A Well Done Life of Service Professor Galbraith!

John Kenneth Galbraith died yesterday. He served FDR, JFK, and even Slick Willy to a point. But his true service was to his world. A social economist more than a theory guy. A Keynesian that was truly one of the smartest and most influential economists that walked among we mere mortals. One thing I've kept thinking about today is how this current administration distains thinkers and science and ... I cannot imagine any world class mind working under the Bu$hCo cabal? JKG was foundationally against everything this disaster of an administration and Congress has wrought. I anticipate his ideas will be revisited over these next few days and beyond as a contrast to the wealth hoarding ideas of Bu$hCo. Here's the Times Online UK and the WaPo and BBC and ... No "War" but only "Peace" Professor.

Correspondence to Senators Shelby and Sessions

The following is the basics of correspondence I've emailed to Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions regarding the Bu$hCo cabal's illegal NSA warrantless wiretapping. I am going to ask The Randolph Leader to consider publishing.

Dear Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions,

I’ve previously contacted your offices asking you to support, or at least consider without immediately dismissing as partisan politics, Wisconsin Senator Feingold’s censure resolution. This resolution seeks to merely scold President Bu$h for his acting in contravention of the Constitution and applicable law in regards to the NSA warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts has promised much but delivered little in oversight. The vast majority of the GOP has resisted efforts to simply get to the bottom of what this administration has been up to. President Reagan spoke of “trust but verify” yet the Republican Party has simply operated under “trust” despite the Bu$h White House repeatedly demonstrating incompetence and unreliability. I suggest blatant lies have been a staple of the Bu$h Presidency but at a minimum we’ll never know until answers are sought and obtained.

While regrettably I expect you will both continue to place party politics over what is clearly a radical departure from our laws and traditions, Senator Sessions you have especially disappointed me by repeatedly covering for this disaster of a Presidency.

Today I ask that you support the Specter amendment to stop funding of the NSA spying program until the White House provides Congress with complete information about this program. President Bu$h and his Executive Branch have refused to answer even basic questions about the NSA program, including how many American citizens have had their telephone calls or e-mails monitored.

Senator Specter's amendment to cut off funding is needed if we are going to get the facts. This latest amendment to cut funding is apart from Specter's bill, S.2453, which I strongly oppose because it would effectively authorize the NSA spying program.

Congress should not permit a program that violates the Fourth Amendment, FISA procedures, etc. Oppose any attempts to make the illegal NSA spying legal. President Bu$h must quit stonewalling and simply promise to and then follow our laws.

You have a responsibility to the Constitution and the American people to insist on a thorough investigation into the warrantless spying program. Congress has the right and obligation to provide oversight to the Executive Branch. You should protect our fundamental freedoms from unilateral actions by the White House in violation of our rights. President Bu$h has been enabled rather than confronted for his distain for our laws and traditions.

Please oppose both S. 2453 and S. 2455. These bills would reward the president's illegal activity and disrespect toward Congress and the Constitution. Passage of either would effectively end efforts to uncover basic facts about the NSA spying program. I also wonder if you’d be so willing to have this legislation as law of the land if a so called “liberal Democrat” occupied the White House.

Sincerely, xxxx xxxx

I wonder if I'll get a form reply? Congressman Mike Rogers seems to send those out at times. Maybe Stormie will handle my reply from Senator Sessions office? Senator Sessions at least appreciates attractive staffers! Peace ... or War!

Court Jester Reveals Emperor Has No Clothes!

Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report skewered the Bu$h Administration and the establishment media at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night. Atrios has some highlights. McJoan at Koz has a nice take on how the media is ignoring plus she supplies links to the complete transcript. Peter Daou via HuffPo also tackles how the media can ignore or not. Large file but Crooks and Liars has the second portion of the Colbert effort. Eric Boehlert's Lapdogs seems like an appropriate read given how the Bu$hCo White House and the Mainstream Media have both let America and the world down. It is a tragedy that"humor" seems the only way that real news is done these days. Peace ... or War!

