Sad When They Don’t Quit in Time. Case in point: Senator Grassley

It is hard to let go, to release one’s grasp on power and privilege. Sometimes a top athlete holds on for additional seasons of declining performance; fans watch sadly–and with some embarrassment–for the player who did not leave with their game intact.

The same holds true for political leaders.

Senator Chuck GrassleySenator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) served the nation and his state well in a career of public service: as an Iowa state legislator (1958-1974), three terms in the House, and five terms in the Senate. As ranking minority member of the Senate’s Finance Committee, even now he holds a pivotal position in determining U.S. law.

His service and principled actions earned my respect. But, his unprincipled remarks have lost that respect.

This summer he told an Iowa senior citizen that if that man wanted health care equivalent to the health care Grassley enjoyed then he should “go work for the federal government.” Turns out Grassley is almost fully funded by the people who would like our health care system to stay just the way it is now.

Sorry, it gets worse:

Last week Grassley attacked the public option aspect of the health care bill, calling it “socialism.” Then he went on to defend his own participation in government farm subsidy programs. His words speak for themselves as he admits that as a congressman he has “lived off the public tit all these years.”

Full Text:

“For the first 16 years I made $3,000 every other year as a state legislator. Now do you expect me to live on $3,000 every other year? No I was a factory worker for 10 years and I was a farmer for that period of time and I farm with my son now. So if you’re trying to make a case that I’ve lived off the public tit all these years, I think you’re saying correctly in the years I’ve been in the Congress but not the years before I came to Congress.” (Watch it above.)

He should have quit while his career was untarnished. Please, Senator Grassley, it’s time to step down.

C-SPAN interview with Grassley

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September 7-14, a very big week . . .

It began with Labor Day. To be sure, the week felt markedly like a transitional one.  During the week President Obama spent a great deal of time at the podium, making a number of very significant speeches.  NASA watched over its STS-128 mission and released a number of spectacular images on Wednesday from the newly refurbished Hubble telescope.  On Friday, the anniversary of 9/11/01, the President and First Lady spent time giving service to the community, as did thousands of people across the nation marking a National Day of Service.  The week’s news was full of stories about the politics of health care reform in a Congress now back to work, opinion about the growing divide amongst the electorate, and uneasy reports about the future of the war in Afghanistan, as well as the future of the U.S. space program.

What has changed, if anything? There is a bigger divide between members of the two major parties, evident in the behavior of Republicans during the President’s speech Wednesday evening to a joint session of Congress.  There seems to be growing opposition among many Americans, as well as rank and file  Democrats, to the war in Afghanistan and its climbing casualty figures.  This may have caused President Obama to say in his 9/11 speech at the Pentagon that he does not want Americans to forget the true nature of al-Qaeda, reports Scott Wilson of the Washington Post.

Opposition to health care reform has now grown to the point that organizers were able to stage a 9/12 march on Washington.  Tens of thousands (according to the Washington Post estimate) of a loosely organized coalition of conservative “tea party” protesters marched on the nation’s capitol Saturday.  Jeff Zeleny of the NYT, summarized the tone:

Their anger stretched well beyond the health care legislation moving through Congress, with shouts of support for gun rights, lower taxes and a smaller government. But as they sang verse after verse of patriotic hymns like “God Bless America,” sharp words of profane and political criticism were aimed at Mr. Obama and Congress.

At the same time a crowd of over 10,000 people came to enthusiastically stand and cheer at President Obama’s health care rally at Minneapolis’ Target arena.  The President told the crowd that now is the time for action and warned against the scare tactics being employed by the opposition, reports Reuters.

What has stayed the same? A year later, little has changed on Wall Street, according to  the New York Times‘ Alex Berenson.  Big banks have not really restructured, financial stocks are on the rise, complex derivatives remain in play, few hedge funds have closed and executives are still pulling down huge bonuses.  For instance, “30,000 Goldman Sachs employees will earn an average of $70,000 this year.”  Worst of all the Obama administration’s proposed regulatory changes have gone nowhere in Congress.  And the passage of time decreases the chances of significant crisis-driven reform.

The space shuttle Discovery completed another highly successful mission to resupply the International Space Station Friday, landing safely at Edwards AFB in California after battling bad weather in Florida for a couple of days.  To quote Reuters:

Discovery had carried more than 7.5 tons of food, laboratory equipment, science experiments, spare parts, a new treadmill and crew quarters for the space station. The outpost is a $100 billion project involving 16 nations, which is nearing completion after more than a decade of construction.

NASA is turning over crew transport to the station to Russia, at a cost of about $50 million per seat, as it begins phasing out the shuttle. The space agency is also considering hiring U.S. commercial firms to ferry its astronauts. . . NASA has six flights remaining to finish outfitting the station and then plans to move on with development of a capsule and rocket that could ferry crews to the moon. Barack Obama considers the results of a study that has determined NASA’s lunar ambitions exceed its budget by about $3 billion a year.

What could change – “Humans aren’t going to Mars — or anywhere else — without more money,” is the story from Wired-Science (9/8/09).  Another headline, “Panel’s report threatens NASA’s mission,” comes from The Hill (9/10/09) via Twitter.  The article opens:

A report suggesting that NASA’s space travel goals are too ambitious for its budget is imperiling efforts by Florida and Texas lawmakers to win more money for the agency’s budget.

“The full Final Report is still being prepared and will be released when complete”  is also via Twitter from NASA_HSF, the U.S.  Human Space Flight Committee.  Look for it to be released in early October.

What will not change is the mainstream media’s fascination with conflict, who is winning or losing, with outrageousness and with the mistaken idea that any old lie is merely the other side’s point of view.  The week of September 7-14 saw President Obama seeming to regain his stride and the right-wing crazies more determined than ever to keep him off stride.  The election in Afghanistan remains undecided and more and more war casualties occur.  Nor has the President decided the future of the U.S. space program.  Congress has its hands full with health care reform, and has no time (nor perhaps the stomach) for financial regulatory reform.  Maybe it would be a good idea for everybody to take an occasional day off and catch their breath.

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Recommending Investigative Journalists

It is hard work but somebody’s got to do it – Today’s post is a roundup of some of the best investigative journalists you might want to follow:  I include where and what they write, along with a couple of samples of their recent work.

