9/11 Conspiracies: A Reasoned Approach

Ernest Partridge examines the arguments set forth in the official version and the conspiracy theories. He finds both wanting:

"After many hours watching videos this weekend of long presentations by David Ray Griffin, Steven Jones and James Fetzer, several other videos both affirming and rejecting "the official version" (OV), and reading numerous articles, it appears to me that the OV of the destruction of the World Trade Center is not credible. Too many anomalies are not explained. A closer look at the conspiracy theories (CTs) indicates that these too can not be true. Too many improbable assumptions. Thus one must conclude that the 9/11 attack on the WTC never took place."

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0427-29.htm

House Dems Join GOP In Vote For Iran Sanctions/Regime Change

Why isn't there more attention to Wednesday's vote? In an overwhelming bipartisan effort---even opposed by the bush administration---the brain-damaged pimps we elected to the House passed legislation increasing sanctions against, and promoting regime change in, Iran. Doesn't anyone remember the prequel to the war in Iraq? What's wrong with John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Jack Murtha, Bernie Sanders, Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Maurice Hinchey, Charlie Rangel, et al., voting for this travesty? The most visible opponents were Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. At least John Sweeney did not vote.

Only 6 Republicans, including Paul, and 15 Democrats opposed the bill:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll105.xml

Can you imagine a more effective way to alienate and reinforce any administration of any nation than a legislated call for regime change? Do we need any more evidence of the mischief of sanctions than we saw in Iraq? And can we actually follow the same template here as in the march to war in Iraq?

Of the 432 congressmen in the House, can it be that only two higher-profile members are reliable in their support of the American Republic, ironically representing opposing political ideologies---progressive Kucinich and paleolibertarian Paul?

The story:

"Washington - The House on Wednesday approved legislation to tighten sanctions against Iran, rejecting administration arguments that tougher sanctions could be an obstacle to international efforts to prevent the Tehran government from developing nuclear weapons.

The bill, said House Majority Leader John Boehner of West Chester, sends 'a strong message that the United States expects Iran to be a responsible member of the international community.'
"...Supporters emphasized that the legislation does not authorize the use of force in Iran and was a proper response to the Tehran government's nuclear ambitions.

"...The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, in effect alters the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 10 years ago by strengthening sanctions against Iran while taking away restrictions on Libya, which is now cooperating with the West in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

"It states that weapons of mass destruction-related sanctions against Iran remain in effect until Iran has verified that it is dismantling its WMD programs. It requires that sanctions be imposed on any person who exports or supplies to Iran goods or technology that help Iran obtain WMDs.
...It denies U.S. aid to countries that are invested in Iran's energy sector, but gives the president the authority to waive such a ban on national security grounds.

"It also authorizes the president to provide assistance to peaceful pro-democracy and human rights groups in Iran.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/ispol/1146135411150090.xml&coll=2
These are the congressional findings set forth in HR 282, The Iran Freedom support Act:

(1) The United States and the international community face no greater threat to their security than the prospect of rogue regimes who support international terrorism obtaining weapons of mass destruction, and particularly nuclear weapons.
(2) Iran is the leading state sponsor of international terrorism and is close to achieving nuclear weapons capability but has paid no price for nearly twenty years of deception over its nuclear program. Foreign entities that have invested in Iran's energy sector, despite Iran's support of international terrorism and its nuclear program, have afforded Iran a free pass while many United States entities have unknowingly invested in those same foreign entities.
(3) United States investors have a great deal at stake in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
(4) United States investors can have considerable influence over the commercial decisions of the foreign entities in which they have invested.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&item=&&sid=cp109UnfB8&&refer=&&r_n=hr417.109&&dbname=cp109&&sid=cp109UnfB8&&sel=TOC_17206
Dejafrigginvu...

Murder In New York: The Stats

If you don't have a criminal record and an ex-spouse, you are practically guaranteed not to get murdered. 10 is the safest age. Of course, there are the very rare exceptions:

"'More and more, they seem to be the result of stupidity,' Lieutenant Cornicello said. 'Take the Potato Wedge Killer.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/nyregion/28homicide.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

Big Telecoms Win First Round On Web Neutrality

No surprise, with the corporate pimps in Washington, but the opposition vote was substantial. Stay tuned for next go-round, and write your congressmen.

"Telecommunications and cable companies scored a victory in the US Congress on Wednesday when a key House committee defeated plans for strict price controls on the high-speed networks that will form the next generation of internet connectivity.

"The House energy and commerce committee voted 34-22 on Wednesday to defeat a Democrat-sponsored amendment that would have prevented AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from charging more for priority access to the high-speed networks of the future. Despite the defeat, the debate on 'net neutrality' – the principle that all content providers should be treated equally on the internet – is far from over, say lobbyists, which pits big telecoms companies against giants of the internet content world, such as Google, Yahoo and eBay."

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f19179fa-d574-11da-93bc-0000779e2340.html

Are Clintonites Out To Get Curt Weldon?

Weldon was the champion of the Able Danger issue after 9/11, claiming a coverup. That would be embarassing to the Clintons, among others, for sure; does the Clintonites' extraordinary support of his Pennsylvania opponent, Democrat Joe Sestak, represent payback? Analysts of the 9/11 scenario may want to inquire further. Sestak is an interesting figure, not so progressive as I would prefer, but certainly more intelligent and with more detailed, reasoned positions than the average pol.

"High-ranking members of Bill Clinton's national security team have joined together to defeat Pennsylvania Republican Curt Weldon's House re-election bid this November - in what looks like retaliation for Weldon's efforts in exposing the Clinton administration's Able Danger scandal.
"In June 2005, Weldon went public with news that Clinton administration lawyers prevented the Defense Intelligence Agency's Able Danger group from blowing the whistle on two al-Qaida terrorists who would later pilot the planes that destroyed the World Trade Center.

"Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has given $500 to Sestak.

"Disgraced former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger has given Weldon's opponent $1,000.

"Disgraced ex-Clinton CIA director John Deutch gave $500.

"Former Clinton Navy secretary John Dalton ponied up $500 to defeat Weldon.

"Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta - $300.

"Berger's predecessor as national security adviser, Anthony Lake - $500.

"Even Hillary Clinton has gotten into the act, contributing $2,500 to defeat Curt Weldon."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/4/26/01529.shtml?s=et

Transcript of Weldon's 2005 House response to the 9/11 Commission:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20050917&articleId=965

Chicago City Council Outlaws Foie Gras

It's refreshing, for a change, to see some some politicians do something effective, however large or minute an issue this may be for you... Of course, the foie gras folks may not have an active lobby.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/4/27/90016.shtml?s=et

-Congressmen Feted By K Street-

 

A Government Of Corruption: Lobby Reform Dead

Your duly elected officials aren't even bothering with any meaningful lobby reform. It's disappeared as an issue: no more coverage on the nightly news of the moment, eclipsed by high gas prices, scary Mexicans rushing the border, and some drugged-out party girl and the guys she didn't recognize as animals. Here it is, the unvarnished fact of life---unabashedly admitted by the cheap political pimps we put in office---that since the voters don't care, they don't need to:

Rep. David L. Hobson (R-Ohio): "We panicked, and we let the media get us panicked."

Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.): "people are quite convinced that the rhetoric of reform is just political."

Jo Maney, spokeswoman for Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif): "Many members have told him [Dreier] that they are not hearing about corruption and lobbying reform at home. They hear more about immigration, gas prices."

Tracey Schmitt, press secretary of the Republican National Committee: "The Democrat party runs a real risk here of being the pot that calls the kettle black."

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch: "It's a reform bill in name only, and they're hoping no one will notice. The American people take the view that both parties are involved and there's not much surprising about it."

"The House is scheduled to vote today on ethics legislation to increase lobbyists' disclosures and require lawmakers to own up to the earmarks, or narrow projects, that they insert into appropriations bills. But the measure would not restrict the gifts or meals provided by lobbyists as House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) had proposed in January, nor would it expand the number of enforcers of lobbying rules and laws."

The hogs aren't even giving up the free slop at the trough.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR2006042602416.html?referrer=email

A Government Of Failure: FEMA And The Fools

Here we go again. The Senate findings on FEMA and Katrina are released, and guess what? We should replace FEMA with another beaurocracy, and to please w, we'll keep it in Homeland Security, under another incompetent political hack, except now the head will report to w during a crisis---who is even worse than the usual incompetent political hack. It's just in time for the new hurricane season too. Why do these idiots even bother?

"'We have concluded that FEMA is in shambles and beyond repair, and that it should be abolished,' Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a written statement released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which held 22 hearings, interviewed more than 320 people and reviewed more than 838,000 pages of documents.