Strippers, Limos, Dirty Tricks, ... GOP Values

Kos summarizes the looming stripergate mess, with some folks looking even at CIA Director/Loyalty Enforcer Porter Goss. And just to the west, Mississippi's Haley Barbour is linked to a company that engaged in various phone stunts in 2002. This one may go straight to Ken Mehlman who is now over the RNC. Peace ... or War!
UPDATE - TPM Muckraker's Justin Rood has even more on the Wilkes/Wade Hooker Ring. The Dukestir was apparently into this really deep. Dusty Foggo's days as #3 to the CIA's Porter Goss might be numbered. Interesting to see how high school relationships forged with the kewl kids lasted so long. Of course we've got a "towel snapping" President leading this ReThuglican cabal.

VA's George Allen - Redneck with French Momma?

TNR's Ryan Lizza is about to reduce to print "George Allen's Race Problem" which could be significant as he might very well be the Southern alternative to John McCain. Allegedly dumber than Dubyah, no small feat indeed, this fellow was raised in Southern California where he was an unreconstructed Rebel with a Confederate Battle Flag bolted to the front of his Mustang. He dips Copenhagen and is "authentic". Good read and a nice take on Senator/Governor Allen. He's got an sharp upgrade wife and family to boot. Peace ... or War!

Middle Class but Lacking Health Insurance

The WaPo's Theresa Agovino reports "Percentage of Uninsured Americans Rising" where she writes,

The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.

This is a damn disgrace! Putting off preventive care and early solutions makes no economic sense and yet many Americans have little if any choice. We must consider universal health coverage ASAP. Peace ... or War!

ACLU - Ordering a Pizza under Big Brother?

The ACLU, of which I'm a card carrying member, gives us something to think about on government intrusion into our lives. Very cute and thought provoking. Please share the site. Peace ... or War!

Is Bu$hCo Creating A Radical Republic?

Lawrence Powell, former Chief of Staff for Colin Powell in his tenure at the State Department, argues in the Baltimore Sun that Bu$h and his radical Jacobites are indeed creating a radical departure from our past traditions. He writes, in part, the following:

In January 2001, with the inauguration of George W. Bush as president, America set on a path to cease being good; America became a revolutionary nation, a radical republic. If our country continues on this path, it will cease to be great - as happened to all great powers before it, without exception.

From the Kyoto accords to the International Criminal Court, from torture and cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners to rendition of innocent civilians, from illegal domestic surveillance to lies about leaking, from energy ineptitude to denial of global warming, from cherry-picking intelligence to appointing a martinet and a tyrant to run the Defense Department, the Bush administration, in the name of fighting terrorism, has put America on the radical path to ruin.

Unprecedented interpretations of the Constitution that holds the president as commander in chief to be all-powerful and without checks and balances marks the hubris and unparalleled radicalism of this administration.

Moreover, fiscal profligacy of an order never seen before has brought America trade deficits that boggle the mind and a federal deficit that, when stripped of the gimmickry used to make it appear more tolerable, will leave every child and grandchild in this nation a debt that will weigh upon their generations like a ball and chain around every neck. Imagine owing $150,000 from the cradle. That is radical irresponsibility.

I in no way excuse Secretary Powell for his actions in creating the mess in Iraq. Perhaps he was being a loyal soldier? Congress must step forward to stop this disaster of an administration. In the fall of 2006, electing Democrats in competitive races will be a good start. Peace ... or War!

Bu$hCo - Taxpayer Funded Abuses in Iraq

Digby probably handles this as well as can be done. He gives us links to a nice series in The Chicago Tribune plus some of Digby's past thoughts on related issues. Brian Bennett of Time also gives us "Stolen Away" dealing expressly with the sex trafficking side of the issue. Super busy and behind but I'll try to return for this and others. Also, CNN has Bu$h down to 32%. Peace ... or War!

