Monday, August 31, 2009

George Will, rightwing voice, calls for us to quit Afghanistan



Well, shiver me timbers and blow me down....one of the rightest of the right wing agrees with the leftest of the left.  ABOUT TIME!!!  George Will actually makes sense for once.
See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/31/AR2009083102912.html


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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Paul Krugman: Missing Richard Nixon

You know things are REALLY BAD in Washington today when Krugman can say that!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/opinion/31krugman.html?_r=1&hp

EXCERPT: ....the right-wing fringe, which has always been around — as an article by the historian Rick Perlstein puts it, “crazy is a pre-existing condition” — has now, in effect, taken over one of our two major parties. Moderate Republicans, the sort of people with whom one might have been able to negotiate a health care deal, have either been driven out of the party or intimidated into silence. Whom are Democrats supposed to reach out to, when Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who was supposed to be the linchpin of any deal, helped feed the “death panel” lies? But there’s another reason health care reform is much harder now than it would have been under Nixon: the vast expansion of corporate influence.
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Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Scapegoat's Apology: It Will Never Be Enough

It's always the same--those who are responsible at the top are never called to justice. Not here on earth, that is. I do believe they will have to answer for their crimes in a higher court one day.
The Scapegoat's Apology:
Why Did the Chain of Command Suddenly Vanish When They Got Caught?

by Robert C. Koehler

I don't begrudge William Calley his remorse about My Lai, but I'm hesitant to acknowledge his apology for it.

If you steal $10 from your mother, you need to apologize. If, as you carry out orders, you lead a raid on a village that slaughters 500 or more defenseless people, something of a higher magnitude is required before you can have your life back.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai," Calley told members of the Kiwanis Club of Columbus, Ga., last week. "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry."

It's not that I don't believe him . . . or that I hold him unforgivable. As a matter of principle, I refuse to waste time heaping my allotted teaspoonful of disapprobation on a scapegoat. Calley's "responsibility" for My Lai, though personally enormous, is a minute fraction of the symbolic role -- the Bad Apple in an American Uniform -- he was forced to fill. He was, indeed, just following orders. And the first order of war is to suspend your humanity.

Just ask Lynndie England -- another Bad Apple, another Face of Shame -- who was also recently in the news. She had been scheduled to discuss her biography as part of a veterans forum at the Library of Congress several weeks ago, but threats and safety concerns forced the organizers to cancel her appearance.

England once almost apologized for Abu Ghraib, or for her miniscule but high-profile role in that scandal. "Yes, I was in five or six pictures and I took some pictures," she told an interviewer for Stern, the German illustrated weekly magazine, "and those pictures were shameful and degrading to the Iraqis and to our government. And I feel sorry and wrong about what I did."

The apology came well into the interview, in response to a pressing question about her sense of remorse. It was still tangled with her anger that the photos were made public at all, and was the lamest part of a fascinating interview. Far more interesting, for instance, were her memories of the casual horrors of Abu Ghraib and the moral relativism that was expected of her:

"Of course it was wrong. I know that now. But when you show the people from the CIA, the FBI and the MI (military intelligence) the pictures and they say, 'Hey, this is a great job. Keep it up,' you think it must be right. They were all there and they didn't say a word. They didn't wear uniforms, and if they did they had their nametags covered. . . .

"It was kind of weird at first. But once I started to see the big picture, I thought, OK, here come these guys, the OGAs (other government agencies), the MIs or even officers, and they don't even look twice at it. If they approve, then I'm not going to say anything. Who was I to argue?"

Poor Specialist England. She was just trying to be patriotic -- "as a child I mainly grew up on military gung-ho movies, so that's where I got the idea" (to join the Reserves) -- but she got caught up, like Lt. Calley, in the darkness of war, which passeth all understanding. "Who was I to argue?"

It's always the same darkness, is it not? At his trial, Calley protested: "I was ordered to go in there and destroy the enemy. That was my job on that day. . . . I did not sit down and think in terms of men, women and children. They were all classified the same, and that was the classification that we dealt with, just as enemy soldiers."

In both cases, the odd thing was that the darkness got interrupted and they got caught in freeze-frame, enthusiastically carrying out their orders, or perhaps improvising them. But they'd been doing so surrounded by a context -- the chain of command -- which suddenly vanished when they got caught.

