After the tumultuous victories for Democrats last week, as well the record-low approval ratings for Bush, I shined-up my IMPEACH BUSH button, bought a bottle of Champagne, and waited for the show to begin. So, I was surprised when several reputable news sources reported that Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Nancy Pelosi were not planning to pursue impeachment. (By the way, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart now counts as a more reputable news source than FOX and is almost as comical... But I digress...)   Read More »

As you may recall, Pat Tillman was an outstanding American serviceperson who died in Afghanistan in 2004. In October 2006, Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother, wrote a scathing critique of the current administration's response to the tragedy of 9/11 in which he addresses their lies leading up to the invasion of Iraq, their complicity with secret prisons and torture, their inadequate attention to equipping our soldiers, and the subversion of the U.S. Constitution including the suspension of Habeas Corpus.

Please read Kevin's comments in his own words at: Link

Pat's birthday is November 6th. Let us give him a present on November 7th.

For at least eight years, Rep. Don Sherwood (R, PA) has represented himself as a conservative values Republican. However, last year he admitted to cheating on his wife with a younger woman over the course of five years. He then settled a lawsuit that alleged he choked his mistress. (SEE: Link )

Sen. George Allen (R, VA) has a history of making racial slurs. You can watch the video clips of Allen hanging himself at Link

What do these stories have in common? Well, aside from the standard Republic hypocrisy on being the "values people" and "moral high grounders," both Sherwood and Allen apparently will receive the dubious honor of campaign appearances by none other than Dubya himself. (SEE: Link )

Conservative Republicans can be, at least ostensible, child stalkers like Foley, racists like Allen, adulterers and assaulters like Sherwood, influence peddlers like Delay, and liars like Rumsfeld and yet still stand in critical judgment of those with Progressive values. Now, to compound matters, Dubya is even placing his official imprimatur on some of these scandals. I am tempted to say that brazen, unabashed chutzpa has become a Republican value. However, that would be too kind of an assessment.

According to MSNBC, a Countdown producer obtained an advance copy of a book by David Kuo entitled "Tempting Faith." This book is significant because Kuo, a self-described Christian, was not only the second-in-command in W's Office of Faith Based Initiatives, but also worked under Bill Bennett and John Ashcroft.

In his book, Kuo admitted that the Bush administration used Evangelical Christian voters for self-serving purposes. For instance, Karl Rove referred to Christian leaders as "the nuts," while other in the administration referred to them as "ridiculous" and "goofy." More seriously, Kuo alleges that the administration diverted taxpayer funds to rally Christian voters in targeted districts in order to benefit Republican candidates.

In my opinion, this is just another sad commentary on the current state of the Republican Party. How can a party that preaches personal accountability and fiscal responsibility be the same party that shelters sexual predators, labels those who disagree as unpatriotic, spews hate against detractors, and spends taxpayer money like drunken sailors?

Check out the above-referenced article at: Link.
Please contribute your thoughts on Progressive values: Link

Author Laurence Britt analyzed seven fascist regimes throughout history and identified fourteen common characteristics:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.

If any or all of these characteristics sound familiar, please read the complete article at: Link

It may also be of interest to contrast these characteristics to the values that Progressives have proposed at: Link

In conversations with my fellow Democrats, I am frequently troubled by their "detachment from" or "unfamiliarity with" their own values. Perhaps, they are simply not accustomed to speaking in terms of values. Perhaps, Republicans have become so skilled in framing the national political discourse that they can, at least claim, to hold the moral high ground. The time has come for men and women of values, morals, and conscience to reclaim America's political landscape.

Here are just a few of my own ideas for seminal Progressive values:
1. We respect innate human dignity.
Our government should not unjustly infringe upon citizens' privacy or the right of individuals to make personal decisions.
2. We believe in human equality (with or without recourse to a Creator).
Our government should not discriminate between citizens.
3. We believe in economic justice.
Our government should not only protect private property rights, but also enforce fair inheritance laws, regulate profits from the mere accumulation of capital, and ensure that those who benefit the most from our national commonwealth (infrastructure) pay their fair share for the benefits bestowed.
4. We believe in a strong national defense.
Our government should retaliate against nations that violate international standards of aggression and not pick wars of choice. Warfare should not be used as an alternative to police action.
5. We pursue intellectual truth without constraint.
We not only adopt the products of science, but also adopt scientific methods, i.e., critical thinking, questioning of authority, and rejection of convoluted reasoning.

We can see the results of six years of Republican domination of all three branches of government including all of the current scandals and tribulations. Ask yourself, is the U.S.A. financially sounder, stronger, better educated, healthier, more egalitarian, and more internationally respected today or at the end of 1999? What do you think?

P.S. great video. (SEE: Link )

Check out some comic and tragic examples of Republican hypocrisy at www.armchairsubversive.com For example:


Deep from the heart of Texas -
Republican Party Chairman Sam Walls,who is married,
was urged to drop his candidacy for Congress
when it was found he likes to dress up in women's clothing

In an era when the Straussian Neoconservatives attempt to construct reality with the complicity of the corporate media, there are no coincidences. The media preoccupation with the Mark Adam Foley story has to be a distraction from something. After all, the story has all of the elements of a media-feeding smorgasbord.