NAFTA Failures Increase Illegal Immigration

Octavio Ruiz, globalization coordinator for the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition-the Resource Center of the Americas, posted at Common Dreams a work entitled "Immigrant Surge is Tied to the Failure of NAFTA : The trade agreement left rural and urban Mexicans worse off than they'd been." that makes tons of sense. Is it the total reason for increasing illegal immigration? Certainly not, with me arguing plentyis due to the desire of American businesses and individuals wanting to get super low cost labor in a hyper-competitive environment. If Bu$hCo will not enforce then what do we expect? What NAFTA (and now CAFTA?) does for rural areas and low skills workers across the border in the U.S. is also less than what was promised. Mr. Ruiz argues for a better approach. Peace ... or War!

WV Dem steps aside from House Ethics post in response to allegations made by partisan group

The lovely and talented Georgia10 at Kos blogs "Mollohan Temporarily Steps Down" tackling the ethics allegations facing Rep. Allan Mollohan. This West Virginia Congressman is the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee but he has temporarily stepped aside until the charges leveled at him can be resolved. The contrast between the ReThuglicans is significant as is the apparent partisanship of the National Legal & Policy Center. Right wing machine at work here as a 501(c)(3) that is clearly partisan. Beats me if Mollohan has been up to monkey business. If he has, then boot him for certain. Yet removing him immediately demonstrates some wise and right thinking. And given the corruption of the K Street GOP and the Bu$hCo cabal I'd not want to start down this road if I were Karl Rove. Peace ... or War!

"Why don't we just bomb them?" or "Nuke 'em!"

A scary amount of my students over these last few years have felt the best way to solve our geo-political concerns would be to just kill and destroy. The overwhelming majority of this type of kid has been a very weak student and often a behavior concern to boot. This media files (I used the WMV versions) "Let's Bomb Iran" is very cute and yet I fear it might be that life imitates art. At the bottom of the page you can find "Freedom Hate" that has some tough images as well. It does show the many innocents that have been harmed by Bu$hCo's misguided war. Peace ... or War!

Bu$hCo - We've Got to Laugh to Keep from Crying!

At worst about thirty something months are left of the worst administration ever. I'd never suggest the damage is done with this cabal. Truly Dubyah reminds me of of one of the hands we briefly had working around the farm when I was growing up. Right before my old daddy checked out, he recalled him with, "That son of a bitch could break an anvil!". I can remember my old man cussing Nixon and Reagan and figure if cancer had not killed him then Bu$h would. Check out Will Ferrell doing Bush giving a global warming talk out at the ranch. Tip of the tam to Linda! If he wasn't such a disaster, we'd miss old shrub simply for comedic value. Also, in this case I figure art imitates life. Peace ... or War!

Bu$h - I Am The Decider ... Koo-Koo-Kachoo

This is an instant classic. Enjoy. Peace ... or War!

The "Common Good" Can Roll Away The Stoned!

The post below might make the "stoned" make sense. Michael Tomasky in The American Prospect gives us "Party in Search of a Notion" where he ends with,

We are not in a Depression-like crisis, perhaps; but thanks to the efforts of the Bush administration we are on the precipice of several crises, and it’s not just liberals who recognize this. Many of our fellow citizens, bitterly disappointed by a leadership in which they had placed an extraordinary amount of trust back in September 2001, recognize it, too.

The Democrats must grasp this, kick some old habits, and realize that we are on the verge of a turning point. The Democratic left wants it to be 1968 in perpetuity; the Democratic center wishes for 1992 to repeat itself over and over again. History, however, doesn’t oblige such wishes -- it rewards those who recognize new moments as they arise. It might just be that the Bush years, these years of civic destruction and counterfeit morality, have provided the Democrats the opening to argue on behalf of civic reconstruction and genuine public morality. If they do it the right way, they can build a politics that will do a lot more than squeak by in this fall’s (or any) elections based on the usual unsatisfying admixture of compromises. It can smash today’s paradigm to pieces. The country needs nothing less. The task before today’s Democratic Party isn’t just to eke out electoral victories; it’s to govern, and to change our course in profound ways.