And here we come to the excruciating difficulty of any scapegoat's apology. Their personal regrets, whether sincere or wound through with self-pity, hardly touch the enormity of the role they've been forced to play. They can apologize, or try to apologize, for carrying out their orders, but they can't apologize for the orders themselves, or the special interests of war that bear ultimate responsibility for their implementation.

But let us stop playing with that slight word, "apology," and dig at least for a word that approaches the magnitude of the matter at hand. What if Calley had told the Kiwanis of Columbus, Ga., that he intended not to apologize but to atone for his role in the My Lai massacre? What would that mean?

At the very least it suggests a commitment to do more than clear one's name or somehow pay off a debt for old crimes. It suggests a lifelong commitment to reach for wisdom, and to convey that wisdom to the present moment. To atone is to cry out -- with the outsize voice that history has bequeathed the scapegoat -- against the big wrong called war that is still worshipped today, and with one's words cut into present policy. We can't change the past but, by God, we can humanize the future.
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Ask your doctor for a C-Reactive Protein blood test--it could save your life

Could something as easy as a blood test save your life? YES! A C-Reactive Protein test is IMPORTANT for EVERYONE. Ask your doctor to include this in your blood tests at your next exam. Read this VERY IMPORTANT article written by a doctor who knows his stuff: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/is-your-body-burning-up-w_b_269717.html

IS YOUR BODY BURNING UP WITH HIDDEN INFLAMMATION?
by Dr. Mark Hyman

EXCERPT:

Could something as simple as a quick and easy blood test save your life?

Absolutely.

It is called a C-reactive protein test, and it measures the degree of HIDDEN inflammation in your body.

Finding out whether or not you are suffering from hidden inflammation is critical, because almost every modern disease is caused or affected by it.

If your immune system and its ability to quell inflammation in your body are impaired, watch out. You are headed toward illness and premature aging.

Fortunately, addressing the causes of inflammation and learning how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can dramatically improve your health.

To read the rest of the article, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/is-your-body-burning-up-w_b_269717.html

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Friday, August 28, 2009

Bill Moyers on Health Care--video from Bill Maher show

EXCELLENT! I watched this on TV tonight and thought "Bill Moyers makes more sense than any of the politicians in Washington! I agree with everything he is saying. I sure wish he were President!" I hope Obama sees this and follows Moyers' advice! View the video and see for yourself:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/29/bill-moyers-on-health-car_n_271851.html
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Your Eternal Self -- good info. re. life and death

Very interesting site: http://youreternalself.com/index.html#chapterresources Much to explore here for anyone interested in life/death/afterlife. Unlike most books, the author, Dr. R. Craig Hogan, has given permission for all of his book to be copied and distributed to anyone who wants it. Chapter One is in full on his site...and he gives much source material for each chapter that you can link to. You can click on each chapter link for this material and then explore further on the additional links given within. Lots to read for the curious-minded... A good Keeper and Pass-along to anyone who has been grieving for a loved one who has passed on.

Here is a review of the book from amazon.com:
Since research scientists began to delve into the nature of the mind and the afterlife in the last quarter of the twentieth century, humankind has made remarkable discoveries that have left researchers in wonder and awe. Your Eternal Self contains descriptions of the results of the thousands of studies that have pointed unmistakably to the finding that we are eternal beings having a physical experience. Death is an illusion. Even hard-nosed skeptics described in the book have changed their viewpoints in light of the evidence. Your Eternal Self describes carefully controlled, scientific research done by biologists, physicists, neuroscientists, physicians, psychologists, Nobel laureates, and other renowned scientists showing that the mind is outside of the brain, people see and know things they couldn't know if the mind were in the brain, the afterlife is as real as this life, people's minds are united, and our consciousness actually changes the environment in which we live. The book cites 330 sources from many prestigious scientific, psychological, and medical journals, but distills the essence of the research without technical detail, bringing it down to practical, daily life. It is easy reading and full of fascinating anecdotes and explanations. Your Eternal Self ends by describing what our purpose seems to be in life, what true spirituality is, how people can grow spiritually to change themselves so they have love and bliss in their lives, how they can provide that loving legacy for their children and children's children, and what the research has shown about the world of the afterlife.