According to the New York Times, Republican leaders knew about, or at least had a clue, as to Foley's indiscretions for months. (N.Y. Times ) Why was it made a national story at this moment in time? One possibility, is that Foley is a distraction from the passage of the pro-torture / anti-habeas corpus bill. (Rob's Blog Post 9/30)
Another possibility is that Foley deflects attention from media's coverage of Bob Woodard's "State of Denial," which alleges that the Bush administration was, at the very least negligent, if not deliberate, in ignoring the terrorist threat to the United States prior to 9/11. (The Raw Story )

I do not know why the Foley story gained national attention at this time, but I do suspect that Foley was a sacrificial lamb. (I am speaking in terms of pragmatic politics, NOT morals.) I also think that the Bush / Cheney / Rove regime got so caught-up in their own spin that they may have screwed-up this time.

Why? According the New York Times: "Among those who became aware earlier this year of the fall 2005 communications between Mr. Foley and the 16-year-old page, who worked for Representative Rodney Alexander, Republican of Louisiana, were Representative John A. Boehner, the majority leader, and Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Mr. Reynolds said in a statement Saturday that he had also personally raised the issue with Speaker J. Dennis Hastert." ( N.Y. Times )

Seize the moment! Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers, write to your congresspersons, and call radio shows. Demand the resignation of any official who was aware of the Foley problem but did not speak out. Do NOT let Republicans draw an analogy to Barney Frank or Bill Clinton. The distinction is between consenting adults and minors.

Finally, look forward to a brighter tomorrow. Democrats may yet regain control of Congress this November.

I do not claim to have any inside information, this is opinion, but as I watched our corporate media news shows today, September 30th, I began to see a connection between three, seemingly unrelated stories.

First, yesterday, September 29th, Congress voted in favor of one of the most horrific pieces of legislation in U.S. history. Simply stated, Habeas Corpus, the right to be charged before a judge, has been suspended for enemy combatants. However, now, enemy combatants are not just those captured on foreign battles fields, but anyone who has "...supported hostilities against the United States." This language is so vague that anyone, including the reader of this post, could fall within its scope. For a full expose of this legislation, read William Rivers Pitt's article posted this morning. Link

Second, the top story on all or most of the corporate news shows during the day today concerned the alleged misconduct, and subsequent resignation, of Congressman Mark Adam Foley (R, FL). Foley's story has all of the grist needed for a sensational news story. A fifty-two year old congressman allegedly made sexual advances toward a congressional page. However, he was not just a page, but a then sixteen-year-old, male, page. And, Foley was not just a conservative Republican, but chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Link

Foley's secrecy about his sexual orientation is old news. See, for example, the NNDB intelligence aggregator. Link Furthermore, I lived in Palm Beach County in 1994 when Foley first ran for Congress. In a town hall meeting in Jupiter, FL, an audience member asked Foley about his sexual orientation. Foley's answer was angry, direct, and still crystal clear in my mind; He responded, "That's none of your business!" (Applause followed.)

Third, Joseph Wilson wrote an op-ed column in The New York Times in which he claimed he had been sent by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate charges that Iraq was trying to buy yellow cake, a type of uranium, from the African country of Niger. He reported, perhaps contrary to the Bush regime's interest, that there was no truth to the charge. Link Shortly thereafter, someone in the Bush administration outed (intentional word choice) Valerie Plame, Wilson's wife, as a NOC (no official cover) CIA operative. You can decide for yourself who leaked what to whom and if there was retaliation involved. Link

Get the connection? In the Neocon's fabrication of reality, the people cannot be told of the suspension of their constitutional rights; they must be distracted. In order to distract the people, the media must be distracted. What better way to distract the media from an apparent usurpation of power by a Unitary Executive than by releasing an alleged sexual scandal? Will the Bush regime eat one of their own in order to achieve their goals? You decide.

What do Sherri Lewis, Lamb Chop, and Republicans have in common? - Infiltrating Democratic websites. Remember the lovable 1960's icon Sherri Lewis and her puppet made from a sock, Lamb Chop? Sock puppets are alive and well in Internet chartrooms and blogs today.

It seems that Republicans just cannot win unless they cheat. That includes in elections as well as in blogs. "Liberal bloggers have uncovered a staff member to Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) using government computers to make fake posts on liberal blogs in New Hampshire, today's ROLL CALL reports." The Raw Story

For many of you, this fact may be "old hat." Nevertheless, be aware that people are not always who they seem. One account holder can set up an alternate identity to agree with his or her posts, a "sock puppet." Alternatively, one account holder can set up a "straw man" sock puppet to make his / her opponents look stupid.

For example, Cyrus Nowrasteh, the screen writer for The Path to 9/11, was identified as having created a sock puppet on internet movie website IMDB to agrandize himself. John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime, posted under the "sock puppet" name of "Mary Rosh" to praise himself. Check out the link below to learn more than you ever wanted to know about sock puppets, meat puppets, proxies and NATS. wikipedia

The corporate media giants in the U.S. do nothing but "rooster lick" the Republicans because they want to consolidate their power, monopolize, and make unprecedented profits. Now, it appears, according to Roll Call, that one of the Internet's most popular search engines, Google, wants a part of that action.