Leadership of the Deocratic Party will no doubt have to be prodded along by the Progressive community. If they will not lead, however, we'll just make them get the hell out of the way. Peace ... or War!

The Bu$hCo Administration Gets Totally Stoned!

While I've always thought they were smoking something, that is not what I reference. Rolling Stone give historian Sean Wilentz ink for "The Worst President in History? One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush". The work seems very well reasoned and written from an inital glance. In part Dr. Wiletz writes,

Bush came to office in 2001 pledging to govern as a "compassionate conservative," more moderate on domestic policy than the dominant right wing of his party. The pledge proved hollow, as Bush tacked immediately to the hard right. Previous presidents and their parties have suffered when their actions have belied their campaign promises. ... The heart of Bush's domestic policy has turned out to be nothing more than a series of massively regressive tax cuts -- a return, with a vengeance, to the discredited Reagan-era supply-side faith that Bush's father once ridiculed as "voodoo economics." ...

The one noncorporate constituency to which Bush has consistently deferred is the Christian right, both in his selections for the federal bench and in his implications that he bases his policies on premillennialist, prophetic Christian doctrine. ... But no president before Bush has allowed the press to disclose, through a close friend, his startling belief that he was ordained by God to lead the country. The White House's sectarian positions -- over stem-cell research, the teaching of pseudoscientific "intelligent design," global population control, the Terri Schiavo spectacle and more -- have led some to conclude that Bush has promoted the transformation of the GOP into what former Republican strategist Kevin Phillips calls "the first religious party in U.S. history." ... Far from being the conservative he said he was, Bush has blazed a radical new path as the first American president in history who is outwardly hostile to science -- dedicated, as a distinguished, bipartisan panel of educators and scientists (including forty-nine Nobel laureates) has declared, to "the distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends." ...

By contrast, the most scandal-ridden administration in the modern era, apart from Nixon's, was Ronald Reagan's, now widely remembered through a haze of nostalgia as a paragon of virtue. A total of twenty-nine Reagan officials ... The full report, of course, has yet to come on the Bush administration. Because Bush, unlike Reagan or Clinton, enjoys a fiercely partisan and loyal majority in Congress, his administration has been spared scrutiny. ...

History may ultimately hold Bush in the greatest contempt for expanding the powers of the presidency beyond the limits laid down by the U.S. Constitution. There has always been a tension over the constitutional roles of the three branches of the federal government. The Framers intended as much, as part of the system of checks and balances they expected would minimize tyranny. ... By contrast, the Bush administration -- in seeking to restore what Cheney, a Nixon administration veteran, has called "the legitimate authority of the presidency" -- threatens to overturn the Framers' healthy tension in favor of presidential absolutism. Armed with legal findings by his attorney general (and personal lawyer) Alberto Gonzales, the Bush White House has declared that the president's powers as commander in chief in wartime are limitless. No previous wartime president has come close to making so grandiose a claim. More specifically, this administration has asserted that the president is perfectly free to violate federal laws on such matters as domestic surveillance and the torture of detainees. When Congress has passed legislation to limit those assertions, Bush has resorted to issuing constitutionally dubious "signing statements," which declare, by fiat, how he will interpret and execute the law in question, even when that interpretation flagrantly violates the will of Congress. ...

In those instances when Bush's violations of federal law have come to light, as over domestic surveillance, the White House has devised a novel solution: Stonewall any investigation into the violations and bid a compliant Congress simply to rewrite the laws. Bush's alarmingly aberrant take on the Constitution is ironic. One need go back in the record less than a decade to find prominent Republicans railing against far more minor presidential legal infractions as precursors to all-out totalitarianism. ...