"The report by the 16-member panel formally kicks off a frenzied effort by Congress to make fixes before the June 1 start of hurricane season. By framing the debate around FEMA's fate, the report defers to President Bush's request to not carve it out of the Homeland Security Department even as it faults his administration, among 24 findings, for failing to fund and coordinate disaster readiness efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and for emphasizing terrorism at the expense of natural disaster preparedness. The administration was also faulted for bungling the storm response...

"The Senate report is the only bipartisan national inquiry into the storm, which killed 1,330 people, displaced 1 million families, swamped 80 percent of New Orleans and led to a $100 billion federal response. House Democrats boycotted their chamber's effort, fearing a partisan whitewash, and called for an independent panel styled after the one that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. Afterward, several Democrats said its findings were complete, but should have called for Chertoff's removal."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR2006042602576.html?referrer=email

Breaking The Social Contract: Pensions

For most of the 20th c, Americans---from factory workers on up---could depend on a system of sustainable pensions by which they avoided an impoverished old age and dependency on children. In the present reality of a federally-facilitated concentration of wealth, pensions are discarded along with health care, job security, and dependable wages.

The war on the American middle class has seen two previous revolutions, whether remarked as such or not: the transformation of the two-wage-earner family, and the credit economy, aggravated by the rise in mortgage debt. Last year marked the first one in recent history when Americans earned a net deficit.

The social contract---the balance of benefits between labor and capital---is broken. No one can say certainly at what point in the equation the pain of labor tips the scale from the balance, nor whether there is any brake in the system---seemingly abandoned by the corrupted officials in Washington---to prevent social and economic collapse. One thing is clear: there is no free market to provide the normal checks and corrections.

"General Motors’ announcement that that it would no longer provide traditional pensions to its employees hired after 2001 was stunning because of its size. Yet GM is hardly alone in trying to pare down or eliminate conventional pensions. Every day, from healthy companies like Verizon to bankrupt firms like Delphi, there seems to be a new announcement. United Airlines, Bethlehem Steel, Motorola, Lockheed Martin, IBM, Hewlett Packard, along with many other pillars of our economy, have frozen their pension plans, insisting they cannot afford to keep their promises.

"...Are we really ready as a society to declare the end of retirement as we know it? In order to retire, must employees now bear all the costs and take all the risks? And at the very least, shouldn’t we have a serious, national conversation before we simply accept a major shift that will have such a significant impact on our economy and the quality of life in our country for generations to come?

"Traditionally, pensions were part of a three-legged stool of retirement: Social Security, personal savings and private pensions from employers. Each leg is essential to ensuring that Americans can retire without fear of being desperate or a huge drain on family, friends, church or community."

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/24/retirement_insecurity.php

10 Worst Corps Of 2006

BP heads this list. In addition to its Alaskan intrusions, the company's terrible safety record is noted:

"In March, 15 workers were incinerated, and more than 170 injured, following an explosion at BP's sprawling refinery in Texas City, Texas.

"It was the third fatal accident at the Texas City BP facility in the last four years.

"In September 2004, two workers were burned to death and another was seriously injured.

"In 2001, a maintenance worker at the facility died after falling into a tank that had been shut down. Nationwide, BP's facilities have had more than 3,565 accidents since 1990, ranking first in the nation, according to a 2004 report by the Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG).

"BP has admitted it was at fault in the Texas City explosion. 'We regret that our mistakes have caused so much suffering,' said Ross Pillari, president of BP Products North America..."

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0425-21.htm

Clinton's NAFTA Propels Mexican Immigration

Rarely publicized, NAFTA's effects on Mexico have been to depress wages, depress values of farm produce, and destroy local business. This article argues that the effects of CAFTA will drive even more Latin Americans north. Yeah, go ahead and vote for Hillary and the other party pimps if you want some more.

"NAFTA essentially annexed Mexico as a low-wage industrial suburb of the US and opened Mexican markets to heavily-subsidized US agribusiness products, blowing away local producers. Capital could flow freely across the border to low-wage factories and Wal-mart-type retailers, but the same standard of free access would be denied to Mexican workers.

"Meanwhile, with the planned Central American Free Trade Agreement with five Central American nations coming up, we can anticipate even greater pressure on our borders as agricultural workers are pushed off the land without positive, alternative employment opportunities. People from Guatemala and Honduras will soon learn that they can't compete for industrial jobs with the most oppressed people in say, China, by agreeing to lowering their wages even more. Further, impoverished Central American countries don't have the resources to deal with the pollution and crime that results from moving people from rural areas to the city, often without their families."

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0425-30.htm

-Does Not Promote Heart Disease, Apparently-

Have a half-dozen cups:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193070,00.html

Warning Signs: Shiite Miltias in Kirkuk

"KIRKUK, Iraq -- Hundreds of Shiite Muslim militiamen have deployed in recent weeks to this restive city -- widely considered the most likely flash point for an Iraqi civil war -- vowing to fight any attempt to shift control over Kirkuk to the Kurdish-governed north, according to U.S. commanders and diplomats, local police and politicians.

"Until recently, the presence of the militias here was minimal. U.S. officials have called the Shiite armed groups the deadliest threat to security in much of the country. They have been blamed for hundreds of killings during mounting sectarian violence in central and southern Iraq since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in February.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/24/AR2006042401560.html?referrer=email

Maliki: Another Hopeless Chapter

bush and his cronies have pushed the Iraqis further into a continuing bloodbath with the selection of a new fundamentalist Shiite prime minister:

"In the deal that brought Maliki to power, the Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, deigned to make a deal with the two Kurdish warlord parties that control the Kurdish enclave in the north, and with the Sunni fundamentalist religious bloc, the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood secret society. But pointedly they excluded both Mutlaq and Allawi. By including the Sunni fundamentalists, whose leaders got both a deputy president slot and speaker of the parliament, Maliki and the Shiites put their stamp of approval on the Lebanonization of Iraq. And by excluding the secular Mutlaq and Allawi, they made it clear that Iraq has no place for anyone who wants a united state with a strong central government."

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/24/a_paper_lid_on_iraqs_volcano.php

Hillary And The Wall

Now that she is advocating a wall, will Hillary wall-out Jesus? What will get her the most votes?

"In 2003, for instance, she proclaimed: 'I am adamantly against illegal immigrants,' saying the U.S. should consider implementing a national ID card to beef up border enforcement.

"But in 2005 she voted against a Senate bill that would have expanded illegal immigration detention centers and funded the hiring of new border patrol agents.

"Last month, Clinton condemned a House plan that racheted up penalties against illegals and included the construction of a border fence, saying it would 'criminalize even Jesus himself.'"

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/4/23/90825.shtml?s=et

Internet To Hit Politics Wednesday

This is not a well-written article, but it does update the political war headed for Congress Wednesday when the big telecoms take on the public interest groups:

"The FCC decision eliminated the rules that allowed users in the dial-up era to go online without any interference or influence from telephone companies about where users go on the Web or how well services would work. Under the new non-regulatory regime, anything is possible. Before, it was up to the consumer to determine how much to spend on Internet access, a little for dial-up, more for broadband. It was never a choice between a service that worked better or worse at the discretion of the telephone company. As we enter the high-speed Internet age, it will be a game without rules, with both consumers and service providers at the mercy of the telecom giants.

"The Big Boys want to keep it that way, and are working the congressional game with their usual combination of expertise and brute force to make sure it happens. On the other side is a coalition of public interest groups and non-profits bolstered by a coalition of large, but very inexperienced, online companies. Yahoo, Google and Amazon may be the darlings of the e-commerce world, but they are rookies when it comes to playing the Hill. The venue for this contest will be the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday, April 26, when the competing visions of the Internet will collide."

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/25/a_democratic_internet.php

Date Of The Beast: 06/06/06

You have been warned:

"For marketers, 666 has also become an ideal date — to launch movies, records, books and other products or events, particularly those with religious undertones. In the case of 20th Century Fox, which is responsible for the omnipresent apocalyptic ad campaign, it's a once-in-a-century opportunity to unleash the remake of 'The Omen,' about a couple and their devil incarnate spawn. For Crown Forum publishers, it's a perfect time to fan the flames of ideological controversy with the release of provocative author Ann Coulter's new book, 'Godless.' For certain musical groups, it is the date to release records and, in the case of heavy-metal legends Slayer, their Unholy Alliance Tour — Preaching to the Perverted."

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-omen24apr24,0,6768846.story?track=tottext

NY Times Decries Amendment On Cape Wind

Even the NY Times is editorializing against the Coast Guard authorization bill that would grant the Guard and Governor veto power over the project. Send some emails in support of the opposition Senators.