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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Highly recommended book

I've been reading several books over the summer. There is so much information to cover in this world of ours, with something of major import happening almost every day. Revelations are now being made regularly about things that have been kept from the public for decades. One of the books I'm reading is JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters by James Douglass. The author has done diligent research on the subject of the assassination. JFK wanted peace in our world and pursued it, despite the great objections of the military/industrial complex. His death was engineered by the CIA because he refused to capitulate to the demands of those who want continuous war in order to maintain power and satisfy greed. An excellent synopsis/review of this book is given on amazon.com by a reader. I will include the entire review at the end of this e-mail for you to read. Oliver Stone has said this book is one of the most important ones of our time in history. I agree. It is mind-numbing to realize all the things that have been kept from us, but VERY important that we pursue truth, no matter where it may lead.

Here's the review of the JFK book:
In James W. Douglass' outstanding new book, "JFK and the Unspeakable," the author explains the title in his introduction. Coined by spiritual writer Thomas Merton, The Unspeakable refers to "an evil whose depth and deceit seemed to go beyond the capacity of words to describe." Regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Unspeakable succeeded due to denial by the nation's citizens of the horrifying truth of the event and to plausible denial/lies by the government agencies responsible for the murder. (Vincent Bugliosi's recent fictional paperweight is a perfect example of the plausible deniability that allows the Unspeakable to thrive.)

Many excellent books have proven that the assassination of JFK was the result of a conspiracy. Douglass verifies the certainty of the conspiracy and, as the subtitle of the book states, explains "Why He Died and Why It Matters." He scrutinizes the historical facts surrounding the assassination, from the creation of the CIA to the gradual obliteration of the freedoms upon which this nation was founded.

This book is primarily the story of John F. Kennedy who changes from a Cold Warrior to an altruistic leader willing to risk his life to ensure that the world's children will not become victims of a nuclear catastrophe. Equal time is spent on JFK's presidency as on the assassination but one of the many rewards of this book is the author's capacity to show the relationship between his policies and his death. And the book is a tragedy because it gradually becomes obvious that each step he makes toward peace steadily increases the hatred of his enemies who will eventually betray him.

It is also the story of the designated patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Moved around the country like a pawn by government agencies (as was the second "Oswald"), he was being set up as the scapegoat. Enter some despicable characters, including David Atlee Philips, James Hosty and, of course, Michael and Ruth Paine. Simultaneously, the Soviet Union was being set up as the evil empire behind the assassination, along with its satellite Cuba.

Douglass credibly illustrates the origin of the Crime of the Century. During President Truman's administration, the CIA was empowered to be a paramilitary organization with unlimited powers. Truman's successor, President Eisenhower, fell out of favor with the CIA when he planned a summit meeting with Soviet Premier Khrushchev. This was cancelled after a U.S. spy plane crashed in Russia. Eisenhower had reportedly ordered such flights cancelled and had his suspicions about who had ruined his peace plan. He subsequently issued his warning about the "military industrial complex" in his farewell address. But he didn't defy "this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry." He left that task to his successor, JFK.

The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba was planned by the CIA to regain control of the island and to re-open the casinos for organized crime. President Kennedy refused to provide air support for the Cuban brigade because he knew that he had been lied to by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the CIA; the invasion had been designed to fail without U.S. support but they hadn't told this to JFK who refused to fall into their trap. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK once again enraged the CIA and the Joint Chiefs by resisting their tremendous pressure on him to take military action which would have led to nuclear war.

Following that crisis, JFK became intent on ending the Cold War by establishing a peaceful relationship with the Soviet Union. However, many CIA and Pentagon personnel believed that it was better to be "dead than red" and that it was preferable to destroy civilization rather than let the Communists rule. They also knew that war generated billions of dollars into the arms industry. As a result, they would repeatedly subvert the President's policies and isolate him within his own government. Enter some more despicable characters: Richard Bissell, Charles Cabell, Henry Cabot Lodge, Lyman Lemnitzer, Curtis LeMay and perhaps the most contemptible of all, Allen Dulles. Ironically, JFK learned to trust Khrushchev more than people within his own government.

At American University on June 10, 1963, JFK spoke about his desire for world peace. He communicated his resolve to form a new relationship with Khrushchev. He spoke about the necessity of a pursuit toward disarmament. He related his intentions to establish a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He acknowledged his country's past faults and recognized the Russian people as wanting peace as much as the American people. "And we are all mortal," he stated. Though this extremely important speech was ignored in the United States, it was disseminated throughout the Soviet Union, per order of Khrushchev, who was prepared to respond favorably to JFK's peace initiative. The speech also certified JFK's death warrant. With so many powerful enemies opposing his policies and hating him, JFK didn't have a chance as he was being maneuvered into the crossfire in Dallas.

