Ethics Office For Hill Rejected

Ethics Office For Hill Rejected:
"A Senate committee yesterday rejected a bipartisan proposal to establish an independent office to oversee the enforcement of congressional ethics and lobbying laws, signaling a reluctance in Congress to beef up the enforcement of its rules on lobbying."

Of course, we may have to wait a while to find out. Obviously the current majority wants the status quo. Wait until the Abramoff trial hits. Then we may see some changes made. Let's hope!

Prosecutors Want Max for Ex-Congressman - Yahoo! News

Prosecutors Want Max for Ex-Congressman - Yahoo! News:

The staggering details of Cunningham's wrongdoing surpass anything in the history of Congress, Senate and House historians said. His bribes included a Rolls-Royce, a yacht, homes, travel, meals, $40,000 Persian rugs and antique furnishings.

'In the sheer dollar amount, he is the most corrupt,' said Deputy House Historian Fred W. Beuttler. 'The scale of it is unprecedented.'

Cunningham pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to tax evasion and a conspiracy involving four others. Defense contractor Mitchell Wade pleaded guilty last month to plying Cunningham with more than $1 million in gifts over four years.

Now that's grabbing for the gusto! I wonder who will be next to set the record?

Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore (Part II)

Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore:

'What has become of the American people that they permit the despicable practices of tyrants to be practiced in their name?' former Reagan administration official Paul Craig Roberts recently asked. 'The Bush administration is in violation of the US Constitution, the rule of law, the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Standard, and basic humanity. It is a gang of criminals,' he wrote.

Former President Jimmy Carter also voiced concern. 'Everywhere you go, people ask, 'What has happened to the United States of America?' he said, referring to international reaction to America's evolving stance on human rights, the environment and the separation of church and state.

The most striking criticism has come from Bush administration exiles, however. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, recently offered a scathing critique, confirming reports that a 'cabal' led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had 'hijacked foreign policy' and that this cabal's 'insular and secret workings' led to 'decision-making one would associate more with a dictatorship than a democracy.'

And people say I'm paranoid when I say such things. It's true, you know, that you're not paranoid when your fears are true.

Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore

Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore:

The founding fathers were particularly sensitive to liberty's fleeting nature and power's corruptive tendencies. Thomas Jefferson said that 'even under the best forms [of government] those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny,' while James Madison warned that 'If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.' And at the close of the Constitutional Convention, when someone asked Ben Franklin what type of government the framers had drafted, he presciently replied, 'A republic, if you can keep it.'

But America's wisest leaders did not merely warn against the death of the republic, but about how and why its democratic principles would gradually wither away. 'Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation [of power] first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence,' Jefferson wrote in 1821. 'We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few,' Madison said in the New York Post.

Wow! Those founders were so smart. I bet they're turning in their graves at what the current administration and its cronies are doing.

Sisyphus Shrugged - Oceana has or has not always been at war with itself

Sisyphus Shrugged - Oceana has or has not always been at war with itself

I've often invoked the 1984'ishness of our current spacetime coordinates. I never thought I was the only one, but Sisyphus Shrugged delivers a great example and take on what's happening. I just love her mind.

USATODAY.com - Average family income drops 2.3%

USATODAY.com - Average family income drops 2.3%:

Average family incomes fell in the USA from 2001 to 2004, pulled down by a sluggish recovery from the downturn and the sharp stock market drop, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. The decline — the first since 1989-92 — was accompanied by the smallest increase in net worth in that period.

In its comprehensive Survey of Consumer Finances, released every three years, the Fed said the median net worth of the bottom 40% of families declined, while those at the top saw gains. The percentage of families investing in stocks fell 3.3 percentage points to 48.6% from 2001 to 2004, a level last reached some time between the 1995 and 1998 surveys.

[...]

From 2001 to 2004, average family income fell 2.3%, to an inflation-adjusted $70,700 from $72,400 in the 1998-2001 period. By contrast, from 1998 to 2001, average income jumped 17.3%. Median income — the midpoint of the income range — rose 1.6% to $43,200.

Fed economists said the figures were "strongly influenced" by a more-than-6% drop in median real wages during the period. Also, investment income was less than in the stock market boom years of the late 1990s. (Related: Full report)

Real net worth — the difference between family assets and liabilities — rose only slightly from 2001 to 2004. Median net worth rose only 1.5% to $93,100 during the period, vs. a 10.3% gain from 1998 to 2001. And liabilities rose faster than assets, due largely to a big rise in mortgage debt.

So for anybody who is not a multi-millionaire who thinks things got even the slightest bit better under the Bush administration: you are wrong, wrong, wrong!!!

But It's A Democracy Now

My Way News:

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad now as they were under Saddam Hussein, as lawlessness and sectarian violence sweep the country, the former U.N. human rights chief in Iraq said Thursday.

John Pace, who last month left his post as director of the human rights office at the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, said the level of extra-judicial executions and torture is soaring, and morgue workers are being threatened by both government-backed militia and insurgents not to properly investigate deaths.

'Under Saddam, if you agreed to forgo your basic right to freedom of expression and thought, you were physically more or less OK,' Pace said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'But now, no. Here, you have a primitive, chaotic situation where anybody can do anything they want to anyone.'

"

No Kidding?

As if you needed another reason to detest this administration.

