Still true ...

Closer to the Fall-of-Rome comparison that we'd like to think ...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Like Republican, Like Democrat ...

It's a smelly political swamp we've allowed to stink up our country:

To say that "Democrats, including liberals, will accept and push whomever Obama picks," based on the rationale that "Clinton & Obama like and trust her, and most liberals (myself included) like and trust Clinton & Obama" -- even if they know nothing about her, even if she might move the Court to the Right -- seems to me to be an exact replica of what I described four years ago.

Obama seems to be destroying the Democratic Party ...

Perhaps that's unfair. Maybe he's just helping its decline. Anyway, Obama appears more Bush-like with each passing day. Democrats are falling left and right.

Obama in his wisdom decided to insist on legislation that works against the interests of the America public while ensuring some of the main products of his 'reign' will be designed for and by the corporations which have, apparently, bought his soul as well as the souls of the majority of our Congress, Dem and Thug alike.

I'm particularly impressed by the critical thinking skill of the press who are charged with keeping us informed about all these machinations. Great comedy is the only thing good that seems to come from the quagmire our country's ruling structure has turned into. I particularly enjoyed the following article by Jane Hamsher:

Writing About Politics Is Hard

Interesting the way some of the best reporting seems to emanate from The Daily Show. It's a weird, weird world and it only seems to get weirder ...

I wonder, when -heaven forbid- we complete the slide into absolute corporate control with the ultimate goal of absolute economic slavery, will Obama understand his role in ensuring the resulting human misery. That is, is Obama's role in this active or passive. I'm still not sure ...

But one thing I am sure about is that not being quite as bad as George W. Bush is no compliment.

And, sadly, there is no reason that a person who breaks a barrier, such as being the first black person to be elected the President of the United States, must necessarily be a person of character. But it is definitely a shame and a disappointment when such is the case.

Once elected, whether Republican or Democrat, the law has no meaning to them ...

... except as a tool of secrecy, wealth transference from the nation to a despotic few and oppression whenever needed to ensure compliance.

As Glenn Greewald writes:

... For decades, we had laws in place authorizing citizens to sue their telecommunication carriers if the telecoms allowed government spying on their communications in violation of the law, but when it was revealed that the telecoms did exactly this, the Congress simply changed the law retroactively so that it no longer applied. For decades, we had laws imposing civil and criminal liability on government officials who engaged in or authorized torture, but when it was revealed that our government did that, the Congress just retroactively changed the law to protect the torturers. And now that courts have ruled that our decades-old transparency law compels disclosure of this torture evidence, the Congress is just going to retroactively change the law -- again -- this time to empower the President to suppress that evidence anyway.

Other than creating an illusion of transparency and accountability, what's the point of having laws that purport to restrict what the Government can do if political officials just retroactively waive those laws whenever they want? ...

Obama makes noises about many things. Nice sounding noises. But his actions belies his pretty words. Where Bush just ignored the law to do his evil, Obama thinks of changing the laws retroactively to accomplish the same evil. And if you don't think hiding war crimes, torture, rape and murder is evil then why do we spend so much effort to capture and convict those who commit such actions who are not government protected?

Arizona's Jon Kyl continues to swim in the muck ...

Via Arizona Geology:

Kyl blocks Energy nominees to help move land swap bill

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is blocking presidential nominees to U.S. Energy Department posts in an effort to move an Arizona land bill forward. ...

Always favoring business interests over the interests of the majority of the voters and residents of the State of Arizona, Kyl and McCain plan to give (or 'trade,' rather) land to the Resolution copper Mine and are attempting to extort the President by holding up appointments to him administration.

Obama on the move ...

About time ...



They say " this is not a stimulus bill. This is a spending bill. What do they think a stimulus bill is? That's the point. Really. That's the point."

A remake on 'Best is the enemy of Good.'

When I was working at Well Fargo we went through a management phase where we were indoctrinated with the slogan 'best is the enemy of good.'

At the time it probably made some sense, specially in the systems area. Banking deregulation required quick response and some systems types, especially those with some experience under their belts, know that 'good' just might not be 'good enough' when the something that wasn't tested blows up in the everyones' (including the customers') faces. So a balance was required. Test just enough, change as much as you can, make it work now, not 6 months from now. Don't try do a perfect job. Do something that works, and that we can work with.

What I'm leading into is how far we've fallen. It's no longer just forget perfect, forget best, just make it good (as in workable).

