Check it out, even right-wing-nut Blogs for Bush are deserting, bailing out, turning tail and running, surrendering their lost cause, changing their name in embarrassment, defeated, humiliated, marginalized! Good bye to bad rubbish. ;-) http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/14/blogs-for-bush-ditches-bush/
I won't be watching any Olympics coming outta some Commie dictatorship that objects to freedom of speech and tries to poison us with their exported crap manufacturing.
http://www.americablog.com/2007/11/us-bridge-federation-doesnt-want-to.html
I got a chuckle from that quote in a WaPo article. It seems that farmers in N.D. want the right to grow hemp. 30 other countries have that right and as the article says, the sky is not failing in those places.
Bush administration lawyers oppose it though. And when you consider that the stuff is harmless, you can just bet that Bush's REAL motive is the protection of some other industry's executives who might not like a real or perceived threat to their own profits. As the saying goes, always follow the money and the whores to find the truth. BushCo qualifies on both fronts.
Here's the link to the whole thing: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/11/AR2007111101451.html
Some jack-ass spokes-idiot named "J.L. Wilson" for the tobacco whores "took exception" to Governor Kulongoski's characterization of the industry "buying" the election by falsely accusing our Governor of calling voters who opposed measure 50 "stupid". Of course, the Governor would never do something so politically incorrect. So, I'll do it instead. I couldn't care less about political correctness when it gets in the way of children's health care versus conservatives greed and lung cancer producing tobacco giant executives and their paid lobbyists.
"The makers of Camel and Marlboro cigarettes contributed $11.8 million to two committees fighting the tobacco tax proposal, which called for using the 85 cents a pack to pay for children's health insurance and other health programs. The cigarette money paid for a heavy advertising campaign, which included television, radio and direct mail advertisements.
The tobacco money dwarfed the campaign supporting the measure. Yes On The Healthy Kids Plan reported spending $3.4 million, or less than a third as much." [SOURCE]
Giant Tobacco Corporations of North Carolina (for rural Oregonians, that's a state on the east coast of the USA) were able to BUY the votes of rural county voters in Oregon just as they previously had in California.
It is flat amazing how damn dumb some folks can be. Rather than put the facts through their own thinking machinery, they are dependent upon 60-second Ads and bad acting on their BOOB-TUBES to TELL them how to vote. It must be the sheep influence in rural counties. Herd mentality. They're too damn dumb to know when they are being lied to over, and over again. [SOURCE]
Giant tobacco corporations were forced to pay millions in fines because they were found to be guilty of LYING to the public for decades about the poisons in their products. The same giant out-of-state corporations whose products cause CANCER and whose product advertising was banned from television airwaves nationwide! So now they spend their advertising dollars poisoning the voting process in states outside their own with political Ads instead! Then the mouth breathers in rural Oregon counties were stupid enough to actually let the very same lying-sacks lie to them all over again using their zillion dollar blitz of OUT-OF-STATE TV-commercial monies. Nice.
"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth"--Franklin D. Roosevelt (apparently it does if you're a turnip-truck-driver from rural Orygun).
This is not my personal issue. Thankfully my family has health coverage. None of us are stupid or weak enough to be addicted to the filthy, low-life habit of smoking. My ONLY two concerns with measure 50's defeat are 1) that there are actually human beings walking around upright who are ignorant enough to have believed the bullshit in those giant Tobacco corporation TV Ads. Wowzers. And 2) that so many thousands of kids will now be without health care due to the fear, gullibility and ignorance of voting age morons in rural Oregon counties. Sad deal for us all.
I was especially amazed by the ones who would get stuck on a single sound byte portion of the TV Ads when interviewed by local news affiliates. For instance, this reasoning was heavily glommed onto by the weak minded: "But it would amend our Constitution!" I even saw some Oregonian interviewed on the news who clearly equated that concern to the U.S. Constitution rather than to the Oregon STATE Constitution, sheez. God knows he'd never READ either, but man he sure knew what those Ads had told him he should know ... it's sacred and should never be amended! Wowzers. Never mind the FACT that Constitutions were DESIGNED to be "amended". Thing is, if the reporter doing the interview had even challenged such answers with a simple, "So what?" follow-on question, it would have left 'em stammering for a response. Man is it ever SAD how damn dumb we've become ... I'll make a comparison to something TELEVISION-related so that rural Oregonians can get their heads wrapped around it ... rural Oregon voters are like one constant rerun of Jay Leno's "Man-on-the-Street" segment.
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."--John Kenneth Galbraith
Cigarettes over children's health care. Nice. We've become like some 3rd-world country it seems. Well, I don't have the millions of dollars it would take to counter the giant out-of-state tobacco corporations' propaganda machine ... but, I'm sure as hell done being even remotely civil to ANY of their addict customers. Hehe ... poor bastards used to whine about how folks were picking on them before ... hehe. According to the Associated Press report linked above, a majority of Multnomah County voters (Portland) voted in favor of Measure 50. I live in Portland and OK, we can't TAX cigarette sales based upon the failed measure 50 ... let's do the next best thing. Let's BAN smoking within Portland city limits altogether. Take away even "designated smoking areas". That'd be fun. Heck they banned something as healthy as plastic drinking water bottles in some California town. New York City banned trans-fats! Surely, Portland can ban the poison that are cigarettes. Rural voters wouldn't be participants in a Portland-only ballot measure. For those lower life forms weak or stupid enough to keep smoking well hey, they can go do it in one of those "rural"counties ... just as long as the rest of us don't have to help pay for THEIR Chemotherapy or their heart treatments and ultimately their burials ... they sure are opposed to paying that of the children impacted by their second hand smoke. Seems perfectly fair that we not have to subsidize theirs through our higher insurance premiums in kind. Besides, by banning the filthy habit in Portland city limits, smokers won't be the picked upon "convenient minority" they cry about being ... they'll be criminals instead. I like it.
Meanwhile, let's gather those signatures and put it right back on the ballot so we can get some more of the Tobacco giants' outta-state Ad monies ... and again, and yet again. And smoke shops ... heck, the animal rights activists were able to run the FURRIER store outta Dodge ... why not do the same for tobacco stores so we can save some HUMANS too! Hey, I saw a report that said second-hand smoke is bad for household pets don't ya know! ;-)
The next ass-hole that lights up around me ... it's going cross-wise up their ass while still lit.
I believe in FAIR Trade, not "Free Trade". I won't support any candidate, for any office who supports this latest screwing of the American middle class. Period.
Pelosi is whoring-out on this issue, just like she has on the issue of Impeachment.
Obama apparently supports the Peru Free Trade deal.
Clinton is doing what she always does ... wetting her finger and holding it aloft to gauge which way the wind is blowing strongest ... even worse than her indecision on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.
Of the top 3 Democratic candidates only John Edwards has it right by strongly opposing the Peru Free Trade (BushCo's back room) deal, and without the Clinton-style hesitation. PEOPLE of IOWA, and New Hampshire, please take note!
We don't need another president who can't make a play. Ya know ... like Bush couldn't in that class room on 9/11. Remember that deer-in-the-headlights look and the hesitation. I've had enough of BOTH those family names to last a life time.
Below is the full text of an e-mail from David Sirota. I'm confident this corporate-corrupt Congress will disappoint the American people on this issue, just as they have been doing for years now, on every issue. But, by calling yours you can make sure that they GET the fact that we're watching this and paying attention this time around ... and that our day is coming:
Bloomberg News tonight reports that President Bush will be stumping this
week with Fortune 500 CEOs to pressure Democrats to pass the Peru Free
Trade Agreement - a deal that expands NAFTA into South America. Bush is
simultaneously threatening to veto a bill to provide aid to workers who
lose their jobs thanks to NAFTA-style trade deals.
Incredibly, the House Democratic leadership is now officially whipping
votes to get Democrats to support the Peru deal, even though most of the
new lawmakers who delivered the Democrats the congressional majority
specifically campaigned against NAFTA-style trade agreements. Attached
is a Hill Newspaper story about the fight within the Democratic Party,
noting that the battle is also bleeding into the presidential race this
week. - David
*
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/freshman-dems-revolt-on-free-trade-2007-11-06.html
<http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/freshman-dems-revolt-on-free-trade-2007-11-06.html>
Freshman Dems Revolt on Free Trade
By Jonathan E. Kaplan
November 06, 2007
Many freshman Democratic lawmakers are expected to oppose a free trade
deal with Peru this week despite pressure from House leaders.
Although Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has told her freshman class
that they may "vote their districts," Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(D-Md.) and Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) lobbied
Democrats over the weekend to support the measure, lawmakers said.
"There's been a lot of pressure on the rank and file to support this
deal," said Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), who opposes the deal. "It's
disappointing that Democratic leaders are not in sync with the American
people."
Fearful that trade agreements will further add to a poisonous political
environment — like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
which was passed before the GOP routed the Democrats in the 1994 midterm
election — some Democrats are furious they are being forced to vote on
the measure.
"We have a base that does not think we're getting enough done. If we
give them another dose of NAFTA … I'm left to wonder what [that does],"
freshman Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) said in a phone interview.
David Sirota, a former Democratic staffer turned liberal activist and
author, echoed Hare's remarks.
"What is the political damage of a Congress perceived to be a do-nothing
Congress simultaneously capitulating to George Bush and extending NAFTA?
It just validates the power of big money over both parties in
Washington," Sirota said.
Hare's feelings about the new trade agreement are shared by a sizable
bloc of freshman Democrats, who have been at the forefront of pushing
the new Democratic agenda. Many could vote against their leadership or
sit out this fight.
The Peru pact marks the first trade vote of the 110th Congress and is
seen as a test of Pelosi's leadership. Observers will be watching to see
whether she can persuade a majority of the Democratic Caucus to support
the measure despite opposition from freshman lawmakers and several
committee chairmen.
Pelosi and Rangel have touted the agreement because they forced the Bush
administration to renegotiate the agreement's environmental and labor
standards.
The Ways and Means panel approved the legislation last week by a 39-0
margin, and the Senate Finance Committee signaled its support last month
by voice vote.
Freshman lawmakers, however, have been skeptical all year.
Swept into office last year on a wave of voter disgust over the Iraq war
and Republican corruption, many Democratic candidates campaigned against
enacting more free trade agreements last year.
Reps. Brad Ellsworth (Ind.), John Yarmuth (Ky.), Heath Shuler (N.C.),
Charlie Wilson (Ohio) and Zack Space (Ohio) ran anti-trade
advertisements to distinguish themselves from their GOP opponents,
according to a report by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, a liberal
government watchdog group.
Wilson returns to work Tuesday after recovering from colon surgery.
Space is opposed and the two other lawmakers did not return phone calls
or e-mails for comment.
Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), a former labor lawyer, pressed Pelosi on the
issue during last Wednesday's weekly breakfast with the freshman
Democrats. She and other anti-trade Democrats will offer amendments to
the deal in the Rules Committee on Wednesday before it heads to the
House floor. Those amendments would kill the deal if approved since
trade agreements cannot be changed under the fast-track law.
Hare, Sutton and Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) will vote against the
measure. Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison (Minn.) and Steve Kagen (Wis.)
are likely to oppose it, too, and Rep. Paul Hodes ( D-N.H.) is leaning
toward voting against it, his spokeswoman said.
Democratic Reps. Jason Altmire (Pa.), Tim Walz (Minn.), and John Hall
(N.Y.) are undecided, according to their aides.
A few freshmen are expected to support the deal. Democratic Reps.
Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Nick Lampson (Texas) and Ron Klein (Fla.)
likely will vote for the trade deal, said aides to both lawmakers. On an
unrelated matter, Pelosi held a fundraiser for Gillibrand in New York
City on Monday.
The politics of the deal has also seeped into the presidential race.
Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has announced his opposition to the
U.S.-Peru agreement. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), however, has said he
will support the deal. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ( D-N.Y.) is undecided.
"Democrats could lose the presidency because of trade … The American
people feel there is no difference between a Democrat and Republican.
[President Bill] Clinton brought us NAFTA and now a Democratic Congress
will bring us Peru," said Michaud, chairman of the House Trade Working
Group.
It is unclear how much of an impact a free trade agreement with Peru
will have on the United States. Peru's economy is tiny compared to the
U.S.'s and it is not a major trading partner.
But even free trade agreements with small economies have often been
difficult to pass. Under the Republican majority last year, a trade
agreement with Oman squeaked through by a narrow margin with little
Democratic support. On the controversial Central American Free Trade
Agreement in 2005, House GOP leaders often had to twist arms well after
the 15-minute time limit had expired before the secured a victory.
With Democrats in the majority and charged with getting votes to pass
the trade deal, Republicans from heavily unionized districts likely will
not have to cast a tough vote for the measure this time.
Democratic aides expect the legislation to pass with little resistance
given the new labor and environmental standards written into the agreement.
They also said Democrats were assuaged by last week's passage of a trade
adjustment assistance bill, which delivers more aid to workers adversely
affected by trade agreements, and labor unions are not actively opposing
the deal. A much bigger fight is expected over a trade agreement
negotiated with Colombia.
"Democratic votes will reflect the new reality of trade policy," a
senior Democratic leadership aide said.
Big, out of state tobacco companies are throwing MILLIONS of dollars at Oregon Voters ... hoping to buy the votes of the very same people who they lied to for decades as they poisoned us.
Does anyone else out there think that the acting in the tobacco giant's sponsored TV Ads is pathetic? No threat of an Emmy nomination there, wowzers! That is truly some bad acting and corn-ball production. One would have thought that $6.6 million-plus could have produced something a tad more believable, sheez. That Ad might play well on Tobacco Road but, I doubt that it will convince many Oregonians to side with lung cancer producers.
If you're in the Portland area, and remain undecided on Measure 50, there are a couple of days left to catch "Body Worlds 3" at OMSI where I hear that they have a display which includes both a set of healthy lung tissue, and ones that were diseased with lung cancer ... go see those displays, then decide how to vote on measure 50.
It escapes me why in the hell ANY logically thinking person would even need to think twice about how to vote on ANY issue where it boils down to the health of the public versus the PROFIT motives of big tobacco and those of their prostitute retailers?
Well according to a report appearing on the Oregonian newspaper's OregonLive.com web site:
"Plaid Pantry stores this week launched a Get Out The Vote effort, trying to line up voters against a proposed tobacco tax increase on the Nov. 6 ballot.
President Chris Girard says they've done this in previous elections. The last time, he recalls, was to defeat another cigarette tax hike in 2002." [SOURCE]
Tobacco companies and their employees [and now Plaid Pantry's President] are responsible for the production and sale of a known carcinogen. What's worse is the hypocritical spin they try to apply to those activities. If you're an Oregonian, did you receive this deceptive letter of propaganda in the mail: http://healthykids-oregon.org/2007/09/26/big-tobaccos-teacher-letter-sent-out-with-fake-signatures/#more-99
The decision making process for this ballot measure is really a very simple matter: if you enjoy dying from lung cancer you vote against 50; if you are NOT a complete and total idiot, you vote in favor of measure 50 ... it's really that simple.
