BRIBERY: To the Tune of 60 Billion Smackeroos

Read all about it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072702454.html?wpisrc=newsletter

NO NO and No!


How about sinking those billions into humanitarian efforts. I think there are a few million Palestinians, and hundreds of thousands of Darfurans, that might appreciate such an effort.

Israel needs to be weaned away from U.S. dependence. There are also hundreds of thousands of Israelis that do not want their country to be an enabler for U.S. Middle East oil grabbing based military conflicts.

With this support why should the other Muslim countries involved improve their human rights records, and elevate women to equal status?

Or couldn't the money be put into developing an effective Department of State? Oh how dare I ask?

Congress wake up - act to void this insanity.

The area is already too much of a powder keg.

Such a proposal as this again demonstrates what a moral sieve our foreign policy is.


graysmoke

Waving the Wand of Propaganda

Quick, where are my rose colored glasses?


The obvious propaganda piece in the NY Times by a couple of Bush fellow travelers is almost amusing in its efforts to provide a basis for continuing the conflict or providing a fork in the road so "W" can declare (now this is tricky to find an uncontaminated word to use) "success" - thus perhaps retaining some slim chance that the remainder of Republicans that haven't abandoned ship yet will stay aboard for whatever orchestrated finale the architect can design.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/opinion/30pollack.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


Pollack and O'Hanlon apparently could not take the time and effort to interview masses of Iraqis that have talked with their feet. I am sure it would be easy to find quite a few of the two or so million that have fled to Jordan, Syria, etc. - notice there is no mention or comment about any observed return of this group of refugees who must be monitoring whether or not they can safely end their exile under conditions where most cannot obtain work in the countries to where they have fled.


When the news get flooded with incidents of that type, then perhaps I could yield a crumb of credibility but not before.

graysmoke

Visiting Hours, Shhhh!

Visiting Hours


It seems there are more multiple versions of the serial visiting to former AG John Ashcroft's hospital room when he was still disabled due to gallstone pancreatitis.

Take your pick of whether you believe current AG Gonzales (when this occurred, AG/AG was the president's counsel) who went with POTUS chief of staff Andrew Card in tow at the time. To my knowledge,Card hasn't been heard from under oath.

But yesterday the head of the FBI Robert Mueller was testifying under oath and it seems he was cued to show up by acting AG Comey but was late for Act One featuring all the other players, Gonzo, Comey and Card.

However, Mr. Mueller had a heart to heart talk apparently, with Mr. Ashcroft directly after the main cast had taken their curtain call. And he says his recall does not match how Alberto is painting the scene. And further Mueller has notes he made to document what happened between he and Ashcroft.( Applause appropriate! )


Perhaps Ashcroft needed an increased dose of painkiller meds after this ordeal. The whole intrigue smells of another attempt at power grabbing by the Bushies. Seems to me they would be notified if Ashcroft had become competent enough to resume his duties.

This episode should be the highlight of a special prosecutor investigation, here is a link to an article detailing much of the hospital visitation events.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/washington/15cnd-attorneys.html?ex=1185681600&en=c446b837c0bf42d3&ei=5070

Summer television reruns are being upstaged by the catch-up oversight hearings the Democrat plurality Congress is holding. Better drama inside the beltway.


graysmoke

I Love Dancing, BUT:

Ever watch a rubber stamp dance?




That is exactly what I felt I was viewing today while watching "W"'s nominee for OMB Director, the job that Portman recently vacated. This hard-core neoconR served before in the Congress and when Vilsack decided not to run again for governor of Iowa, Nussle decided to run for that office and lost.


Now we get to be stuck with the loser; but perhaps, if confirmed he cannot do too much damage before another administration takes over the federal reins in Jan.-09.