President Kennedy was aware of the power of his enemies and he knew the dangers facing him. But he persevered and mandated that all U.S. personnel would be withdrawn from Vietnam; he was determined to never send in combat troops even if this meant defeat. He also refused to intervene militarily in Laos. He exchanged private letters with Khrushchev, which infuriated the CIA, and secretly initiated plans to attain rapproachement with Cuba, which further incensed the Agency. Cuba's Fidel Castro, whom the CIA hated as intensely as it hated Kennedy, was equally eager to begin an American-Cuba dialogue. In fact, Castro was meeting with a JFK representative when the President was murdered. JFK died a martyr and the forces of evil that killed him also killed his vision of peace.

Lyndon Johnson, the CIA's ally, assumed the presidency. He cancelled talks with Khrushchev and refused Castro's pleas to continue the dialogue. He reversed JFK's withdrawal plan from Vietnam as well as his plan to neutralize Laos. The military industrial complex took control of the country. The policy of plausible deniability led the way to assassinations of foreign leaders, the overthrowing of foreign governments and horrors committed all over the globe. If JFK had not been murdered, we would not have had the prolongation of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the purported War on Terror and the steady moral deterioration of America. Interestingly, one month after JFK's assassination, President Truman wrote an article for The Washington Post cautioning about the threat of the CIA taking over America.

The author meticulously examines the evidence and draws conclusions which ring with unassailable truth: (1) The CIA coordinated and implemented he assassination of President Kennedy, an act of treason which destroyed democracy in the U.S. (2) The Warren Commission was created to propagate lies to conceal the truth from the American people. (3)There has been a continued cover-up by successive administrations and their stooges in the mass media. (4)The murder of JFK is directly related to the current domination of the American people by powerful oppressors within a shadow government that will continue to insist that only sustained war can keep the country safe from its enemies, never admitting that they themselves are the supreme evil.

This is an exceptional book that will be used by future historians to determine the truth about the assassination and how it changed America. And it will also be used to honor John F. Kennedy as a courageous president who believed in doing God's work on earth. In doing so, he came into conflict with the Unspeakable and his life was extinguished.



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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Flu Shot alert -- excellent info.

Just received this from a friend who is very well versed in health matters -- please read and decide for yourself...

Hi ,
A friend did the research and wrote this article for his local paper. There are important links at the end for your own research and understanding. It is about the dangers in the vaccine that is being forced on the world. We need to take the time to understand what the shots contain before accepting them. Our voices may be needed.

It would be good to get this to as many people as possible, and tell them to do likewise, and to tell others to do it too. Time is very short. Also make sure the message gets sent to tell everyone to study the footnotes and links very thoroughly. It will help affect how many people survive.

EXCERPT:
If you think it is important to personally investigate this issue before injecting this material into your body or your child's, do your homework and know what it is you are about to do. Do not blindly believe the "experts." Your body or your child's may be a "sacrifice they are willing to make." Many doctors recommend vaccinations because it is standard procedure and the belief among doctors that vaccines prevent disease. However, there are many reputable doctors who say vaccines simply do not work, period. In fact, historically there are many instances of massive outbreaks of disease after mass vaccinations and there are many more health problems that occur commonly than simply getting the disease vaccinated against. Some of these problems are serious, even deadly. It is becoming common knowledge, for example, that the current wave of autism in America is directly linked to vaccinations that contain thimerisol, a form of mercury.

What's In The Flu Shot?

The media has been promising a "flu pandemic" for months. Initially, nothing happened. Then a laboratory-produced strain of flu virus that, according to many prominent scientists, simply could not have arisen in nature, was released earlier this year in Mexico, but failed to produce the predicted pandemic. At the same time, test subjects being given flu vaccines were getting sick or dying, not from the flu, but from the vaccines. In advance of the predicted pandemic, drug makers were applying for flu vaccine patents for the "new strain," even though it is impossible to make a vaccine before the new strain actually appears. Next, look for news stories showing panicking people begging for the shot in spite of "limited supplies" (at least 5 billion doses are actually planned), "to help protect my family!" This is supposed to implant in your mind that this shot is the way to protect your health.

Our government, on our behalf, has given the drug makers about a billion dollars of taxpayer money to develop the new vaccines, even though these companies are among the richest and most powerful on the planet. Their expected profits should exceed $50 billion, if their hopes for the coming "flu season" pan out.