We now know which category best describes Plaid Pantry's President Chris Girard whose obvious first concern, as a corporate citizen of our community, is his own executive bone-us, and typical corporate executive greed. Even more typical Girard tries blowing smoke up our collective skirts . According to the same Oregonian report:
"According to Girard, it's a customer service thing." [SOURCE]
Sure it is ... and smoking cigarettes is a healthy thing too, right Chris?
Go Get Some Truth Here Instead: http://www.healthykids-oregon.org/
Bush sucks. There are no two ways about it. Bush is a bad joke. Easily the worst president in the history of mankind. Dumbest S.O.B. too.
NEVER forget that Bush is a GOP Republican supported by Right-Wing-Christian Fundamentalist Hypocrites. Keep that in mind for the next election cycle when we all have an opportunity to marginalize these whack-jobs for generations to come. There is no-way that a true majority of Americans elected this ass-hole. Both election processes were corrupted and a coup is what really resulted. Let's marginalize these clowns on a scale never before witnessed in the history of our nation. Anything less spells doom for the nation.
Bush is the same loser who is forever looking out for his rich friends and crooks, giving tax breaks to Billionaires, dishing out government contracts to private armies and private mercenary corporations, has spent us into more red-ink than ALL the presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan COMBINED.
ANY Senator and ANY Congressperson who does not support this bill must be voted out of office. American kids only need 15 Republicans to do-the-right-thing. By gaining 15 more Republican votes, Bush cannot sustain his veto. If Bush's veto is sustained ... Americans need to respond by doing the right thing in the next election cycle. Replace EVERY Republican by voting against any / all Republicans running for office.
Rather than whine and bitch and complain that Congress never does what you the American people would like them to do ... send 'em a message the likes of which they have never seen before in our nation's history ... give DEMS a "SUPER MAJORITY" in the next election cycle. Ya wanna see legislation passed instead of kicked around endlessly like a political football? Vote for DEMS across the board, President and Congress, and you'll get some real work done for once.
Sen. Smith's food plant fined $3,000 for spilling waste
Posted by The Oregonian September 21, 2007 16:43PM
Smith Frozen Foods, the Pendleton-area processing plant owned by U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, has paid a $3,000 fine for discharging wastewater into a nearby creek in late July.
It marks at least the third time since the early 1990s that the company has been fined for polluting Pine Creek, which runs past the plant located a few miles from the city.
The fine is small, but the timing could be a spot of bad news for Smith, who is gearing up for a re-election campaign expected to be among the toughest in the nation.
Smith's spokesman, R.C. Hammond, said the senator had no comment about the fine or its potential impact on the race. The senator has no day-to-day management responsibilities of the plant.
[snip]
"Unauthorized discharge of wastewater to state waters can be a public health hazard and a serious violation of Oregon's environmental law," the DEQ news release states. Corn processing wastewater is high in pollutants that can harm fish by reducing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the creek, according the release.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/09/sensmithsfoodplantfined_30.html
Typical Republican; it's ok for them to be polluters for a buck, because the buck rules, and even more typical to shirk any responsibility when it is only their dollars doing the polluting rather than them personally pouring the crap directly into the creek by their own hand. Sheez.
Filibuster tactic kills troop rest bill
WASHINGTON, 19 (UPI) -- A majority of U.S. senators voted Wednesday for a bill requiring troops get more rest before returning overseas but it died for lack of a veto-proof majority.
The bill -- backed by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. -- was killed after receiving only 56 votes, four short of the 60 it needed to prevent a filibuster, The New York Times reported.
Forty-four senators voted against it, including presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.[snip]
Read the full report here: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/TopNews/2007/09/19/filibustertactickillstrooprestbill/9964/
Link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/19/103649/318
Republicans filibustering AGAIN. Never forget how these Republican'ts cried and whined like babies whenever DEMS would even MENTION the word "filibuster". These hypocrites make me sick. I LIVE to see these sickos voted off of capitol hill for good.
If every Diebold voting machine in America were hacked by John McCain supporters, I don't think this old geezer could win a gig as dog catcher now. I think that McCain's trolley has slipped off its tracks.
ANYONE who wants to rescue a future for any of the young men and woman of our military, had better throw their votes, their chump change, and all their political energy behind running every Republican they can out of office. On the local, regional, and national level, the more of them we vote out of office, the brighter the future for ALL Americans and the planet, but especially for the members of our military.
Additional sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1423419220070920
UPDATE: I called Senator Gordon Smith's office to ask what his reasoning for voting the way he did was, and the little brown-shirted, jack-booted staffer in Smith's office slammed the phone down on me, even though I am an Oregon constituent of Smith's. Nice. This is what you get with Republican elected public servants!
Why do Republicans like Oregon's Gordon Smith want to continue to deny the residents of Washington, D.C. the right to vote? Gordo fell right in line with the rest of the Republican sheep in denying voter rights to the tax paying residents of our nation's capitol because the majority of them are Black. The GOP is the racist party, plain and simple. These are not the kind of Senators we need in a 21st-century America. Dump 'em next chance ya get.
Oh sure, they will tell you that their real reason for opposing voting rights for Washington, D.C. taxpayers is because their interpretation of the Constitution is that it is forbidden. Obviously, when a "simple majority" of 57 interpret the Constitution differently than the 47 who oppose it, that argument becomes a transparent EXCUSE for the minority to hide their real motives for their opposition. What is really a laugh is how Republicans, especially their fearless leader George W. Bush are dismissive of the U.S. Constitution, even going so far as to belittle it as nothing more than a piece of paper, but when it serves their racist, vote suppressing agenda, they trot it out to hide behind like the cowardly hypocrites that they are! Here is what Bush and the Republican GOP REALLY think of our Constitution:
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” [SOURCE]
And to be clear about the Constitutionality of this issue, the bill included a way for it to be quickly decided upon by the U.S. Supreme Court ... a court with a decidedly Conservative slant but GOP Republicans already realized that their "unconstitutional" argument wouldn't hold up:
[snip]
"They say their opposition has nothing to do with depriving a majority-black city of a voice that would most likely be Democratic. No doubt there are strong arguments on both sides of the constitutional question; scholars of renown are divided. But the way to resolve the question is in court. That's why the bill included a provision for expedited review to the Supreme Court. The opponents' unwillingness to go to the court suggests they weren't all that confident in their constitutional argument." --WaPo Editorial Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091801745.html
[snip]
Smith, Wyden, split on D.C. voting rights
Posted by The Oregonian September 18, 2007 13:29PM
WASHINGTON -- Sen Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted to end the filibuster on a bill that would create a voting seat in the U.S. House for the District of Columbia, while Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., voted against it. [SOURCE]
The short answer is that Washington, D.C. has a large African American population and Blacks tend to vote for Democrats in greater number than those who vote for Republicans. And God knows Republicans are gonna need any vote that they can muster soon. When GOP Republicans are fearful of losing their own core supporters, their strategy becomes one of denying the Democrats their core supporters' ability to vote. Sorta like saying: "If I can't have her, no one can". So if no one wants to vote for Republicans anymore [because folks have discovered that the GOP has been hijacked by whack-jobs], then Republicans are going to do everything in their power to prevent folks from voting at all; another form of voter suppression ... not totally unlike Tom DeLay's unusual, if not illegal redistricting in Texas. So there ya have it, when it comes to voting rights Gordon Smith = Tom DeLay. Kindda ugly group of haters those GOP Republicans. Sore losers at the very least.
GOP Republicans would rather oppress an entire American city, our nation's capitol in this case, as if this were the day and age when only white male land owners were permitted to vote, than to do the right thing. The GOP refuses to move themselves and their warped thought processes into the 21st century. Hehe, and they wonder why they are losing their core supporters in droves. Sheez.
And how about this whole matter of the Republicans FILIBUSTERING!? I recall when DEMS even threatened to filibuster ... the Republicans practically popped a vein and threatened to legislate the filibuster out of existence in favor of a simple majority vote. Gee, maybe we should have challenged them to do exactly that! I recall GOP types whining their cry-baby asses off in the media about those evil DEMS threatening to use the filibuster. You don't see DEMS trying to deny the Republican minority their right to filibuster. Remember that too when it's time to vote again.
The most sensible thing for sane folks to do is to vote to replace GOP Republican haters like Gordon Smith, who continue to place their politics ahead of "We The People", with a human life form ... like Democratic candidate: John Merkley:
I don't even need to call Merkley's campaign offices to verify his stance on whether or not the residents of our nation's capitol should be permitted to vote like the rest of us; whether Merkley thinks that the residents of Washington, D.C. should be allowed equal representation to match their equal taxation ... Merkley is a Democrat, his position on human rights can safely be assumed to be similar to Oregon's existing Democratic Senator Wyden who voted in favor of our fellow U.S. citizens in D.C.. It is only GOP Republicans who STILL seek voter suppression as their last thread of hope to hang-on to power and influence over the vast majority of Americans lives. That GOP platform plank of voter suppression is one shared by unsavory groups like KKK. If you're voting for Smith, you may as well be wearing the white sheet when you do, and lighting up a cross now and again. Factor in that Smith almost always votes in support of Bush and then tries to claim that he doesn't means Smith needs to go.
Call Gordon Smith's offices and ask him what he's got against Blacks, and why he favors voter suppression. Here is his contact info:
Washington Office:
404 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3704
Phone: (202) 224-3753
Fax: (202) 228-3997--- OR:
Main District Office:
121 SW Salmon St., #1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: (503) 326-3386
Fax: (503) 326-2900
If Gordo isn't your Republican Senator, you can find yours in the roll-call voting record for this issue from here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/18/vote-to-give-dc-voting-rights-fails/
SOURCES:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/09/smith_wyden_split_on_dc_voting.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091801745.html
Well, it happened. Sure, it happened a week or more ago now, but I wanted to wait a bit and see how well main stream media might connect the dots. Not very well, it turns out. I like to re-raise these issues after the initial fire fades because there is so much bad-shit occurring under the Bush watch that it serves us well to re-raise and remind as many folks as possible about all the unresolved manure occurring as a direct result of allowing this GOP President into office in the first place. Sorta like water over a rock ... and over those with rocks in their heads, like Bush and the GOP. We need these unresolved clusters to be kept fresh in the minds of voters so that they MIGHT get it right the next time around.
Ok, THIS incident didn't happen on U.S. Highways (YET) but, it was just south of the border. And now that BushCo has given permission it just as easily could have happened here!
Mexico truck blast 'kills dozens'
A truck carrying mining explosives in northern Mexico has blown up after being in a collision with another vehicle, killing more than 30 people.The explosion, which happened overnight in Coahuila state, also injured more than 100 others, officials said.
Many of the dead are believed to be bystanders who rushed to the scene of the crash and were caught up in the blast, Mexican media reported.
The explosion left a 15m-wide (40ft) crater in the road, police said.
Emergency services, police and residents were at the scene of the crash near the town of Sacramento, about 600km (375 miles) north of Mexico City, when the lorry exploded, state officials said.
Read the whole thing at the original source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6987399.stm
It was only recently that U.S. House of Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon is quoted in the Oregonian newspaper as having warned Congress and America about this invasive threat:
DeFazio warns against Mexico truck plan
Posted by The Oregonian September 06, 2007 13:48PM
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., flanked by a pit crew of House Democrats, labor leaders and safety advocates offered some advice Thursday to motorists - stay home.
And if you must venture out, buckle in tight and watch your back.
The source of DeFazio's concern is a new test program pushed by the Bush Administration that would give permission to 100 trucking companies from Mexico to operate in the United States. The program could go into effect as soon as Friday and by DeFazio's estimate allow upwards of 500 Mexican trucks access to America's interstate system.
The White House says allowing Mexican-owned trucks to roam across America is required under the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 treaty liberalizing trade across the continent. Administration officials insist that Mexican trucks are safe.
DeFazio vehemently disagreed on both counts.
``In Mexico there is very little rule of law as it relates to this industry or these drivers,'' he said during a Capitol Hill news conference.
Drivers, he said, could work 10 hours in Mexico, cross the border and drive another 10 hours. Mexico's drug testing of drivers is suspect and its inspection program for trucks is leaking oil, he said.
All of that adds up to serious danger.
"We have not found that the Mexican system is equivalent to the United State's system on anything but paper. And we have the right in the United States of America to demand that people come up to our standards if they want access to our markets. In this case they have failed to do that, plain and simple."[snip]
Read the whole thing at the original source: http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/09/defazio_warns_against_mexico_t.html
BloggerRadio posted about this twice previously and promised [threatened] to post an "I told You So" when an event should occur, and now it has, and in just a few days of these posts:
Here is the link to my initial post(s) on this topic:
http://www.bloggerradio.com/2007/09/bush-administra.html
http://www.bloggerradio.com/2007/08/mexican-trucks-.html
Only days after BloggerRadio and Peter DeFazio warn of this eventuality, an ugly example occurs: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Mexico_Truck_Explodes.html
Commander disciplined for nuclear mistake
By Michael Hoffman, Military Times
The Air Force continued handing out disciplinary actions in response to the six nuclear warheads mistakenly flown on a B-52 bomber from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30. The squadron commander in charge of Minot's munitions crews was relieved of all duties pending the investigation.
It was originally reported that five nuclear warheads were transported, but officers who tipped Military Times to the incident who have asked to remain anonymous since they are not authorized to discuss the incident, have since updated that number to six.
Air Force and defense officials would not confirm the missiles were armed with nuclear warheads Wednesday, citing longstanding policy, but they did confirm the Air Force was "investigating an error made last Thursday during the transfer of munitions" from Minot to Barksdale.
The original plan was to transport non-nuclear Advanced Cruise Missiles, mounted on the wings of a B-52, to Barksdale as part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. It was not discovered that the six missiles had nuclear warheads until the plane landed at Barksdale, leaving the warheads unaccounted for during the approximately 3 and one-half hour flight between the two bases, the officers said.
President Bush was immediately alerted to the mistake and the Air Force launched a service-wide investigation headed by Maj. Gen. Douglas Raaberg, director of Air and Space Operations at Air Combat Command Headquarters, said Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Ed Thomas.
[snip] read the rest here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-09-05-b-52_N.htm
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/09/5380_us_nukes_accide.html
Now tell me that our so-called "Commander in Chief" isn't a complete screw-up!
Bush seeks to shield telecoms that helped with wiretaps
By KATHERINE SHRADER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants the power to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that are slapped with privacy suits for cooperating with the White House's controversial warrantless eavesdropping program.
The authority would effectively shut down dozens of lawsuits filed against telecommunications companies accused of helping set up the program.
The vaguely worded proposal would shield any person who allegedly provided information, infrastructure or "any other form of assistance" to the intelligence agencies after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. It covers any classified communications activity intended to protect the country from terrorism.
Republicans say immunity is necessary to protect the companies that responded to legal presidential orders to thwart terrorists in the years after 9/11. Yet some Democrats fear the administration's proposal would do much more than advertised, potentially protecting anyone who gave broad categories of aid to the government as part of a spy program that monitors communications.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003862415_webspying31.html
How's that for a few acronyms? Reminds me of: "ABC, MFP, STP ... LSD gotta hold a me". I can't recall where I first heard that line though.
