thick thick smoke, and it's getting hot in here

What happens when we combine these two stories on the same day that the major news should have been openly dissecting and discussing the abandonment of the US Constitution and the Geneva Conventions by the Bush Administration??? Can you say distraction??

<>The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley’s GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some “contact” between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him “we’re taking care of it.”
It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged e-mails between Foley and the boy.

So they know about this for four months, do nothing until the story comes out, and time the responses to the same day as the Freedom to Torture bill is based. More intriguing however is Hastert's immediate response. Rather than admit he knew anything (and his own website changed the time frame of the story later in the day), or do much more than accept Foley's resignation, Hastert goes on the evening Fox news cycle and spins this drek:

HASTERT: I think what they do is, they are so bent on protecting criminals and going through the process and not expediting these people who really want to take our lives, to murder us, and you know, we’ve seen it time and time again. We just saw it just now with the ms-13 gangs, trying to stop them from coming into the country and the liberal Democrats in the Senate blocked it.

ASMAN: But again “coddling terrorists.” You say democrats are doing that. That’s really tough language.

HASTERT: I’m saying what they’re doing is they’re not allowing us to prosecute these people. They’re not allowing us to — the 130 most treacherous people, probably in the world, and they want to put them and release them out in the public eventually.

Wow, how amazing it is that he can discount the other 14,000 prisoners so casually? Or maybe it is the notion that we have convicted so many for terrorism of those we captured?? Oh, that's right we haven't been able to do that even with the illegal unconstitutional torture regimes. I am really curious who these 130 are though, because at last count the IRC talleyed more than 700 at GITMO, and every one of those who have been released from there (a couple of thousand or so) have been found to have been innocent of any charges. But Hastert, knowing the story is about supporting the elimination of the US Constitutional provisions, claims that there are these people somewhere we have been torturing who deserve that treatment and it is the Democrats fault for some reason; all the while blaming others while blowing smoke over the Foley story. Way to go Dennis, real statesmanship.

a snapshot of today's hidden news..

this is a quick overview of several stories just posted today:

• US Department of Energy releases study that essentially says that research shows it may already be too late to avoid the crunch of peak oil collapse.
  
• BP opens spigot to lower prices and reduce possible Congressional action and anti-GOP sentiment in upcoming election. A third coverup of global climate change data and reports by Bushco is reported today.
  
• US EPA releases report that states the population carrying capacity of the US environmement, with the population expected to grow towards 400 million by middle to end of 21st century, might only be 200 million or less. We are overusing our land, using too much water, polluting too much water and air, and otherwise making a giant mess of it all.
• Bushco needs more war to facilitate the remaining political power they receive from defense and security contractors.
  
• US housing bubble worsens as new inventory of available homes increases dramatically
• US Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Commerce release joint report that shows a whopping 84% increase in health insurance premiums between 2000 and 2006 while overall wages grew at a measly 19.7% over the same time period and inflation 17.8%. Of course executive salaries and compensation packages grew over 250%, and that would include those of insurance industry leadership. Corporations are refusing to continue too offer health benefits.

can it get worse... just wait...

one of them meme thangs....

If you make a music mix that is a reflection of your informative years, what would those dozen or so songs be, and maybe more interesting, why? You don't have to be proud of the song choices - they're not necessarily a reflection of taste, more about your history.

First we need to dispense with "informative years," then get to the implied difference between relative value of my history, versus long term recognition of influence and inspiration. I will accept the construct "informed" to apply to inherent (and coherent) integration of this or that particular piece of music to my development of my personhood: personality, spiritual consciousness, aesthetic values, shared relations with the world and people around me, and so far forth. However, for this exercise, i will rule out the years of developmental relations with music, the pubescent and adolescent period, because, although that music underlies and seriously informs the constructs of one's life, i acknowledge that those influences were largely unconscious. Rather i would prefer to look at music that is representative of serious personal choices, and/or relationships to events through and with the music.

So, let's quickly dispense with the obvious. I contracted mononucleosis and hepatitis during my junior year of high school and spent 8 weeks essentially isolated in convalescence. That happened to be the Spring semester of 1964, when the British invasion hit the US, and all over all radio one heard Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Dave Clark Five, etc. So those influences, stripped as they were of social relations and interactions, were absorbed into my core developing adult consciousness, and remain to this day. I have seen most of Stones tours since, still greatly appreciate Ray Davies, and always enjoy anything by the Beatles. That isn't the music i want to talk about.