Absent any large scale damage from the "new strain" of flu, the World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with the drug makers, went ahead and quietly took the step that will change everything that is about to happen. They declared a "stage 6 pandemic." That means the WHO can assume power over all 194 member countries (including ours, of course), superseding each countries' own laws to force injection of every man, woman and child with the chemical cocktails that the drug makers produce. Greece has apparently become the first country to declare mandatory injections for its entire population. It has begun. Other countries will follow as fast as supplies of the vaccine are ready. Safety testing will be minimal. Why? - Don't the drug makers worry about lawsuits? Absolutely not – our government offers complete immunity from liability to the drug companies, if their products cause injury or death, on any scale. Why would that be necessary if the vaccines are safe?

If you think it is important to personally investigate this issue before injecting this material into your body or your child's, do your homework and know what it is you are about to do. Do not blindly believe the "experts." Your body or your child's may be a "sacrifice they are willing to make." Many doctors recommend vaccinations because it is standard procedure and the belief among doctors that vaccines prevent disease. However, there are many reputable doctors who say vaccines simply do not work, period. In fact, historically there are many instances of massive outbreaks of disease after mass vaccinations and there are many more health problems that occur commonly than simply getting the disease vaccinated against. Some of these problems are serious, even deadly. It is becoming common knowledge, for example, that the current wave of autism in America is directly linked to vaccinations that contain thimerisol, a form of mercury.

And high-dose mercury is not the only additive in the new flu vaccinations. Besides injecting live flu virus directly into yours and your child's bodies, these shots will also contain "adjuvants," to make the virus supply for the shots go farther. One of the adjuvants will probably be "squalene." This is a naturally occurring substance found throughout the human body, and might be harmless – if you drank it. But when it is injected, several of the doctors in the references below, believe it will cause the body to produce antibodies which will produce autoimmune diseases in many and compromise their quality of life permanently, and they believe many will die. This is in addition to spreading the very pandemic that has been predicted, not from getting the virus naturally, but from getting the virus by direct injection. That in turn, will give the government a perfect excuse for measures that WHO mandates in their procedures, including incarceration for anyone attempting to refuse the shots (probably 3 per person), and the use of deadly force, if necessary.

Check this out for yourself. Read the article cited below by Dr. James Howenstein, world-renown researcher and MD, whose article on why to avoid the flu shot is backed up by his own research. This issue is as serious as the life and health of your family, so please read these materials, and others you may find, in order to get the whole picture on what is a profitable, but seriously flawed theory that vaccinations prevent disease.

www.freedomsphoenix.com - Daily news, subscribe for free)

www.realityzone.com - Weekly news, subscribe for free

www.healthfreedomusa.org - News on all health freedom issues, get on free email list.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/08/13/Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Makers-to-Profit-50-Billion-a-Year.aspx

http://www.naturalnews.com/Index.html

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100002_01/08/2009_109461

http://www.infowars.com/voluminous-research-proves-vaccines-are-deadly/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/Swine_flu/article6734056.ece

http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james.htm

http://www.homefirst.com - Check out all of the previously-held free "webinars" offered by this courageous MD. This is an excellent education in the essential basics of vaccination and specifically the swine flu shot.

Http://www.drtenpenny.com - Another great educational site. This doctor has devoted many years to the study of vaccination and now devotes much of her time to educating the public about the massive damage she sees coming from vaccinations.

http://www.drcarley.com - Dr. Carley has also spent many years in the study of vaccinations and believes the injecting of mass numbers of Americans with this new series of shots will create not only a widespread real pandemic, but will also damage and kill large numbers of Americans and citizens of other countries who are also members of WHO.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

REALLY GOOD REASONS TO BOYCOTT WHOLE FOODS

Great article, filled with good recommendations on vitamins, etc.  Highly recommended!
http://www.naturalnews.com/026906_food_foods_whole_foods.html

A REAL REASON TO BOYCOTT WHOLE FOODS
by Mike Adams, Natural News

IMPORTANT EXCERPT: Now, you could reasonably argue that Whole Foods is providing a nice shopping environment, with clean produce aisles, and good signage (sometimes), and a great selection. Yes, all those things are true. It costs money for the building, the inventory, the employees and even the parking lot. But for someone only wanting the best value in great nutrition, they don't need all that stuff. They just need an honest, high-quality product at a fair price, without the middle man markup. And you get that from buying direct.