The nasty consumer threats we have been reading about lately can be tied to Bush, the GOP, and the Republican platform in general. Because BushCo and the GOP continue to place Corporate GREED and financial-footsie-with-China ahead of protecting the American Public by impeding the government agencies and the budgets they need to do the work they were established to do. My point is this: every time you vote for a Republican, you are voting AGAINST YOUR OWN BEST INTERESTS, and in favor of these dangerous threats to consumer health and safety.
"The Pump Handle" is a reference to a Blog I just discovered. Even Main Stream Media has begun to reference and quote "The Pump Handle". It is a Blog authored by Scientists and others, some of whom have ties (past/present) to some or all of these agencies:
FDA = Food & Drug Administration
EPA = Environmental Protection Agency
OSHA = Occupational Safety and Health Administration
With all the recent reports of ...
Toothpaste laced with industrial toxins, from China.
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical from China.
Frozen catfish laden with carcinogenic antibiotics from China.
Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria from China.
Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides from China.
Tainted Chinese dietary supplements.
Toxic Chinese cosmetics.
Counterfeit Chinese medicines.
Melamine-tainted poison pet food from China.
Lead in kids' toys manufactured in China.
Counterfeit medical supplies from China, like Diabetes, Pregnancy, and HIV test kits.
Chicken, pork and fish with tainted Chinese pet food ingredients.
Mining disasters.
Popcorn lung disease.
Etc, etc, etc.
I thought it might be handy to link to some fresh sources for insight into what is going on in this area (a few links below this next WaPo report have also been linked to along the left sidebar on BloggerRadio).
This revealing and informative WaPo report from May '07 provides a good back-grounder on how Bush, the GOP, and the Republican platform in general, continue to place Corporate GREED and financial-footsie-with-China ahead of protecting the American Public by impeding the government agencies and the budgets they need to do the work they were established to do. My point is this: every time you vote for a Republican, you are voting AGAINST YOUR OWN BEST INTERESTS:
Tainted Chinese Imports Common
In Four Months, FDA Refused 298 Shipments
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 20, 2007; Page A01[snip]
"Under the Bush administration in particular, DeWaal said, if a proposed regulation does get past agency or department heads, it hits the wall at the White House Office of Management and Budget."
[snip]
Read the whole story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/19/AR2007051901273.html
Here is the link to "The Pump Handle" ... "a water cooler for the public health crowd" and my own "Blog of the day" choice: http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/
Here is another potentially good resource: "Center for Science in the Public Interest": http://www.cspinet.org/
Here is a link to "The Daily Green" ... "the consumers' guide to the green revolution": http://www.thedailygreen.com/ and their "Eye on China" segment: "Chinese Import Survival Guide"
MADE IN CHINA = SHIT.
THIS time the information about this occurrence was WITHHELD from the public for MONTHS! Johnson & Johnson had to do their own investigation after CONSUMERS first turned them onto the problem, but again, this all took place MONTHS ago and the public is only just now hearing about it through main stream media ... who paid who to stay quite for so long, and why, hmmm? You KNOW the Fed knew, so why didn't Americans know about this latest Chinese cluster-fuck before now, hmmm?
Let's re-connect the dots folks: China has like a zillion people. Most of those are in poverty. Those people work CHEAP. Cheap Labor is China's #1 natural resource. China is a COMMUNIST country. We may have won the cold war with the U.S.S.R. but not with China. U.S. manufacturers off-shored all American manufacturing jobs to China ... American workers lost jobs because non-organized labor in China is like slave labor.
The USA remains the #1 CONSUMER marketplace on the planet. But, now instead of LIVING WAGE gigs, we fund our CONSUMERISM by refinancing our #1 asset ... our homes. That's why we WERE able to continue to CONSUME. Using our houses as piggy banks. GOP Republicans like that ... U.S. CONSUMER spending is what funds not only the U.S. economy ... but U.S. Consumer spending is so powerful that it basically funds the entire planet's economies. But these days all our dollars go to China, so BushCo is even dependent upon the Chinese for the MONIES needed to fund his BORROWING to wage wars. The Chinese own BushCo and the American economy is as dependent upon China as theirs is on our Consumer spending. So, stop buying their poisons and shit, and Bush won't be able to fund more WAR. And most importantly, stop voting for candidates from the party of GREED (Republican) so that new legislation and government policies won't be ones that perpetuate this kind of crap!
September 3, 2007, 11:51 am
Steel, Mining Unions Back Edwards
John Edwards addressed supporters at a Labor Day rally in Pittsburgh. (Photo: Jeff Swensen for Thew New York Times)
[SOURCE - NYT]
Additional:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6893637,00.html
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=CC0A242E-99F9-DE59-EC5D8AC5E123B480
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3552895
http://news.aol.com/elections-blog/2007/09/03/edwards-wins-union-backing/
Groups Sue to Block NAFTA Truck Pilot Program [SOURCE]
Bush Administration Ignoring Congress; Mexico-Domiciled Trucks May Have Full Access to the Nation’s Highways as Early as Saturday
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Five groups sued today in federal court to block a Bush administration plan to allow Mexico-domiciled trucks to roam the country’s highways as soon as Saturday.
The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, maintains that the Bush administration’s pilot program, which authorizes up to 100 carriers based in Mexico to perform long-haul operations within the U.S., violates several key congressional requirements. The groups filing suit include Public Citizen; the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Sierra Club; Environmental Law Foundation; and the Brotherhood of Teamsters, Auto and Truck Drivers, Local 70. The groups filed an emergency motion asking the court to delay the pilot program before it goes into effect in a matter of days.
Mexico-domiciled motor carriers currently are permitted to operate in the U.S. only in specified commercial zones along the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The Bush administration has for years been pushing to give Mexico-domiciled carriers access to all U.S. highways despite safety and environmental concerns expressed by public interest groups, unions representing truck drivers and lawmakers.
In the suit, the groups contend that the pilot program violates a law Congress passed in May requiring, among other things, that the administration publish information about the inspections of Mexico-domiciled carriers that will operate beyond the narrow border zone and provide for public comment, that simultaneous and comparable authority be granted to U.S. carriers to operate in Mexico, and that the pilot program involve a sufficient number of participants to yield statistically valid findings so that an informed judgment may be made regarding whether to allow Mexican trucks to operate freely within U.S. borders. None of these conditions has been met.
“The administration has thumbed its nose at Congress by its clear failure to comply with lawmakers’ requirements,” said Public Citizen attorney Bonnie Robin-Vergeer. “There is no harm in delaying the program for a short time to make sure it is done right.”
The program is the administration’s latest attempt to comply with a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provision, included in the trade agreement after being sought by the trucking industry, to open the U.S. border fully to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers by 1995.
In 2001, a NAFTA tribunal ordered the U.S. to fully open its border to Mexico-domiciled trucking companies. In response, the Bush administration said it would implement a pilot program to allow up to 100 motor carriers from Mexico full access to U.S. highways. However, the project violated U.S. laws governing the conduct of pilot programs, in addition to a 2001 congressional mandate that Mexico-domiciled trucking companies meet U.S. safety standards regarding hours of service, driver training and licensing, and vehicle safety before being allowed access to the nation’s roadways.
Congress this year held hearings examining the plan to allow trucks from Mexico to travel beyond the border zones. Lawmakers uncovered serious safety deficiencies and deemed the pilot program a sham and in violation of existing law. In response, Congress passed a measure designed to ensure that any pilot program does not circumvent safety standards or congressional oversight and that such a program is conducted within strict parameters designed to facilitate informed decision making.
On Aug. 6, the Department of Transportation Inspector General released a report finding that the system used to monitor Mexico-domiciled carrier drivers with license convictions is not yet adequate. Officials still don’t have the data necessary to identify drivers not permitted to operate on U.S. highways. Further, the system designed to ensure that Mexico-domiciled carriers comply with U.S. motor vehicle manufacturing safety standards is incomplete, and it is not clear whether the drug and alcohol testing program is functional, the inspector general found.
VIEW the petitioners’ emergency motion for stay.
VIEW the petition for review.
Mexico trucks to roll on U.S. highways [SOURCE]
By John Crawley Sat Sep 1, 11:44 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration can proceed with a plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks as early as next week after an appeals court rejected a bid by labor, consumer and environmental interests to block the initiative.
Question: It looks like this is gonna happen. So, how tough would it be to identify which U.S. Corporations will be using Mexican Trucking and take a new tact which might include strikes, consumer boycotts, U.S. Carrier refusals to haul their freight, truck stops refusing to refuel / serve 'em in support of U.S. Truckers, etc?
Here is my original post on this topic: http://www.bloggerradio.com/2007/08/mexican-trucks-.html
If you don't care for illegal immigration, you are gonna REALLY HATE this next play by BushCo!
Giant Corporations and the Bush administration to defy the United States Congress on LABOR DAY by allowing UNREGULATED, JUNKER, non-CDL, non-Inspected, non-Unionized, crap trucks to endanger American drivers, and homeland security starting on Labor Day, while Congress is in recess. BushCo gives new meaning to "FREEWAY". GOOGLE IT!
The average American citizen, and our nation's security is being sacrificed for the PROFIT motives of GOP REPUBLICANS and their executive cronies of major corporations ... this is SO-CALLED "FREE-TRADE". Definitely not "FAIR-TRADE"!
Now all you have to do is sit back, on your giant, lily-white asses and wait to read the fucking NEWS headlines of fiery freeway crashes, more smuggled illegal immigrants, more Hispanic gang activity, increased drug trafficking, and perhaps even terrorist attacks. Not to mention that these slave-labor-Mexican truck drivers will drive American Trucking Companies out of business, and the American truck driver will go-the-way of the American MANUFACTRUING worker and the goddamn BUFFALO! We are our own worst fucking enemy when we don't pay attention to who we are allowing to run our country. I'll be here to Blog an "I TOLD YOU SO" for every damn instance of the above predictions.
And here is a question for you ... is this deal a two-way street??? Are American truckers going to have the same access to all of Mexico? Wanna bet what the answer to that one is gonna be?
This move is being done for one reason, and one reason only. CORPORATE GREED SUPPORTED AND PROMOTED BY GOP REPUBLICANS OVER COMMON SENSE. By allowing Mexican truckers full access to American highways companies like Wal-Mart can shave a few pennies off their prices while they kill us on the highway!
Call your STATE'S GOVENORS and ask them to ban Mexican trucks in your state, TODAY.
CONSUMER AMERICANS: YOU have the power ... FLEX YOUR MUSCULES NOW. STOP BUYING. CUT WAY BACK TO ESSENTIAL BUYING ONLY. SURVIVAL BUYING ONLY. MAKE 'EM PAY IN THE ONLY WAY THEY UNDERSTAND. THE ALMIGHTY BUCK. HOARD THOSE GREENBACKS INSTEAD OF SPENDING THEM. URGE AMERICAN TRUCKERS TO STRIKE. AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, IMPEACH THIS MANIC CRIMINAL NAMED BUSH! Get mad as hell folks ... it's time to stop putting up with the bullshit!
Union Chief: Highway Opening on Labor Day 'Slap in the Face to American Workers'
WASHINGTON - The Teamsters Union said Wednesday it will ask a federal appeals courts to block the Bush administration's plan to begin allowing Mexican trucks to carry cargo anywhere in the United States.
The union said it has been told by officials in the Transportation Department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the first Mexican trucks will be coming across the border on Saturday.
Teamsters leaders said they planned to seek an emergency injunction Wednesday from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
``What a slap in the face to American workers, opening the highways to dangerous trucks on Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year,'' said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa.
A call to a spokeswoman at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was not immediately returned.
The Bush administration said last week it would start the cross-border program once the Transportation Department's inspector general certifies safety and inspection plans. [SOURCE]
Check that last quoted line: "... once the Transportation Department's inspector general certifies safety and inspection plans." you just KNOW that will be some incompetent political appointee of Bush who is little more than Bush's bum-licker!
Are YOU ready to drive alongside of some Mexican who is hopped up on speed in order to stay awake for the 2 or 3 days straight that some non-Union Mexican trucking company has demanded him to drive ... in some rolling trash-can of a rig undoubtedly??? Are you gonna trust your safety to the same Bush administration who cluster-fucked KATRINA and STILL hasn't made good on helping it recover two years later???? Have the American PEOPLE lost their freakin' minds altogether, or what???
I GUARANTEE YOU that this will turn out badly for America, Americans, and that I will be here to rub their friggin' noses in it with an "I TOLD YOU SO". Hey, you may not care for Unions ... but in THIS case, Unions are trying to cover every American's butt. If you have a brain, you'll fully support them on this one. The United States House of Representatives once voted 411-3 to say NO to this shit, and Congress as a whole has said "NO" 3 times ... but HEY, Congress in the U.S. is on vacation, just like Congress in Iraq! And as we know about Bush, he'll screw the American people when our attention is elsewhere; in this case LABOR DAY. This will be like everything else that Bush touches ... it'll turn to shit. It's a sure bet. Call your bookie ... this was is a done deal.
http://www.teamster.org/07news/nr_070829_1.asp
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/29/mexico.trucks.ap/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_go_ot/mexican_trucks
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=116&sid=1224098
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/06/27/politics/main298632.shtml
The Oregonian newspaper is reporting that GOP Republican State Senator Jeff Kruse of Roseburg, Oregon is pulling out all the stops to defend his allegiance to the big money of corporate tobacco giant Altria Corporate Services, part of the parent company that owns tobacco maker Philip Morris USA, in a legal battle designed to stop Oregon from advancing the cause of CHILD HEALTHCARE.
Which side are YOU on Oregonians? Cigarette money, or kids' healthcare?
Seems like a pretty clear cut issue for any HUMAN being ... but, what we're really talking about here are money-grubbing Republicans, and God knows THAT is a lower life form altogether. Google up Jeff Kruse's record and you'll immediately see that Kruse is a typical, predictable, right-wing-nut. This guy never saw a major corporation or business that he doesn't like better than an average Oregonian citizen. I guess because he's been a rancher and he's NOT from Portland, voters in southern Oregon support him, while voting against their own best interests; seemingly just to spite city-slickers in the Portland area, I guess. So, they vote to screw themselves in order to be "rural" and "special", it would seem. Sheez.
Man, how low can some GOP Republicans go? Perhaps all the way underneath an airport toilet stall? Choosing cigarette money over the health of children seems about as low as one could go.
Wowsers. Well, big corporate tobacco crony Kruse is not alone in his quest to screw Oregon's kids.
According to the Oregonian report, joining Kruse are these members of the wall-of-shame:
James Dumas, a Portland attorney; "tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds this week dumped $1.7 million" into a campaign to oppose raising the tax on tobacco products to help fund healthcare for kids. The campaign has spent about $365,000, with most of the money going to Salem lobbyist Mark Nelson's company.
This is some really unsavory business. Look at this gang of slimy pukes:
1) An OUT-OF-STATE Mega-Tobacco Corporation trying to BUY Oregonian votes.
2) A schiester lawyer specializing in representing corporations against ordinary citizens.
3) A Corporate LOBBYIST for the dark-side who is well known for opposing things like renewable energy sources, healthcare for kids, and other positive causes that he hates.