Krugman and some of his fellow travelers now appear to accept the proposition that we don't even try for good anymore. Any crap will do and we will and should accept it:

Basically, Paulson has placed us all in a miserable predicament, with a lousy plan that has to be passed in some form to prevent total panic. Jan. 20 won’t come a moment too soon, and may well come about 4 1/2 months too late.

Democrats may get to blame this on Bush and the GOP. And they will be right. But we should also hold the Dems in Congress responsible. They are so used to doing nothing, to rejecting their responsibilities, to letting us down that they must be held accountable for their job performance, with is abominable. They have lowered the bar to repeatedly accepting and passing the worst legislation imaginable and then telling us what a wonderful job they just did. They don't work. They take orders and not from us.

Such a compliment for the FBI ...

Scientists say they need many more details to decide the merits of the case against Ivins. But despite the bureau's widely ridiculed mistakes--including an early focus on Ivins's former colleague Steven Hatfill--"the scientific evidence is probably really strong," says Steven Salzberg, a former TIGR researcher now at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park. "They've got some very good people," Salzberg says. "The impression that they're not good may just come from their style. They never tell you anything."

They never tell you anything? Right. Except when they set out to destroy someone. Then they tell you all kinds of things. Like the person of interest has a messy desk. The person of interest looks at pornography. The person of interest had a thing about sororities. A similar technique is used in Republican campaigns for President.

Circumstantial evidence questions as well as science questions:

Armed with the four tests, the FBI examined more than 1000 anthrax isolates, collected from 16 labs that had the Ames strain in the United States and several more in Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In only eight of those samples, they found all four mutations seen in the envelope samples; and each of these eight, the affidavit says, was "directly related" to a "large flask" of spores, identified as RMR-1029, which Ivins had created in 1997 and of which he was the "sole custodian."

That still leaves many questions open, researchers say. ...

Of course, style and secrecy doesn't prove they aren't capable. I would think well documented investigations with cases based on evidence (rather than personalities) would help prove whether they are capable or not. But the impression that the FBI cannot be trusted is the result of a "style" of apparent single-minded fixation on a victim, using their power to wear down or destroy the person they have chosen to accuse, and apparently forcing the evidence to suit themselves while ignoring or obscuring evidence that doesn't fit their chosen story line.

The answer to this question is obvious ...

Has a U.S. Attorney Knowingly Prosecuted Innocent People?
--The government is investigating cases brought by Alice Martin, U.S. Attorney in Birmingham, Ala. by Scott Horton, The American Lawyer, July 15, 2008

And Repug Warrior Birmingham U.S. Attorney Alice Martin runs through it ...

Republicans are so brave ... with other peoples lives!

Karl Rove Ran Away! Karl Rove set out to corrupt the US legal system! Karl Rove Ran Away! Karl Rove had Democrats who were in his way prosecuted inventing 'evidence' when there was none! Karl Rove Ran Away! Karl Rove corrupted the US Attorneys' offices around the country to focus on Democrats and give Republicans a pass for the same or worse crimes. Karl Rove Ran Away! Karl Rove Ran Away!

Link via

GOP and Tobacco undermine law and justice ...

Another sordid tale of deep-rooted, organized GOP corruption:

Justice for Sale: How Big Tobacco and the GOP teamed up to crush Democrats in the South

It used to be ... 'Those Crazy Russians'

No longer. Now it's 'Those Stupid Americans.'

Pipes: Bush Will Attack Iran If A Democrat Wins The White House

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Is this a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face? ... Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign. [ ... ] The McCain campaign has been less organized than Obama's in its efforts to counter the groups, but the senator from Arizona has made clear his antipathy toward them -- without much effect. ... anyone think McCain seriously cares about the swift-boating of Obama? Does Obama actually believe McCain cares or would do anything substantive to stop it? Will Democratic politicians really ignore the last eight years and get snookered again?

... As I have pleaded with you to understand, they are dishonest and cruel, they are crafty and deceptive, they aren’t stupid. Like all successful con men, they will deceive those they are robbing and destroying quite successfully. They are far from stupid.

I'd just like to say this to Clinton supporters. The spate of endorsements of Sen. Obama will continue. Every victory of Sen. Clinton's will be followed immediately by high profile endorsements to blunt the impact of that victory - it's called politics. ... Politics it may be, but I find it very disappointing that Edwards chose to endorse the least progressive candidate, the one with no real national health plan.