Pure Synergy, for example, (www.TheSynergyCompany.com) is my No. 1 top recommended food-based multivitamin. I've never seen them in Whole Foods and don't expect to. The Whole Foods markup would make their vitamins seem outrageously expensive. So it's better to just buy them directly from The Synergy Company at a fair price for a super high-quality product.

Dr. Jameth Sheridan's amazing superfood products (www.HealthForce.com) are also not represented in Whole Foods, at least the last time I was there. His products are just too high-end in nature, and they're priced close to the actual production costs, so there's just not enough room in the profit margins to hand over 50% to Whole Foods (or whatever the actual amount is these days).  Living Fuel, one of my favorite superfood products (www.LivingFuel.com) will probably never be seen on a Whole Foods shelf. Why? Because the ingredients are premium, and that means premium cost for the raw materials. There simply isn't enough room in the pricing on Living Fuel to squeeze out 50% (or so) for Whole Foods to mark it up.

So when it comes to vitamins and superfoods, I recommend you avoid Whole Foods and just buy directly from the manufacturers as much as possible.

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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Ted Kennedy makes brave move to save health care reform

God Bless him!

THE LION'S ROAR: TED KENNEDY MOVES TO SAVE HEALTH CARE REFORM

By Brent Budowsky

Ignore what you read in the papers, watch on cable television, or are force-fed by many of the pundits who don’t know what is really happening. Here is the story: If Ted Kennedy votes on cloture, there is a high probability the Democrats have 60 votes. If Kennedy cannot vote, but resigns and is replaced by a new Democrat from Massachusetts, the Democrats probably have 60 votes.

Today the greatest senator who ever served performed one of the most valiant acts in the history of the Senate by asking Massachusetts to pass a law giving the governor the power to appoint his successor. This noble move will electrify and rally healthcare supporters across the nation and provide a gigantic booster shot to advocates of the public option.

Virtually none of the pundits have gotten this right. There are two distinct issues: first, the fate of the public option, and second, the fate of the Democratic and Republican parties based on how they handle healthcare and other issues.

Regarding the parties, any pundit who claims this is a defeat of the Democrats or a victory for the Republicans deserves the response Barney Frank gave in a town meeting: "What planet are you living on?" In the NBC poll the Republicans have a negative rating on healthcare that rises above 60 percent and a positive rating that has shrunk to a humiliating and disastrous near-20 percent, which is lower than George W. Bush at his lowest. In the new Pew poll, Democrats have a general favorable rating of 49 percent while Republicans have a favorable rating of 40 percent.

For any pundits who think this is good for Republicans, please sign up for my math class. You flunk. F-minus is your grade. It is astonishing and laughable that any pundit can call a negative rating of over 60 percent on healthcare anything but a debacle for the Republicans. It is amazing that any pundit can claim that a Republican Party running 9 percent behind the party of Obama, Reid and Pelosi is anything other than a disaster for Republicans.

The pundits are also wrong about Obama and the public option. The fact is, that Obama never publicly waged a defense or support for the public option. Even when he said it was essential, it was a mention in passing. I wrote a post here many weeks ago asking whether Obama was preparing to surrender.

Of course what we witnessed last Saturday and Sunday was an attempt by Obama and the White House to surrender on the public option. It was so crude and poorly handled, as much of their case on healthcare has been, that it outraged huge numbers of Democrats throughout the nation and in the Congress.

Having attempted to surrender on Saturday and Sunday, the White House surrendered their surrender on Monday, saying they still support the public option. Then, on Tuesday, they put out the bizarre, ridiculous and obviously untrue spin that "nothing has changed.” Of course, the village idiot knows exactly what changed: everything changed.

From Saturday, when the president did not even mention the public option once in his New York Times op-ed, to Sunday, when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs distanced themselves from the public option, to Monday, when they reiterated their support for the public option, to Tuesday, when the progressive outrage mounted to ferocious levels, it is laughable to say nothing changed when the White House was twisting and turning and changing by the hour.

The quote in The Washington Post from a "senior White House adviser" criticizing "the left of the left" for actually promoting what we thought was the president's program on the public option, means this:

There was panic in the White House from those who wanted to sell out the public option, so they ridicule and demean and slander the overwhelming majority of Democrats in America, and in the House and Senate, with the bogus smear that they are "the left of the left.”