No, the most significant musical intervention into my life must have been Dylan songs played by the early Grateful Dead (1966/1967). It was a synthesis, under the influence of lots of legal (cough cough) koolaid (and thus opening my consciousness to undo nearly two decades of imprinting), of all of the forms of music i had previously found near and dear to me. From CA surf guitars and drums, through folk and doo-wap ballads, to british rock blues and R&B, all amalgamated with psychedelicized classical forms (i played in orchestras and concert bands from the age of six to 17). The Grateful Dead were, are, and will be the music that informs me. Thus, music that has come to me through my interest and experience with the GD, is also part of that which informs me.

Bill Graham made an effort to tie SanFran 60's psychedelic music with other forms at his Fillmore and Winterland shows. Introduced to that diversity of forms and genres played by the best of the best, certainly influenced and informed my life. Watching Miles (playing with his Algartha and Pangaea band) at shows, waiting for the Dead to come on profoundly changed how i viewed the jazz i had learned to play back in the early 60's. Same can be said for Weather Report and so many other legends. There was the time that the GD (who controlled what music was played through their sound systems) introduced the crowd at intermission to the music of the young angelic voice of Dolly Parton, and later to Olatunji and Baba Maal.

If i am asked to pick others i have to go with:
Country Joe and the Fish whose sound and voice are found now in Widespread Panic
Quicksilver Messenger Service (early days) carried into the 21st century with My Morning Jacket
Love and Kaleidescope preparing the way for Queen or Sting to Bardo Pond and Molehill Orkestrah
Massive Attack along with Portishead are in my collection because of my sensitivities to Joan and Joni;

but perhaps the most impactful of all is the single David Crosby solo album: If I Could Only Remember My Name that took all of the SanFran/LA psychedelia and moved it into the 21st century 35 years ago. Today i find Godspeed You Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky still hovering in that space. Along with so many many others from Dave Mathews to the Shins, Killers, Pixies, Calexico, Tea Leaf Green, Scott Law Band, etc. et al and so forth.

Lastly my world is only complete because of Frank Zappa who took me back to my father's fascination with Ken Nordine, Spike Jones, Ernie Kovacs, and spewed it into the 22nd century and further. Without Frank i would never have fully appreciated rap/hiphop/poetryslam jam performances rooted in protest and angst and anger with the world. Frank was the master of that synchretic form spewing joy and humor across the worst of our species behaviors calling us out for all of our stupidities and arrogance. Frank was one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time....

property is a privilege not a right

I am going to make this simple and explicit. The next time some objectivist libertarian type tries to tell you property is a right, and is natural like: life, liberty, faith, belief, learning, pursuing happiness, being, etc., turn to them and tell them to "fuck off." They are blowing the proverbial fascist smoke up your ass. Property as a right, requires fundamentally taking and controlling something that can never actually belong to you. Property is acquired initially through violence, controlled by coercive threats, fear, intimidation and violence. It is inextricably linked to power, manifested either physically or economically. There can be no right, when one agent (governmental, military, posse, gang, bank, financial institution, etc.) takes the property and holds it claiming it is their right to "own" it. We can't own a piece of the planet, we can't own material possessions, we can't own children, we can't own space. Everytime some white dude in the US claims they own a home on some land, they are doing so intentionally ignoring the history of violence and genocide that allowed them to acquire the land in the first place. They fund through the one set of taxes they must hold dear, the security apparatus necessary to protect their property against others who, like them, want to take it and hold it. If a something can only be acquired and controlled through fear, it is not a right.

George meets George...

Last week, our national pResident of the White House spaketh thusly:

“It's impossible for someone to have grown up in the ’50s and ’60s to envision a conflict with people that just kill mercilessly, using techniques that are kind of foreign to modern warfare,”

Interesting this, in that George the Third said pretty much the same thing back in May of 1775 or so, when it became apparent that the ragtag minions of colonists and revolutionaries stopped fighting fair, using techniques that were "kind of foreign" to the imperial military behavior of those civilized Europeans. And since our Georgey is talking about citizens of the US (i gather he never once participated in a drop drill in school; the idiotic posture that was supposed to help us survive nuclear war {as if nuclear war is somehow now the appropriate norm for modern warfare and never consisted of the merciless killing of mass populations and abject radiological destruction of whole ecosystems}), he must be applying the same rational at the Third was expressing for his subjects: "these people simply don't know what is good for them."