I urge voting Oregonians to consider who these folks really are and what they really represent. Then help rid Oregon of the plague that these dark-siders represent, once and for all. Tobacco companies suck ... that's a given. ALL logical, clear thinking individuals KNOW that to be true by now. Oppose any political action committee and especially out-of-state corporate money, to prevent them from denying the children of Oregon healthcare.
Google up your own research and see for yourselves the types of crap causes that corporate-LOBBYIST like Mark Nelson regularly support. Look at the types of cases and who James Dumbass typically represents and why, and for $-how much-$. Do a little research. R-E-A-D a little, and then decide who YOU are more like in your day-to-day lives. Then do the right thing. If Mark Nelson wasn't sucking from the corporate tit of the tobacco industry, he'd probably starve for the lack of skills needed to get a real job!
SURE, let 'em keep pumping their MONIES into Oregon, just make sure they don't get any of what they are trying to buy ... our votes.
Original sources:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/08/tobacco_sues_to_stop_measure_5.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1187403914158890.xml&coll=7
http://www.loadedorygun.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=183
http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/06/house_republica.html
http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/06/test.html
http://www.tobacco.org/news/88656.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/22/national/main504446.shtml
http://www.lindsayhart.com/attorney_profiles/james_dumas.html
http://www.law.uoregon.edu/alumni/ol/OLspring2005.pdf
http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3324/8886/
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/06/lobbyists_run_the_show.html
http://www.lindsayhart.com/attorney_profiles/james_dumas.html
A whack-job commenter to a post I put up today is a prime example of why the GOP is doomed in the upcoming election cycle. The GOP has spent the last several years cultivating their core support based upon fear, hate and lies. They celebrated the political genius of their little fat-boy Rove. But, as the saying goes, live by the sword, die by the sword. Now that GOP leaders are abandoning Bush's sinking, stinking ship all that is left is the lunatic-fringe that the GOP themselves cultivated.
Reasonable thinking and caring individuals are abandoning the GOP in droves; joining and strengthening the nation's Democratic majority. I am convinced that REAL Republicans don't want the kind of help that they are getting from these Rove-cultivated core-idiots. But, Rove has left the GOP holding the bag, and the damage from such a strategy can only just begin to be tallied. For the GOP, the worst lies just ahead. Good DOES, and WILL triumph over Rove-style GOP evil. And this Blog will be here to say: "I told you so". ;-)
On my recent post about the unfortunate deaths of two separate states' motorcycle police officers (here: http://www.bloggerradio.com/2007/08/bush-fund-raisi.html) a right wing-nut-job submitted this weak-minded comment (click on the image):
I decided to check and see if this clown "Justadog" has anymore comments on my Blog. Sure enough, I had permitted one of his comments way back in 2005. I discovered that these comments originate from some lame-ass, fundamentalist, ultra-conservative, right-wing-nut-KKK-style, FREEBIE Hater-Blog. On his own Blog he also expresses his racism, his hatred for law enforcement, his homophobia, and other indicators that identify this apparent Eugene, Oregon area loser as a Klansman wanna-be.
The ignorance and insensitivity of his latest comment was over the top in my humble opinion and I decided to exercise the prerogative I've laid claim to since this Blog's inception in August of 2003. The details of which have been clearly displayed since day #1. They are one click off the main page (right wing nuts are typically too damn lazy or too damn stupid to find their way to that page though). ANYONE who would be so ignorant and cowardly as to suggest that these two police officers are somehow to blame for their own deaths, while just doing their jobs, like this wuss Justadog did in his comment ... they and their comments get banned from this Blog permanently.
Of course, in totally predictable cry-baby, wing-nut style, he sent me this next message (click the image below) to cry about being banned from my Blog. He hates me, Liberals, Progressives, Democrats, and any non-white race, or just about everyone but himself, BUT at the same time he's upset that he can't comment on my Blog. Genius, that one. Justadog is a laughable puke, but a very typical example of the right-wing-nut core support that the GOP has left; the same geniuses that take their cues from the likes of losers Lush Bimbaugh, Sean Insanity, and Bill O'Lie-Lee, and who brought you the Bush! Amusing Morons. I am entertained when one of these mouth-breathers takes the time to visit here and read and then pops-a-vein over something I have written. I count that as a direct-hit-score. There are limits to their shit I will include here though.
The bottom line is this: I Blog for myself. I pay TypePad for the space to do it. I couldn't care less who reads it, or doesn't read it. I don't give a rip what anybody but me thinks of this Blog or the opinions expressed on it. There is not so much as a "tip jar" on THIS Blog. There is ZERO paid advertising on THIS Blog. No Google Ads, no revenue generating nuttin', and it's gonna stay that way. There aren't even any "paid affiliations" to Amazon or any other damn revenue generating crap on THIS Blog. That's because I Blog to say what I want to say, and when I want to say it; with no regard to any paid sponsor's rules, regulations or influence. THIS Blog is that of a PURIST. And if ANYONE who feels so strongly as to wanna TRY to stop me, lemme quote the Shrub for ya: "BRING IT ON". If I don't like a comment or commenter, I ban 'em. Pure and simple. This Blog will be here for just as long as I feel like posting to it ... and the right-wing-nut bumlicker hasn't been born that can or will EVER shout it down. This Blog thrives on your objections. But, it's simple for the simpletons: Don't like it? Don't visit, and don't read it.
Two motorcycle police officers have given their lives in two separate motorcade incidents so that Bush can fly around trying to help GOP candidates raise campaign funding.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A police officer accompanying President Bush's motorcade was involved in a fatal motorcycle crash less than a year after an accident in Hawaii killed another officer accompanying the president.
Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead later Monday at an Albuquerque hospital.
Bush had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
[snip]
"A Honolulu police officer, Steve Favela, died in November when he and two other motorcycle officers crashed while part of a presidential motorcade traveling across Hickam Air Force Base." [Original]
May those officers rest in peace and their families find comfort going forward.
These accidents highlight a couple of important issues.
1) People are literally dying to have our political system changed to publicly financed elections. C'mon folks, and Congress, let's get our heads out of our collective asses, and make this change, NOW! Doesn't anyone else think that it's time to give someone besides major Corporate donors and Billionaires and Millionaires a crack at this gig and the access to it?
2) These current fund raising trips are just plain stupid and useless. Who the hell wants their campaign associated with a President who is in a race to the lowest poll ratings in history? Not to mention that ALL taxpayers are impacted by the time and expense of these friggin' trips and their associated road blocks and traffic interruptions ... put those wasted funds towards fixing the infrastructure they are currently helping to screw-up, instead.
3) Is it just me, or has the entire planet been tilted off its axis ever since Bush was appointed President. I don't think it's global warming, I think it's Bush. I used to say that Bush could screw-up a train wreck, or that he's an accident waiting to happen but, now I think he IS a train wreck. EVERYTHING that this guy touches or even gets near turns to shit. Bush is like a plague and he could do us all a favor if he'd take early retirement and limit his activities to brush cutting down on the ranch. Sheez. The guy is a jinx. Stay as far away and clear of this Bozo as possible!
Yeah see, this is the kind of crap that gubbermint employment statistics don't tell ya. So, when you hear some talking head or BushCo crony quoting stats that say unemployment is down, ask/question how many of those employed folks are now under employed as Wal-Mart greeters that must supplement their income through some form or another of taxpayer supported public assistance. If you think this is the way the world should turn, keep voting for GOP candidates, coz this is what ya get when ya do ...
Some of those fired workers probably once had REAL, LIVING WAGE gigs at past MANUFACTURING jobs that have since been off-shored and Cayman Islands PO Box-tax-dodged by some big-ass corporation. They likely had to take these low paying retail gigs just to have a job at all. Now scum-bag companies like Circuit City can't compete with Slave-Labor-Force companies like Wal-Mart [Reads: Communist Chinese Whores] if they pay even a lowly $12 an hour! Factor in that these useless CEO types have to have the greedy arrogance to buy their $6,000 shower curtains, and their gold plated toilets, and you have a company who deserves to go T.U..
Based upon the following tidbit, it would seem that we have a case of promoting the incompetent [CEO - Schoonover] or, at least not firing the right person:
"... after reporting a net loss for December. Its stock has fallen 21 percent over the past 12 months as profit from selling flat-panel televisions plummeted."
Gee, the EXECUTIVES of Circuit City make a bad decision to put too many of their eggs in one basket (flat-panel tv) and so the fix is to keep the dumb-ass, over-paid, expensive executives responsible, and just fire a bunch of workers to make up for the exec's dumb-ass mistakes?
A report in a Colorado newspaper includes a quote by Circuit City executives which is simply a LIE by those execs:
The company said it cut jobs that paid "well above" market rates.
What friggin' "market" did he mean? I know of COSTCO employees being paid $17/hour and COSTCO isn't even a Unionized work force. Top that off with the fact that COSTCO is doing much better as corporations go, than what Circuit City has been doing, according to all the reports associated with this story. These Circuit City clowns make such misleading statements [reads: bullshit lies] because they honestly believe that the great unwashed masses [their consumer customers] all drive turnip trucks and will take their bullshit lies at face value. Not me. I know bullshit when I smell it, and I suspect most folks do.
The mass firing took place way back in March [SOURCE]. I read today that Oregon's AFL-CIO executive board has just added Circuit City to their "Do Not Patronize List" [a little faster next time, would be good]. But, before they decided to do so, the Oregon AFL-CIO folks wrote to Circuit City CEO Philip Schoonover in an attempt to open a dialog. Apparently Schoonover thumbed his nose at a Labor Organization [no surprise] or simply is too self-important to answer his own mail. A response was received from one of Schoonover's vice presidential minions saying: "It does not warrant any further discussion or meeting."
I live in Portland, Oregon. The nearest Circuit City to my house is in Tigard, Oregon. There used to be another electronics/appliance retailer called "Good Guys" directly across the street from that Circuit City location. The "Good Guys" stores all closed in 2006. I'm now on death-watch for the Circuit City corporation too. While I have never set foot inside of a Wal-Mart store myself, I have been inside of Circuit City on rare occasion. I won't bother to suggest than anyone else boycott Circuit City because that'd likely be a waste of time and effort. People are gonna shop wherever they want to shop, typically. I can say with confidence that neither myself nor anyone in my immediate family will set foot inside of any Circuit City again though.
Here is my personal message for Shitover, oops, I meant Schoonover: "It's the arrogance stupid." Think about it Phil ... Circuit City sells the same crap that any of us can buy from a zillion other retailers, anywhere else. Circuit City doesn't even offer any particular price or warranty advantage. Consumers don't "need" to tolerate the corporate arrogance expressed by you and your corporate weenies. Hey Phil, your mass firing took place when? Oh yeah, way back in March '07, and LOOK ... here we are nearing September now and the story is STILL making the rounds. Maybe just gaining momentum even. And how smart are you, and the board of directors who appointed you? Hehe, welcome to the 21st century, bonehead! So, chuck you Phil, and the horse you rode in on. "It does not warrant any further discussion or meeting" ... C.C. is simply toast.
If you do any business with VistaPrint, you can count on telemarketing calls from Website Pros, Inc. soon after. Even if the number that you provide to VistaPrint is on the National Do-Not-Call registry, and you've never heard of WebSite Pros, Inc. in your life.
Here's the deal. I bought some personal cards (like business cards, only for non-business) from VistaPrint USA, Inc. It was my first (and now only) business with VistaPrint, EVER. Next thing I know, I'm getting annoying and nuisance calls from 1-888-682-0313 even though my number is on the National Do-Not-Call Registry. Turns out that VistaPrint made my personal info available to some "affiliate" of their's called WebSite Pros, Inc. Thing is, when I answered whoever was on the other end paused for a long time without saying anything and then hung-up. I let the next one roll to the answering machine, but no message was left. I went over to http://whocalled.us/, as I always do when I receive an unrecognized caller id number or any other BS call. When I plugged that number in to report my experience, I was surprised to see nearly 200 other complaints about similar experiences with these two unscrupulous companies. I even read one that said that VistaPrint had made a second, UNAUTHORIZED charge to their credit card after receiving one such call! So, if you're a VistaPrint client already, better check your bank records. Finally, one of their tele-weenies grows the 'nads to actually stay on the line after I answer and I, of course, request my number never be called again. I'm confident they'll ignore my request, so the next step is to *57 each call going forward. (*57 is QWest's annoyance bureau call tracer, on the 3rd call after you have requested to not be called, regardless of whether or not an existing business relationship ever existed or not, you then have all the official evidence (courtesy of QWest) to take rock solid, slam dunk, legal action).
And if you've been thinking about doing business with VistaPrint, and wanna know if my experience and those you can see on http://whocalled.us are isolated, here is another Blog post on this topic for ya:
http://www.thumbtackpress.com/blog/?p=232 And if you think this is much ado about nuttin' read this Blog by a 35 year veteran of the industry: http://thedunningletter.blogspot.com/
Even before I began receiving these moronic phone calls, I was inundated with e-mails from VistaPrint about specials and promotions almost daily. And, even their e-mailed promotions were somewhat disingenuous. For instance, one e-mail would say that the promotion they were e-mailing me about was set to expire on some specified day ... and sometimes, on the very next day I'd receive another e-mail promo message with a different, more distant expiration date for the very same item. I replied to ask them to clarify, but they never responded to MY e-mail. In other words, their crap is perpetually on sale. It is beginning to look as though they'd be almost willing to give their shit away to gain your valuable personal data because they make more profit selling your personal data than they do printing. On the e-mail issue, I first logged into the account I had been forced to create in order to buy from VistaPrint in the first place, and tried to delete the account. I could find a way to totally delete the account. I looked for a convenient way to opt out of their promos, and I followed that process. Nothing worked. So I changed the e-mail address of record to the ever popular example@example.org. STILL, their promo propaganda kept flowing. So, having tried to opt out, I sent the very next one off to the FTC, reporting it as UCE/SPAM. Finally, I set filters to simply delete any and all messages from the two domains they were coming from, at the POP-Server level so I'll never even know they existed moving forward. All of this nonsense has me wishing I had never heard of VistaPrint and that I had simply gone to a local printer in my community and done business there. The time and aggravation wasted in dealing with these clowns makes their printing services more expense.
WebSite Pros, Inc. is an "affiliate" of VistaPrint, not an "affiliate" of mine. THAT is the loop-hole left in place by a Republican majority Congress, which APPARENTLY makes it technically legal for these whores to annoy us all with low quality telemarketing and hang-up calls to our telephone numbers, at will. Apparently, they believe that being technically legal, will make this a harmless venture for them. We'll see how that works out for them long term.