I sent a formal request to the White House asking whether the "senior White House adviser" meant that the Speaker of the House is the left of the left. No answer yet. Is Kennedy the left of the left? Are a majority of Democrats in the House and Senate the left of the left?

I found this reprehensible for the same reason I found Lanny Davis's recent post on The Hill’s Pundits Blog reprehensible. They equate rightists who bring guns to town meetings, who lie about major provisions in the bill, and who yell and shout and disrupt town meetings with those who support what we thought was the president position in favor of the public option.

The senior White House aide, and Davis, use the language of the right to make the attack of the right, against the heart and soul of those who supported the president and supported the president's plan. This is not about any left of the left, which is the kind of nonsense that has gotten the president in trouble. And no, Lanny, there is no equivalence on this between alleged extremists on both sides.

The extremist tactics and the dishonest claims have not come from both sides. Of course, individual liberals have said things I might disapprove of, but in toto to equate those who support the president’s plan for the public option with the extremist tactics of the right, or to refer to those who support the president's public option as the left of the left, is a slander and defamation of many of the president's most loyal supporters and a major reason for the growing outrage among them.

Now Ted Kennedy, the poker player with a mastery of Congress and the fighter for healthcare for the people, has made the master move at the perfect moment.

God bless this good and great man and senator. He has called everybody's bluff. He is putting the big card on the table.

Let the Republicans brag about their 62 percent negative rating on healthcare.

Let the Democratic capitulationists try to capitulate.

Let the president tell us where he stands.

The master has made his move, and it is a whole new ballgame. Now the fight begins in earnest.


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MERCURY CONTAINED IN EVERY FISH STUDIED FROM 300 U.S. STREAMS

EXCERPT:

All but two states — Alaska and Wyoming — have issued fish-consumption advisories because of mercury contamination. Some of the streams studied already had warnings.

STUDY FINDS MERCURY IN FISH WIDESPREAD, BLAMES MINING, COAL PLANTS
By Susie Madrak

I found this cheery news over at my pal Dr. S.'s place. This is a handy piece of information to remember when the administration and congressional leaders start pushing (and they will) for "clean" coal:

WASHINGTON — A federal study of mercury contamination released Wednesday found the toxic substance in every fish tested at nearly 300 streams across the country, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become.

fish-mercury_5009f.jpg

The study by the U.S. Geological Survey is the most comprehensive look to date at mercury in the nation's streams. From 1998 to 2005, scientists collected and tested more than a thousand fish from 291 streams nationwide. While all fish had traces of mercury contamination, only about a quarter had levels exceeding what the Environmental Protection Agency says is safe for people eating average amounts of fish.

[...] Mercury can damage the nervous system and cause learning disabilities in developing fetuses and young children. The main source of mercury to most of the streams tested, according to the researchers, is emissions from coal-fired power plants. The mercury released from smokestacks rains down into waterways, where natural processes convert it into methylmercury — a form that allows the toxin to wind its way up the food chain into fish.

Some of the highest levels in fish were detected in the remote blackwater streams along the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, where surrounding forests and wetlands help in the conversion.

Mercury was also detected in high concentrations in western streams that drain areas mined for mercury and gold. At about 59 of the streams, mostly in the West, mining could be contributing to the mercury levels, the researchers said.

"Some ecosystems are more sensitive than others," said Barbara Scudder, the lead USGS scientist on the study.

All but two states — Alaska and Wyoming — have issued fish-consumption advisories because of mercury contamination. Some of the streams studied already had warnings.


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ABOUT TIME! OBAMA GIVES UP ON REPUBLICANS

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090822/pl_bloomberg/a9fjicd6ygqk

FINALLY!!!! WHAT TOOK HIM SO LONG?????? The Repugs were NEVER going to get on board for health care reform! I can only think Obama waited this long to show the American people (the majority with brains) how dastardly the Republicans can be in their determination to prevent important help for the people of this nation. They are nothing but NAYSAYERS who will try to obstruct everything the Democrats try to do. Never having a plan of their own, they stubbornly want to pull down Obama and the Democrats, without thought of the cost to the country. I hope most Americans are now aware of this--and that the Republicans will continue in the death spiral for their party that they themselves have put into motion. Their blind hatred and racist bigotry has turned them into an ugly group with no appeal to intelligent voters.