TPMMuckraker is one of the features at Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo.  Here’s an interesting example of the kind of good work Zachary Roth does: “In Testimony, Rove Hedged On Role in Siegelman Prosecution” (8/13/09).  See also, “Fran Townsend: We Discussed If Raising The Terror Alert Would Hurt Bush” (8/21/09).

Glenn Greenwald’s “Unclaimed Territory” is at Salon.com.  He was previously a constitutional lawyer and civil rights litigator in New York.  On of a number of collaborators on big investigative stories, he is incredible bright and passionate and tells it like it is without blinking.  Here’s a recent good post: “John Brennan’s dangerous national security advice” (8/14/09).  See also,  “Has Obama lost the trust of progressives, as Krugman says?“  (8/21/09).

ACLU Blog of Rights – “Because Freedom Can’t Blog Itself” is from the American Civil Liberties Union.  Posts are about capital punishment, civil liberties, drug law reform, closing Guantanamo, free speech, government spying, human rights, immigrant rights, LGBT rights, racial justice, religion & belief, reproductive rights, torture and abuse, Supreme Court, voting rights and women’s rights.  On August 20, the ACLU headlined, “Court Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Unconstitutional Spying Law.

Secrecy News is a publication of the Federation of American Scientists.  The FAS Project on Government Secrecy reports on new developments in government secrecy and provides public access to documentary resources on secrecy, intelligence and national security policy. It is written by Steven Aftergood.  Here’s a recent good story: “Information Sharing as a Form of Secrecy” (8/17/09).

Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) writes at Firedoglake.  Marcy is the very best at investigative digging, and is a widely respected member of the collaborators that do the major investigative work in the blogosphere.  Here is a typically good piece of work (this time on Dick Cheney): “The crazy man above the garage” (8/18/09).  See also “Scahill on the Blackwater Rent-an-Assassin Service (8/20/09).

Spy Talk at CQ Politics is a daily blog by Jeff Stein.  His slogan is “Intelligence for Thinking People.”  His post, “Interrogator:’Intolerance’ Led to Torture” (8/11/09) is an example of his investigative work using good contacts.  See also, “CIA Furious Over New Secret Site Expose” (8/20/09).

The Washington Independent’s “National Security” section features Spencer Ackerman, one of the most respected sources contributing regularly to the collaborative efforts mentioned above.  His story, “U.S. Prepares for Questions of Legitimacy in Afghan Election” (8/18/09) is subtitled, “United States May Push Winner To Incorporate Losing Factions Into Government.”  See also “Civil Liberties Groups Prepare Delicate Message on CIA Probe” (8/21/09).

Wired: Threat Level is about privacy, crime and security online.  David Kravets often writes the posts.  These are by Kim Zetter is titled “Outspoken Privacy Advocate Joins FTC” (8/17/09).  It is about Christopher Soghoian, an outspoken privacy advocate.  See also, “Guantanamo Defense Lawyers Being Investigated Over CIA Photos (8/21/09).

Suburban Guerilla is by former journalist Susie Madrack.  Her slogan is “Keeping a jaundiced eye on corporate media.” Featured as a moderator at the recent Netroots Nation Convention, she also writes for Crooks and Liars. Her post on Matt Taibbi’s searing article on progressives and health care reform (8/18/09) is worth the read.  See also, ”
The Stress Manifesto (8/20/09).

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Frozen in place: When conciliation is a bad thing –

Former Vice President Richard Cheney is working on his memoirs and assuring its success with a good deal of news making prior to its publication. Thursday’s Washington Post article by Barton Gellman adds to the breathless anticipation of Cheney’s potential reading public by promising revelations of previously unreported opinions and events. Here’s a Hit Tip to journalist Mark Knoller, who posted several insightful tweets about the article, along with a generous suggestion to “buy the paper” to read the story.

The Cheney piece heads the current list of “most viewed political articles” on the WaPo website. And I read it immediately, too. Headlined, “Cheney uncloaks his frustration with Bush,” it reveals more little juicy tidbits guaranteed to keep us all panting to read the published tome from cover to cover. One of the most interesting to me was this aspect of Cheney’s frustration with Bush, whom he evidently thinks “went soft.” To quote:

Cheney’s disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets.

“In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him,” said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney’s reply. “He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney’s advice. He’d showed an independence that Cheney didn’t see coming. It was clear that Cheney’s doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times — never apologize, never explain — and Bush moved toward the conciliatory.”

. . . The former vice president remains convinced of mortal dangers that few other leaders, in his view, face squarely. That fixed belief does much to explain the conduct that so many critics find baffling. He gives no weight, close associates said, to his low approval ratings, to the tradition of statesmanlike White House exits or to the grumbling of Republicans about his effect on the party brand.

Cheney’s intrigue – What is it that keeps us all fascinated with this man, who guarded his privacy so jealously until now? As a retired psychotherapist, I am interested in his psychological make-up, particularly his apparently persistent paranoia. Others have their own reasons. But there is no doubt that his book will jump to the top of the charts when it comes out, which will please his daughter Liz, at whose suggestion Cheney is writing the book, despite past disdain for officials who wrote “tell all” books upon leaving office. It appears that he is not “frozen in place” on this issue.

Richard Cheney appears to have acquired fixed beliefs that are frozen in place, however. The first is in the concept of the “unitary” presidency, born after Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. And the second is in a very dark world with enemies waiting to pounce and destroy him and the nation. With a model like that, is it any wonder that there is such fear mongering and craziness associated with Republican opposition to everything Obama.

[Post date - August 13, 2009]

My Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites. See also Behind the Links.

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The future of health care reform —

Who knows what will happen to the biggest item on the Obama agenda for change, health care? No one can tell for certain but a few are willing to hazard guesses. This is the last week Congress will be in session before the summer recess. CQ Quarterly predicts that the Senate Finance Committee will not report out a health care reform package Due to the inability to reach a bipartisan agreement, as well as the press of much other business, work will resume in September. Prediction: A decent bill will be ready for the President to sign before the end of the year. And President Obama will weigh in with his final requirements only late in the game.

Republicans remain uncooperative — Taegan Goddard points out that we are still waiting for the Republicans’ Health Care Plan. It is a safe bet, in my opinion, that there will be none forthcoming. Prediction: What will be forthcoming from Republicans is fear mongering about raising your taxes, plus everything else they can think of to “throw against the wall.”