Now ya see, it is this totally predictable corporate behavior that results when John and Jane Doe think that they don't have time to pay attention to politics. Here's a quote to help with that:
"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber."--Plato
Here's another:
"Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote."--William E. Simon
What does this sort of corporate behavior have to do with politics you may ask? Corporate lobbyists were climbing up Congress's butt with golf spikes on when this legislation was being fleshed out. I Blog posted about it as it was happening [SOURCE], and now I'm here to say: "I told you so". Unfortunately, John and Jane Doe were too busy eking out a living, and in full retreat from the Republican Congress, and BushCo's assault(s) on the American middle class. They had no time to focus on seemingly obscure legislation that might have prevented such Corporate abuse of Consumers' personal information. Even if they would have been able to afford the time to do so, it was a Republican majority at that time, and those Robber Barons always support the big guys in fights with the little guys. It's what they do. One Republican platform plank must say it's imperative to exterminate the American middle class. I wanna take this opportunity to also point out to those who are always BLOWING the privatization, and the let market forces control everything horns, that given an inch, corporations have proven that they will ALWAYS take a mile, and screw the consumer every chance they get.
Anyway, back to the specifics at hand. Besides no longer doing business with VistaPrint, and besides going through the usual motions of filing an official complaint with the National Do-Not-Call Registry, calling my Congressperson and Senators, and Blogging the experience here ... moving forward I'm going to leverage some newly available, Internet based services I recently read about.
I'm going to use a freebie, local telephone number, provided by registering with companies such as the ones I'm going to link to below, whenever I do any personal business with ANY/ALL companies. NEVER will I provide ANY company with a phone number which actually rings in the physical realm, so I'll never have to deal with these low-life type companies again. Save your real phone number to give to folks you actually wanna talk to!
Click on this web address to read about 6 alternatives that provide you with a FREE, VIRTUAL, local number that you can FULLY control and screen; then give it to EVERY company/business you do business with, print it on any checks, personal/business cards, resumes, use it exclusively when shopping online or anywhere else. Here's the article reviewing all 6: http://www.networkcomputing.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201001320
If ya wanna skip the article, here are each of the 6 links it reviews, as an aside some of these services beat International long distance surcharges, allow anonymous calling, handy for social networks, etc:
1) http://www.grandcentral.com/
5) http://www.jangl.com/JanglWeb/Default.aspx
6) http://www.jaxtr.com/user/index.jsp
*If you don't care if the freebie virtual number is local to you or not, you can register for a freebie phone and fax number with these outfits, and use 'em the same way: http://www.evoice.com/, http://www.efax.com/ (both of those are part of this one: http://www.j2.com/). If you're a business and want to pay for a few added, professional features like music on hold, call announcement, etc ya might wanna take a peek at this outfit's offerings (not free, but affordable and very slick): http://www.gotvmail.com/
In summary, while Consumers await relief under the next, almost surely to be a completely Democratic Congress (filibuster proof next time around), we can leverage a little technology to one-up the corporate MBA morons.
As for printers, there are plenty of alternatives: http://www.printindustry.com/, http://www.overnightprints.com/ and when you factor in VistaPrint's service/processing and shipping fees, along with their time wasted dealing with their low-life "affiliate" telemarketing calls, then their "Free Business" cards are a long ways from being "free".
Wowzers! It is difficult to imagine that whackos like those portrayed in the included video continue to be spawned. The losers in this video definitely make the case for a woman's right to choose!
Generation Chickenhawk: The Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour from huffpost and Vimeo.
You gotta checkout the post and video ... especially the video, here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/generation-chickenhawk-t_b_56676.html
or go here: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/57382/ to meet the next generation of GOP hypocrites.
or here: http://vimeo.com/244640
and some of my favorite bumper stickers can be found here: http://www.cafepress.com/thewhitehouse/52760
Watch Michael Moore hand Wolf Blitzer his ass. Michael had to hand Wolf his own ass coz like so many main stream media hacks of today (Lou "Sucks" Dobbs), Wolf couldn't locate his own ass cheeks using his own two hands! I don't watch much network TV anymore, and I damn sure don't PAY for cable TV. I can't even imagine PAYING to have my intelligence insulted by the collection of wankers and butt-munchers that pass for journalists today! Main stream media types rank just ahead of Bush and Congress on my own personal "pole."
I might just make M.M. my WRITE-IN candidate if I don't soon see some politicos with even half the guts. I'm fed the hell up with the pure CRAP that passes for news reporting in America today. Michael got it right in his first movie, and in his latest movie too. Hell, when you get right down to it, the French got it right about Iraq, meanwhile Bush, McCain, and Lindsey Graham STILL can't get their heads out of their asses.
Hey it's real simple folks, if you can't afford a $6,000 shower curtain, or a $15,000 gold plated toilet, or to throw yourself a $2 Million dollar birthday party, then GOP Republicans are at war against YOU and everyone like you, personally. Anything short of the total annihilation of the American Middle Class, and the American Worker will not satisfy GOP Republicans.
GOP Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky will LIE their asses off to mislead and falsely characterize the intent of the Employee Free Choice Act.
To add insult to injury, Corporate WHORE lobbyist R. Bruce Josten, the top U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, in a letter to Congress, threatened our elected representatives this way:
"The Chamber will include votes on, or in relation to, this issue in our annual 'How They Voted' scorecard,"
Well, they won this latest round ... we gotta redouble our efforts to marginalize those ass-holes for good, now. Let's use the Blogosphere to maintain our own friggin' scorecard. I urge every working class American to call and fax Mitch "The Bitch" McConnell's Senate Office in D.C. and express your dissatisfaction: Phone: (202) 224-2541; Fax: (202) 224-2499 and then support any and all "Ditch Mitch" efforts in 2008, regardless of where you live:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062607T.shtml
http://www.examiner.com/a-800094~Senate_Republicans_Block_Labor_Bill.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070626/ap_on_go_co/senate_unions
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003763982_watch27.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/26/national/w130421D36.DTL&type=politics
Counterfeit Smuggling Ring Busted In N.Y.
Wide-Reaching Plot To Flood Market With Bogus Nikes, Coach Bags And Electronics Made In China
[SOURCE]
Here's the real kicker:
"Authorities say such schemes divert income from legitimate manufacturers while cheating the government out of tax revenue."
Yeah, we sure as hell gotta safe guard the bonuses of the executives of those companies that supply us with Nikes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Coach, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Fendi handbags, North Face jackets, Timberland boots, Motorola and Sony electronics, and Seven Jeans. Coz God knows we wouldn't wanna put a crimp in those execs budgte for $6,000 shower curtains, $15,000 gold plated toilets, or $2 million dollar birthday parties! All that crap, and the gubbermint's tax cut is WAY more critical to life than the threat to the general population represented by the poisons in out pet food, our toothpaste and our kid's toys! Ya know, just like Paris Hilton being released from jail headline out ranks this story in the main stream media:
Senate Republicans block labor bill
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, AP Labor Writer Tue Jun 26, 7:32 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a bill that would have allowed labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. Democrats were unable to get the 60 votes needed to force consideration of the Employee Free Choice Act, ending labor's chance to win its top legislative priority from Congress. [SOURCE]
Well, the GOP wins another skirmish-sized battle in their never ending war on the American middle class and the American worker, but the War ain't over, and I'm more encouraged each day now that crap like this is leading the GOP to their Waterloo, their Little Big Horn, and their last stand in Nov. '08. Just like not forgetting Democratic Presidential wanna-be Joe Biden's misguided vote on the bankruptcy bill, we won't forget this vote, and those who voted this common-sense bill down, and the ones who lied while doing it. For instance, Republican't Mitch McConnell of Kentucky made a statement which is pure bullshit when he said this:
"Republicans will remind our constituents about the fact that Democrats proposed to strip workers of their voting rights,"--Mitch McConnell
Every Blogger on the planet should etch that LIE into the concrete of the Blogosphere and feed it back to that lying butt-munch at the most opportune times of the balance of Mr. McConnell's political career. And we should tie his words to the threatening words of this low-life "LOBBYIST":
"Business associations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also plan to grade lawmakers based on their vote. "The Chamber will include votes on, or in relation to, this issue in our annual 'How They Voted' scorecard," warned R. Bruce Josten, the top U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, in a letter to Congress."
Hey R. Bruce Josten, that ain't a "scorecard", THIS is gonna be a "Scorecard". The Chamber of Commerce has chosen their side in the War on the American worker, and the American middle class.
That GOP assault upon the American worker, and the American middle class has prompted another campaign contribution to John Edwards for me. The GOP war upon the American worker and the American middle class is the real war that takes precedence with this voter, over the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Bush's so-called War on Terror.
I first heard about this on the Thom Hartmann Radio Show yesterday (Tuesday). I looked for more on it on some of the Main Stream Media sources then, and Googled but didn't immediately see anything obvious. Finally, the details begin to emerge. Below came directly from "Think Progress":
Snow Responds To Potentially Illegal Use Of RNC Accounts: Clinton Did It Too
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday released a report documenting how White House officials have regularly used RNC and Bush-Cheney ‘04 e-mail accounts for official government business, in apparent violation of the Hatch Act. The report also found that the RNC has overseen “extensive destruction” of these e-mails, which would likely violate the Presidential Records Act.
During yesterday’s press briefing, White House spokesman Tony Snow brushed aside this direct evidence of potential illegality. His response: Clinton did it too. “Those email accounts were set up on a model based on the prior administration, which had done it the same way, in order to try to avoid Hatch Act violations.” [SOURCE]
When Snow says that crap, it makes him a fucking LIAR, just like the rest of the Bush Administration he whores-out to. Monkey-See-Monkey-Do. Plain and simple. The guy is a lying sack of crap.
Snow’s statement is false. In 1993, President Clinton’s then-Assistant to the President John Podesta issued a staff memo clearly stating that all administration e-mails dealing with official business had to be “incorporated into an official recordkeeping system,” stressing that no “e-mail document that is a Presidential record should be deleted.”
The Clinton administration’s policy also made clear that personal and political e-mail accounts — which are generally exempt from the Presidential Records Act — could not be used for official business. Indeed, the Bush administration has seemingly implemented a policy opposite of the Clinton administration’s.
Read the full memo HERE.
Transcript:
Q Waxman’s committee has put out an interim report on the issue of the RNC emails showing, they say, that there was more use of those emails than the White House suggested, indicating possibly widespread violation of the Presidential Records Act. It’s, like, 140,000 emails of Rove’s, so the White House Counsel’s Office is aware that official business was being conducted through this party (inaudible) system? Can you respond to all that and what –
MR. SNOW: Look, I can’t respond specifically to things that the committee may have put out. But those email accounts were set up, A, on a model based on the prior administration, which had done it the same way, in order to try to avoid Hatch Act violations. And we’ll just — we’ll leave it at that. I mean, these were designed precisely to avoid Hatch Act violations that prohibit the use of government assets for certain political activities.
Tony Snow-Job was regurgitating stand GOP mantra ... whenever they haven't got a clue what they are talking about ... when them is struggling to locate his or her own butt cheeks, using their own two hands, their Mantra is to simply respond with "Clinton Did It". Throw these bums out! Impeach the bastards! The whole fucking lot of 'em.
... and why I won't do business with AT&T/Cingular moving forward. UPDATED 6-10-07:
No matter what you buy, whether it's a whole new cell/mobile account, or just a spare battery, or even if you don't buy anything but simply use one of their STORES to just stop in to pay your bill ... ANY in-store-transaction at an AT&T/Cingular STORE will prompt AT&T/Cingular to ROBOCALL / ROBODIAL its ass off. AT&T/Cingular will incessantly dial whatever number you have provided to AT&T/Cingular as the contact number for whatever account you have with them ... and I believe, that even if you don't have an account with them but simply provide a contact phone number when asked during the in-store-transaction ... they will ROBOCALL / ROBODIAL that number. The robot even announces what event triggered it to call and annoy you, so don't let any sales-jerk at the store tell you that only certain types of transactions trigger it ... most of those sales-jerks are not aware of the survey calls to begin with ... I know, I visited the local sales-jerk to pass along my message when I started receiving these nuisance calls and he was clueless.
This ROBOCALLER / ROBODIALER they use will dial your number incessantly and seemingly forever, until you relent to answering the ROBOT's survey questions. It is annoying unless you just happen to enjoy talking to robots on the phone. I can see where Republicans might get-off talking to ROBO-DIALERS coz the GOP is infamous for using ROBO-DIALERS to spread lies about their political opponents prior to election day. The majority of folks are likely to find ROBOCALLERS / ROBODIALERS a bloody nuisance.
If you haven't already, check this out: http://whocalled.us/lookup/5103733800
Now, you would expect that you should be able to call and request to be taken off their Robo-call dialing list, but who-ya-gonna-call? Both the numbers 510-373-3800 and the toll-free number 1-800-882-9484 are Robots, with no way to opt-out and speak with a human. Kindda frustrating. Oh sure, you can use some of your precious time to look-up the "customer care" (there is an oxymoron) number for whatever service you have with them ... see my item #8 below.
So here are a few ideas for dealing with it.
1) FIRST AND FOREMOST, visit: http://whocalled.us and enter the number that called you and enter your comments.
2) One COULD opt to answer the survey questions. But, if that feels like caving in to the technology of things ... to their robot ... just adopt a standard/default practice of always answering every question in the most negative option it presents you with, in order to skew the results and negate the value they get from the survey results. If ENOUGH folks apply such a tactic all the survey calculus in the world won't be able to scrub the data for error factors well enough to salvage its value to AT&T Cingular, who undoubtedly pays some 3rd party whores for those survey results.
In this particular case, the survey is about your experience with the individual sales clerk at the store you visited. So, go back to the store, find your salesperson, and let them know that because you object to being Robo-Called you have adopted your own standard practice of forever answering the survey questions in the most negative way [then buy something, on-the-spot, so the robot will give you another crack at them]. So, if he or she sales clerk or the store manager would like to not have an inordinate amount of negative feedback landing at corporate, they should probably suggest the firing of the MBA moron who thought this stupid plan up because when you annoy the great unwashed masses there tends to be a response which will SKEW the accuracy of the survey results in such a way as to make the results friggin' useless. Ya see these businesses are run my MBA types who skipped the law-of-nature classes in favor of the purely greed curriculum. Otherwise, they would be able to get their heads wrapped around this concept: For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.
3) Another idea would be to Call Forward the number being harassed to somewhere where the phone either doesn't ring and / or doesn't bother anyone. A pay phone maybe? A recorded message line somewhere? Back to the AT&T/Cingular toll-free number 1-800882-9484 maybe? Of course, if this is a home phone this may not be convenient. Sooo, you could sign-up for a FREE [out of area] phone number with a service like: J2 Connect (there are other similar offerings out there in the ether too, I think). Then Call Forward to that number, which will deliver the call as a .wav or .mp3 into e-mail rather than ringing your phone at inconvenient times for nothing. Hey, a Vonage line would even allow you to freely forward to somewhere International ... a pre-recorded line in another language would be an entertaining option! ;-) And, ya have to LOVE the smaller Vonage, being sued by the giant-behemoths like Verizon & AT&T, primarily coz Vonage offers consumers more-for-less! I have multiple phone connections, and one is with Vonage, and despite Verizon trying to sue them into oblivion my Vonage line is working just fine, so far ... and they haven't called to SURVEY me once either! ;-) Oh yeah, they called to try to sell me a second line, I politely declined and Vonage they stopped calling. Are you listening AT&T/Cingular?