"Apart from its negative implications for the country's energy future, the amendment would create a terrible precedent by giving a single governor absolute veto power over energy projects in federal waters. And the fact that a few members of Congress can emerge from nowhere at the last minute to kill a project on which millions of dollars and countless hours have already been spent is almost certain to discourage entrepreneurs and investors from pursuing similar projects in the future.

"The Senate's two most influential members on energy policy, Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, will try to strip this amendment on the floor. Any senator who cares about this country's energy future — and who cares, too, for the idea of open debate — should join them.

"Apart from its negative implications for the country's energy future, the amendment would create a terrible precedent by giving a single governor absolute veto power over energy projects in federal waters. And the fact that a few members of Congress can emerge from nowhere at the last minute to kill a project on which millions of dollars and countless hours have already been spent is almost certain to discourage entrepreneurs and investors from pursuing similar projects in the future.

"The Senate's two most influential members on energy policy, Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, will try to strip this amendment on the floor. Any senator who cares about this country's energy future — and who cares, too, for the idea of open debate — should join them."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/opinion/24mon2.html?th&emc=th

The Hidden Engines Of Suburban Pollution

I know we should not be maintaining lawns. We are urged to turn them into plots of wildflowers or graze sheep, a la the 19th c. landscapes. And it is true that sheep manure is about as benign as manures can be. Even those of us who swore off weedkillers and petrofertilizers decades ago, are still using gas and polluting. How much, and what can be done about the pollution factor, is the subject of another California war:

"Gallon for gallon — or, given the size of lawnmower tanks, quart for quart — the 2006 lawn mower engines contribute 93 times more smog-forming emissions than 2006 cars, according to the California Air Resources Board. In California, lawn mowers provided more than 2 percent of the smog-forming pollution from all engines.

"But as soon as air pollution regulators suggested adding a golf-ball-size catalytic converter to the lawn mower, they found themselves in one of their fiercest political battles of the past decade."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/us/24lawn.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

An Eye On 13B Years Back

In a fascinating mix of science, economics, and national spirit---the very type of vision which contrasts the tawdry myopeia of our own political leadership---South Africa has christened an important new telescope:

"To its creators, the fanfare was befitting the event: The Southern African Large Telescope, or SALT, can see 13 billion years back in time, nearly to the big bang.

"With its 10-by-11-foot hexagonal mirror -- the largest of its type in the world -- SALT concentrates the faintest, most distant light in the universe. If a candle were to flicker on the moon, SALT could detect it.

"...More than a tool for astronomy, SALT also symbolizes the growing importance of science to South Africa's identity and economy. When the African National Congress won power in 1994, its leaders inherited a science infrastructure created by the apartheid government to sustain white minority rule. Isolated by economic sanctions, that government used science to promote self-sufficiency and defense, said Dhesigen Naidoo, deputy director general of South Africa's Department of Science and Technology: 'We decided to build on that but also to change the objectives.'"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/23/AR2006042300703.html?referrer%3Demail&sub=AR

-US "Embassy" In Baghdad-

Under construction... 

Who's Leaving Iraq?

Forget about "permanent military bases;" a rose by any other name...

"The message is clear. Indeed, it's gigantic for all Iraqis, for the entire world to see. A 100 acre compound – ten times the size of the typical U.S. embassy, the size of 80 football fields, six times larger than the UN, the size of Vatican City. The US Embassy Compound, in the middle of Baghdad – the center for US domination of the Middle East and its resources."

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/zeese.php?articleid=8885

-Bridge At Arnhem-

The John Frost Brug at Arnhem, province of Gelderland, Netherlands, was memorialized in the movie, A Bridge Too Far. Guilderland, NY, was named for the province, an acknowledgement of the heavy Dutch settlement of the area. It is interesting to note that the current publicity of Guilderland in the nationwide raid on illegal immigrant labor involves units of a Dutch conglomerate. 

Nationwide Crackdown On Illegals Started At Guilderland

The big sweep against the IFCO facilities---part of a Dutch conglomerate---which process loading pallets, followed preparations involving an undercover worker, insider tips, and interviews with former employee/s. The statistics are impressive. There were 40 raids in 26 states, 1200 workers arrested, and 7 managers charged. Of course, we will have to see---especially with respect to the prosecution of the firm managers---if IFCO is just a media fall guy in a PR campaign, or if the raids portend a meaningful federal response to the problem.

"Wednesday's raid at the plant in Guilderland was one of about 40 at IFCO facilities in 26 states. The operation offered a look into the shadowy world of businesses that the government says do more than turn a blind eye to hiring illegal immigrants: They make such workers part of the basic business plan.

"In IFCO's case, the government says, managers systematically recruited illegal immigrants — helping them procure false identification, assisting with transportation beyond the border, even coaching them on how to avoid trouble with the police. Then, the workers allegedly were given jobs in substandard conditions."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immig22apr22,1,5090230.story?page=1&cset=true&ctrack=1&track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-nation

Classy Quote Of The Day

"On behalf of the New York Police Department, I'm pleased to bring you the head of Dionysus."

---RAYMOND W. KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, after handing over part of a looted ancient statue to the Italian consulate.

Brzezinski On Iran: Don't do It

In a sound piece of analysis, he not only outlines the reasons not to attack Iran, but reviews our stupid actions already underway to destabilize the nation.

"The U.S. is already allocating funds for the destabilization of the Iranian regime and reportedly sending Special Forces teams into Iran to stir up non-Iranian ethnic minorities in order to fragment the Iranian state (in the name of democratization!). And there are clearly people in the Bush administration who do not wish for any negotiated solution, abetted by outside drum-beaters for military action and egged on by full-page ads hyping the Iranian threat.

"There is unintended irony in a situation in which the outrageous language of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (whose powers are much more limited than his title implies) helps to justify threats by administration figures, which in turn help Ahmadinejad to exploit his intransigence further, gaining more fervent domestic support for himself as well as for the Iranian nuclear program."

(And this incidentally comes a day or so after the little fraud in the white house sought intellectual rationalization for his mischief from the Hoover Institution.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-brzezinski23apr23,0,5644389.story?track=tottext

"Youth Will Not Save You"

A major effort to measure the political values of youth has been published. As one millenial writes, however:

"And more disturbingly, take a look at those 'Teen' Millennials (born between 1989-1993).

"Those are the kids whose defining political memories don’t even start until the Bush era, until 9/11. Teen Millennials are the most solidly anti-abortion of any group, the least likely to think invading Iraq was a mistake, and join the older Xers and Boomers in favoring a strict punishment approach to law-and-order issues and terrorism, government-mandated control of morality and increased electronic surveillance."

Halfway through the essay is a link to the text of the report. I would not overestimate the value of this research, which seems to me primarily to confirm that most of us, regardless of age, are political idiots whose awareness and behavior refer to very primitive emotional processes predicated on inherited capacities of group identification and their simplistic socialized values (read prejudices). We are no further evolved as a species than Gar-Agthel, who knew everything was fine as long as he was able to bash any of his rivals over the head with a club, and as long as his tribe killed and ate any none-Agthels they encountered.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/20/youth_will_not_save_you.php

-Plug For Lynne-

In the market for handmade crafts? Pass up the big stores and give your business to a craftsperson who is also a very fine human being; view a selection of Lynne's quilts at: http://stores.ebay.com//Under-Cover-Quilts

Louisiana Dems Outpro Prolife

Their draconian legislation may be largely symbolic, and this is south of the Potomac, but it is still a chilling reminder of where too many Democrats have lodged their microcephalic concerns:

"Senate Bill 33 by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, cleared the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare after the provision was added. The bill would allow abortions only to save the life of the mother. But Sen. Diana Bajoie, D-New Orleans, said she wanted to 'make it more pro-life' by not allowing any exceptions.

"She did not offer the amendment but served notice she will on the Senate floor, where Nevers is expected to take up the bill next week. 'I do have some concerns about this bill,' Bajoie said. 'It should be all or nothing. . . . Life is life.'

"Nevers said he will work with Bajoie to 'get as much of a pro-life bill as I can.'"

http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1145516679278430.xml?nola

Progressive Democrats Facing Extinction

Two more under-reported instances of top Dems moving right some more.

Howard Dean, at Tuesday's Monitor breakfast (and the oge had to go to the Washington Times---ugh---for this):

"'The first thing we want is tough border control,' (Dean) said. 'We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done.' Republicans reacted with surprise to Mr. Dean's announcement, which puts the DNC chief's views at odds with those of many Democrats in Congress. 'If Dean means what he says about border enforcement, that would put the Democrats somewhere to the right of President Bush on immigration,' said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican."