The thought passed through what serves as my mind, this morning while watching the various exchanges between Nussle and the Senate members that a covert scheme of the administration's deliberate construction of the Everest sized national deficit is to serve as the tool by which they then eliminate Social Security, Medicare and other safety net type programs. By the way, I must offer my objections to these being referred to as entitlements. Actually they are more like insurance co-ops, we pay into them. either by taxes or premiums or both. Do you ever hear any citizen in the government bureaucracy refer to the federal highway system we all benefit from, as a use of an entitlement by them?


Since Nussle left the Congress and lost the Iowa governship election, just what do you think he had turned to for lining his pocket. Well, nothing less than that old standby, lobbying.
Here is a link where you can view his record while a House Representative in the Congress;


http://www.issues2000.org/House/Jim_Nussle.htm


I would hope he is not confirmed but it is doubtful that this late in the Bush final term that any other nominee willing to take the position will be any better. I expect the senators will take the path of going with what you know. At least they have that advantage. Senator Kent Conrad made great use of that knowledge during his turns at questioning the nominee. The record will at least reflect that.


The administration is becoming a shell with no ability to fill vacancies given the low ratings of the POTUS and the accumulation of facts showing the huge deficiencies in competency at the top.





graysmoke

Spinning Wheels

If ever proof was needed that the Iraq fighting is not diminishing the Al Queda terrorist chain, this weeks revelations in the press dispelled that myth.

And why am I not surprised?

Maybe not having the blind belief that the answer to everything is primacy of military power instead of smarts has something to do with it.

In the foolhardiness of the continued Iraq operations, whatever they might be labeled at this point, it is evident to all who look, that there are alternative ways to defeat terrorism.

Yet in the jaws of the military/industrial/corporate/political complex, the blood continues to pour, serious body and brain injuries continue to maim the citizenry as well as the military.Refugee numbers climb, and the world is numb.

Spinning our military wheels over the past five years has them down to the rims, when will the right approaches be learned and applied -----well apparently not in this administration's term of office.

So unbearably sad.




graysmoke

IMPEACHMENT feature / Bill Moyers

Last evening PBS broadcast Bill Moyer's Journal, I hope you were watching, if not there is to be a rebroadcast so check your local schedules.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html

Tough Talk on Impeachment

July 13, 2007
A public opinion poll from the American Research Group recently reported that more than four in ten Americans — 45% — favor impeachment hearings for President Bush and more than half — 54% — favored impeachment for Vice President Cheney.Unhappiness about the war in Iraq isn't the only cause of the unsettled feelings of the electorate. Recent events like President Bush's pardoning of Scooter Libby, the refusal of Vice President Cheney's office to surrender emails under subpoena to Congress and the President's prohibition of testimony of former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers in front of the House Judiciary Committee have caused unease over claims of "executive privilege." In addition, many of the White House anti-terror initiatives and procedures — from the status of "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo to warrantless wiretapping — have come under legal scrutiny in Congress and the courts.
Bill Moyers gets perspective on the role of impeachment in American political life from Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION's John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT.
"The founding fathers expected an executive who tried to overreach and expected the executive would be hampered and curtailed by the legislative branch... They [Congress] have basically renounced — walked away from their responsibility to oversee and check." — Bruce Fein
"On January 20th, 2009, if George Bush and Dick Cheney are not appropriately held to account this Administration will hand off a toolbox with more powers than any President has ever had, more powers than the founders could have imagined. And that box may be handed to Hillary Clinton or it may be handed to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or someone else. But whoever gets it, one of the things we know about power is that people don't give away the tools." — John Nichols