Remember when you could go to Google.com, search "dismal failure", hit "I feel lucky" and you would be directed to W's personal biography at the Whitehouse website? Now, according to Roll Call, Google has formed a PAC and is throwing its money behind Republican candidates.

(See: Raw Story)

Already, there are eight major corporations that control the corporate media in the U.S.:

1. General Electric media-related holdings include television networks NBC Universal and Telemundo, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, 38 television stations in the U.S., and cable networks such as MSNBC, Bravo and the Sci Fi Channel,

2. Time Warner is the largest media conglomerate in the world, with holdings including The WB Television Network, CNN, HBO, Cinemax, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, America Online, MapQuest, Moviefone, Netscape, Warner Bros. Pictures, Castle Rock, and New Line Cinema, over 150 magazines such as Time, Cooking Light, Marie Claire and People,

3. The Walt Disney Company owns the ABC Television Network, numerous cable networks including ESPN, The Disney Channel, SOAPnet, A&E and Lifetime, 72 radio and 10 television stations, music and book publishing companies, production companies such as Touchstone, Miramax and Walt Disney Pictures,

4. Vivendi owns cable stations in Europe and record companies such as Geffen Records, Universal Records, and Def Jam,

5. News Corporation, one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, owns The Fox Broadcasting Company, television and cable networks such as Fox, National Geographic and FX, 37 television stations, print publications including The New York Post and TVGuide, book publisher HarperCollins, film production companies 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Blue Sky Studios,

6. Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's largest media companies, owns holdings in Europe and North America, including: book publisher Random House, radio and cable TV owner RTL Group, music publisher Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and print publisher Gruner+Jahr,

7. CBS Corporation owns the CBS Television Network, UPN, Showtime, book publisher Simon & Schuster, 41 television stations, Infinity (now CBS) Radio, Inc., AND

8. Viacom. Before splitting off CBS Corporation, Viacom was one of the largest media companies in the world. The new Viacom is also large, with holdings including Music Television, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Home Entertainment and publishing company Famous Music.

(See: FreePress.net)

The Internet has been the Neocon Republicans' worst enemy because they have not been able to control our free access to uncensored information. In order for Straussian Neoconservatism to succeed, the populace of any nation must be controlled through "Noble Lies," or myths generated by political leaders, as propagated via the media.
(See Wikipedia. )

So, what gives? Is our ability to access and freely research information and exchange ideas now at stake? Do the Corporatists want to control information the same way they control oil and other resources? You tell me.

On September 13, 2006, Rep. John Murtha (D) from PA, introduced a resolution to demand the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. The Bush administration and Rumsfeld, lied to Congress about the threat posed by Iraq to the U.S. Specifically, Rumsfeld lied about weapons of mass destruction, underestimated troop requirements, failed to develop an exit strategy, and failed to properly equip our servicepersons.

Here is the operative language of the resolution:

"It is the sense of the Congress that, for the good of the country, the United States of America must restore credibility both at home and abroad and that the first step toward restoring that credibility must be to demonstrate accountability for the mistakes that have been made in prosecuting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by immediately effecting the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and replacing him with someone capable of leading the nation's military in a strategy to resolve our deployment in Iraq, prevent regression in Afghanistan, reconstitute our military readiness, and refocus on the threats to national security posed by diffuse and proliferating terrorist cells as well as belligerent states."

Read the full story: huffingtonpost

In a narrow reading, the below-referenced article analyzes how "W" is losing the support of his Religious Right base in one district in Colorado. In a broad reading, one can see how the American people are no longer buying the Neocons' attempt to weave a national mythology that links 9/11, Iraq, Iran, WMD's, Bin Laden, Hussein, and America's role in a war of "good versus evil." In other words, more Americans are finally refusing to drink the Right Wing Kool-Aid. We can only hope...

"In Unpredictable District, Some Say Bush Is Politicizing Terrorism"
By CARL HULSE
The New York Times
September 12, 2006

The New York Times

Over the last few decades, the Republican Party has done an amazing job of uniting seemingly unrelated groups under the Republican banner. At first blush, "hands-off" capitalists and Christian fundamentalists would seem to have little in common. Why have Republicans been so successful in framing issues in order to form a common front? This article from "Time" via "CNN" offers some valuable insights.
CNN article

In "A Letter to Ann Coulter," Kristen Breitweiser, a 9/11 widow poignantly responds to Coulter's vitriolic comments concerning the motives of "The Jersey Girls" and others.
Huffington Post

A CNN poll shows most Americans will vote against candidates who are aligned with "W" in November election.CNN Article

War is a racket. The linked article, The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers, expalins who really raked in the dough from the war on Iraq. Link

Bill Clinton worked for legislation to thwart terrorism as early as 1996. The GOP response: "a phony issue." www.cnn.com Link