Hillary and Reid find common ground on reducing abortions:

"As two senators on opposite sides of the abortion debate, we recognize that one side will not suddenly convince the other to drop its deeply held beliefs. And we believe that, while disagreeing, we can work together to find common ground. We believe that it is necessary for all Americans to join together and embrace policies that will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, decrease abortions and improve access to women's health care.

"There is no question that the rate of unintended pregnancy is too high in the United States.
Half of the 6 million pregnancies each year in this country are unintended, and nearly half of these unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. It doesn't have to be this way."

Read the subtexts.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060420-121647-1179r.htm

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=472621&category=OPINION&newsdate=4/18/2006

FBI Seeks Jack Anderson Files

If they had reasonable cause to believe the files actually contained material relevant to an active prosecution, maybe you could understand it, but the caveat "as well as any" kind of kills it. Government-by-secret. Neat. right.

"The family of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson yesterday rejected a request by the FBI to turn over 50 years of files to agents who want to look for evidence in the prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists, as well as any classified documents Anderson had collected.

"Kevin P. Anderson, son of the storied Washington-based writer, said the family is outraged at what it calls government overreaching and 'a dangerous departure' from First Amendment press protections, a stance joined by academic and legal experts."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041800961.html?referrer=email

Idiot Babbling Of The Day: "I'm The Decider"

"I'm the decider, and I decide what's best," Mr. Bush said in the Rose Garden. "And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/washington/19rumsfeld.html?th&emc=th

Tax Whores Of The Decade

Why don't the hogs in Washington just take all our money now?

"MUCH TO THE chagrin of the White House and the GOP leadership, lawmakers didn't get a new round of tax cuts done in time for tax day today. But when Congress comes back from its recess, it's expected to take up a deal to extend President Bush's capital gains and dividend tax cuts. To make their budget-busting tax policy appear less costly than it is, the lawmakers are resorting to a gimmick that is even more egregious than their usual tactics.

"...Bottom line: A Senate rule designed to make it harder to increase the deficit would be circumvented with a maneuver that would end up increasing the deficit. And a tax cut for wealthier Americans that would cost $50 billion over 10 years would be "paid for" in part by another tax cut for the well-off, which would end up costing billions more. That's amazing -- even from this Congress."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041600685.html

Tax Whore Of The Year

OK, I'm sure he's not the only multimillionaire or billionaire to take advantage of this cyncial legislation, but he's the most conspicuous:

"It appears that the VP is a major beneficiary of the Hurricane Katrina tax relief act. In particular, he claimed $6.8 million of charitable deductions, which is 77% of his AGI - well in excess of the 50% limitation that would have applied absent the Katrina legislation. The press release indicates that the charitable contribution reflects the amount of net proceeds from an independent administrator's exercise of the VP's Halliburton options - apparently, the VP had agreed back in 2001 that he would donate the net proceeds from the options to charities once they were exercised."

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2006/04/kirsch_cheney_t.html

Fox And The Guest Worker Industry

An under-appreciated fact of immigration---in whatever stage of legality---is the money wired back home. It is in Vicente's interests to export to us as many guest workers as he can, in the simple expectation of the funds they will wire home. That sliver of discretionary expenditures---small on the individual level---after all the exploitation, leaves the US economy by the annual billions:

"Mexico's annual remittance inflow has doubled since 2002 and reached $20 billion last year, second only to petroleum as a generator of wealth for the country.

"Other developing nations also depend heavily on their migrants' money. Brazilian laborers in Japan send home more than $2 billion a year, out-earning their country's coffee exports. Remittances bring in more than tea exports do in Sri Lanka and tourism does in Morocco. In Jordan, Lesotho, Nicaragua, Tonga and Tajikistan, they provide more than a quarter of the gross national product. Remittance income is growing fastest in Eastern Europe, a trend that quickened as Britain and Ireland eased curbs on the entry of migrant laborers from the 10 countries embraced in the European Union's eastward expansion in 2004."



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-remit16apr16,0,6081387.story?track=tottext

-Plug For Ms. Nunez' Latest Novel-

This is Elizabeth Nunez' sixth novel, set, as is much of her earlier work, in the evocative landscapes of her native Trinidad. She is a fine story teller, weaving character, culture, and geography into tapestries of rich texture. She is also a former colleague and friend with whom the oge traversed the later 60's. Visit her website:
http://authors.aalbc.com/elizabet.htm

Lugar And Feinstein For Direct Talks With Iran

Yeah, that's Republican Lugar and war profiteer Feinstein. You know they must be worried about the little nitwit.

"WASHINGTON -- Sen. Richard Lugar, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and three Democratic colleagues called Sunday for direct U.S. talks with Iran about its disputed nuclear program, in part to address global concerns about energy supplies.

"'We need to make headway diplomatically,' Lugar of Indiana said on ABC's 'This Week' program.

"Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Dianne Feinstein of California also endorsed talks."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060417/NEWS07/604170403/1009

Outrageous In The Extreme

"Exxon Mobil is sending retiring CEO and chair, Lee Raymond, off to his golden years with one of the most lavish exit packages in history, a bonanza worth an estimated $398 million total, according to news reports last week.

"No honest measure of Raymond’s personal 'performance' can justify this unconscionable windfall. Exxon’s record-breaking $36 billion in annual profits last year had far more to do with refinery bottlenecks, politically-driven tax breaks and geopolitical events than managerial effectiveness.

"Payouts as immense as Lee Raymond’s reveal that the many corruptions of corporate governance have hardly changed since Enron collapsed into bankruptcy. Corporate boards are continuing to fail what Warren Buffett has called the 'acid test' of corporate governance reform—the need to confront skyrocketing executive pay ."

Of course, some analysts note that he did happen to lead one of the most politically mischievous and environmentally wicked corporations in the world.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/17/legacy_of_an_exxon_ceo.php

Widening Income Disparity Threatens Japan Too

Like this should be a surprize in the new global economy:

"Today, in a country whose view of itself was once captured in the slogan, '100 million, all-middle class society,' catchphrases harshly sort people into 'winners' and 'losers,' and describe Japan as a 'society of widening disparities.' Major daily newspapers are running series on the growing gap between rich and poor, with such titles as 'Divided Japan' and 'Light and Darkness.'

"....Reaganesque policies of deregulation, privatization, spending cuts and tax breaks for the rich helped lift the national economy, but at a social cost that Japan's 127 million residents are just beginning to grasp."

Supporting trickle-down economics is an easy decision; are you the trickler or the tricklee?

"'...It's trickle-down theory,' said Toshiaki Tachibanaki, an economist at Kyoto University, who argues that Mr. Koizumi's policies have widened social disparities. 'Rich people should be helped so they will contribute to the economy.'"

Riots? If the young workers aren't brain-dead, like their counterparts here, there has to be an explanation:

"'The reason that there are no riots in Japan as in France is that most of these young people live with their parents,' Mr. Yamada said, pointing out that even 12 percent of Japanese between the ages of 35 and 44 lived with their parents in 2004. With free housing and food, those with temporary jobs can still afford to pursue personal interests.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/world/asia/16japan.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD'S WAGGING TONGUES

Maybe it's because I have been reading Lacan, or maybe it's just the persistent encyclopaedic mentality of the 19th c, but lately, as we consider, along with the loss of so many plant and animal species, the loss of human cultures as well, it has seemed that preserving indigenous languages is the least we can do. Societies evolve and interact in a wide variety of ways, imposing, sometimes violently, submitting, exchanging, and borrowing. It is probably practical to view the language of a society as both the primary vehicle and depository of its experience.

The IPS reminds us, in passing, that the internet is another force that serves to promote homogeneity and to marginalize indigenous languages. As well as a force for democratization, it can be viewed as a major engine for the commodification of information.

If Bill Gates, capitalist and philanthropist, sought a constructive interface for his two faces, what better effort than to publish and maintain Microsoft in all 7,000 of the world's surviving languages? How do we get the suggestion to him?

"Around the globe there are some 7,000 languages in use, but each year 20 disappear. Furthermore, half of the existing languages are threatened, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). This agency, which promotes the preservation and diversity of the world's languages, maintains that the disappearance of even one language is a tragedy, because with it go a unique culture and cosmovision."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0414-04.htm

Attack On Middle Class: Federal Bill Weakens Pensions

What else would we expect from our friends in Congress, whose version of a free marketplace is government-support industry?