Bruce Fein

Bruce Fein is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on Constitutional law. Graduating from Harvard Law School in 1972, Fein became the assistant director of the Office of Legal Policy in the U.S. Department of Justice. Shortly after that, Fein became the associate deputy attorney general under former President Ronald Reagan. His political law career would take him to various outlets, including general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission, followed by an appointment as research director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran. Mr. Fein has been an adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, a resident scholar at the Heritage Foundation, a lecturer at the Bookings Institute, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University.
Fein has also penned a number of volumes on United States Constitution, Supreme Court, and international law, as well as assisted three dozen countries in constitutional revision, including Russia, Spain, South Africa, Iraq, Cyprus, and Mozambique.
Fein currently writes weekly columns for THE WASHINGTON TIMES and CAPITOL LEADER, and a bi-weekly column for the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER devoted to legal and international affairs.
Recently, Fein has been in the national spotlight after his editorial in the online newsmagazine SLATE called for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, in which he outlines the various cases against the Vice President. Fein also testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee on June 27, 2007 about President Bush's use of "signing statement."
According to Fein, Cheney has:

Asserted Presidential power to create military commissions, which combine the functions of judge, jury, and prosecutor in the trial of war crimes.

Claimed authority to detain American citizens as enemy combatants indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay on the President's say-so alone.

Initiated kidnappings, secret detentions, and torture in Eastern European prisons of suspected international terrorists.

Championed a Presidential power to torture in contravention of federal statutes and treaties.

Engineered the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance program targeting American citizens on American soil in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

Orchestrated the invocation of executive privilege to conceal from Congress secret spying programs to gather foreign intelligence, and their legal justifications.

Summoned the privilege to refuse to disclose his consulting of business executives in conjunction with his Energy Task Force.

Retaliated against Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, through chief of staff Scooter Libby, for questioning the administration's evidence of weapons of mass destruction as justification for invading Iraq. (Read Fein's SLATE article)


John Nichols

John Nichols, author and political journalist has been writing the "Online Beat" for THE NATION magazine since 1999. Nichols also serves as Washington correspondent for THE NATION, as well as the associate editor of the CAPITAL TIMES, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin and a contributing writer for THE PROGRESSIVE and IN THESE TIMES. Along with fellow author Robert McChesney, Nichols co-founded the media-reform group Free Press. Nichols has also authored several books, including JEWS FOR BUCHANAN, which analyzed the recount vote of 2000, and DICK: THE MAN WHO IS PRESIDENT, his best-selling biography of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Nichols most recent book, THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT, argues that impeachment is an essential instrument of America's democratic system. Nichols' argument also bases the power of impeachment in the hands of the people, rather than the congress. In his recent article, "In Praise of Impeachment," Nichols argues "While the Constitution handed Congress the power to officially check such despotism, Jefferson and his colleagues fully expected the American people to be the champions of the application of the rule of law to an errant executive."
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There are choices at the link to read the transcipt or watch/listen either by QuickTime or Windows Media Player.

Best seen on the rebroadcast, and maybe you might feel prompted to message your Congressional members, and\or leaders to do the right thing and initiate the recovery of our Constitutional system of governance by impeaching these two bandits.



graysmoke

"NO SHOW" Fall-out

The Harriet non-appearance caused quite a stir yesterday.

A veritable verbal fireworks show.


I happened to tune in on a C-Span re-air of the House Judiciary sub-committee chaired by Rep. Linda Sanchez, and minority chair is Rep. Chris Cannon,

Cannon decided to launch a multiple fusilade of what he perceives as failures of the committee using his privilege of opening statement by ranking minority representative position he holds.

This set the stage for what followed.

Normally mellow Mel Watt, laid reality bare and Cannon fired back demanding that Watt's words be " taken down" - calling them unparliamentary. (Watt delineated what precipitated his current views, citing all the misinformation and hyping the president had performed in order to secure the Iraq resolution and thus the war powers.) The phrase "taken down" has censurious meaning and proscribed procedural processes in the esoteric rules of committee function. This caused much back and forthing and Cannon subsequently kept demanding roll call votes on various chair moves in order for each committee members vote to appear in the record. The chair eventually ruled that the words by Watt were not unparliamentary. Of course this only fueled further ill feelings. IMO it boils down to the fact that the Republicans do not want to "own" what they have wrought.