... The oppressor may inflict unimaginable cruelties on innocent victims -- but the victims may only protest in ways which the oppressor deems "acceptable." The profound injustice is obvious, but not in itself remarkable or unexpected: this is how oppression operates. ...

The media deserves a large share of the blame ... All this might be quite funny if one doesn’t consider the consequences for the Republic. When historians try to figure out how the most powerful nation on earth managed to end up under the control of someone as unfit as George W. Bush for eight years, they will have to take note of this media phenomenon. ... and their destructive role has not been accidental.

It’s an example of how American law enforcement tends to marginalize black discontent by attributing it to more organized external forces. This is a tendency rooted in U.S. tradition: black radicals and civil rights activists of past eras were often linked to communists and other “outside agitators” — as if the progeny of enslaved Africans needed Karl Marx to detail their gripes about life in America. Now, apparently, the government claims the link is with Osama bin Laden.

... now that it's clear Hillary's presidential campaign is all but over, the right is proceeding apace with its attempt to Hillary-ize Michelle Obama. ... [...] ... We know what the right did to Hillary, and we can expect them to do a lot of the same things to Michelle. How do we combat this?

Moyers: “ ... We’re not going to have a discourse in this campaign over the fact that the great American wealth machine is benefiting only those at the top. We’re not going to get to the fact that 10% of the people own 60% of the wealth and 70% of the people have no net worth. We’re not going to get to the issues of how do we rebuild the infrastructure, the sewer, the water, the highways, all that. We’re just going to be constantly in this battle of bumper stickers.”

Do you realize that George W. Bush and his cabal ...

... and the GOP in general, have made us the laughingstock of the world? They are incapable of anything other than murder, mayhem and theft.

The latest absurdity:

... several flights have gone out without the promised Federal Air Marshalls because these same FAMs have found their names (along with everyone who goes by Mohammed or Ali) on the list and have been refused entry onto the planes they’ve been charged to protect.

'Our' government at work ...

Mustn't let anything get in the way of taking public money and resources and handing it over to the corporate mafia:

... 889 scientists had "personally experienced at least one instance of political interference in their work over the last 5 years." Some 394 of these scientists reported that their own findings had been misrepresented by EPA officials. In addition, 285 noted instances in which data had been selected or omitted to weaken a regulation, and 224 had been ordered to "inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from an EPA scientific document." Scientists who reported political interference tended to work in offices that write regulations rather than in basic research labs. Hundreds said they feared retaliation by officials if they voiced concerns about EPA regulations.

Rep. Senator Lincoln Chafee meets the monster ...

at-Largely has an excerpt from Chafee's book describing a meeting between some Republican Senators and that monster who's called Cheney.

Former Republican Senator's "Chilling Account" of first meeting with Cheney...

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... Why is the ACLU seemingly alone in calling for a Special Counsel to investigate clear war crimes by this government?

In cov’rage quite sloppy at best,
The press attacked Hill’ry with zest,
Disputing her facts.
But ’twas they who were lax.
Cuz if Clinton says east they say west.

This is the behavior of a sick child, not one of the most powerful and privileged men in the world, but Glenn and Joan must watch with daily fury as the truth is blatantly ignored, the US propaganda corps has its marching orders and by God they will be enforced, no matter what happens, no matter how many die, no matter how stupid, unlawful, childish or grossly offensive the episode the result is always the same: ignore it, hide it, confuse it, the Republicans are in power, don’t take the country down.

Hiding the truth is in fact the surest way to take the country down, a basic fact of life most five-year-olds learn very well, but one our Republican and “journalism” brethren refuse to learn, no matter the sickening, outrageous scope of their behavior. ...

Pollan claims that in the Western diet, good old food has been replaced by nutrients, mom's good advice by nutritional experts, common sense by confusion, and for most, a relatively good diet by a bad and dangerous one. ...

We have tended to segment health care into periods of life, but are now beginning to wake up to the fact that disease and disability are cumulative, and build over a lifetime.

If this were simply a story of an airline trying to cut corners, and in the process putting passengers at risk, it would be startling enough. But in this case, we’re talking about federal inspectors who were pressured by their superiors to allow an airline to put passengers at risk.