"Dallas Salisbury, president of the centrist think tank Employee Benefit Research Institute, predicted that the more restrictive funding rules 'would make it more likely that employers would freeze plans, [and] make it less likely that new plans will be formed.'

"The reforms could even give employers an incentive to under-fund plans in order to avoid paying out promised benefits, according to Christian Weller, an economist with the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. Offering corporations this escape hatch, Weller told The NewStandard, would make workers pay for their bosses' irresponsibility by 'punishing people who have no control over what happens to the pension plan.'"

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3052

Times Slimes Zinni

In its lead article on the revolt of the generals, the NYTimes speculated on some mixed motives, including:

"The criticism of Mr. Rumsfeld may spring from multiple motives. General Zinni, for example, is in the middle of a tour promoting a new book critical of the Bush administration."

Like, Zinni hasn't been following the same line for the past 6 years. It has to be the book. Good grief.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/washington/14military.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Mike Gravel To Run

He's the first to announce for the presidency:

"Gravel advocates a constitutional amendment and federal statue establishing legislative procedures for citizens to make laws through ballot initiatives on most national and local issues.

“'The American people are frustrated with the level of dysfunction of government,' Gravel said. 'And if you ask the American people, they want to be empowered. But people are giving their power away on Election Day to politicians.'

"He supports the Fair Tax, which would eliminate the IRS and all corporate and individual income taxes, replacing them with a 23% national sales tax on new goods and services."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0413-11.htm

--

Wind farm, Dan Nan, China 

Cape Wind Revisited

Greenpeace sees collusion with the oil industry in the legislation to kill the Cape Wind project, and reminds us that suicide-by-NIMBY is not quite a done deal.

"Oil industry lobbyists negotiated a last-minute backroom deal that could kill Cape Wind - America's first offshore wind farm. Only YOU have the power to stop them.

"Even President Bush has admitted that our nation is addicted to oil, and we need alternative energy. But Congress can't seem to get enough of the oil drug, or at least the financial contributions from the oil industry. Congress comes back to Washington in two weeks, and I hope they'll return to find a mountain of angry emails, faxes and phone messages."

Link to their action site to petition Congress:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/

WMDs: One More Lie Revealed

It may not be a big one in the landslide of lies that characterizes this wicked administration, but if you remember those bio trailers:

"On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile 'biological laboratories.' He declared, 'We have found the weapons of mass destruction.'

"The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

"A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101888_pf.html

-Seal Of The pOTUS-

 

Hersh On Iran

The oge told himself he wasn't going to do it---get into Hersh's New Yorker thing---but there's a lot of buzz, especially regarding the nuclear option, so you might as well have the link to the piece. And I guess, after all, it is Hersh.

"A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was 'absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb' if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do 'what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,' and 'that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.'”

Major looney tunes.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact

French Back Down Chirac And Global Capitalists

The French---of all people---in their continuing efforts to resist the efforts of global capitalists to throw them onto the lowest common denominator of economic wage competition---shame us.

"April 10 (Bloomberg) -- French President Jacques Chirac scrapped a labor law intended to reduce youth unemployment after two months of protests by union leaders and students.
Chirac replaced the law with a plan to curb joblessness among young people, which was 22.2 percent in February, more than double the overall rate of 9.6 percent, according to a statement he issued in Paris today.

"...Executives and economists say Chirac's inability to enact rules intended to encourage hiring and firing may deter investment and curb economic growth, which slowed to 1.4 percent last year.

"'Companies that may have planned to create jobs here are not going to do it,' said Marc Touati, chief economist at Natexis Banques Populaires SA in Paris. 'If companies don't feel France is going to be reformed, companies are going to go where the labor market is more flexible.'

"Touati said in an interview that strikes and protests will reduce economic expansion by at least 0.1 percentage point per quarter this year. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts French growth of 0.5 percent in each of the first two quarters, lagging behind the 0.6 percent prediction for the dozen countries sharing the euro."

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=a.sXNYrENjJ8&refer=home

-Plug For Lynne-

"Adirondacks" is another oge favorite from Lynne's original photographs, available as handsome notecards in shops throughout Brooklyn, or email her at: ljlasla@verizon.net









Support local arts and crafts.

Jason Leopold Updates Plame-Wilson---

I think he makes a couple minor assumptive leaps (which may turn out to be accurate), but Leopold lays out some new information and fills in some gaps in the timeline:

"In early June 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Bush and told him that CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson and that she was responsible for sending him on a fact-finding mission to Niger to check out reports about Iraq's attempt to purchase uranium from the African country, according to current and former White House officials and attorneys close to the investigation to determine who revealed Plame-Wilson's undercover status to the media.

"Other White House officials who also attended the meeting with Cheney and President Bush included former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, her former deputy Stephen Hadley, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove.

"This information was provided to this reporter by attorneys and US officials who have remained close to the case. Investigators working with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald compiled the information after interviewing 36 Bush administration officials over the past two and a half years.

"...Details of President Bush's involvement in the Plame Wilson affair came in a 39-page court document filed by Fitzgerald late Wednesday evening in US District Court in Washington."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041006Z.shtml

---And Specter Calls For White House Disclosure

"WASHINGTON - President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney need to explain what classified information was authorized to be leaked to reporters in July 2003 and why, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday.

'''I think that there has to be a detailed explanation precisely as to what Vice President Cheney did, what the president said to him and an explanation from the president as to what he said so that it can be evaluated,' Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said of last week's revelation in a court document that Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, testified that Cheney told him Bush approved leaking parts of a classified document about intelligence estimates of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

"Specter said on Fox News Sunday that he had heard Sunday morning about a report, first published by the Associated Press, that a lawyer close to the case said Bush 'didn't tell the vice president specifically what to do but just said get it out.'''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/14305440.htm

What Were They Thinking?

You have to weep over this one:

"SEATTLE — After spending 15 days inside a cargo container shipped from Shanghai, 18 men and four women were discovered early Wednesday at the Port of Seattle. The stowaways made the arduous journey in the hopes of finding work here, officials said.

"All 22 people, said to be in their 20s and 30s, were apparently in relatively good health after surviving the trip in the 40-foot container stacked on the cargo ship Rotterdam.

"The container was equipped with water bottles, food, blankets, battery-operated lights and a makeshift toilet, said Michael Milne, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Milne said the Chinese citizens were part of a smuggling operation."

At least these poor souls, doubtless drained of any family savings and effectively indentured for years, survived the passage.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-smuggle6apr06,0,775362.story?track=tottext

Cherokee Moral Of The Two Wolves

Thanks to M for bringing this one to our attention:

"One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two "Wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

"The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

"The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'"

http://www.aaanativearts.com/article658.html

The Mother Of All Company Stores

If you have never seen the remnants of this century's commercial communitites---housing and stores built, owned, and operated by the large factories or mines at their hub, then this newest version may present a shocking paradigm. What is certainly shocking is its scale:

"WEST JORDAN, Utah (AP) -- It's a development plan that will take more than 50 years from start to finish. A string of 'walkable' communities, expected eventually to house half a million people, is starting to rise on the nation's largest piece of privately owned land next to a metropolis.

"This mega-suburb, twice the size of San Francisco, will be the work of a mining company, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., which has no experience in real-estate development.

"The Utah company is a subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto, a mining multinational and avowed convert to environmentalism, which decided to make a showcase out of its surplus Utah lands instead of just selling them off for cookie-cutter subdivisions."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/07/new.town.ap/index.html

Klimt's Other Danae

1907/8. Not for your Grandmother's parlor.  

Committing Suicide-by-NIMBY

With no tears for the privateers involved, we note that the off-shore Nantucket wind farm is all but dead. While this may console some folks, and especially the wealthy ocean front owners spear-headed by Saint Bobby, they would do well to consider that:

1. Electric power generating plants are the major producers of CO2, ahead of transportation.
2. CO2 emissions have increased by over 20% since and despite enactment of clean air legislation.
3. Emission control is far below technical capacity, with few incentives to upgrade.3. Coal-fired plants in all major energy production operations are increasing as oil costs rise.
4. Like most Americans, the residents of Nantucket's environs are about as likely to embrace sufficient conservation measures as they are to accept aesthetic alterations to their seascapes.
5. Their backyards will be under brine in their lifetime. Repeatedly, if not finally.

"Senate-House conference committee has approved a measure that would effectively kill a proposal for the first large offshore wind farm in the United States, in Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod, Mass.

"The measure, an amendment to a Coast Guard budget bill, gives the governor of 'the adjacent state,' Massachusetts, veto power over any wind farm in the sound. Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, opposes the wind farm, and most of the candidates running to replace him in the election for governor this fall have also come out against it, as have most of the state's prominent politicians.