The hearing finally got around to deciding to appeal to the courts for a contempt citation is my understanding of the next step -- Cannon was explosive and derisive to the end.

Staff members were busily whispering in the ears of Conyers, Watt, Sanchez, Cannon, Frank, et al as legal and procedural matters were getting so rapid fire.

Maybe there should be an award for the most dramatic Congressional hearing of the session. Perhaps I would nominate this one but there is more to come, so maybe not.

At this link for C-span you too can watch this:

http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp


graysmoke

The Sound of Music.....(maybe not)

A deadline looms.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071202169.html?referrer=email


Shaken Internet Radio Stations Face Specter of New Fees Sunday

By Kendra MarrWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, July 13, 2007; Page D03


Sunday will be a day of reckoning for Internet radio stations.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to stop an increase in royalty and broadcasting fees, jeopardizing the future of some stations. As a result of the decision, handed down Wednesday, fee increases will take effect in two days.
Downloading & CopyrightYears after the fall of Napster, peer-to-peer file sharing programs continue to eat into entertainment industry profits. The industry has responded with an all-out legal assault targeting the programs' developers and users.
Shaken Internet Radio Stations Face Specter of New Fees Sunday
The Copyright Royalty Board, which is part of the Library of Congress, decided in March to almost triple royalty rates by 2010 and impose an annual $500 fee per station or channel. The decision was urged by SoundExchange, an organization created by the recording industry.
In recent months, some smaller Web stations shut down in anticipation of the higher fees. More say they will close as a result of the court decision.
Web radio stations and their listeners have been lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would void the Copyright Royalty Board's decision and use a system that would assess royalties based on a station's revenue. But there has not been any legislative action on the proposal.
The four largest Internet-radio providers -- Pandora, Yahoo, Rhapsody and Live365 -- have tens of millions of channels among them. Pandora can afford to pay fees on Sunday but will continue to lobby Congress for changes, said founder Tim Westergren.
"This is just about the artists getting paid fairly," said Richard Ades, spokesman for SoundExchange. "Artists and labels just want a fair share of the pie."
Michael Huppe, SoundExchange's general counsel, said it was still negotiating with Internet broadcasters to reduce the burden on small and non-commercial webcasters. Yesterday during a meeting of both sides organized by members of Congress, SoundExchange offered an annual fee cap of $50,000, if the broadcaster reports everything that is played and adopts technology that limits the ability of listeners to copy broadcasts. The annual fee can be deducted from the royalties paid to artists and record labels.
But as it stands now, starting Sunday, webcasters will retroactively pay artists and record labels the difference between the new and old royalty rates for 2006.
"Nobody wins when Internet radio gets shut down, including artists who ostensibly are being represented by SoundExchange, the organization pushing for high rates," Westergren said. "It's ironic. If SoundExchange gets their way, it means less money for musicians because people will cease to pay royalties all together."
Today about 70 million people a month listen to Internet radio and thousands of unknown artists depend on webcasts to promote their music, according to the SaveNetRadio, a coalition of artists, labels, listeners and webcasters lobbying Congress.
Royalties for Internet radio differ greatly from its satellite and terrestrial counterparts. Internet companies 0.000762 of a cent per song, per listener. Satellite radio companies pay a percentage of their revenue. Under copyright laws, land-based radio stations, traditional AM and FM radio, pay nothing.
"It's because we came to the party late," said Jake Ward, spokesman for the SaveNetRadio coalition. "The laws that govern satellite radio and terrestrial radio have already been grandfathered."
He added, "It's unique to Internet radio that at any one point you can tell how many people are listening. It works to our disadvantage to be asked to make payments based on this unique quality."
Jake Sommers, 47, a DJ in Columbus, Ohio, shut down his hobby jazz trumpet station, http://jazzplayerradio.com, on April 30 when he found out it would cost him $2,000 a month to operate. Sommers had 20,000 listeners a month.
"We never made a dime," he said. "It was a labor of love. Everything we made we put right back into radio station. It was a bunch of trumpet geeks playing music for other trumpet geeks."
Michael Clark, 38, of Woodbridge, closed one of his two all-Christmas music stations when he discovered it would cost him between $13,000 and $14,000 during the 2007 holiday season alone. His stations, http://christmasmusic247.com, have a worldwide audience. Clark has received e-mails from missionaries in Africa, an America tourist in Japan and people who hadn't heard their Christmas favorites in years.
"It's a rush," he said. "It's a lot of fun and makes me feel good." Clark said he was still undecided what he would do after this weekend, when he will owe $8,000 in royalties.
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Sounds like the final chord for the little guys.