Progressive Dems vs. Blue Dogs is a continual pull and tug between special interests and voter constituents. Prediction: Progressives will not get a pure public option, but a public plan that is nonprofit “co-op” based. The following piece illustrates that the key swing Blue Dog Democrats could play the largest role in how reform legislation emerges from Congress. To quote Politico.com:

President Barack Obama’s signature proposal, a public plan option to introduce more competition in private markets, would be significantly weakened, reflecting pressure from Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans that dominate many rural states and that were a source of millions of dollars in campaign contributions last year. The small-business lobby, itself a political powerhouse, carved out a larger exemption for operations earning up to $500,000 annually. At the same time, families are asked to dig deeper to afford the promised coverage to be bought through public exchanges.

House Democrats have proposed a sliding scale of subsidies so that new health insurance mandates don’t impose a disproportionate — and ultimately unaffordable — burden on working- and middle-class families. Without that feature, Democrats would risk a serious backlash if costs become too great and households rebel against the health care mandate. And the House maneuvering is important as a preview of the larger battle ahead in the Senate, where the Finance Committee is proposing far less generous subsidies.

The other chamber’s conservative Democrats, such as Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), are being heavily lobbied via huge donations from health insurance companies and stand to cast votes this year that will reelect them to the Senate in 2010. Progressive Democrats are already using targeted ads to try to force the adoption of a public option by wavering Democrats from conservative districts. To be sure the debate will get noisier as Congress heads home to hear what the folks in their districts have to say. Prediction: The major ad campaign, featuring things of which you should be afraid will encourage timid constituents to seriously pressure lawmakers to either stop entirely or compromise severely.

Senators will speak from experience — Senator Chris Dodd, who spearheaded the H.E.L.P. Committee’s health care reform bill has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He sat in for Senator Ted Kennedy, himself ill with brain cancer. Lobbyists have paid tribute to Senator Kennedy’s heroic fight by donating generously to causes that he supports. Prediction: Using their own health care challenges as either spoken or unspoken backdrops to their reform leadership, several key senators, including Senator Specter, will be articulate and passionate spokesmen for significant reform.

Reference: CQ Politics launched the CQ Election Map for 2010 House races.

My all-in-one Home Page of websites where I post regularly: Carol Gee – Online Universe

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Republicans make their choices , for better and worse.

This kind of behavior makes me angry – Reported by Jonathan Allen of CQ Politics, last Thursday in Congress the clerk of the House was forced to read much of a 54 page motion aloud to an almost empty chamber while House Republican members attended a “beach party” hosted by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). Self-centered and petulant, Republicans like this refuse to deal with the realities of their loss of elections.

This kind of behavior makes me proud of Republicans – Every now and then Republicans come to their senses and refuse to go along with the plan of block everything at any cost. Some good examples follow.

• In a fine story by Manu Raju at Politico.com (7/24/09), Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he would be supporting Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. He promptly took an enormous amount of heat for his stance. Republican pundits called him “unreliable, lacking courage and understanding.” Graham responded, “Enjoy life in the minority,” according to the author. To quote Senator Graham,
  

  . . . the South Carolina Republican defended his decision to back Sotomayor by laying out a broad critique of conservative activists who push “ideological purity” and refuse to cooperate with a Democratic Congress and White House.
  “If we chase this attitude … that you have to say ‘no’ to every Democratic proposal, you can’t help the president ever, you can’t ever reach across the aisle, then I don’t want to be part of the movement because it’s a dead-end movement,” Graham said.

  “I have no desire to be up here in an irrelevant status. I’m smart enough to know that this country doesn’t have a problem with conservatives. It has a problem with blind ideology. And those who are ideological-driven to a fault are never going to be able to take this party back into relevancy.”

• Raj wrote an interesting piece the previous day citing subtle criticism by several Republican Senators of their colleague, Senator Jim DeMint’s threat that “if Republicans are able to stop Barack Obama on health care, ‘it will be his Waterloo, it will be his Waterloo, it will break him.” Though certainly not cooperating with Democrats toward a common goal, Senators Lamar Alexander, Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn avoided the harshness of DeMint’s childish vengefulness with their comments:
  

  Alexander and McConnell: Asked Wednesday if he saw things the same way, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: “Of course not.”

  “Every senator is entitled to his own view, but that’s not the view of our caucus,” said Alexander, who, as the Senate Republican Conference chairman, is the Senate GOP’s message man. “I prefer what Sen. [Mitch] McConnell said. This is not about winning or losing; this is about getting health care right. That’s certainly my view.”

  Cornyn: “It’s a distraction,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who, as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is gauging the politics of the debate. “If they’d rather get into a food fight, rather than actually solve problems, I guess [DeMint’s comment] gives them an excuse to do that.”

This kind of behavior is smart – Democratic strategists, with a good deal of political acumen, are using Senator DeMint’s comment as a reallying cry for more support for health care reform. What we are beginning to see is that health care reform will not pass without at least some bipartisan support. We had all better hope that more statesmanship happens, rather than the behavior characterizing too many of the current Republican choices — ones made because of fear and anxiety.

Behind the Links

From the troubled –

“Upstate NY newspaper traces racist web posts to DHS computers*” is from Think Progress (7/25/09). Betmo’s words follow:

“people will truly understand that america is over. you are only as good as your citizens and our citizens continually suck. dhs employees are american citizens and if they were told to write the comments it’s bad. if they did it on their own- it’s even worse. it means that power went to their heads.”

“Sanford family back on vacation#,” is from Yahoo! News (7/23/09). Jon observes, “This guy takes more vacation days than shrub did!”

“It’s Not Sarah’s Fault…Just Ask Her#,” is from Yahoo! News (7/21/09).

From the Congress –

“Bachmann, Other GOP ‘Mother Bears’ Decry Health Care Reform, Long Fast-Food Lines#,” is from The Huffington Post (7/24/09).

“Anti-gay, pro-abstinence legislator had affair with intern#,” is from The Raw Story (7/24/09). Jon observes, “Another one bites the dust.”

“Drug Firms Pour $40 Million Into Health Care Debate#,” is from NPR (7/23/09).