Bush seems to think that, since 9/11, he has been placed, by the grace of God, in the same kind of situation Lincoln faced. But Lincoln, under pressure of daily combat on American soil against fellow Americans, did not operate in secret, as Bush has. He did not claim, as Bush has, that his emergency actions were wholly regular and constitutional as well as necessary; Lincoln sought and received Congressional authorization for his suspension of habeas corpus in 1863. Nor did Lincoln act under the amorphous cover of a "war on terror" -- a war against a tactic, not a specific nation or political entity, which could last as long as any president deems the tactic a threat to national security. ...

The president came to office calling himself "a uniter, not a divider" and promising to soften the acrimonious tone in Washington. He has had two enormous opportunities to fulfill those pledges: first, in the noisy aftermath of his controversial election in 2000, and, even more, after the attacks of September 11th, when the nation pulled behind him as it has supported no other president in living memory. Yet under both sets of historically unprecedented circumstances, Bush has chosen to act in ways that have left the country less united and more divided, less conciliatory and more acrimonious -- much like James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover before him. And, like those three predecessors, Bush has done so in the service of a rigid ideology that permits no deviation and refuses to adjust to changing realities. Buchanan failed the test of Southern secession, Johnson failed in the face of Reconstruction, and Hoover failed in the face of the Great Depression. Bush has failed to confront his own failures in both domestic and international affairs, above all in his ill-conceived responses to radical Islamic terrorism. Having confused steely resolve with what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "a foolish consistency . . . adored by little statesmen," Bush has become entangled in tragedies of his own making, compounding those visited upon the country by outside forces.

Basted, baked, and stoned! Worst Administration ever! I want my country back! Peace ... or War!

Update - Mark Morford of The San Francisco Chronicle gives us "Chips down, Bush prepares a Hail Mary bet". Shrub gambling with our planet is a bad bet anyday. This is some sweet writing, even if it is so frightening.

Carl Bernstein - Why Old School is the New Cool

Looks like "Woodstein" is dead. Bob Woodward has been a Bu$hCo apologist and perhaps worse for some time, more interested it seemed in selling and shilling than his past might have suggested. A terrible ending for this once icon of journalism. Yet, the later half of this duo has again demonstrated his talent for analysis and reporting and writing and ...

I just saw Carl Bernstei on Keith Olbermann's Countdown with MSNC now reporting "Carl Bernstein calls for probe of Bush - Journalist urges Watergate-style investigation in Senate". This substantial Vanity Fair Roundtable article explains his reasoning (You true believers still remember anything about the Enlightenment?) and drawing comparisons to the Nixon White House. Hardly the new "we report and you decide" style where those shilling aren't challenged. Of course Bernstein, unlike Old Buddy Bob, doesn't get access to Bu$hCo.

Old school reporting might vanquish the talking points and spin. I'm sure Rover is loosening the attack dogs as we speak. This ought to be good. Peace ... or War!

Rudy, Rick, Ralph and the Right - Family Values!

Rudy, “So you think you’re better than me?” New York’s Rudolph Giuliani will headline a fundraiser for ex-Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed in the near future. Georgia GOP Governor Sonny Perdue, who just signed the nation's toughest lgislation limiting illegal immigrants access to certain social services, might ask you about how to deal with Mexicans given your expertise. $4.3 million worth of expertise. Rudy is reportedly leaning toward entering the Presidential race. Just this past Sunday, Rudy was rejected by America’s Favorite Fundamentalist Jerry Falwell with the Reverend sanctimoniously saying "irreconcilable differences on life and family” made it impossible to support him in 2008.

This was after Rudy had just helped Pennsylvania incumbent Senator Rick Santorum with an appearance. Senator Rick is well known as “one of the finest minds of the thirteenth century” plus he is a charitable man toward his family and friends, and his friends attempt to be charitable toward Rick.. And folks are loving their Rick with $9 million raised just in the first quarter. A 2 to 1 advantage over Casey in funding but he’s trailing by double digits. The Big Mules might have to turn loose some serious change. Or call Diebold? When Tony Soprano mentions you, as “Senator Sanatorium”, I guess you can understand why Rudy might think he needs to be involved. Looking at Ralph’s gambling with graft and Rudy’s family values, I see a perfect representation of the GOP. Talk one thing and do another. And the Democrat kewl kids lets KKKarl paint the left as the ‘flip-floppers”!