4) This maybe the best solution of all: NEVER give ANY business your REAL, home, cell, or work number. Oh, you can give them a REAL number though; if you think you might actually need to ever get a message from them, if not, just use a local pay phone number for these purposes ... if you can still find one. You can get a FREE, separate, number where they can leave you a message if they REALLY need to reach you for legitimate business. But, their RoboCalls will land, harmlessly unheard into E-Mail where you'll be able to identify them without even clicking to listen, and where in the case of my example, the Robot will simply never leave its message at all. Just delete 'em unheard and let them Robo their asses off, coz your phone won't be ringing as a result anymore and REAL messages can still be left and heard, at your convenience. eVoice is the recommended supplier of such a service and here is a link to 'em: http://www.evoice.com/evoice/twa/page/home?location=us
5) Still another option, but a tad more expensive, and really intended for small businesses is: GotVMail.com
6) Another option is to use *57 (works with QWest anyway) to record an actual "trace" of he inbound call 3-times. As soon as the Robo call is received, and before another call comes in, press *57. The phone company then keeps a tally of those call details and after the 3rd one, you call their toll-free number (1-800-582-0655 in QWest's case) and QWest assist with making a formal complaint and advises of any legal action that can be pursued to stop the calls. It doesn't work on EVERY type of call though, but it's yet another step you can apply to taint the rep of those companies who apply these bullshit methods. This method allows you to have one giant-ass-corporation go a few rounds with one of their own. Kind of entertaining in itself.
7) Blog it yourself. You'd be surprised at the impact an individual Blog post can have upon corporate behavior and misdeeds [sometimes, it even stirs someone at the giant-assed corporation to enter an angry comment of their own ... then you can rest assured that you've poked a stick at just the right animals] ;-)
8) Use some combination of all of the above, throw in calling your the "customer care" number for whatever service / product that you have gotten yourself stuck buying from this crap company, and vent your spleen there too [you can try blowing in their ear all nice and such the first 100 times, but if that fails to get results, and it will, try venting, it feels good ... and don't forget to remind them that you are the customer, and the customer is ALWAYS right; they truly hate that one, lol!] . Of course, those folks will be quick to tell you that "But, Sir, that is how we improve our service to our customers, so we're really doing it for them" [translation: some MBA pinhead has been brainwashed to believe that she/he was put on the planet to look out for all of our best interests and that we are incapable of doing that for ourselves (they vote Republican too) when in truth, they know their real motivation is what that textbook that told them; that EVERY customer contact presents yet another opportunity to SELL us something ... it's about the MONEY, it always is; don't be fooled when they tell you otherwise] ... to which you need to just as quickly respond that you're perfectly willing to answer their survey questions for that purpose ... just as long as they have a human being call to ask them! THAT would be the best cure of all ... if they had to PAY humans to make those calls ... the calls would stop for good. Too much overhead ... it would take monies away from their $15,000 toilet and $6,000 shower curtain, executive-"bone-us" budgets!
If you think you or I are the only ones who become annoyed at these types of stupid business practices, read this post, on someone else's blog which reflects a similar distaste for such things: http://mnteractive.com/archive/why-does-radio-shack-ask-for-your-phone-number-when-you-buy-batteries/
Other references: RoboCall Abuse; RoboCall; RoboCall Scam
Seriously. As incredible as that sounds, I wasn't going for sensationalism here; I didn't make this stuff up. This is how the brain of a Republican't works. Read it and the source links over on Raw Story:
Arkansas GOP head: We need more 'attacks on American soil' so people appreciate Bush
Josh Catone
Published: Sunday June 3, 2007In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.
"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]," Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country."
Milligan, who was elected as the new chair of the Arkansas Republican Party just two weeks ago, also told the newspaper that he is "150 percent" behind Bush in the war in Iraq. [SOURCE1] [SOURCE2] [SOURCE3]
The nation doesn't need anymore whack-jobs like that in leadership roles. The Bush years should cover us for time-served for a few life times now. I can't wait for this long, national nightmare to finally be over. Republican'ts should be darted, tagged, fitted with radio collars, made to register just like child molesters, and sentenced to home confinement for the safety of the nation as a whole. Sheezus.
You've GOT to read this:
No big surprise here.
According to a report in the Washington Post it seems that the actual root-cause of illegal immigration, at its very source, doesn't want to be held legally accountable for their role in creating and sustaining the problem. So they'll spend millions trying to LOBBY Congress to leave the burden on the American taxpayer, and the American labor force/workers.
This is one reason why I don't like the fundamentals of the GOP - Republican platform. It's fundamentally flawed. I like their idea of allowing market forces to generally control things like supply and demand, etc. But, with the GOP and their Republican corporate executives, GREED rules the day, and ALWAYS ends up warping that whole concept.
Immigration is a prime example. It boils down this way: If low and middle income American taxpayers wanna hire some big corporation to build a 700 mile long fence to protect one 2,000 mile plus border, Corporations are good-to-go with it. If low and middle income American taxpayers wanna hire some additional border patrol agents, or better yet, some PRIVATE corporate security to help patrol that same border, Business is golden with that, too. Or, If low and middle income American taxpayers wanna burn some greenbacks to expand the Government to oversee arrests, prosecutions, deportations, and all the gubbermint administrivia that results from immigration reform, Business will undoubtedly say, "so be it".
BUT, how dare we penalize Corporations and businesses for continuing to HIRE illegal aliens, huh? Geezus people, you could DUMP every other part of the reforms and ONLY RIGOROUSLY enforce penalties against corporations and businesses who HIRE illegals, and POOF, problem solved! But, you watch ... big business lobbyist will buy the votes they need in Congress and the reforms will be a cobbled together, piece-meal jokes that will do nothing more than burn more tax dollars and screw more legal American workers. You watch.
According to Jon Soltz ...
[Soltz served as a Captain during Operation Iraqi Freedom, deploying logistics convoys with the 1st Armored Division. During 2005 Captain Soltz was mobilized for 365 days at Fort Dix New Jersey, training soldiers for combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also served his country with distinction in the Kosovo Campaign as a Tank Platoon Leader between June and December 2000.]
... nutless-wonder Jim DeMint" [or AKA Doctor Demented, perhaps] recently grew just enough 'nads to say this crap:
"Al-Qaida knows that we've got a lot of wimps in Congress ... I believe a lot of the casualties can be laid at the feet of all the talk in Congress about how we've got to get out, we've got to cut and run." --Senator Jim DeMint
Here is what Afgan and Iraq VETERAN Jon Soltz wrote in response:
"Jim DeMint is the Real 'Wimp' Here"
And here is a post from Tim Grieve of Salon Magazine on the same score:
"GOP senator blames Democrats for troop deaths"
Here we go again, GOP Republican'ts lipping-off in areas where they are wholly unqualified to even open their pie hole. So natch, I went in search of the poop on this poop. Here are a few tidbits:
According to Answers.com:
"In April 2003, the Associated Press reported that DeMint was one of six Congressmen living in a Capitol Hill townhouse subsidized by "The Family", a secretive religious organization.[3]"
If it wasn't so pathetic, it would almost be amusing how typically these blow-hard chicken hawks seem to always be SHEEP/ LEMMNGS/MEMBERS/JOINERS in some shadowy, secretive organizations that fear the light of day.
According to GovTrack.us:
DeMint is a "radical" Republican according to GovTrack's own analysis of bill sponsorship. [Geez, being Republican is Sin enough, but to be a "radical Republican", wowzers ... that dude's fate is sealed ... he's gonna burn in hell fur-sure! ;-) ]
Statistics: Jim DeMint has sponsored 168 bills since Jan 6, 1999, of which 156 haven't made it out of committee (Poor) and 1 were successfully enacted ... "
With a record like that you'd think the dude would want to stay quiet and under the radar as much as possible.
Anyway, I suggest doing what I did ... CALL his office directly and ask about his military record which just naturally must qualify him to denounce his Congressional peers as "Wimps", right?
Now of course, if I were one of his Senatorial peers, I'd go a step farther. I'd show-up on the next day at work, stroll on up to Jimmy, plant my Senatorial nose on his and ask him if he was talkin' to me ... "you talkin' ta me?" Figures this kindda crap comes outta South Carolina. Have they stopped flying the Confederate flag over their state house, YET? Save your Dixie Cups the South will rise again! Also, makes me wonder if the reason that his religious organization is characterized as "secretive" might not be because society in general frowns upon gatherings where hooded white sheets might be the dress code. Even Hillary Clinton, in her interest to be all things to all people, so as not to miss a potential campaign buck, or a vote has participated in this so-called religious organization ... and that's yet another reason I do not support her for the Democratic nomination [SOURCE].
Here's where to call or write to Jim DeMint [AKA: Doctor Demented]:
Web Site: demint.senate.gov
E-mail: Contact Via 'Web Form.'
Washington Office:
340 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4002
Phone: (202) 224-6121
Fax: (202) 228-5143
Main District Office:
105 North Spring St., Ste. 109
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: (864) 233-5366
Fax: (864) 271-8901
(more district offices)
Pop Quiz: Which of these is "grassroots?
A. Writing a letter to Congress.
B. Attending a political rally.
C. Spending millions of dollars to create an imaginary group of "concerned activists."
If you answered C, you may be a telecom exec.
Companies like AT&T, and Verizon are trying to divide the Internet into the haves and the have-nots to build their bottom line. And they are paying phony "grassroots activists" to support it.
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Click here and let's show them what a grassroots campaign really looks like!
If telephone and cable companies get their way, their own content and services (and those of businesses that can afford steep fees) will reach Internet audiences quickly via a "fast lane." Everything else -- websites run by individuals, small businesses, nonprofits -- will be stuck in a "slow lane," where content will be harder to find and use.
Common Cause is fighting the telecom lobby by:
Generating thousands of comments to the FCC before their June 15 deadline.
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Help us protect Net Neutrality rules so the Internet stays open to all. Make a contribution today. Your gift will help us keep up the fight for Net Neutrality by raising public awareness, issuing in-depth research reports on the telecom industry's activities, and organizing real grassroots activists across the country.
Ok, so I copped the initial idea for that post title from a headline used by "The Nation" magazine/blog this past Friday. Of course, I embellished it just a tad. Ya know, sorta like No Runs, No Hits, No Errors.
"The Nation" had left off that crucially descriptive 3rd and final element, "No Balls". "No Balls" completes something-of a double entendre ... No Runs, No Hits, No Errors = the sport of baseball and the double part involves the male anatomy, gonads ... ya know, the body part lacking from Democratic members of Congress. Get it [I went to such lengths to explain, incase a Republican't might be reading]?
It's a wholly appropriate, one line description of the United States government and the Democratic Congress.
Anyway, here's the link to the article appearing in "The Nation": http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=199204
I'm choosing to simply provide the full copy-and-paste text of the e-mail I received from SirotaBlog on yesterday's complete betrayal by Democratic leadership. No one tells the story as succinctly as Sirota gets it done. These facts need to be shared far and wide because main stream media will never do them [the facts] justice. So either visit the original here:
http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/thefinalinsultdemsbrag_to.html and share the truth as widely as you can, or read it right here and then do the same:
The Final Insult: Dems Brag to Press About Deceiving the Public on Iraq
By David Sirota
In case you believe the malarkey being spewed by the House Rules Committee about the rule vote yesterday not really being the key vote to give President Bush a blank check, take a look at the Washington Post and the Associated Press today. I reported this at the beginning of the day yesterday and was then publicly criticized by House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Now, though, it seems at least some major news organizations have caught on that I was exactly right. In the process, they are reporting what will be recorded in history as the final insult of it all: Democrats running to reporters bragging about their own "brilliance" in deceiving the public.
Here's the Associated Press on how the vote to approve the parliamentary procedures - not the sham, predetermined vote on the GOP amendment - was the real vote to give Bush a blank check:
“In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic leaders crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose money for the war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it.”
Here's the Washington Post:
"Yesterday's vote to fund the war through September was a historical rarity: the passage of a bill opposed by the speaker of the House and a majority of the speaker's party. Two years ago to the day, then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) violated the 'Hastert rule' -- that only bills supported by a majority of the majority can come up -- by bringing up legislation to allow federal funding for stem cell research. The majority of the Republican majority opposed the law. He voted against it, but he knew it would never become law over President Bush's signature...The North American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1993, over the objections of most Democrats, who were then in the majority. But NAFTA did have the support of then-Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), as well as the Democratic president, Bill Clinton. In contrast, the Iraq funding bill was not only opposed by the majority of House Democrats, it was also ardently opposed by the speaker and even the lawmaker who drafted it, Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.). And it is destined to become law. 'To have the chairman and the speaker vote against a bill like this, I've never heard of it,' Hastert said."
And here's the worst part of it all - Democrats are now bragging about it. Not only have they sent out a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraising email attempting to confuse voters by claiming with a straight face that they really stood up to President Bush. But most insulting of all, they are actually running to reporters to pat themselves on the back for engineering a procedural pirouette designed to confuse the public. Here's the Post again:
"But while protesters outside the Capitol condemned what they saw as a capitulation, Democrats inside were remarkably understanding of their speaker's contortions. Party leaders jury-rigged the votes yesterday to give all Democrats something to brag about...Democrats saw brilliance in the legerdemain. And with such contortions came more appreciation for the efforts Pelosi was making to fund the war in a fashion most palatable to angry Democrats. 'It was the responsible thing to do, and she's a responsible speaker,' said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.)."
This is what we're dealing with folks. A party that runs to the press to brag about the brilliance of using their majority not to end the war, but to create a situation that makes it seem as if they oppose the war, while actually helping Republicans continue it.
Ok, so it's a poll of 1, me.
Here's the deal; I'm fed up with the whole lot of 'em. They suck. They have betrayed the Nov. '06 vote. Now I'm betraying these assholes in kind. It is obviously a shadow government. It is broken. It has failed America. I support the establishment of a viable 3rd Party. BOTH Republicans and Democrats are a friggin' JOKE.
WHAT IF ... what if every Democrat and every Republican ... every voting-age American made it a point to stop by their local, county elections office and switch their voter registration to Independent? I mean really, think about it. Ok, so in some states that means you wouldn't get to vote in either party's primary. So what? The fuckers we are electing don't represent any of us anyway. It would be like holding a party and no one shows up. I think it would be amusing as hell.
Think about it people. Republicans aren't happy with any of their choices currently. Democrats have been repeatedly betrayed by the nut-less wonders that are leading that party. Voting in either of those two parties ain't doin' any of us any favors in recent years. Why not abandon our sinking ships rather than staying on deck to hear the same old tune from the same old bands, and just rearranging the deck chairs???
Hell, Nader might have screwed us by assisting Bush to get elected once, but that was then, this is now. NOW, we've already been through the Bush era, what do we have to lose? Having suffered through the BushCo years is sorta like that prison inmate that's already been sentenced to two life terms and a death penalty. We have nothing left to lose. I'm gonna do it. I'm finally gonna make the trip over to county elections and switch my registration to Independent. I can't stomach being categorized with the Dems or Republicans. I highly recommend EVERY voter do the same.
VOTE ALERT: Dick Cheney Dems Plan to Hide Votes On Iraq TODAY
Fair Trade Populists Go On the Offensive
Who ya gonna call? Start with the folks on the wall-of-shame listed in my earlier post [click here].