If ever Georgey hasn't looked more imperial and kinglike than last week, i don't know what moment that would be? He was downright regally pissy about being disobeyed by his minions when he wanted to scrap the Geneva Conventions, excuse himself and his synchophantic courtesans from all perception of crimes against humanity, and put torture as the paramount legal policy of the US. I suggest we look more closely at something those colonists wrote about how George the Third got it wrong; and how Georgey is our own tyrant king.

The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

We could of course simply rewrite this by inserting : ruler of the US for King of Great Britain, since all else is true.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

can we all say "signing statements?"

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

we need to get rid of only "his Governors" and replace it with "all members of his administration and party"

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

"you are either with us or you are the enemy" meanwhile bow down to the lord thy ruler damn it.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

can we all say Terry Schiavo? can we all recognize that the GOP Congress of the last two sessions has been the least useful, with the least number of days worked???

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

we are either completely supportive and give up all powers and rights, or we are terrorists and the enemy within and must be destroyed.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
can we hear his immortal words of last week: "we are safer, but we are not yet safe"?

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

can we look at immigration issues, New Orleans, taking military control of planetary resources, the use of the term "enemy combatant" and extraordinary rendition???

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

well to be fair he simply has ignored the judiciary and restructured the administration of justice to be outside the constitution and public purview and control

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

you're laughing right?? you better be, because just looking at his appointments we can see this is incredibly true.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

can we all say DHS, and all of its subsidiaries and private contractors?? can we all recognize the political agents who are regulating and controlling the federal bureaucracy by repressing science, information about our health and safety, and increasing the number of classified documents at rates in excess of the entire history of classification in the world?

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

of course he then makes sure they are overseas when they are needed here in emergencies so that more and more of the population can be removed to camps and their homes and cities taken.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

can we all say Rumsfeld, as in there is only the three of them in charge--Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld? I don't see any civil authority operating here at all.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

can we see hundreds of signing statements, hundreds of executive orders, hundreds of military orders--all of which represent a usurption of the constitution and the development of a private secret government that does as it pleases, abandoning all rule of law and due process??

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

to be fair they are private security forces contracted through the DoD and DHS.

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

isnt this what he is all pissy about at the moment?? he is trying to get Congress to grant him blanket immunity from all crimes against humanity, so that he can then turn this same behavior on the US population before 2008!!!

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

can we agree that maybe the massive record setting trade deficits have essentially destroyed the future of the US economy, while benefiting only the wealthiest 1%???

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

someone is going to have to pay for that more than a trillion dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%, while they move trillions of US dollars and assets outside the US.

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

hell even the US Supreme Court has had to tell him he is in violation, just to make it look like something is being done, but it isn't, and the abuses continue

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

two words: extraordinary rendition

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

can't we all see unconstitutional actions declared by fiat to be appropriate?

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

the list here is simply endless isn't it?? we have essentially allowed him to destroy our democratic republic through election fraud, massive corporate corruption, and defying the constitution.

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

can we all say "signing statements?" can we recognize the many statements that he will do has he pleases and ignore any and all legal and constitutional constraints when it suits his purpose

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

can we all say the Patriot Act and the warrantless unconstitutional spying, terror watch lists, no-fly lists, restriction of all civil rights, abandoning the Geneva conventions, holding and torturing innocent persons against their will in prisons outside the US, etc., et al??

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people

can we acknowledge his complete and total savaging of the planet's environment and the gulf coast?? he has removed, or tried to remove, every environmental protection and law in the US, and encouraged his corporate colleagues to ignore the health of the earth for increasing profit.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
more than half of all US forces in Afghan and Iraq are private contracted mercenaries. most of the US security apparatus (and emergency preparedness services) are private corporate agents serving only their masters without citizen or civilian oversight, nor rule of law.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

can we all say Iraqis?? can we describe his efforts to increase the terror and encourage others around the world to attack us: "bring it on" my ass?