"The budget bill now goes to the full Congress, and members are expected to consider it after their recess.

"Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associates, the private company that proposed the wind farm, said the language that would kill it was inserted into the measure, without hearings or other public discussion, in an 'egregious abuse' of the legislative process."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/washington/08cape.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Buchanan On Kerry As Dove

Just as the insurgency executes one of its most horrific attacks on a Baghdad mosque, Pat Buchanan releases his analysis of John Kerry's newly-calculated antiwar position (we know Kerry is just a Davosian opportunist; of more interest, is a new party line on the war about to appear, especially since Dean just reaffirmed the same-o this week?):

"The 2004 Democratic nominee is calling for complete withdrawal of U.S. forces, if Iraqis do not agree on a unity government by May 15. Even if the Iraqis pull a government together, Kerry wants all U.S. forces removed by Dec. 31.

"The ice is cracking. With half the nation backing 'Bring-the-Boys-Home-by-Christmas,' Democratic support for getting out must be in the 60 percent range. Kerry is moving to the base of his party, not away from it. He is kissing the Joe Lieberman wing goodbye.

"His decision reveals a political calculation that the only way to take the nomination from Hillary is to move left, ride the antiwar horse, and rally the Hollyleft and True Believers.

"In this huge sector of the Democratic Party there has been a vacuum, filled only by Rep. John Murtha and Sen. Russ Feingold. Now, every Democrat who sees himself as the alternative to Hillary is going to have to ask himself: What is the benefit of hanging back and standing with the Bush-Rumsfeld-Rice-Cheney stay-the-course policy?"

http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=8823

The GrindStone: Looking To The 29th

Two weeks ago I was offended by David Corn's ridicule of the impeachment movement:

"...impeachment is a dream; it is so far-fetched a prospect that it raises questions about the sensibility and political judgment of anyone who suggests it be adopted as a real-life goal. A debating point, perhaps—but not an operating premise."

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/03/15/impeachable_strategy.php

I let it go because Corn generally has a lot of good to say and makes some sound points even in this essay, although I consider it fundamentally flawed and its publication ill-advised. Subsequently, in another piece, Corn attacked Woodward's narration of w's rush to war, and Woodward (who deserved a smack) replied with some very sound arguments rebuking Corn, to which Corn (who also deserved a smack) has replied, and hopefully both men have arrived at a better appreciation of their limitations.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=73408

This past week Scott Ritter posted on the Alternet blog a (in my opinion, profoundly flawed) essay pronouncing the collapse of the anti-war movement:

"In short, the anti-war movement has come face to face with the reality that in the ongoing war of ideologies that is being waged in America today, their cause is not just losing, but is in fact on the verge of complete collapse. Many in the anti-war movement would take exception to such a characterization of the situation, given the fact that there seems to be a growing change in the mood among Americans against the ongoing war in Iraq. But one only has to scratch at the surface of this public discontent to realize how shallow and superficial it is. Americans aren't against the war in Iraq because it is wrong; they are against it because we are losing."

He concluded in a fantasy of bellicose narcissism:

"I have indicated my willingness to apply my training and experience as a warrior in a manner which helps teach the principles of the art of war to those who call themselves part of the anti-war movement... I for one am ready to assist. However, in writing this essay, I am constantly reminded of the old saying, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.' One can only hope that the anti-war movement is thirsty."

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/34332/

Given the apparent frustration behind his hyperboles, I let that piece go too, consigning it to the bin of "posts better regarded as therapeutic exercises and better left unpublished." I did notice that a number of the posts to the blog started calling him on some of his points. Now, however, Cindy Sheehan has replied to it, and in doing so, again reminded us of how sound her insights generally are, and of how authentic her voice is:

"The anti-war movement is not on the 'verge of collapse' because we are not organized, or because we don't take a 'warrior's' view of attacking the neo-cons and the war machine using the tactics of Napoleon, or Sun Tzu - but because the two-thirds of Americans who philosophically agree that the war is wrong, BushCo lied, and the troops should come home will not get off of their collective, complacent, and comfortable behinds to demonstrate their dissent with our government."

"There are several opportunities for us to band together and show the illegitimate leaders of our country that we mean business.

"This April 12th to the 16th, even though George and family won't be coming to Crawford to celebrate Easter for the first time in years, we will be. We will be gathering at Camp Casey in support of our troops by calling for them to be withdrawn and brought back to their families as healthy and wholly as possible. As usual, everyone is invited down to Camp Casey and can get more information at www.GSFP.org

"Also, on April 29th, UFPJ is calling for a massive gathering in NYC to protest the war. I am issuing an invitation to everyone who is personally affected by this war, which is every last person in this country, to come out and visibly show this administration that you don't want to be abused by them anymore.

"Yes, Scott, the anti-war movement is collapsing into a Peace movement. We won't use the tactics of Napoleon, or your hero, Sun Tzu, we will use the tactics of our heroes: Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

"Nothing is gained by war, warlike tactics, or warriors, but destruction.

"Nothing is gained by doing nothing, either. Do something."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040606S.shtml

So there it is. And it really is that simple. Those of us who lived through the 60's should remember that almost all the social causes of the era received government redress only after massive demonstrations. It happened in the streets. After and before all the essays and postings, all the exhaustive dialoging about tactics, strategies, and issues, their relationships and hierachies, on thousands of blogs and listserves---as necessary as these are---Corn, Ritter, and we need to keep mindful that narrow, forceful focus is what we seek to achieve, in order to direct specific mobilization. It is beyond me, how, for example, we could turn out a massive protest communicating the subtleties of the global hegemony of American currency, but I have no problem advocating demonstrations against the very war that functions, among other things, to underpin that hegemony.

A million bodies massed on the mall get attention. As I have said before, 5 million would demand it. Immediately. There is no more effective way to remind the politicians in Washington of the source---and limits---of the representational power they wield. We grant it, and it is our job to control it. Hopefully, I'll see you in the big apple on the 29th.

-Hugo As V-

 

V/Vendetta Revisited

Going to see it is, in itself, political action; from J. Raimondo's review:

"Go see V for Vendetta, and remember this: by supporting a work of art that embodies your political and philosophical values, you are helping to fight the cultural rot that the War Party feeds on. There is a scene in the movie when Natalie Portman is going about her job at the BTN and passes a security guard watching some ridiculous 'reality' show. She asks, 'How can you watch that trash?' The contempt in her voice is clearly that of the authors of this script, who are acutely aware of the political consequences of entertainment as cultural 'soma.'

"...In short, I am thrilled to learn, via this movie and other cultural phenomena, that history has apparently not ended, at least in the cultural sense – and for that we should all breathe a sigh of relief."

Actually, Eminem's video for the eve of the 2004 election, was a parallel work in miniature. I wonder if Raimondo knows it?

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8809

Gonads Gone Amok: It's Hard Out Here---

---for a NY Times reporter pimping Justin Berry some more. OK, maybe that's a little rough, but how much?

The oge had promised himself he wouldn't say any more after Kurt Eichenwald published his piece in December. On the other hand, that was before they trucked this kid all over the place and into the halls of Congress, where we were treated to the spectacle of a bunch of old whores entranced by the smoothly narrated saga of Kurt's little camwhore, followed by a couple days of media whores repeating the whole thing and letting us know how shocked they were by the whoriness of it all. Just plain whored-out.

I don't care if Justin Berry has been re-baptized, re-born, reformed, affirmed, informed, and detoxed---he is still getting himself pimped, this time by his reporter-lawyer team, and that's without speculating on any publishers, producers, and publicists in the wings.

Eichenwald just missed the Pulitzer 5 years ago. Maybe he figures this will do it for him, rescuing the kid (who, by the way, was already 18, in his legal majority, and himself dealing with minors at this point), getting him off drugs, and hooking him up with a stellar lawyer who promptly began negotiating immunity in exchange for cooperation with law enforcement.

Motivating themes of the moment include saving other kids, shutting down enabling net operations, prosecuting predators, and highlighting the inefficiencies of the beaurocracies charged with policing the net.

From his humble beginnings, JB's been pimped as much as any Bangkok whore, by the predators from the net, by his father in Mexico, by the media and the netcops, and now, with his grand congressional tour, by the very masters of whoredom. It's Olympian pimping, as close to bearing Zeus' winecup as any 21st c kid can come. No wonder he's smiling. He's still doing what he knows best, god help him, but it's legal, in the daylight, and before the biggest audience in the world. Even mom's proud of him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/national/19kids.ready.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=aea51b3919b2361a&ex=1292648400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

-Hedy Lamarr-

Legal by a year or two. 