UPDATE: I called my own Rep to ask when the legislative language of this deal would be released for public consumption. Then I called some of the numbers on the Wall-of-Shame list, and all I get is a referral to Friday's press-release which is largely a useless piece of fluff that is being used as their smoke-screen. Shadow Gubbermint is sure getting old.
... and the party just ended for the Democratic Party on THIS Blog. I am sick and tired of governance by a shadow government. Anyone else fed up with this shit yet? We won't know for certain if the results of Pelosi's back-door maneuvering is good, bad, or just plain ugly for the average American worker or not until the terms of their deal with Satan [reads: BushCo] are revealed to the light of day.
But what I DO know is that I am tired of their METHODS. I want Government BY and FOR the PEOPLE. And what I am seeing is not it. It's just more of the same old bullshit.
To learn what the hell I'm goin' on about ya gotta check in on David Sirota's Blog, here: http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/timeline_the_secret_bushdemocr_1.html
and again here: http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/k_street_vs_middle_america_bat.html
Then read the COMMENTS below the post here on The Huffington Post here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/timeline-the-secret-bush_b_48200.html
In "ultra secret" negotiations with Bush, Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Max Baucus (D-MT) and Speaker of the House Nancy "I must be drunk with power" Pelosi MAY have royally hosed the average American worker. The other UNFAIR-Trade advocates who participated in this agreement will be named and listed here as the facts are revealed. There will be a whole new "Wall of Shame" posted if they got it wrong. But for now, let's go with a list of SUSPECTS as provided by MyDD [tip-of-the-hat]:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) ......................................Phone: (202) 225-4965
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus .........................Phone: (202) 224-2651
House Ways & Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel .........Phone: (202) 225-4365
House Ways & Means Ranking Member Jim McCrery
New Democrat Coalition Leadership:
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, Chair, New Democrat Coalition .....Phone: (202) 225-1880
Rep. Adam Smith, Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coalition .....Phone: (202) 225-8901
Rep. Ron Kind, Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coaltion ........Phone: (202) 225-5506
Rep. Artur Davis, Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coalition ....Phone: (202) 225-2665
Rep. Joe Crowley, Vice-Chair and Whip, New Democrat C.Phone: (202) 225-3965
[SOURCE]
Sure, details on this topic have been kept under such tight wraps that it's difficult to know the precise terms of this back-room deal. But, I don't give a damn. It is the FACT that it was handled in SECRET ... in the shadows ... it is that fact alone that causes me to take an immediate, albeit preliminary position of opposition. Opposition not only to the terms of the agreement, but to those who consorted with the Bush administration in making it by such secretive methods.
Here is a trailing "ADDENDUM" from the bottom of a SirotaBlog e-newsletter I received:
ADDENDUM: In the interest of full transparency, let's remember: It's not totally clear who has seen the actual legislative language of this deal as of now. What we do know is that while many "summaries" have been released, the actual language of the supposedly "reformed" Peru, Panama, South Korea and Colombia Free Trade Agreements have not been made public. We also know that the websites of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee only posted summaries of the deal 24 hours after the press conference, not the actual legislative language. Additionally, we know that the ongoing negotiations in pursuit of this deal were kept 100 percent concealed from rank and file members of Congress (including Congress's most veteran fair traders), reporters and the public, meaning the entire process has been shrouded in secrecy. Public Citizen's Todd Tucker has more on Public Citizen's blog about how the press summaries being released by congressional Democratic leaders and the Bush administration deliberately refuse to include the actual legislative language of the trade deals in question, and that these summaries could very easily be very different from the final language - as they were during NAFTA.
I don't care AS MUCH about whether or not the "actual legislative language" turns out to be good, bad, or ugly in this instance, as I do the ongoing secret methodology applied to the process. These clowns have forgotten who they work for and need a reminder. And, if the results are bad or ugly for American labor ... then the fun REALLY begins. As it stands, I'm calling, writing AND faxing my reminders, and I hope many others will as well.
Scorched-earth response? You bet, and it's overdue. This crop of assholes have betrayed my confidence with their secret-sauce crap. They have betrayed our Nov. '06 vote and the honeymoon just ended. My patience has run out, and I am abandoning their lame asses TODAY. Screw 'em and the donkey they rode in on. They could come out on Monday morning and report an agreement that organizes the whole planet under an AFL-CIO labor agreement and increases the minimum wage to an NBA salary level and it won't matter to me. Did I mention that I'm fed-up with the SECRET deals and the back room maneuvering? To hell with 'em all.
And of course, while Bloggers like MyDD and SirotaBlog, the main-streamed-media hacks don't published anything substantive until FRIDAY in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/business/11trade.html and REUTERS: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSWBT00695620070511
How this has helped my own selection process for a presidential nominee:
I'm STILL pissed at Joe Biden's vote on the bankruptcy bill. I haven't forgotten his shit. If a miracle bagged the nomination for Biden, I'd vote for a write-in before I'd cast my vote for that whore.
And NOW, after this secret bullshit, it's gonna take a friggin' miracle for ANY candidate to win my support for '08. But if the primary in my state were held TONIGHT, my vote goes to JOHN EDWARDS. I damn sure ain't gonna vote for Mrs. Special-Interest-Money-Bags Clinton and the wife of Mr. NAFTA himself, and I damn-sure won't vote for a Republican, so YEE-HA EDWARDS or, some 3rd party candidate should Edwards step on his thing along the way. As for Barack ... Mr. Money Bags Obama has been too careful to avoid the UNFAIR Trade issues that are screwing the American labor force, and I don't care much for slippery fence sitters. EDWARDS took a position. Besides, Man-Coulter hates Edwards, that's endorsement enough for me! ;-) That's it, "BLOGGERRADIO ENDORSES JOHN EDWARDS for PREZ." Sure, Edwards WAS in the Senate for a short time, but I'm going to overlook that shortcoming and support his candidacy anyway! I supported Edwards EARLY in his first run, and now I'm back onboard again.
Here's my selection criteria now: support the candidate with the least exposure to the corruption-club known as Congress and who has the best chance of winning with the least amount of campaign Graf raised. Oh sure, Edwards has money ... but nothing like the piles of "I want a favor, when this is over" of Clinton. As for Obama ... I want more in a leader than simply the novelty of his name and skin color ... like I've said, it is clear where Edwards stands on the issues, it is not with Obama who seems nearly as evasive as his "gee, we might as well be running mates" politico-pal Clinton.
Scorched-earth response? You bet, and it's overdue. This crop of faker assholes have betrayed my confidence with their secret-sauce crap. They have betrayed our Nov. '06 vote and the honeymoon just ended. My patience has run out, and I am abandoning their lame asses TODAY. Screw 'em and the donkey they rode in on. They could come out on Monday morning and report an agreement that organizes the whole planet under an AFL-CIO labor agreement and increases the minimum wage to an NBA salary level and it won't matter to me. Did I mention that I'm fed-up with the SECRET deals and the back room maneuvering? Screw 'em.
American labor is already a wounded casualty of Bush's failed Iraq occupation. By overlooking this issue, just because all the news is focused upon that cluster, American labor becomes K.I.A. --DA
Here's the poop:
The event is on Tuesday May 15th at 7pm at Acme Food and Drink (SE 8th and Main, PDX) and will address how blogs and the Internet age are impacting and reshaping the face of politics.
The forum will be moderated by best-selling author and political strategist David Sirota
Panelists include:
Kari Chisholm of Blue Oregon
Amy J. Ruiz of the Portland Mercury
Anna Galland of MoveOn.org
The event is cosponsored by the Bus Project, the Portland Mercury, and Loaded Orygun.
If ya wanna know more, contact "Leah", with any questions at leah.barbaree@busproject.org and stay updated by visiting www.busproject.org/events/digitalpolitics.
Here's the deal; Sirota is the real-meal-deal. If you haven't read his stuff, you should. In fact, if you really wanna get insight into all the hub-bub, cut through the crap, and ya can't make it over to Acme on Tuesday, May 15th, at least do yourself the favor of subscribing to the guy's e-mail list, I did! It's good shit [and there is lots of it ... this guy is a prolific writer, and will provide you with tons of reliable, truthful, well researched ammo]!
I'm tellin' ya, this Tuesday May 15th thing is a real opportunity. Things are heating up nicely as we move deeper into the '08 election cycle, and some of the real geeks and freaks of the blogosphere, who helped to ignite and fan the flames, will be in attendance that night [way more interesting than a bloody book signing]. If you enjoy poking sticks at the animals as much as I do, these folks should make-your-day.
I'm not even gonna bother with the link to this WaPo pile of crap coz it ain't worthy of any added exposure. If ya wanna see the whole thing, you can search it up, or you can write directly to "Dana" to ask for it using this link to his e-mail form at WaPo: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/dana+milbank/
Here's the basics:
Kucinich's Battle Against Cheney Not So (Im)Peachy Keen
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, April 25, 2007; 8:10 AM
Here Milbanks pokes fun at Kucinich's reference to the Declaration of Independence:
Kucinich did have one thing: a copy of the Declaration of Independence. And he was not afraid to read it. "We hold these truths to be self-evident," the aspiring impeachment manager read at the start of his news conference. He continued all the way through the bit about the right of the people to abolish the government.
Hey, funny stuff Dana, maybe you can get a spot on a late night show with Dennis Miller. Sheez.
Then there is his insightful reference to "USS Kucinich":
A reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer encouraged USS Kucinich to contact planet Earth. "But Nancy Pelosi says this is not going anywhere," she pointed out.
But wait, there's more:
Kucinich evidently realized there was no reason for him to get cold feet just because of Cheney's leg.
Now there's a gut buster.
More groaners followed:
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic caucus, was equally dismissive -- "Dennis can do what he wants; I'm not going to support it" -- but used the occasion to try out some Cheney material: "This is the biggest setback for the vice president since oil went under 65 bucks a barrel."
Milbank, now desperate to salvage this piece of dung before deadline goes for the personal cheap shots about the dude's height and hair style next:
Kucinich, however, did not find humor in the matter. Standing perhaps 5 feet 6 inches tall in shoes, he wore a solemn face as he approached the microphones, which nearly reached his eye level. He beckoned to aides, who handed out thick binders detailing the case.
It's a friggin' wonder that Milbank's dressing down didn't include Kucinich's dimensions minus his shoes. But, he did include weighty items like the inclusion of weather and traffic report details from Capitol Hill, along with a fashion statement:
Kucinich read at length from his articles of impeachment, undeterred by rush-hour traffic noise on Independence Avenue ("I'll wait till the truck goes by here," he said at one point) and wind that ruffled his text and the few strands of his hair that were insufficiently weighted by Brylcreem.
I include a quote from Clarence Darrow in the sidebar here on BloggerRadio that goes like this:
"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it." --Clarence Darrow
Milbank's piece prompts me to take poetic license with the Darrow quote"
"When I was a boy I was told that any stupid hack could become a journalist for the Washington Post; Dana Milbank has proven that to be true." --DA
Apparently it has escaped WaPo and Milbank's attention that more than half of the American electorate will appreciate Dennis Kucinich's efforts despite the fact that they have a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding. Outside of the 495 Capitol Beltway ... out here where a majority of us voted last November to instruct our elected representatives to right this listing ship ... only "USS Kucinich" has the cannon and the balls to at least TRY to do our bidding. Some DUDE named "Dana" sure as hell wouldn't.
My guess is that "Dana" is simply jealous that fellow WaPo columnist Michael Wilbon got a gig covering the NBA, so to keep up with the basketball Jones' Dana thought he'd try his hand at comedy writing. My review: He sucks at it.
So, if ya wanna actually get some meaningful headlines try TruthOut.org and skip ALL the mainstream media junk.
Talking Points Memo drove the U.S. attorrneys story, proof that Web writers with input from devoted readers can reshape journalism.
By Terry McDermott, Times Staff Writer
March 17, 2007 [SOURCE]
As usual BottleOfBlog, SirotaBlog and now Charles Barkley say it best:
First, BottleOfBlog posts on why it's difficult to find new ways to restate the obvious ... primarily that George Bush, the GOP and right-wing-nut fundamentalist are complete and total cluster-fucks and finding new ways to document their daily escapades is a real trick:
Next, David Sirota ... a dude who could have my vote for President, explains that if you're pissed-off, you certainly aren't alone ... in other words, it's OK to be mad as hell, and unwilling to take it anymore. In fact, in m own humble opinion the question really is, where the hell have you been while your country has been under attack from within?
The Angry Majority
One of the most annoying rhetorical tricks of pundits, Republican politicians and staffers at the Democratic Leadership Council is to label progressives as “angry.” It’s as if we should all just be totally psyched that health care premiums are skyrocketing, wages are stagnating, job outsourcing is intensifying, deficits are spiraling and an out of control war is killing American troops every week in Iraq. But now, a new CNN poll shows that actually, those of us who are pissed off are in the majority - the strong majority. That’s right, CNN’s poll shows that more than three quarters of Americans say they are angry. It seems the only people who aren’t angry are the D.C. elites and the corporate fat cats. And really, why should they be angry? They are the last remaining few who are living the good life while the rest of us are getting screwed.
So the next time you hear some smarmy politician, political operative or lobbyist attack progressives as angry - remember, all that person is really doing is acknowledging that they are wholly out of touch with America and among a small minority who thinks everything is just dandy.
COMMENTS: Go to Sirota's Working Assets site to comment on this entry
posted 9/5/2006 by David Sirota @ 11:51 pm | Permalink
Then there is this drivel from ABC which once and for all ends any debate over whether the right-wing, fat-cat media-moguls control Main Stream Media or whether there is some imaginary Liberal Bias controlling M.S.M.
Charles Barkley boils it down so well that I think he could skip right over his ambitions for the Governorship of Alabama and simply declare his candidacy for President.
If you haven't seen the VIDEO or listened to the music, you're missing out.
Artist: Merle Haggard
Song: "America First"
Album: "Chicago Wind"
I heard a rumor that some mainstream media radio stations were refusing to play it, so spread the word, buy it. Then change from those damn radio stations that ain't playin' it over to Air America.
Check this out:
Newsmaker: A blogger's battle from behind bars
Josh Wolf, the first blogger jailed for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury, says he's trying to prevent the eroding of journalists' protections.
By Michelle Meyers
CNET News.com Staff
Published: August 11, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT [SOURCE]
THAT is some more fascist gubbermint BULLSHIT.
Yesterday I heard a recording of Lush accusing "Liberal Bloggers" of celebrating the murder of two young American soldiers.
Show me MoFo ... show me the link to even ONE so-called Liberal American Blog which actually celebrates those deaths. Bring-It-The-Fuck-On.
Listen, no so-called "Liberal Blogger" should ever use that pukes real name when posting anything remotely related. Use the aliases I've applied in the title of this post, or some other of your own preference. And the rest of the time, when you can't resist the urge to mention that idiot in some retort, apply something descriptive rather than his actual name. But IGNORING the loser is probably the very best strategy. Minimizing him is the most appropriate response of all.
In the pissing contest between the Giants Telephone Companies and the Giants of the Internet, The Consumers take a Giant Screwing ... no surprise.