It is unknown whether Rudy’s boy Bernie Kerik is attending. Giuliana might have a former mistress and now wife with him to demonstrate his family values. Rudy is trying to demonstrate to the Righteous his bona fides, sort of like old Straight Talk McCain. Cozy up to Bu$hCo Senator while you are at it Sailor. As an aside, does anybody remember the S&L scandals and Senator McCain? When these corrupt and hypocritical goobers enter the race, as the polls and pundits seem to suggest will happen, Rudy is perhaps hoping the true believers will remember and the balance of the balanced will forget. Fuhgetaboudit Mister Mayor! Peace … or War!

Progressivism in Dixie - Papers and Party Scolded!

Yesterday at Captain Bama I blogged on the North Alabama teacher that showed a video comparing President Bu$h to an "asshole" to his 8th grade science class. Long post but I tried to raise issues and solutions as I examined the incident and motivations.

Today I looked worked toward education and poverty/class from three editorials from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and one especially dreadful piece in The Birmingham News. Captain Bama has the post under Educating the Haves & Have Nots Plus the Tools.

I then went after reporting in The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer on Alabama's uncompetitive U.S. Congressional races when the GOP shills and other "sources" did not really get it all right. While it might not have been the Alabama Democrat Chairperson's fault it seemed to me this would have been a good opportunity to lay into the ReThuglicans. I worked off the Jarding and Saunder's book of course in labeling the post How to Run These Foxes Out of Our Henhouse!

Lot's of angst today. Frustrations that things might very well continue in this direction makes me a touch sad. Peace ... or War!

Gray Lady Bitch Slaps WaPo Editorial Board

The New York Times explains why The Washington Post got it so wrong in their recent "A Good Leak" editorial. WaPo Ombudsman Little Debbie tried to explain this disaster of an editorial with "Two Views of the Libby Leak Case" by writing that it left readers confused and then somewhat showing her own confusions and/or contortions. "A Bad Leak" explains

President Bush says he declassified portions of the prewar intelligence assessment on Iraq because he "wanted people to see the truth" about Iraq's weapons programs and to understand why he kept accusing Saddam Hussein of stockpiling weapons that turned out not to exist. This would be a noble sentiment if it actually bore any relationship to Mr. Bush's actions in this case, or his overall record.

Mr. Bush did not declassify the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq — in any accepted sense of that word — when he authorized I. Lewis Libby Jr., through Vice President Dick Cheney, to talk about it with reporters. He permitted a leak of cherry-picked portions of the report. The declassification came later.

And this president has never shown the slightest interest in disclosure, except when it suits his political purposes. He has run one of the most secretive administrations in American history, consistently withholding information and vital documents not just from the public, but also from Congress.

Simple enough and far more responsible than how the Post "opined". The Gray Lady is hardly doing everything it can to restore their reputation but this is how they can begin.

Nobody expects perfection from the press yet democracy requires some measure of basic reporting of complex issues. Marty Kaplan at HuffPo, in examining the dreadful reporting on the My Left Wing blog by the WaPo, writes

It's a reminder that the press loves to cover politics the way it covers religion: it's all dogma, darlings. We report; you decide. And if not as religion, then as psychodrama: since, insanely, it's taboo to assess the validity of the claims being made, the media tell us everything about the motives behind the claims, and nothing about their merits.

We need some examination of the merits. This is especially so for busy and less sophisticated citizens that might not be able to dive into a subject. The Right has been working the refs for thirty years now and this what we've reaped. Add in corporate media's profit concerns and this is what we've got. Peace ... or War!