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are Betmo*, Diane~ and Jon#.

Blogs: My news and political blog is at South by Southwest. My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. And Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for my websites.

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• GOP Healthcare Plan: Delay, Obstruct, Lie, Rinse, Repeat (dailykos.com)
• AHIP, Kristol, and “Bipartisan” Reform (dailykos.com)
• Help NPR Identify The Health Care Lobbyists! (huffingtonpost.com)
• The Republican 10 Point Plan for Health Care (crooksandliars.com)

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Health Care Overhaul — Get on Board the Train

Different legislative tracks intersect at several points – cost, control, consumer needs, care-giver interests and collegiality. Republicans are almost universally skeptical. Democrats are very divided about health care reform between liberals and moderates. How fast the legislation can move through Congress depends on how fast the committees can complete their work. President Obama wants a vote in the Senate by August. The President now active in the debate using the town hall as his forum. So far the American Medical Association is opposed to a public option. And it is fairly apparent that a single payer plan is out of the question.

“The health care industry has a huge stake in reform” opines J.P. Green of the Democratic Strategist: “They will fight the public option, but they know that some form of expanded government health coverage is inevitable.” To quote Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown, “The public insurance option remains the single biggest obstacle to a bipartisan bill, snarling the parties – and wings within each party – in a debate over the power of government, the role of the free market and the need to cover the uninsured.”

A big part of the division in the Senate is associated with the so-called “public plan.” Senators in the cross-hairs of several active advocacy groups include Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Kent Conrad of North Dakota. Other moderates with whom groups must contend are Evan Bayh of Indiana, John Tester of Montana, Tom Carper of Delaware, along with Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Floor strategies in the Senate are not yet settled. The reconciliation process, needing just 51 votes is still on the table. Two senators, Kennedy and Byrd, are absent due to illness, and the Minnesota seat is still empty. Senator Chris Dodd is acting in a leadership role for Senator Ted Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has, quoting Politico:

. . . released a 615-page bill, but details on the most contentious issues, such as the public insurance option and the employer mandate, were left out for now . . . The bill calls for insurance market reforms, a prohibition on insurers’ denying coverage to sick people, a mandate on individuals to own coverage and the creation of marketplaces where people can compare and buy coverage.

In the U.S. House of Representatives – According to Patrick O’Connor and Chris Frates of Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s top aides have prepared a joint memo indicating the unity of their leadership positions. To quote:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are double-teaming powerful chairmen and rank-and-file members to save health care reform from a repeat of the Democratic Party infighting that helped kill it in 1994.

. . . Pelosi and Hoyer urged Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to heed the concerns of moderate Democrats.

. . . Waxman, Miller and Rangel — along with their respective aides — are trying to draft legislation in concert with each other so their committees will take up the same bill later this summer.

In the House, moderates include Blue Dog Democrats, constraining any public health plan option, and members of the New Democratic Coalition. Again, the public option provides a variety of sticking points for them including cost, Medicare rules. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan is a respected leader who has “offered a universal health care bill every year since he came ot Congress in 1955,” the authors reported. To quote:

Toward the end of Tuesday’s caucus meeting, he rose on his crutches and told the audience that this measure has the promise of becoming a legacy like Social Security — a program his father helped create in the 1930s.

As he closed, he told members they should have the courage to move forward, eliciting a standing ovation from his fellow Democrats. Pelosi announced Tuesday that the bill will bear Dingell’s name.

. . . House Democrats expect to introduce actual legislation next week, Waxman and others said Tuesday. The preliminary goal is to move legislation out of the committees by the Fourth of July and then clear the House by the August recess, setting up a fall showdown with the Senate over a final bill.

Health Care Reform will happen this year, in my opinion. The train has already left the station. In fact change is already happening. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is now the law of the land. Health Information Technology reform is being funded by the President’s Stimulus monies. And the President will soon sign the bill to mandate tobacco regulation by the FDA. If all of us work hard, a new era can emerge. But it could also easily get derailed. It is going to be an interesting ride.

References:

• “Can Health Overhaul Heal the Economy,” by Alex Wayne of Congressional Quarterly (6/3/09).
• “Axelrod Fuels Democratic Message Machine for Health Care Overhaul,” by Drew Armstrong of Congressional Quarterly (5/13/09).

[Original Post date - June 12, 2009]

See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Blogs: My general purpose/southwest focus blog is at Southwest Progressive. My creative website is at Making Good Mondays. And Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics health care reform obama congress U.S. Senate U.S. House

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POTUS vs EX VEEP: no contest

(image free-pictures-photos)

POTUS spoke, literally backed up to the Constitution. EX VEEP spoke and backed into the past. It was no contest; POTUS WON. Our best times are ahead of us. The ex Veep’s dark past is just that — deeply dark and past its prime. The worst time is behind us. America is turning the corner into the future.

What remains from the past? In the National archives, backing up POTUS, are the Constitution with the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. These original documents established a set of brilliantly conceived checks and balances among three co-equal branches of government. That system is working again, after being down for the past two presidential terms. America is no longer as deeply bound to its recent dark past.

What does the future hold? Solutions to America’ biggest problems are out there waiting to be discovered. Does POTUS have all the answers? Absolutely not, but he believes in the system and trusts what will emerge. Did the EX VEEP’s speech have any answers? Absolutely not, because he does not believe in the system. He believes his own dark demons. Now that the system is beginning to rebalance itself without him, his impulses keep him fearful and desperate for power.

What does Constitutional re balancing entail? POTUS gave some clues in his speech. He talked about the lack of foresight in the past administration. And he demonstrates foresight as he leads us into the future. For example, he acknowledged that he expects oversight by Congress and the courts as he picks his way through the Constitutional legal minefield of “prolonged detention” and “military tribunals with rules.”

Because the courts were active, even during the dark days, balances were kept in certain instances as courts prohibited Bush administration power grabs. Our new POTUS is also willing to live by court decisions on constitutionality. However, the same cannot yet be said about Congress exerting its proper authority, though there are hints. The Senate’s demand for a plan before opening the purse to close Guantanamo was a good first step at reestablishing its prerogatives, though the process has been awkward. What lies in the future for the questionable solutions to the detainee problem? POTUS has been preparing a plan that will be completed in January of next year. It is typical of his operating method.