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

okay, this one needs some work, but when one considers his handling of Katrina and the mess of 9/11 etc., it becomes immediately apparent that he has done everything in his power (granted this is really Cheney) to foment fear and terror among the citizens to excuse his own ordering of US military to his known rules of warfare, torture, destroying innocents and infrastructure at home and abroad!!!

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

exactly!!! nuf said!!! I am beginning to understand why those colonists reacted the way they did 230 years ago!!!!! Maybe we better get off our asses before it is too late!!!!

RJ Eskow nails it... but i wanted to first.. hehe

< style="font-family: georgia;">

< style="font-family: georgia;">Let me get this straight: "Islamic fascism" is the greatest world threat since Nazism, Bin Laden is its Hitler ... and yet chasing him is not a priority. What's going on with the GOP's leadership? Do they want Al Qaeda to remain a threat to the US and its allies? Think about it: Al Qaeda's actions saved an already-failed Bush Presidency and gave the Republicans total political control in 2002, and in return we've given it great publicity and a new recruiting grounds in Iraq. With their heated rhetoric, our leaders elevated Bin Laden from a vile and desperate criminal to the de facto leader of world Islamic radicalism. It's just what he wanted - and they gave it to him.

Absolutely correct!!! Bushco must, at all costs, increase the level of fear and threat in order to maintain political power to insure the continuing transfer of wealth, remaining as assets of the nation and its citizens, from the many to the few. Massive corporate investment has put them in place solely to initiate this transfer. It cannot be accomplished without the diversion that only a threat of terror can create. Destruction of the environment of the country and planet are secondary to the guarantee that the super rich continue to amass wealth and control of the minions. Destruction of the remaining bastions of middle class, reducing their assets and any political power to those only of serfs and peasants, in order to increase the degree and level of population control, turning over the law and order system to the churches. Without terrorizing the citizens of the US, there is no chance that Bushco can continue to advance its cause, and secure the future protection of the 0.01% of the planet's population.

And this is about the future; it is about the way in which millions of US citizens and all of their american cousins will be forced to suffer in depravity and despair, living in extreme poverty with ever shrinking availability of resources. Without keeping them very afraid of one another, instilling a deep and abiding paranoia among the people, the churches and superrich would have no hold, no control. They are right about one thing: if this gets out there will be chaos and disorder. So we must legalize torture, we must legalize spying, we must abandon constitutional protections and rights and liberties. We must make the world so unsafe, make the US seem so horrendous, that we can live safely only under a regime that protects from the threats it creates. This is organized crime gangsterism 101; the ultimate protection racket.

please keep in mind

when you read the following story, that there has never been a minimum amount of this chemical small enough to not kill a dog. It is a chemical that is responsible for the deaths of farmworkers all over the world, for massive birth defects and other serious ailments around the planet, and instantly deadly if inhaled or swallowed. Got it? Now read this:

ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION STOCKPILING BANNED PESTICIDE: Methyl bromide has been banned for almost two years under the U.N. Montreal Protocol, a pact designed to stop the thinning of the ozone layer. But according to newly available public documents, the United States has been stockpiling millions of pounds of the pesticide. Methyl bromide is "a highly toxic gas used to sterilize soil and kill pests, [and] is considered the most powerful ozone destroyer currently in large-scale use." Loss of ozone increases the risk of skin cancer, cataracts, slow blindness, and reduces ecosystem diversity. While the United States receives an annual exemption to use the chemical at farms whose crops are deemed "critical," under the treaty, nations are allowed to produce more only if "methyl bromide is not available in sufficient quantity and quality from existing stocks." The Los Angeles Times notes, "In 2004, nearly 29 million pounds were stockpiled by U.S. chemical companies, but the Bush administration received permission from the United Nations to produce an additional 17 million pounds that year, according to newly released EPA data. That amounts to twice as much as U.S. farmers needed last year." David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council said "there's absolutely no justification for having a huge inventory" of methyl bromide when the Montreal Protocol says all nations "should have as little on hand as possible" -- a couple of months' worth.

So for what purpose would Bushco have for securing more than 46 million pounds of this stuff???

I only have one 9/11 question... for now

As this nation continues to be terrorized, losing citizens everyday to violence in Iraq and Afghanistan (deaths that of course wouldn't happen if we weren't there), suffering untold assaults on the rights and liberties of all the citizens here, and becoming increasingly more violent towards one another, i just need to know how the following makes any sense?