Does Freedom "ring"? or is it going mute?



graysmoke

Reverberating----and deja vu

There are some lyrics that come to mind:

"It seems to me I've heard that song before---It's from an old familiar score--
I know it well that melody-----"

The verses in this version have been written with little change since 9/11.

Al Queda is going to get us.......it seems all that fighting in Iraq and the various claims about how many of the franchise have been eliminated hasn't exactly changed a single thing. (Oh we don't need to be concerned that it has cost almost four thousand of our best fighting troops and put the nations treasury into a debt that will burden a couple of future generations - if first it doesn't topple the economy into a recession so severe that all minds will forget about Al Queda.)(And not to worry either about the tens of thousands of innocent civilian casualties and the several million that are now in refugee status - forced by the circumstances in their country to flee to Lebanon, Jordan, Syria or Iran) No No, those are just trifles, at least to the present administration.

My view of Al Queda is that yes it is a terrorist organization but no, it is not the threat that the military/industrial/corporate/political complex uses it for, i/e to instill sufficient fear to make war acceptable. And to make many in those segments richer. Chertoff's "gut feeling" aside, let's be real, A//Q is being used as a political tool in a way to accomplish the goals of an old neocon group from the past that wiggled their way into power in this admin via Cheney selecting himself as v/p. They are much scarier to me than A/Q.

Another conclusion one is forced to arrive again at, the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing in the beltway bureaucracies. Just take your pick of the lottery, do you want to believe the rhetoric dished out today by "W" in a press conference. Or the NIE update. Or the intelligence report from the CIA, or one of the other interpretations offered by the various administration appointees, trotting in front of the media microphones again in an attempt to spin all of this just the "right" way. Meanwhile Congress is spewing forth a smorgasbord of proposals to effect deployment - none of which are going to survive a presidential veto.

The hawk element is flapping their wings wildly and noisily, Iran being the main focus of their dire predictions.

Let me ask you, if some foreign country invaded Canada or Mexico, do you think we would keep hands off? So why would it not be expected in Iraq by Iran, it seems that is as predictable as the sun being up there in the solar system for us to orbit . What passes for thinking in Wa and those so-called think tanks they rely on heavily?

Why am I watching and commenting on all this? Well a couple of reasons. First, I really care what happens to this country and secondly - it is too damn hot to be doing much else.

I am living in the Valley of the Sun and we are about three weeks into a series of days with temperatures over 100 degrees, and many times over 110. I can only read so many hours. And wouldn't it be a good idea to call a summer stand down by all parties in Iraq with the temperature there even higher than here. If the I-Parliament can knock off for the summer, why not the fighting men and women?


So between the saber rattling, war drum beating and fear mongering,........ I think. None of it strikes a cord with me. Only discord. In the wrong key for my particular non-voice. I despair of having republican senators only - futile to give them my views although sometimes I do anyway. From a sense of duty, I suppose.


The past couple of days have convinced me that there will be no change of course, or direction, during this administration. Whether the nation can be resuscitated afterwards remains to be seen.


graysmoke

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

Yesterday Sara Taylor, recent Political Director at the WH under the architect's control, showed up at the judiciary committee hearing complete with her political armor in the form of a letter from presidential counsel, Fred Fielding ( yeah that guy that was on the 9/11 Commission).