... To me, the 2008 Democratic primary campaign is a watershed event in the history of the progressive blogosphere. It has revealed that some of the alleged "progressive" bloggers are fundamentally no different than the media and the deranged right-wing bloggers they have long claimed to detest. The Trina Bechtel incident is the "crowning" event on a sickening trend in this election campaign - where Gore was replaced by Clinton and the "media" was supplemented by an influential portion of the allegedly "progressive" blogosphere. I can easily see an entire book being written on the work of these jokers who have turned the credibility of the blogosphere to dust because of their Clinton-hatred. There used to be a time when bloggers like Glenn Greenwald and Atrios used to write again and again about how the right-wing blogosphere was almost always wrong, especially in their attacks on Democrats. Today, it is clear that such blog posts could equally well be written about a prominent section of the formerly "progressive" blogosphere.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

A joke ... The largest commercial bank in the United States is lobbying Congress for the right to harvest organs from debtors who default on loans, it was announced today. ... almost.

How much worse can it get ...? ... more and more distillers grains have ended up in cattle feed (and, to a lesser extant, in hog and poultry feed).

But like manure in a feedlot packed with corn-fed steers, problems associated with distillers grains as feed are piling up. -- step by step, I'm approaching vegetarianism, in an attempt to keep US food industry poisoned products out of my diet.

Your open letter, sadly, can be seen only in one of two ways: 1). you are either unable or uninterested in obtaining facts before you go into political Rambo mode; 2). or you are simply firmly lodged inside Karl Rove's colon. Which is it?

The story of “Taxi [to the Dark Side]” shows the sort of problems faced by anyone who wants to present an accurate and candid portrait of the Bush Administration’s policies of official cruelty. But the entertainment side of the ledger is even more disturbing.

From Arizona's governor ...

Watching, these past 7 plus years, how Republicans work one can just imagine the 'feds' working to cause Arizona's crops to fail. The state may lean Republican, but its still rational enough to elect a Democratic Governor.

We've learned that Republicans deal solely in dirty, corrupt and criminal politics. The Republican Authoritarian State uber alles.

Governor, don't trust the Bush appointed gangsters. But I'm sure you know that already ...

Friday, February 29, 2008

Dear Friends,

While the federal government continues to kick the can down the road on comprehensive immigration reform, we all know that Arizona is paying a high price. For instance, about 90 percent of the lettuce served and eaten in the entire country during the winter is grown and picked in Yuma County – but growers there continually report that they can’t find workers for the harvest because of a dysfunctional guest worker system.

The federal H-2A visa system is supposed to allow seasonal workers from other countries to enter the U.S. temporarily to fill these kinds of jobs. But the program is riddled with bureaucratic inefficiencies, and is so unsuccessful that it accounts for only two percent of farm jobs in our country.

It’s essential that even while the federal government fails to make needed reforms in immigration policy, we do what we can to address the challenges of the border in Arizona. That’s why I am proposing that Arizona become a pilot state to test out a revamped temporary guest worker program, so that a broken system doesn’t cause our crops to rot in the fields.

Earlier this month, the federal Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor began a long-overdue process to update the H-2A system and rewrite its regulations to make it work better. This week, in Washington, D.C., I met with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to talk about needed changes to the H-2A system, and to extend Arizona’s offer to lead in reform efforts and to pilot a new and improved guest worker program. States, particularly border states, are best suited to help develop a sensible program that will help our agricultural communities thrive. I will continue to push this idea forward in Washington, so that Arizona leads on an issue so important to our state.

We must find an interim approach that resolves these agricultural labor woes, creates a more efficient system, and protects the rights of workers. When the federal bureaucracy continues to block real reform, states like Arizona must step up to lead and get things done.

As always, feel free to call my office at 602-542-1318 if you have questions or thoughts. Or, please visit our Web site at www.azgovernor.gov for information and news in state government.

Yours very truly,

Janet Napolitano
Governor

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... one must assume that a "government of national unity" means a government that will confirmation 100% of all conservative judges, the destruction of social security, retroactive immunity of telecom companies, and the mass deportation of twelve million people. If this third-party did not favor these things, then there would be absolutely no need to form "a government of national unity." Those four things are the sum total of what Democrats in Congress have prevented Republicans from passing, and thus are the entirety of what Democrats have contributed to "gridlock in Washington." Every other reform has been blocked by Republicans. -- AWWMNUUBM?
Tragically, even as the Army is wrecked in equipment and officer retention, it still has the frightening ability to produce a lying political enabler like General Patraeus. Something has gone horribly wrong with the leadership of the Army when it sacrifices its people for lies
Workers and their unions increasingly see themselves now as fighters in a full-fledged class war. This attitude is perceived, surprisingly, by people in corporate boardrooms more than by many workers themselves, even in the current strike by the nation’s writers against the big media moguls.