HOMELAND SECURITY GONADS GONE AMOK

Yeah, everyone's shocked. Like, pedophiles are from outer space or something. Sorry, you can't have it both ways. If there is $20B in internet child porn activity per year, then that translates into a lot of teachers, execs, cops, doctors, priests, and appliance repairmen. I mean, these guys are making a living somehow; you think there's a special career path out there for statutory pedophiles? No, some of them end up in Homeland Security. (Not that it isn't great to see the covers pulled on yet another official in the righteous bush administration.)

There's another thing. 99% of the time, the average guy should be able to conduct himself ("experience his sexuality" ugh) within the limits of today's statutes (at least, the statutes on books north of the Potomac). But that is not the same thing as the biological catchment. Evolution bestowed reproductional capacity on our species generally at the point of the early teens, and history is full of young girls being sent off to arranged marriages, which is neither good or bad in itself; we should not project contemporary sentiments. It is not just the economics of female commodification or the politics of hierarchy. There is an aesthetic factor. I suspect Garrg-Hrgh had a number of young females in his hut, as many as the taboos of his tribal relationships permitted their chief, and as his stone battle axe could safeguard. You, like the oge, may always have found mature, dulciter turgidae, gemina poma more alluring, but the biology of sex hardly precludes the little green apples apparently favored by saps like Brian J. Doyle. (The oge will confess that the most beautiful (screen) flesh he ever saw was that of 17-year-old Hedy Lamarr. I assume it was legal in 1932.)

In some of his fiction, Robert Heinlein foresaw a future in which the demands of technological society required formal education of its citizens into their thirties, deferring the adult stage of work and family. We can imagine that the law would accordingly extend the period of childhood from today's 16 (in many instances) to 18, 20, or beyond. Our present stations of socialization would appear equally extreme to a medieval villager.

The simple point is, when you start trapping internet predators with virtual victims represented as 14- or 15-year-old girls, you are going to net a lot of guys who pass for---and biologically may be---within our sense of otherwise normal, because you operating on a very flexible edge. Except legally. And that is where the social denial is evident, and where the problem needs clarification. This is a society in which millions of its citizens would still criminalize sodomy among homo- and heterosexuals. But it is also a society in which many midteens are having sex. And some of them probably are more emotionally equipped for sex than some of their elders. The law as we practice it, however, is generally ill suited to individualizing such instances.

The oge has no idea whether our Homeland Security sap prefers young children or adolescent girls; all we know from the details of the case at this point is that he thought he was involved with a 14-year-old girl. He was obviously pursuing his own fantasy. If we are generous and extend him the benefit of the doubt, this virtual creation represents the lower level of his preferred age-range, which would portray him as a lesser predator. It might even make him biologically (psychologically, if you will) normal---but under the law (and our morality) nonetheless criminal. Similarly, we don't know if an older teen (legal) who looked like a typical 14 (whatever that is) would satisfy him; are his urges governed by factors of power, by the physicality of his sex objects, or by the qualification of their illegality (breaking a taboo)?

In any event, one size rarely fits all. If we are going to invest the considerable resources of nation-wide law enforcement, including the FBI and Homeland Security, in chasing after a loose sense of child predators and pornographers, we have to get a lot more honest and a lot smarter. We are going to round up your family doctor, your daughter's teacher, cousin Bob, and the parish priest. It is past time to prioritize and discriminate among, sex offenders. We need to acknowledge that there may be a borderline normal biology in some if not many cases that is simply in conflict with the law. We need to determine if the net may in some cases substitute for actual encounters, or if the proliferation of media promotes undesirable behaviors.

Of course, for some moralists, the unfolding of an epidemic scandal is sufficient titillation in its own right. For others of us, however, the possibility of dealing with borderline predators as we do drunk drivers is tempting. Most drinkers have been socialized to understand that driving under the influence is wrong (illegal, costly, and dangerous), and they have modified their behaviors accordingly. There is no reason to think that a large number of men attracted to youngsters cannot be socialized in a similar way. Drunk driving was ignored for decades, dealt with humorously, and generally unstigmatized. In a sense, the widespread availability of child porn on the net may present a similar scenario rationalized by its consumers. We would do better to acknowledge the real scope and variety of the problem and address them responsibly---in front, rather than in reaction.

More on deputy press secretary Doyle:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/04/homeland.arrest/index.html

Quote For The Day

"Anyone who sits in the hand of King Kong is a movie star for life."

---David Lynch, advising Naomi Watts

http://www.buymagazine.com/default.aspx?loc=59403

Gonads Gone Amok: Teacher Has Sex With Student 28 Times Last Week

Yeah, it's possible. We're talking teenager here. The teacher's name is Rachel Holt and this went down in the Wilmington, Delaware area. And she isn't a Barbie blonde like her Florida colleagues. She kind of looks like Rosie O'Donnell on a very good day. So you know the dude was young. And yes, teachers having sex with male students---absent coercion---is not victimization to the same extent as the reverse scenario. Although it likely does not enhance the pedagogical experience in any case.

There is so much of this teacher sex these days that the oge will only report on those episodes offering interesting statistics or other unusual features.

http://www.cnn.com/

Ambiguous Quote Of The Day

" We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves."

---Howard Dean, 4/4/06, http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/04/delay_drops_out.php

Is Howie capable of these nuances? Is any of his aides or writers?

LA Confidential: Latest Pellicano Casualty

We don't know why the director hired the nasty little Hoover of Hollywood or what he found out, but the drama rolls on, with plenty of blanks to fill in. There must be a lot of guilty consciences and bad legal advice in them hills, for a racket like this to thrive.

"In a two-page charging document, federal prosecutors alleged that (John) McTiernan, 55, whose directing credits include 'Predator' and 'Die Hard,' lied about having hired Pellicano to wiretap veteran film producer Charles Roven.

"...McTiernan is the 14th individual charged in the burgeoning investigation of Pellicano, who is accused of directing a racketeering enterprise that unlawfully wiretapped and conducted illegal background checks on dozens of celebrities and executives, including actor Sylvester Stallone, comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon and real estate developer Robert Maguire.

"...With the investigation roiling legal and entertainment circles, the charge against McTiernan seemed to come from nowhere and indicates that the inquiry is rapidly developing new investigative avenues as prosecutors continue sorting through mounds of documents and hours of tape recordings seized from Pellicano's office."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pellicano4apr04,0,614051.story?track=tottext

Another Piece Of Crap To Quit Congress

Following all his recent braggadocio about winning his cases and election, DeLay is quitting. When you are standing in the middle of the landfill, waist-deep in garbage, it may be hard to tell what heap stinks the worst, but this is one of them. Let's hope the little tyrant quickly attains the rank of persona non grata among the right-wing media side shows, lecture circuits, and faith rackets.

The sludge hammer.

"DeLay, who faces money-laundering charges in his home state of Texas, said he would probably step down in May, apparently in response to polls showing that he risked losing his seat in congressional elections this fall.

"...DeLay's decision comes days after one of his former aides (Tony Rudy) pleaded guilty in the influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, also once a DeLay associate.

"...In 2004, DeLay, who was first elected in 1984, won with 55% of the vote. This year he would have faced a challenge from former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, a Democrat who lost his seat in a controversial DeLay-engineered redrawing of Texas congressional district boundaries."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-delay4apr04,0,4241805.story?page=1&track=tothtml

Zinni Calls For Rumsfeld's Ouster

The former Marine Corps general says all those mistakes were strategic, not tactical:

"Zinni, who headed the US Central Command from 1997 to 2000, was asked if anyone should lose their job over how Washington has managed its Iraq policy.

"'Secretary of defense to begin with,' he told NBC's 'Meet the Press' program.

"'Integrity and getting on with the mission and doing it right is more important than loyalty. Both are great traits, but integrity, honesty and performance and competence have to outweigh, in this business, loyalty.'"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060402/pl_afp/usiraqmilitary

Colleges (Begin To) Address Family Needs of Faculty

This should have been a no-brainer for a professional community that can (still?) afford it. Now, if only someone does not figure out how to make university faculties competitive on the global level, maybe the idea will spread. Next step? Maybe our universities will figure out the real price tags that come with federal contracts.

"Ohio State University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan and the University of California system in the past two years have improved such policies as family leave, part-time work and job-finding help for trailing spouses in dual-earner couples. Massachusetts Institute of Technology altered its policies in 2001."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06068/667764.stm

Fitzgerald Update: John Hannah Cooperating

While we still don't have a general acknowledgement of who leaked Plame's identity to Novak, Jason Leopold reports that Fitzgerald has known since early in the investigation. That was always a deductive likelihood, since Novak was never subpoened; most people assumed Novak cooperated with the investigation.