POTUS’ governing style is to state the problem and assign members of the administration to work to find solutions. He announces the outlines of a preliminary plan, letting Congress know what its part is and when he would like to have something to sign. He gets feedback and makes changes. Eventually he realizes it is again time to teach the nation about what the problem and solutions will entail. Working with Congress and signing legislation finally leads to publishing the plan’s full details.

EX VEEP’s governing style, in contrast was to feel there was a problem, state the solution to his minions in secret, omitting the planning and reporting to Congress. He did not need feedback because the rule was “my way or the highway.” Eventually he would be found out, but refused to admit any mistakes. Rather than teach, he worked through maintaining a fear posture and bypassed or deceived Congress whenever possible. He did not need a public plan and did not feel bound by the rule of law. Governing behind closed doors in secret, his loss of power has now produced a starkly contrasting new set of behaviors. He is out front and everywhere — defending, obfuscating, prevaricating, fear mongering, insulting and angry for the most part.

POTUS is also out front and everywhere — asserting, explaining, being transparent, truth telling, reassuring, and showing respect to adversaries and a positive demeanor, generally speaking. His ideas will be accepted or not. POTUS feel himself bound by what Congress and the courts decide. He feels that the government must be backed by the Constitution. He is quite willing to take on the EX VEEP because the man is mired in the past. The ex Veep’s dark past is just that — deeply dark and disturbing. The worst of him is gone now because he is powerless, though not without influence. He will eventually sputter out of the limelight. America is looking to the future, and honoring its beginnings. It is no contest; POTUS will win. Our best times have already begun.
See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

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CIA-OLC-Gitmo Primer

It took a large number of people and organizations to get the torture program up and running at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. Spy Talk’s Jeff Stein writes that repetetive interrogations revealed the CIA’s lack of spies, according to a number of agency veterans. One of the most bizarre aspects of the program was the participation of psychologists. ProPublica has investigated this part of the story and written an important article on the subject: “A Secret E-mail Argument Among Psychologists About Torture,” by Sheri Fink, (5/8/09). To quote:

As part of our report* we posted a listserv of internal emails between staff of the American Psychological Association and members of its “Psychological Ethics and National Security” task force. (Here’s the entire listserv.) That listserv offers a rare look into a process that led to the adoption of an influential and controversial policy for the world’s largest professional organization of psychologists, which represents the profession of psychology in the United States. It also provides a window into a heated discussion among medical professionals grappling with their ethical obligations and their possible complicity in torture.

Liberals want accountability for those who wrote the “torture memos” regarding harsh interrogation techniques. President Obama is opposed to a “truth commission,” as suggested by Senator Leahy; an independent inquiry, as suggested by House Speaker Pelosi and opposed by the Senate; or even an independent prosecutor, unless prosecution was recommended by the DOJ. Some liberals have suggested the impeachment of federal judge Jay Bybee, one of the memo authors. And, unlike many U.S. news sources, Al Jazeera headlined (5/6/09) that the “US [is] ‘likely to probe Bush lawyers,” citing Scott Horton, a professor of military law at Columbia University in New York. To quote Horton:

. . . the results of the inquiry would very likely form the basis “for a criminal investigation being commenced”.”There is likely to be a criminal investigation that will look at the entire process of introducing torture in Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and other places as a result of decisions that we now know were ultimately taken in the White House itself,” he said.

“These lawyers played a key role in that entire process.”

Horton added that the report would “heighten the pressure on the attorney-general [Eric Holder] for the appointment of a special prosecutor” to investigate the lawyers’ actions.

“I think the attorney-general is going to find it impossible to avoid the investigation phase,” he said.

President Obama banned torture and he and the Justice Department have said there will be no prosecution of those in the CIA who practiced the enhanced interrogation techniques on those detained by the U.S. Likewise the administration opposed prosecution of the authors of the torture memos. According to The Washington Post, there was intense debate in Obama’s inner circle over the decision to release the memos. The President certainly walks a thin line in the entire interrogation question, analysts say. A great many American people believe that President Obama was absolutely right to release the torture memos, though there was, of course, debate about it.

The Office of Professional Responsibility at the Justice Department has drafted a long-awaited report on the professional conduct of the torture memo lawyers. It looks as if it will only recommend professional sanctions against two of the three lawyers, Yahoo! News (5/5/09) reported. It should be pointed out that the OPR does not have the authority to press charges.

The CIA reportedly declined to closely evaluate harsh interrogations during the Bush administration, according to an excellent LA Times (4/26/09) story. There has been no study to see whether the methods worked or not. There is now a White House task force to examine the effectiveness of various interrogation approaches. The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched a similar review, one that has never been done before. From the horse’s mouth comes a very believable piece by Ali Soufan on the New York Times Op-ed page of April 23, 2009: “My Tortured Decision.” To summarize it –

A former F.B.I. agent who questioned Abu Zubaydah in 2002 says the terrorist operative provided important intelligence under traditional interrogation methods. The CIA had inflated the importance of what Zubayda had to say.

One of the first things President Obama did after taking office was announce that Guantanamo Bay, Cuba’s detention facility would be closed. The project to close Guantanamo is not an easy one. There are costs involved, both monetary and political. Congress is getting increasingly worried about the possibility of detainees in their communities, and may impede the closure plans. Politico explains:

[Senate Minority leader Mitch] McConnell’s comments were most telling. . . just as many Democrats see Guantanamo as a legacy of the Bush years, the Kentucky Republican framed the fight as a test now of whether the Obama administration will protect Americans, fearful of the detainees being moved into corrections facilities in their states.

Former Vice President Cheney has led the Republican charge against the Obama administration’s efforts to put things right. In an ironic twist ProPublica revealed that the government could destroy records in hundreds of Guantanamo cases. There is even talk of reviving the Guantanamo military court process. And Time Magazine examined the Army Field Manual for an article headlined, “Beyond Waterboarding: What Interrogators can still do.” CIA Directer Leon Panetta has ruled that contractors are not allowed to interrogate any more, emptywheel reported.