Four planes, ostensibly and supposedly taken over by minorly armed hijackers, were planned to have attacked four key facilities. One each for the WTC, and one for the Pentagon, and one for either the White House (where Cheney might have been) or the Capitol. The only plane that was "taken back" by stalwart and heroic US citizens was the one plane that was to target either of our most prized and sacred sites. Now we are being told that we are only to believe that the four planes were staffed with highly trained operatives who were organized to attack the US, and this operation had been in planning for a very long time. Fine, on its face i can accept that assumption for this question. So why is it that the weakest, most-inefficient, least- capable hijackers were on the single, most-important, most-obvious plane?

If the plan was to symbolically attack the US, and picking the WTC and Pentagon were certainly symbolic attacks (WTC housed major media, the largest bank consortium in the world, offices of the Federal government security apparatus, etc.; while the Pentagon was the symbolic HQ of the one military in the world that dwarfs all those of the rest of the world combined), then wouldn't the hijackers with the most sophistication, most experience, closest to Allah, choose to take control of the one plane that was targetted to hit the most symbolic site of all. Are we supposed to believe that it is mere coincidence that the only plane that didn't hit its target was the one that was intended to hit the most precious target???? Are we supposed to accept that the hijackers (who pulled this off) were otherwise so stupid and so inane that they could not have figured out a plan that would make sure that the one key target would be hit??? Are we supposed to accept our own clearly demonstrated incompetent government's assessment that the one plane that really mattered didn't get through because only those passengers had the courage to stop the attack? Just this one set of assumptions alone makes the entire event's official report suspect. It cannot go unanswered, because as of right now it makes absolutely no sense at all.

some would call this treason.. but others say it's just Bush

As of this weekend, here on the fifth year after the nefarious and infamous event of September 11, 2001, the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration has now officially killed more US citizens than were killed on this date five years ago. By the end of this month, more US citizens will have been killed in Iraq than were killed just in the WTC attack. This of course doesn't count the number of permanently disabling wounds to US citizens, which are astronomically higher than any that possibly could be attributed to 9/11. I, of course, am not assessing those that will suffer immeasureably from the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration's mishandling of the toxic and hazardous materials identification during the cleanup of DC and NYC. Yet, it is conceivable that of the more than one million US citizens who will have served merely in Iraq, most, if not all, will suffer from DU toxicity and poisoning.

So, here is the simple question. Who has inflicted the most terror and damage on the US population? I give you two choices: a) Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration or b) Al Qaeda. If you chose b) you are a puppet stooge of the MSM and will go forth blindly into your own massive insanity supporting the more treasonous and hideous regime in the history of the US. If you chose a) you better get your ass out and vote this year to rid ourselves of these bastards.

the battle lines are drawn..

Just taking today's news reports, we see that the battle for the spirit and soul of the US is now begun. In no particular order:

• the Senate Intel Committee releases more of its Phase 2 report showing no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, yet all of the major Bushco players go on TV and say that while not reading the report they still hold the view that there was definitely a connection. They are lying to us because they can.

• the supposed re-edit of the ABC 9/11 film didn't happen, merely deflected pressure until it could be released in NZ and AU earlier today. Same problem scenes are still in it; thus demonstrating that they never had any intention other than to insure that furthering the propaganda initiatives of Bushco is first and foremost their role.

• the RNCC arm of the GOP officially acknowledges that they will spend all of the money on negative personal attacks to insure they continue their control of Congress at all costs. Lies and threats are to be the tools by which they will demonstrate their deserving of the honor of staying in power. Essentially they will lie and distort to achieve their goals, because they are unwilling to stand on their own record.

We are in deep deep trouble.

only been back a few days..

but oh my, what has been going on in this country? I can only assume that ABC/Disney is convinced that by promoting and broadcasting blatant propaganda, they can forestall a change in a Congress that has been decidedly supportive of them in terms of tax breaks, lax FCC regulation, and more freedom to control the population through marketing of consumer products. It is likely that a Democratically controlled Senate or Congress would reduce the capacity to generate greater profits, necessary in this era of falling dollar values and national bankruptcy. Thus, this effort to revise history from a conservative theocratic fascist perspective, is designed to insure future profit at the expense of the US constitutional government.