Leopold, however, adds some intrigue and explanation in claiming that Fitzgerald has had secret insider cooperation all along from John Hannah, a top NSA official loaned to Cheney's office by John Bolton. Indicating the bigger strategy to round up more officials, he also pinpoints the redirection of the investigation:

"But in early February 2004, a month after he started the investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald shifted gears and started to build a perjury and obstruction of justice case against White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby according to several attorneys close to the investigation.

"That month, Justice Department investigators working on the leak case approached a senior official in the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney who had been identified by witnesses as having played a major role in the Plame Wilson leak.

"The Bush administration official was given an ultimatum: either cooperate with the special counsel's probe or face criminal charges for his involvement in the leak, attorneys close to the case said."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040306Z.shtml

-Gore Vidal, 1948-

 

Vidal Has Come Home To Die

Let's hope there's enough fight left in him for a few more essays and interviews---and preferably, the essays.

"YOU hear Gore Vidal long before you see him, the steady tap-swish-tap of foot and cane on an upstairs landing in his sunny Spanish Colonial house in the Hollywood Hills; then there's the slow whir of a mechanical chairlift carrying the novelist-essayist-playwright-screenwriter downward. Vidal is 80, with an artificial knee, and in 2003 he left his Mediterranean aerie in southern Italy overlooking the Amalfi Coast — not far from where the sirens sang, and Odysseus sailed on — and returned to his sometime home in Los Angeles to live out the rest of his life.

"The 1-kilometer trek from the house in Ravello to the piazza became difficult, Vidal explains once he's settled into a floral print armchair in a drawing room that brims with books yet to be shelved, paintings wrapped in brown paper leaning against naked walls. 'I could walk it,' he says, 'but it takes me half a day. Also, I have diabetes. Also, the Cedars-Sinai years are here.'"

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-ca-vidal2apr02,0,2307822.story?page=1&track=tothtml

Brits Preview Long-Term Bases In Iraq

According to the Independent:

"The Pentagon says it has already reduced the number of US bases from 110 a year ago to a current total of around 75. But at the same time it is expanding a number of vast, highly defended bases, some in the desert away from large population areas. More than $280m (£160m) has already been spent on building up Al Asad air base, Balad air base, Camp Taji and Tallil air base, and the Bush administration has this year requested another $175m to enlarge them. These bases, which currently house more than 55,000 troops, have their own bus routes, pizza restaurants and supermarkets.

"...Some analysts believe the desire to establish a long-term US military presence in Iraq was always one of the reasons behind the 2003 invasion. Joseph Gerson, a historian of American military bases, said: 'The Bush administration's intention is to have a long-term military presence in the region ... For a number of years the US has sought to use a number of means to make sure it dominates in the Middle East ... The Bush administration sees Iraq as an unsinkable aircraft carrier for its troops and bases for years to come.'

Zoltan Grossman, a geographer at Evergreen State College in Washington, said: 'After every US military intervention since 1990 the Pentagon has left behind clusters of new bases in areas where it never before had a foothold. The new string of bases stretch from Kosovo and adjacent Balkan states, to Iraq and other Persian Gulf states, into Afghanistan and other central Asian states ... The only two obstacles to a geographically contiguous US sphere of influence are Iran and Syria.'"

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article355178.ece

Telegraph Discloses UpComing Brit Talks On Iran Strikes

The Telegraph reports high level talks are scheduled to begin tomorrow in London regarding air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. The paper suggests that strikes are not imminent, but may be inevitable.

"A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

"It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is 'inevitable' if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/02/wiran02.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/04/02/ixportaltop.html

Area 25 And The BioChemistry Of Depression

Helen Mayberg approached severe depression not as a deficit disorder but as a condition of localized over-activity in the brain; judging by the initial results for a select group of patients, it looks like she has found a way to throw the switch.

"Finally, in the spring of 2004, Deanna's psychiatrist at the hospital, Dr. Gebrehiwot Abraham, received a fax from a University of Toronto research team asking if he had an appropriate candidate for a clinical trial of a new, experimental surgery for treatment-resistant depression. The operation borrowed a procedure called deep brain stimulation, or D.B.S., which is used to treat Parkinson's. It involves planting electrodes in a region near the center of the brain called Area 25 and sending in a steady stream of low voltage from a pacemaker in the chest. One of the study's leaders, Dr. Helen Mayberg, a neurologist, had detected in depressed patients what she suspected was a crucial dysfunction in Area 25's activity. She hypothesized that the electrodes might modulate the area and ease the depression."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/magazine/02depression.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Pakistan Fighting Own Baluch Insurgents

In remote central regions, Pakistani forces are countering ethnic tribal insurgents. Traditional enmities are aggravated by disputes over local oil and gas resources.

"Armed resistance by Baluch nationalists has been a repeating occurrence since the birth of Pakistan in 1947, when tribal leaders, Mr. Bugti among them, only grudgingly joined Pakistan after having ruled independent territories under the British.

"The bitterness today is such that the tribal leaders compare the situation to the 1970's, when Bangladesh broke from Pakistan. 'If grievances have come to this level— that we do not mind if Pakistan disintegrates— then things are bad,' Mr. Marri, the rebel leader, said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/world/asia/02pakistan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

-GM Headquarters, Detroit-

 

DELPHI GOES FOR UAW's JUGULAR

Under pattern bargaining, the UAW negotiates the same contracts for both auto and parts manufacturers; Delphi's bankruptcy move for drastic reductions in jobs (60% of current stateside levels), salary, and benefits may preview the wars to come with GM and Ford. Delphi, secure in its dirty mantle of Ch. 11, is drooling; after all, it has big plans for "future global growth opportunities." The UAW and GM have maintained appropriately sober postures so far.

In any event, whether the judge sanctions or the union agrees to concessions, or whether the sides bring on a strike that will likely send the manufacturer/s into bankruptcy as well, we are seeing the further decimation of the American middle class. Domestic manufacturers may be faulted for pursuing short-term profits at the expense of flexible capacity, for dumb marketing, inferior quality, and social irresponsibility, and the UAW may have been short-sighted in settling for its share of the grab over the decades, but the federal government, corrupt to its gills in bending over for the global capitalists, has refused to support the public and our industries with common-sense relief, including a uniform national pension program, single-payer health care, and regulated international trade; the only question is, how much more will the American worker sacrifice? The masters may buy a little time if the Democrats sweep Congress, but their majority will not stop the bloodletting, and eventually the public will see its betrayal. The French have already taken to the streets in resisting the global denominator. Increasingly, it looks like American economic equality will be restored on blacktop and concrete as well.

"Although it has agreed to some modifications, particularly changes in health care coverage negotiated at G.M. and Ford last year, the U.A.W. has not granted pay cuts at a major auto company since it agreed to concessions with Chrysler in 1979 as part of its bid for a Congressional bailout. Those cuts were later restored."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/01/business/01delphi.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

"Appalled and Shocked" In Maryland

Regarding the legislative feeding frenzy of the Democratic majorities:

"I'm appalled and shocked," said Sen. Sandra B. Schrader, a moderate Republican from Howard County who sometimes votes with Democrats:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/31/AR2006033101531.html?referrer=email

Abramoff Affair Nets Another Staffer

Tony Rudy, DeLay's former deputy chief of staff, has pleaded in a deal that adds yet another witness to the prosecution's arsenal. The score card for felony pleas so far: Abramoff, his partner, Adam Kidan, Michael Scanlon, DeLay's former press secretary, and Rudy. The last plea also covered Rudy's wife. David Safavian, former chief of staff, General Services Administration, has not plead and awaits trial. Compared to the sums he helped direct, these other transactions are meatballs.

In any event, DeLay and Ney, at a minimum, have got to be looking at a net which increasingly is assuming the shape of a noose. And in this political world of almost unimaginable corruption, the oge notes that almost nothing of substance is happening to promote lobby reform. The neo obsession with the notion that reality is the creation of will, yields an arrogance and attitude of denial of Nietzchean proportions.

"Rudy, 39, agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation, which sources have said is scrutinizing the actions of half a dozen members of Congress, as well as of Capitol Hill staffers, other officials and Abramoff's business associates. The court papers for the first time formally refer to DeLay as one of those involved in the activities under scrutiny, listing him as 'Representative #2.' But though the papers show that Rudy traded on DeLay's name, they do not indicate that Rudy has evidence to implicate his former boss."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/31/AR2006033100638.html?referrer=email