“Libertarians” for a Torture State” – by Ed Kilgore at the Democratic Strategist (4/28/09), examined the Republicans’ inconsistencies of position (between right-wingers and Libertarians) regarding the questions associated with the rule of law, torture and closing Guantanamo. J.P Green, in the same newsletter, explores “Obama’s Measured Strategy on Torture.” His closing argument could be persuasive:

America is honor-bound to address accountability for torture — but later better than sooner. Maybe the best thing, strategy-wise, would be for Holder to initiate a thorough investigation, but save the investigation revelations and recommendations until after we get the economy on solid footing and health care reform safely enacted.

References:

1. *Report:”Tortured Profession: Psychologists Warned of Abusive Interrogations, Then Helped Craft Them,“ by ProPublica, May, 5, 2009
2. “Interrogations Timeline,” from The Washington Post (4/23/09)
3. “Torture Memos vs. Red Cross Report: Prisoners’ Recollections differ from Guidelines” — a side by side comparison chart, from ProPublica (4/24/09)
4. The significance of Obama’s decision to release the torture memos, is an important and thoughtful piece by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com (4/23/09).
5. “America’s quick recovery from its torture program suggests it wasn’t a torture program in the first place,” by Slate Magazine’s great writer Dahlia Lithwick (4/17/09). To quote:
   

   Laced like cynical poison through the four newly released Justice Department torture memos is the logic of quick healing: Eleven days of sleep deprivation is not illegal torture so long as the prisoner gets to sleep it off later. Writes then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee: “The effect of such sleep deprivation will generally remit after one or two nights of uninterrupted sleep.” In that same memo we learn that water-boarding is also not illegal torture because the simulated drowning lasts only 20 to 40 seconds, and thus, “the waterboard is simply a controlled acute episode, lacking the connotation of a protracted period of time generally given to suffering.” By the same token, “walling” (i.e., slamming someone into a wall) isn’t torture either because “the head and neck are supported with a rolled hood or towel that provides a c-collar effect to help prevent whiplash.”

6. A Tale of Torture Grows More Timely by the Day. This is from the New York Times THEATER section By PATRICK HEALY, May 02, 2009. To summarize: In a relatively rare confluence of theater and politics, the critically lauded production of “Torture” opened nine days before the Justice Department made public four memos that described brutal interrogation techniques.

See also for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics obama administration torture OLC Gitmo CIA

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Specter’s switch –

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania feels “entitled” to the deal he made with Majority leader Reid over his seniority as a new Democrat. After all Specter swings power to the Democrats in the Senate, giving Democrats enough votes to cut off attempts to filibuster judicial nominations.

A new poll shows that Specter’s party switch paid off, according to The Hill. He is shown to be ahead in two general election match-ups. George Stephanopoulos reported the the results would be closer if he were running against former Governor Tom Ridge.

Senator Specter seems to have been energized by his switch. And he probably feels a bit buoyed by the welcome he has gotten from his female Democratic colleagues in the Senate, according to CQ Politics. The Senator has introduced legislation to curb overreaching of the executive branch, as well as a bill (with Senator Webb) to overhaul America’s criminal justice system.

In the wake of Senator Specter’s switch from Republican to Democrat, people differ about whether it was courageous or ambitious. Most agree that he will remain very independent. Politico reports that “The GOP is a specter of itself.” To quote,

Amid gloating among Democrats and recriminations among Republicans, the Specter divorce is both symptom and cause of the GOP collapse — leaving the opposition party on the brink of irrelevance in Barack Obama’s Washington and facing few obvious paths back to power.

The Pennsylvania Republican’s about-face, combined with the all-but-certain ascension of Minnesota Democrat Al Franken to the Senate, should soon leave Democrats with a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

. . . But Specter’s abandonment didn’t happen in isolation. No matter whether his move was motivated by principle, fear, or opportunism — or some combination of the three — it comes in the same month as a traditionally GOP-leaning district in upstate New York tipped for the Democrats. In the nine states of the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, there are only 15 GOP House members out of 83 seats, and now just three Republicans out of 18 senators.

. . . While many Republicans were jeering Specter as he headed for the exits, few were denying that the move was a setback, both in public perceptions and legislative arithmetic.

In the midst of it all, CQ Politics reports, “Sen. Jim DeMint wants to promote new, tougher brand of party discipline in coming weeks as the leader of the Republican Steering Committee. Now facing an emboldened Democratic majority, Republicans disagree on the best survival strategy.” But DeMint wants conservative purity.

Specter’s switch has ushered in a whole new deal in the Senate, in my opinion. Though critics said it was pure ambition, I have to admire his honesty about his motivation. He did not resort to the typical Republican spin, which is at least a good start for him.

See also Behind the Links, for further info on Congress.

Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics republicans democrats congress senate arlen specter

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proof positive of human nature

many folks believe that human beings are born good.  i disagree.  i think we have to work hard to be good people and do the right thing.  hence, all of the wars, global pollution, etc.  now, that doesn’t mean that everyone on the planet is inherently a criminal- but you don’t need to be if the foxes are in charge of the henhouse.  how else to explain the millions- the twenty percenters- if you will- the rethuglican/christian right, batshit crazies?

but the rethugs do not have a monopoly on greed and/or power.  nope.  in that regard, there is no political party.  ask nancy pelosi, harry reid- or jane harmon.  there are many dumbocrats in congress who happily lept into bed with the lobbyists, corporatists and friedman capitalist neocons.  looks like janie was one of them.

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Pluses and minuses for the administration

