qaeda intended to attack the US. From the looks of this Washington Post article this could not be further from the truth. You decide, read on: Panel Says Bush Saw Repeated Warnings (washingtonpost.com)
This is a link to the article in last Sunday’s New…
This is a link to the article in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine referred to by John Kerry on The O’Franken Factor today.
Changing All the Rules