New Budget Delays or Cancels Much-Promoted NASA Missions - New York Times

New Budget Delays or Cancels Much-Promoted NASA Missions - New York Times:

Some of the most highly promoted missions on NASA's scientific agenda would be postponed indefinitely or perhaps even canceled under the agency's new budget, despite its administrator's vow to Congress six months ago that not "one thin dime" would be taken from space science to pay for President Bush's plan to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars.

[...]

The cuts have alarmed and outraged many scientists, who have long feared that NASA will have to cannibalize its science program to carry out the president's vision of human spaceflight.

The new cuts, they say, will drive young people from the field, ending American domination of space science and perhaps ceding future discoveries to Europe.

'The bottom line: science at NASA is disappearing — fast,' said Donald Lamb, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and chairman of a committee on space science for the Association of American Universities.

But the chief space cowboy wants to go to Mars, dammit! Maybe he thinks there's oil there?

Berlin File Says Germany's Spies Aided U.S. in Iraq - New York Times

Berlin File Says Germany's Spies Aided U.S. in Iraq - New York Times:
"BERLIN, March 1 — Starting in early 2003 and lasting through the American military invasion of Iraq, a German intelligence officer stationed in the office of Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the American commander of the invasion, passed on to the United States information being gathered in Baghdad by two German intelligence officers operating there, a classified German review has found."

So, while the German administration was making a public display of disapproval of the invasion, they were secretly helping the U.S. by providing useful intelligence. Are there any governments in the world that are honest and open with their citizens? I wanna' know.

"We are fully prepared..."

My Way News:

WASHINGTON (AP) - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: 'We are fully prepared.'

The footage - along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press - show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Yeah, to ignore your needs and go on vacation (shopping, seeing a play, hunting?)!

They knew what was going to happen and still weren't interested enough to do the needful. Too bad incompetence isn't an impeachable offense. This would have been over a long time ago.

Study: Few Americans Know 1st Amendment - Yahoo! News

Study: Few Americans Know 1st Amendment - Yahoo! News:

CHICAGO - Americans apparently know more about 'The Simpsons' than they do about the First Amendment.
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Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

Hence, the problem. I bet even fewer people know the Fourth Amendment. If we don't know our freedoms, how can we expect to keep them?

Study: Few Americans Know 1st Amendment - Yahoo! News

Study: Few Americans Know 1st Amendment - Yahoo! News:

CHICAGO - Americans apparently know more about 'The Simpsons' than they do about the First Amendment.
ADVERTISEMENT

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

Hence, the problem. I bet even fewer people know the Fourth Amendment. If we don't know our freedoms, how can we expect to keep them?

Anti-Bush protests hit India ahead of visit - Yahoo! News

Anti-Bush protests hit India ahead of visit - Yahoo! News:
"Bush's visit was unlikely to repeat the 'emotionally charged' successes of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower's trip in 1959 and
Bill Clinton's in 2000, said Dennis Kux, an analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington."

Gee! Ya' think?!

Mubarak says warns US against hitting Iran - Yahoo! News

Mubarak says warns US against hitting Iran - Yahoo! News:

"Mubarak, speaking on his way back from the Gulf on Monday, said he discussed the consequences of a U.S. attack on Iran with U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney, who visited Egypt in January.

'I said to him word for word: 'Listen to my advice for once.',' Mubarak said, speaking the phrase in English. The remark was published in the state-owned daily al-Gomhuria.

Mubarak warned against the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq in 2003.

'If an air strike (against Iran) took place, Iraq will turn into terrorist groups more than it is already ... The Gulf area has Shi'ite majorities in many of the states and America is linked to vital interests in this area and has naval facilities,' Mubarak said.

'Iran spends generously on the Shi'a in every country and these people are prepared to do anything if Iran is hit.'

In other words, if we think it's bad in Iraq now, just try something wiht Iran and see what happens? He's probably right, but I doubt the Bushies are listening.

Mubarak says warns US against hitting Iran - Yahoo! News

Mubarak says warns US against hitting Iran - Yahoo! News:

"Mubarak, speaking on his way back from the Gulf on Monday, said he discussed the consequences of a U.S. attack on Iran with U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney, who visited Egypt in January.

'I said to him word for word: 'Listen to my advice for once.',' Mubarak said, speaking the phrase in English. The remark was published in the state-owned daily al-Gomhuria.

Mubarak warned against the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq in 2003.

'If an air strike (against Iran) took place, Iraq will turn into terrorist groups more than it is already ... The Gulf area has Shi'ite majorities in many of the states and America is linked to vital interests in this area and has naval facilities,' Mubarak said.

'Iran spends generously on the Shi'a in every country and these people are prepared to do anything if Iran is hit.'

In other words, if we think it's bad in Iraq now, just try something wiht Iran and see what happens? He's probably right, but I doubt the Bushies are listening.

CBS News | Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low | February 28, 2006 12:04:46

CBS News | Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low | February 28, 2006 12:04:46:
"
(CBS) The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high. "

What else can I say?

Oh, Really?

My Way News:
"WASHINGTON (AP) - Citing broad gaps in U.S. intelligence, the Coast Guard cautioned the Bush administration weeks ago that it could not determine whether a United Arab Emirates-based company seeking a stake in some U.S. port operations might support terrorist operations."

Oops! Not so fast there, sparky. Maybe this (new?) review won't go so smoothly, huh?

antonsaurian: A Goddamn Piece of Paper…

antonsaurian: A Goddamn Piece of Paper…

My old friend, Anton, has called attention to the underlying current behind the administration's assault on the Constitution of the United States (COTUS) by citing an important article from CapitolHillBlue. Read it and rage.