A little over two months have passed since President Barack Obama was inaugurated. A great deal has taken place since that momentous day. Today is a good day to take stock of the pluses and minuses coming out of the Obama administration’s efforts, since taking over from the Republicans.
The President and his family have moved into the White House and established a daily and weekly routine. along with a vegetable garden. Michelle Obama has introduced herself to all her Washington neighbors and presided over formal occasions at the White House. All these accomplishments are pluses.
Most of the main presidential appointments have been made, with the appointees confirmed and sworn in. This project proved to be a combination of both pluses and minuses, when some lagged behind. Key players have already begun to establish new domestic and foreign policies in the name of the administration. The President announced our foreign policy for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region recently. President Obama and, by extension — Secretaries Clinton, Geithner and others, have established relationships with foreign leaders, both in person and diplomatically. In these cases most have been relatively successful to date.
The president has signed a number of executive orders as well as bills passed by Congress. A Congressional liaison operation has been put in place and debuted. A number of bills that had begun before the administration took office were passed and signed. A large economic stimulus package was put in place. Legislation to continue the operations of government until the next fiscal year was passed. And the President’s proposed budget that will start in 2010 has been introduced. The President has gotten much of what he proposed to Congress so far, despite routine Republican opposition. His efforts at bipartisanship were rebuffed by Republicans, a definite minus.
The administration has appeared in court in connection with ongoing cases requiring the government to weigh in. When it comes to rolling back excess executive power and upholding civil liberties the overall score remains in the minus column. Nor has the administration been willing up to this point to hold anyone accountable for breaking the laws of the land, another set of minuses, in my opinion.
President Obama has established regular and open communication with the American people and with the rest of the world. These attempts have been more and more successful as time passed. Though the establishment press might disagree, the President’s reputation as a master communicator has grown in diversity and over time. In addition he has kept in purposefully direct contact with people of all stations outside of the capitol. And the President changed the rhetoric used by the previous administration in some significant ways, a plus.
We are all learning the new politically correct language. We are learning how and when to interact with the administration and with our Congressional Representatives and Senators. And finally, we are learning a great deal more about what is going on. Due to the administration’s commitment to transparency, this is generally a plus, though there are exceptions. That is mostly only because all the technological apparatus for reporting is not yet in place and functioning smoothly.
Overall the Obama administration gets several check marks in the plus column. I remain a happy Democrat, amazed that the guy for whom I voted is turning out to be even more amazing than I had imagined possible.
See also Behind the Links, for further info on this subject.

Carol Gee – Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for all my websites.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics obama administration political analysis

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Friday the 13th

[afternoon of 2/13/09]    Friday, the 13th is President Obama’s lucky day. By all reports the so-called “stimulus package” will be voted out of the Senate late today with the minimum of 60 votes, three of whom will be rebellious Republicans. It will be lucky to pass. Democrats prevailed in the House of Representatives around noon with no Republican votes at all. Luckily the Democrats have a good sized majority in the House. President Obama is not having very good luck with the party of the Loyal Opposition. On this rocky road with this issue, bipartisanship is dead. It was, and probably still is, a lovely fantasy of President Obama’s.

Actually it was probably never a viable option for governing in these times. The economy is too scary to Republicans. At some deep level they privately realize it went south on their watch. They have nothing new to offer to governance. Too many Republicans helped redistribute the nation’s wealth upward, deregulated even more than was begun during the ’90s, lived on corporate welfare from the government, turned a blind eye to greed, cozied up with lobbyists and special interests, and just generally screwed up. This time only three Republican Senators knew how to help out the country by joining with the other party. All the rest refused to help. Bipartisanship to the majority of Republicans means “my way or hit the road.”

For the next four years, governing for Democrats will be a very rocky road. Surrounded by economic and foreign policy crises, second-guessed by the hypercritical mainstream media, rebuffed by Republicans, the Obama administration will be forced to get aid and comfort from the citizenry. Participatory democracy will be what saves the country during these trying times. Officials will have to call on all their considerable intellect, all their good faith, all their respect for the rule of law, and all the luck they can muster. Maybe the fact that this first big bill passed on Friday the 13th is a very good omen for governance by this group of fledgling statesmen and women.

See today’s Behind the Links post — “On a tough road” — for all the pertinent links to news items associated with the stimulus package, the financial stability initiative, and the still empty Cabinet seats.
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics democrats republicans economy congress

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Some of us had no idea what has been going on around the world.

Each new year makes it clear that we all live together on Planet Earth. But when one’s neighbors live half-way around the world it is easy to be out of touch with what is actually going on in their day to day lives. The following stories reflect a lack of public knowledge about important realities.

We should not shut our eyes to the facts, painful as they may be. As a beginning, take a look at The Raw Story (1/5/09): “Bush to honor Blair, Howard*” regarding the real reason why President-elect Obama and his family will be living in a hotel until January 15.

Pushed aside by the stories coming our of Israel and Gaza, this headline from Buzzflash,”Muslims Plan Boycott Of American Goods and the U.S. dollar*” (1/7/09), reminds us that not every relatively stable country supports Israel. To quote:

More than 2,000 Muslim restaurants in Malaysia will remove Coca-Cola from their menus. [Coke plus] some 100 other products ranging from food to beauty and clothing such as Starbucks, Colgate, McDonald’s and Maybelline, [are also] part of a boycott of American products in protest against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. American companies are being targeted because of the U.S. government’s support of Israel.

“Cell Phones and Congo’s War Against Women*” was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Common Dreams sent it out in their newsletter (1/7/09). Robin Wright Penn and John Prendergast write passionately about a situation in Africa about few of us are aware, the war over raw materials that power our electronic gadgets. And the death toll in this war is astonishing. To quote from the story:

. . . [The] Congo, has been torn apart by the deadliest war since World War II, where 5.4 million have perished. Its war is fueled by our inexhaustible thirst for cell phones, laptops, video games, digital recorders and other products that owe their existence to Congo’s contribution to the world’s mineral supply. . . and Congo has a good percentage of the world’s supply of all three. The upshot is that feuding militias and a failed government have led to one of the highest death rates in the world, where an estimated 1,500 people die per day of war-related causes.

. . . The latest chapter has seen the neighboring country of Rwanda in direct confrontation with Congo over the remnants of the militia that perpetrated Rwanda’s genocide 14 years ago. These forces have taken up residence in Congo and are supported at times by the Congolese government. In response, Rwanda supports Congo’s rebels. . .

. . . the Congo – with the highest rates of sexual violence globally – has become the world’s most dangerous place to be a woman or a girl. . . what appears to set Congo apart is the frequency of sexual assault, as well as its graphic nature. The militias in the Congo are perfecting this tool of war in a manner never seen before. . . Competing forces rape in order to permanently drive communities out of contested areas.. Women are so traumatized by gang rapes and other depredations that they never want to return to their homes, too afraid to re-live their experiences. . . impunity and inaction leads the militias to intensify their attacks. . .

The Common Dreams article goes on to explain why citizen involvement is so essential to changing this very unfortunate situation To quote further:

. . . That’s where we come in. As we use our cell phones, computers, iPods and video games every day, we are benefiting from Congo’s natural wealth. We need to stand up for the women of the Congo and let our elected officials know that we want to see an end to that violence. We need to let the electronics companies that we all buy our products from know that it matters to us where they get the raw materials that run their devices.