Those in Congress who supported this bill are bought and paid for whores for the Giant Telecoms.
Perhaps the worst of the lot was Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), a co-sponsor of the legislation sought by the phone companies, is the founder of a Chicago-based community center that received a $1 million grant from SBC/AT&T between 2001 and 2004. (SBC acquired AT&T in 2005 and took its name.)... According to the Center for Responsive Politics, SBC is Rush’s fourth-biggest campaign contributor since he was first elected to Congress in 1992, with over $39,000 in contributions to his campaigns. AT&T is listed as his second-top donor in the current election cycle, with $7,500. [SOURCE]
That piece of garbage had the stones to even play the race card in the debate over this crap legislation. Check this shit out:
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., a black lawmaker from Chicago's South Side and a co-sponsor of the legislation, disputed that. "I'm from the other side of town," he said. "This is a bill that will make a difference in the lives of the people on the other side of town."
"This bill is about cable rates and what we know today is that cable rates are too high in America," said Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., another member of the Congressional Black Caucus. [SOURCE]
Hell, grease my palm with a million-plus I might even get up in front of Congress and say what they want me to say ... the difference being, I'm not an elected civil servant!
That asshole KNOWS that this is not a vote to rescue Consumers from high cable bills. This was a vote about dividing up the spoils of vanquished Consumers and Taxpayers between whichever one tossed the most bucks to Congress-persons.
If you are one of those people characterized by Representative Rush as "the people on the other side of town." ... well you just got fucked-over by one of your own. Why?
Because, here is the trade-off that Rep. Rush and his pal, Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md. were willing to vote in favor of: Now the folks on that side of town MIGHT see a slight drop in cable TV rates ... so those folks can better afford to let their kids sit on their asses watching even more TV ... episodes of Ultimate Fighting, or Porn, or whatever ... maybe while they munch a few more Big Macs ... but, when it comes time to hit the books and do their home work ... if they need to log onto the local library's web-site for some on-line tutoring help [coz perhaps the teachers on their "side of town" aren't getting the job done], or to do research on-line for help with homework assignments, etc ... the kids on the right side of the tracks will have better, faster, less censored access because your cost for full & fast access to the Internet will have gone UP in the new tiered pricing structure this bill permits ... and how will you respond to that ? You'll pay for the now more affordable pay-television, rather than try to keep up with the Jones and the Cohens over on the right side of the tracks where they can afford both [who knows, maybe with the help of campaign contributions from these same Giant corporations].
"The telephone companies have made clear that they can create a fast lane that will require extra payments and a slow lane for everyone else who can't afford it. That is a fundamental change in the history of the Internet, and it will adversely affect millions of Internet users across our country," Markey said in an interview before his amendment was voted down. [SOURCE]
Now THAT is just PART of the reason why this legislation is a screw job. Corporate censorship is yet another. If some righty corporate access provider doesn't care for my Blog posts, or maybe the Washington Post editorials, or the BBCs coverage of the war in Iraq ... this bill allows for corporate and selective censorship through tiered access schemes.
Theoretically, this means that if Comcast or TimeWarner don't like their SourceWatch pages, they could block their Internet customers from viewing them. This is very scary stuff for those of us who feel the Internet has become one of the great equalizers of politics by allowing equal access to the points of view of the smallest citizens group and the biggest industry-funded front group. [SOURCE]
Then there is this Texas Republican claim:
House Seeks to Open Cable TV Market
By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Monopolies in many cable TV markets could end under House-passed legislation that supporters said would increase competition and drive down prices.
[snip]
"This legislation can increase competition not only for cable services, but also unleash a race for who can supply the fastest, most sophisticated broadband connections that will provide video, voice and data services," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas. [SOURCE]
That claim by Joe Barton is a load of crap. The only competition this bill fosters is between corporate giants to see which one can bilk the American Consumer the fastest, and the *most-est*. Notice in the Barton quote above that he uses the word "can" when saying the bill would increase competition. Not "WILL" increase competition. Politician weasel wording.
And of course, there are the anti-government alarmists who want you to think that any legislation which preserves the neutrality of Internet access is some conspiracy to expand government control of the planet. What a butt-load of malarkey that argument is. It comes form the same dim-wits that believe that the lesbian couple next door will infect your entire neighborhood and cause it to become the next San Francisco, and that your grand children will be gay because "those people" live there.
Here is some more Barton-Bullshit along those lines:
'... ensuring that Congress does not hand the FCC a blank check to regulate Internet services.
"We don't need anybody to be the first secretary of the Internet," he added.' [SOURCE]
So what if the government wants to enforce keeping Internet access neutral ... WE-THE-PEOPLE-taxpayers are the ones who paid for the development of the damn Internet, by the GOVERNMENT and PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES in the first damn place. The Giant Corporations are lucky to be allowed to charge anyone any damn thing for access to it at all! You didn't know that? Turn off that fucking Cable TV shit and surf on over to this, and learn something: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet before this bill takes away your ability to get there!
So ya see, Republicrats & Republican'ts are all about the FREE American Enterprise system and anti-government regulation, BUT only when it serves their purposes, and only when the crooked politicians of Congress stack the deck in their favor ... THAT is government regulation they love dearly! They don't want REAL competition, they are scared-to-death of any REAL competition.
Personally, I support the growing trend of FREE Internet access provided by a growing number of municipalities. We-The-People already paid for the dam thin [Internet] once anyway. Why should we help line the pockets of Giant corporate executives who'll waste it on $6,000 shower curtains and $15,000 toilets!
Did ya think that you'd have to wait until after the November election for impeachment proceedings? NAH! Click on the picture below. Then get on the horn to your STATE legislatures. Let's show Georgie who the REAL "deciders" are in this country and why gubbermint employees like him are called "government servants". Send the lil' rat-bastard packin' fur Tex-ass. Or, at the very least, let's make it a long hot summer for him and his peeps.
This lefty Oregon Blogger wishes to recognize a very good, NEW, Oregon Blog called "Loaded Orygun".
It seems in their short life span "Loaded Orygun" has received some national-scale Blogosphere exposure, the latest of which appears today on DailyKOS who has picked up on "Loaded Orygun" post regarding a POTENTIAL Democratic challenger to Republican't Congressman Greg Walden's seat. Who Loaded Orygun previously characterized as: "Greg Walden is nothing more than a Republican jack booted ass kisser". A characterization appreciated and shared by this Oregonian. Walden is nuttin' more than a BushCo-butt-muncher.
I don't give a damn about the Republican'ts threat of the nuclear option in response to a filibuster. And neither should Democratic Senators. Go ahead, let Republican'ts have that amount of rope ... it'll hang 'em fur-sure. Maybe they win the skirmish, but they'd seriously lose the political war, as a result of playing that card. C'mon Dems, it's time for a come-to-Jesus-meeting. The hotter the war, the sooner the peace. If we can't get-along, let's get-it-on.
I urge everyone to phone, fax and E-mail all their Senators, regardless of party affiliation, and let 'em know, we don't need no stinkin' Alito! Don't just do ONE of those things, do a couple or all [phone, fax, E-Mail]. And, if ya can't get through, keep tryin' 'til ya do. After you've called your own, call the rest, too!!!
There about a million web-sites where you can add your name to the chorus of reality-based, sane people who oppose Alito's nomination.
But, a personal plea carries more weight, and no site I found makes that as quick and easy as this one:
Below is a more detailed E-Mail message I received [highlighting added by BloggerRadio]:
If you're pullin' down anything less than about $300K/yr., Congress will roll you for a nickel, and shoot you for a dime, this time of year. Can you say: Alternative Minimum Tax?
Those sneaky, rich, pasty-white, old geezers, in Congress know that you have many more things on your mind, like eking-out a living under the Bush regime, and maybe doin' a little shopping, to keep the economy afloat a bit longer.
Main-Stream Media is focused on the Patriot Act debate and drilling for oil. But, if the great unwashed masses are not vigilant, Congress is gonna give ya a lump-of-coal for your Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Seasons Greetings/Happy Hanukkah/Happy(?) Kwanzaa/Joyeux Noël/Feliz Navidad/Etc ...
While Congress and the Administration are perfectly willing to further burden the nation's deficit, by pouring more taxpayer dollars into Iraq, they seem reluctant to feed and shelter Americans. Especially those Americans impacted by Katrina and other hurricane season disasters.
Intentional or not, Congress has left this bit of legislation to the last minute, just prior to another holiday recess, for them. And, strategic of not, the rhetoric and noise level has been M.I.A.
Contact your Congressional Representation, right away, and let them know that you want to: "Chase Scrooge from Capitol Hill"!. Tell them where you stand on the "Final Showdown".
You see, Congress has their priorities all screwed-up. Lawmakers agree to fund Viagra use for another year while simultaneously proposing a cut in food stamps, medicaid, and student loans. Call your Congressional representation and explain for them that having something to eat, and medical care are both more vital, than the ability to maintain a four-hour woodie. Apparently, Congress doesn't GET-IT. Perhaps because sodomizing the vast majority of America comes so natural for Congress and the Bush administration.
Don't wait for 140 other organizations to communicate the lunacy of Congress and BushCo's proposals. Instead, keep these quotes in mind:
"The most important political office is that of the private citizen."--Louis D. Brandeis
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
This is an EXTREMELY important, critical moment in time. Groups are PRAYING over it, and buying half-million dollar Ads trying to get the word out that main stream media is not covering. Do YOUR bit. Pick-up the phone and call NOW.
From Atlanta, Georgia, to Maine, New York, Kansas, Virginia and South Carolina are sick and tired of the rich getting richer, while they have to decide, this winter, whether to "Eat or Heat".
Iowa doesn't like the proposals, and neither does Oregon.
This is serious bidness, folks. Act NOW, before we ALL end up the subject of this story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-smhomeless14dec14,0,249614.story
A year or two ago, the old Dunkin' Donuts near my home, closed. It had occupied that location for many years.
I had been glad to have Dunkin' Donuts around as a convenient alternative to the over-rated donuts [in my humble opinion] of Krispy Kreme, and it's creeping invasion.
I was glad to have an alternative to the omnipresent Starbucks. Coffee shouldn't have it's own menu. There are so many Starbucks, here in the PNW, that they create there own traffic jams. Sorta like global warming creates its own atmosphere. There is practically a Starbucks on every corner and during rush hours it's a hassle letting traffic into and out of Starbucks driveways, along the route to anywhere. Sheez.
I had never known, nor cared who owned my favorite Dunkin' Donuts. I assumed it was a franchise, with a local owner, but was never interested enough to find out. Now I see that the "Dunkin' Brands" was connected to some publicly traded French corporation, it seems.
Anyway, my local Dunkin' Donuts disappeared a year or two ago. Much to my chagrin, a Starbucks appeared in it's place.
Now I read that Dunkin' Brands has sold-out to a triumvirate of private equity firms: Thomas H. Lee Partners, the Carlyle Group and Bain Capital.
I never really frequented the old Dunkin' Donuts much, and I have rarely graced the doorway of a Starbucks, so my personal boycott of all Dunkin' Brands moving forward, isn't expected to have any impact. But, just like Blogging, I'll do it for my own personal satisfaction.
Why? Coz, while I don't know a lot about two of the three corporations who just bought Dunkin' Brands, I know enough about one of them to know that I'd rather not contribute a single cent to their operations.
The Carlyle Group seems to me to be more of a private fraternity, than a corporation. The Carlyle Group's board is made up of far too many right-wing-nut politicos for my tastes.
Besides, I am always disappointed to read about the deterioration of America's Democracy into a right-wing-controlled Corpocracy. Think about it: giant Pharmaceutical corporations, Oil giants, anti-unionized-labor Wal-Mart, even our agricultural industry is controlled by taxpayer subsidized behemoth corporations. TV & Radio news has morphed into giant media corporations that spew info-tainment instead of any real news. More and more, EVERYTHING is being converted to subscription-based operations. Watch for free-access, advertiser supported, TV & Radio to evaporate altogether, in favor of total subscription access. Hell, I am surprised that public libraries haven't disappeared yet!
It's getting trickier, and trickier to think globally, but do business locally. Fewer, and fewer Mom & Pop shops. Shrinking family-farms, and truly small businesses. It sucks, and it's Republican. Now, ya gotta buy a donut & coffee from a giant, private, military contractor. Sheez.
I've read much about Carlyle Group, and I've drawn the conclusion that it makes far too much profit from war, to be an honest, open, or wholesome business. And, it's operations are far too tight with the corrupt Bush family.
If you don't know much about 'em, I suggest you visit, and read from some of the provided links [above & below] ... I just won't being doin' it from inside of ANY of the Dunkin' Brands stores, for now:
" ... famously sinister secret military-industrial-financial complex cabal The Carlyle Group"
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041101/klein
http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/report.aspx?aid=424
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2004/040704swastikachip.htm
http://indy.pabn.org/archives/211carly.shtml
http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/2002/Bush-Carlyle.html
Make our votes count, and help states count our votes [accurately].
There are something like 159 co-sponsors of H.R. 550 [at last check] and you can see a list of who they are near the bottom of Congressman Rush Holt's web-site.
Go see if YOUR Rep. is there. If not, call, fax, write 'em, and tell them that YOU, their constituent, support it, and that they should get on-board as a co-sponsor, or they risk losing your support moving forward [may sound blunt but, unless you can afford to buy one (a Congress-person) they will barely hear ya anyway]. While you are there, of course sign the on-line petition. ------->
Then e-mail the petition link to as many folks as you can, to help get the word out. Listen people, if you can't do THIS much, then you can't bitch about the next election SNAFU [Situation Normal All F!*#@ed Up]
H.R. 550 is about restoring a little sanity and credibility to the election process. It's about a measure of protection for American elections. It's about providing at least a bit of counter-balance to the Diebolds of Ohio, and the Jebs in Florida.
Americans should certainly understand, by now, that if we don't, in mass, CAJOLE, NAG, THREATEN and more, and do it over, and over again, Congress will screw us in favor of corporations like Diebold. So Blog-on!
Holt's site isn't the only resource on H.R. 550. Here are some others:
GovTrack where you can choose to receive notification of any / all actions on H.R. 550.
Thomas where you can read the whole thing on-line, or jump over to GPO's PDF file format of it.
Some earlier input by VerifiedVoting.org
And, CommonCause.org
And finally, if you wanna make the rounds and sample the "BlogSwarm", here are just a few links to get you started on the journey:
http://frogsdong.blogspot.com/2005/12/bloggers-excited-about-hr-550-and_07.html
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2005/12/demand-fair-elections.html
http://blondesense.blogspot.com/2005/12/diebold-insider-spills-beans.html
http://adreampuppet.blogspot.com/2005/12/keeping-heat-on.html
http://theunitedamerican.blogs.com/bring_it_on/2005/12/federal_standar.html
http://tryaches.blogspot.com/2005/12/taking-action.html
http://www.runningscared.org/posts/1133964610.shtml
http://www.livejournal.com/users/majkia/148653.html
http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2005/12/hr-550-is-your-vote-safe_07.html
http://alterx.blogspot.com/2005/12/reminder_07.html