Now this performance has to be seen to be believed and even then you get the feeling that this bends reality into a very unrecognizable dimension. The only purpose served is that which leads one to conclude that rescuing our country from those now in control of this neocon administration needs to be put on the fast track. Deliverance is our only hope.

This was stonewalling in live performance mode.


There were some very frustrated Senators. But not particularly the Republicans, they all decided to boycott the hearing except for minority leader Specter. He and Leahy had a few
dignified verbal sparring contests, peppered with the antiquated senate personal massaging. Leahy scored with pointing out to Taylor that her oath which she used to defend her loyalty to the president, was actually an oath to the Constitution. Good for Leahy, seems most of the R's have forgotten that significant detail.

The goal of the hearing was to discover more facts about the circumstances involving the firing of the nine U.S. attorneys by the Justice Department. I could not detect any movement toward that but some of the senators get an A+ for effort.

Let's give one to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, himself a former U.S. attorney, he is new to the senate this session, and from the committee hearings and floor appearances, he is going to be an asset. Incisive questions, directness, confidence and professionalism. Keep an eye on him, he will make his mark nationally.

Meanwhile the next step is awaited, Harriet Meiers was to be the witness today, but the WH controlled her even more effectively than Taylor, apparently ordering her to not even appear.

Leahy is threatening contempt charges. Let's hope he follows through, just as he did with the subpoenas.

Meanwhile, get accustomed to la la land.


graysmoke

Political Warfare

This morning in the Senate session, the new Virginia Senator, Jim Webb had an amendment up for vote - it was designed to prevent abuse and misuse of the military and spell out the exact terms under which deployment could be demanded in the Iraq theater. Given the feedback that has hit the press over time from the active duty reserves, the national guard units, regular services, family members etc - one would think this would be a no-brainer.

WRONG!

It was full dress political combat.

Senator Webb was treated to the full fusilade of slick spinmeistering, initiated by the reigning minority leader, Mitch McConnell. Now I must give credit where credit is due. McConnell is the Oscar winner for polished performances of misspeaking. He can push that envelop to the microedge, just avoiding straight out bald faced lying. Maybe it still serves some party purpose, but for my two cents, the obstruction is visible and venal.

All it accomplished was to again delay facing reality and allowing the POTUS to avoid cleaning up his act, instead we creep agonizingly, second by second, through the fifth year of incompetent and in my eye, abusive, use of the military in a purely political farce. All be it, with too real blood and death the real life cost of the playboy's play war. What a legacy. For Shame, republican senators.

For several days the media had been speculating whether enough R's would jump ship to support Webb's amendment, but in the end, there were only six that cleared their head enough to give thought to facts and voted with the Democrats. Voinovich disappointed again, and Leiberman threw his weight in with the R's - again.

The democrat leadership again will get slammed because of the results. Most citizens will not be informed enough to realize what the actual combat on the senate floor was about. I have no doubt though that Jim Webb will be back-- his service background guarantees that.

Sorry troops. Help delayed. No calvary coming over the hill yet.



graysmoke

Grotesque aspects

There seem to be more than two parallel universes operating in the political spheres at present.

How is sanity to be preserved if straddling all the differing claims of reality in regard to Iraq?

How is sanity to be preserved while sensing that the country has been terminally screwed by an imperial presidency?

How is sanity to be preserved while the factions battle out the facts vs fiction concerning global warming? stem cell research? the schizoid economy?

There is not a single candidate that can convince me they have the intelligence and will and capability to rescue all that has been lost.

Perhaps the best one can hope is that the decline can be interrupted and an interim period will clarify allowing the best choices to become apparent

At present the best that can be said is that we can only see through the glass darkly.

The political terrain looks suspiciously like a Martian landscape, no telling what's over the next hill, and no Rover in sight.