. . . President-elect Barack Obama will have the chance to help rectify one of the world’s most egregious injustices by making the end of the Congo’s war one of his policy objectives. High-level American involvement can help catalyze efforts toward peace in that shattered country.

But a president’s attention won’t be enough. . . we will have to use our considerable market muscle to demand from companies like Apple, Nokia, Hewlett-Packard and Nintendo that their products do not contain “conflict minerals.” This will require them to change their procurement practices and ask far more questions about where their components are from.

Not all the news from around the globe is bad, however. This headline from The Huffington Post: “You Are Being Lied to About Pirates*” (1/4/09) is provocative. And it could be seen as actually positive. The article is an important alternative view to the conventional wisdom about the current rash of piracy off the coast of Somalia. Author Johann Hari uses history to clarify what might be motivating today’s pirates, based on the origins of pirates centuries ago. It is a view that makes absolute sense to me, and fits with previous stories of how the local Somalian population feels positively about their “benefactors/protectors,” despite their questionable methods.

To conclude, if you do not mind the agricultural method of genetic modification, my closing news item is really good. The headline is from The Raw Story: “World’s first ‘drought-tolerant”corn ready by 2010: Monsanto*” (1/7/09). “Drought-tolerant corn is designed to provide farmers yield stability during periods when water supply is scarce by mitigating the effects of drought — or water stress — within a corn plant,” Monsanto said. . . “Trials of the corn conducted last year in drought-prone areas of the American midwest “met or exceeded the six percent to 10 percent target yield enhancement,” according to the company.
Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politicsinternational relations africa

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Saying Goodbye to 2008

When it comes to 75% of Americans#, we cannot say “Goodbye to all that,” including George W. Bush, soon enough. To set the stage for this post, check out “Bush by the Numbers 2.0.” from ProPublica:  “. . . our look at the 43rd president’s impact across American life.”  This piece is a set of great graphic comparisons of before and after Bush, a catalyst in America’s declining influence#.

Say Goodbye to “That’s not my fault” –

• Regrets? Bush has too few to mention, according to this 12/23/08 story at Politico.
• Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman: (from ProPublica and WaPo)  “When Cox was asked whether he should be blamed for a culture of lax enforcement that allowed multiple warnings about . . . [allowing Madoff] fraud to go undetected, he said: “Absolutely not. In fact, it’s in the DNA here that people thrive on bringing big cases.”

Say Goodbye to Republican failures (from ProPublica) –

• “Browse Iraq Reconstruction History for Yourself” (12/15/08) Read it and weep.
• “HUD Secretary Steve Preston told today’s Washington Post that the [Hope for Homeowners'] program is a flop: Only 312 people have applied because it’s “too expensive and onerous for lenders and borrowers alike.” “
• Robert F. Dacey, GAO chief accountant’s report:
  “Since a consolidated federal financial report was first required by law starting in fiscal year 1997, the GAO has said that agency systems for keeping track of finances were flawed.” [Agencies that cannot pass an audit: Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, for example]
• Why Detroit got the kitchen sink of questions: (from 12/9/08 TPM Muckracker) A GAO report on how treasury disbursed bailout monies gives us “two kinds of news about the TARP program – bad news and worse news,” says Rep. Barney Frank.

Say Goodbye to the mystery of the mortgage crisis –

• Watch the old movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” to learn how it all happened (from Newsweek).
• Read Arianna Huffington# (from AlterNet,) who says, “The Right-wing Economics That Got Us Into This Mess Should Go the Way of Soviet Communism.”
• CNBC’s Biased Reporting on the PPT# [Plunge Protection Team]: (from Funny Money Report) — Did the government manipulate the financial market?

Say Goodbye to corporate greed, lawlessness and ineptitude, facilitated by Vice-President Dick Cheney. (see also — “Cheney’s Legacy of Deception*” from 12/23/08 – TruthDig.

• “The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008#. The financial meltdown and economic crisis illustrated that corporations will destroy even themselves in search of profit.” (from AlterNet): “AIG: Money for nothing. . . Cargill: Food Profiteers . . . Chevron: ‘We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies’ . . . Constellation Energy: Nuclear Operators . . . CNPC (Chinese National Petroleum Corp): Fueling Violence in Darfur . . . Dole: The Sour Taste of Pineapple . . . GE: Creative Accounting . . . Imperial Sugar: 13 Dead . . . Philip Morris International: Unshackled . . . Roche: Saving Lives is Not Our Business . . . “

Say Goodbye to “disgusting” Republican hypocrisy# –

• Robert M. “Mike” Duncan#: (from Newsweek)
  The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Saturday he was
  “shocked and appalled” that one of his potential successors had sent
  committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 parody song
  called “Barack the Magic Negro.”

Say Goodbye to political spin –

• Year-end Whoppers# (from Newsweek): “Consider some of the bogus claims we’ve debunked just since Election Day.” And from Think Progress: “Limbaugh’s Crazy Conspiracy Theory: Democrats Started the Economic Crisis to Help Elect Obama#.”
• Get Ready for a Lost Decade# (from the Wall Street Journal): Pure pessimism — “Our point here is that the bad policy vicious circle probably has a long way to run. While it’s still possible to entertain wild hopes about an Obama administration, such hopes are partly self-liquidating on closer inspection — they exist in the first place only because Mr. Obama has given us so little to go on, except campaign boilerplate. Bottom line: Politics is in charge — in a way that makes a lost decade of subpar prosperity more likely than not.” The Plank adds its own “Depressing Thoughts*” about the world’s fiscal future.

We are not sure to what we are saying “Hello,”with the inauguration of President-elect Obama. But we are ready for change.  We are ready to say goodbye to unwillingness to take responsibility for things gone wrong. We will be happy to say goodbye to failure after failure. We are tired of hearing, “I have no idea what happened.” We are  ready to say goodbye to inordinate corporate influence on our government. We will be happy to be saying goodbye to a reality too filled with Republican hypocrisy, lies, spin, secrecy and deception. We have nowhere to go but up.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are “betmo*” and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics republicans bush

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