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IMPORTANT--Read/watch this --

Whether you believe in alien visitation of our planet, or not, you may want to satisfy your curiosity and watch this report from a knowledgeable, credible military witness. Then make up your own mind. This video of Bob Dean tells of his own discoveries while serving in a high military position. Dean spoke at a press conference in Spain, after having spoken at the Exopolitics Conference there this summer. Here is his short presentation at a press conference while there: http://www.wikio.co.uk/video/1469827 You can also watch Bob Dean's entire presentation at the Exopolitics conference on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ngvIP0Za9M He shows many stunning NASA photos that may just blow your mind!

Also, watch ABC's Primetime this coming Tuesday at 10:00 p.m.--they will be doing a story about Alien Abductions. (Interesting, isn't it, how often you now see shows about UFOS on mainstream, primetime news shows? Can it be that our government is trying to inform us, bit by bit, and piece by piece about our "visitors" so we won't be too shocked when the full truth is revealed to us?) Here's an article about the upcoming show from ABC: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=8330290

It's interesting that in the poll contained within the article, more than six times as many people have voted that they DO believe in alien abduction as those who think UFOs and crop circles are baloney. Having done much reading, investigating, and talking with credible (often military and government) witnesses--and having seen 3 UFOs myself at different times in my life, I count myself among the believers. After hearing what Bob Dean has to say, and doing some exploring for yourself (if you are a curious sort, like I am), you may find yourself among the believers, too.

On September 12 and 13, the annual Bay Area UFO Expo will be held in San Jose as it has for the past several years. I have attended almost every one of these conferences and have heard Bob Dean and other very informed speakers many times throughout those years. This year, Bob Dean will be speaking on the 12th and presenting a workshop as well. I have already registered to attend. As you'll see if you watch the above-mentioned videos, he is an extremely interesting and credible speaker. His honesty and sincerity shines through whenever he speaks. He has dedicated most of his adult life to getting the truth out -- and has been joined by many other former military and government members who share his desire and have their own stories to tell. Our government has spent years of misinforming/disinforming the public in trying to refute the truth about UFOs. They have used ridicule, threats, and lies to tarnish the information being given by eyewitnesses to the fact that we are being visited by extraterrestrials -- and are being monitored by them so that we don't blow up our planet.

This is an intriguing subject to investigate. But you do have to have an open mind that is willing to peruse the information without holding onto an already established bias. In other words, you have to be willing to believe that your government and the military/industrial complex have lied to you and have tried (in so many ways) to keep you from knowing what is really going on in our world.



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Friday, August 21, 2009

Obama's "Deal" on Drugs with Big Pharma


LUCKY US!  A WHOLE 2% SAVINGS!!! (Proving once again, it doesn't matter which party is in office--the corporations Rule!)
Obama on Drugs: 98% Cheney?
Source: gregpalast.com


 

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Love that BIll Maher! New Rule about Apologies

From Bill Maher on his show tonight:

New Rule: If Mitt Romney, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin all think America has never done anything wrong, we must be doing something wrong. Look at them: an empty suit, an empty heart and an empty head. It looks like the news team on Good Morning Hell. And what they've been competing about lately is who would not apologize the most. America is infallible, and apologies are horrible things that must never, ever be given. Except by me when I make a joke about the Pope. "We're perfect -- deal with it," is their new handshake. But I say, what's wrong with America occasionally saying, "I'm sorry"? Because these are the three sorriest white people I've ever seen.

If in your eyes America can do no wrong, you should really look into Lasik surgery. There's the rational, mature assessment of our country: that it's a great nation -- especially if you like fried foods -- but it also has its faults. And then there's the Republican view: that it's perfect and pure in every way and it's always right all the time, just like Leviticus and Ronald Reagan.

If the founders were alive today, Republicans would be giving them shit because the Preamble to the Constitution says, "In order to form a more perfect union? Hello, it's already perfect! Why are you suggesting American apologetics, Ben Franklin?"

One of the things that makes Republicans furious about our current president is their idea that Obama is always apologizing for America's biggest mistakes. Unlike President Bush. Who was one of America's biggest mistakes.

In his first week as president, Obama did an interview with Arab TV in which he said, "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect." Thought crime! And then he went to Cairo and violated one of those absolute eternal rules the Right Wing is always making up out of thin air: "The president must never apologize on foreign soil. Lest our allies begin to doubt that we're assholes. "

But what did Obama actually say to make Karl Rove's head explode and the popcorn fly out? Cover your children's ears: When he was asked if he believed in American exceptionalism, he said he did, the same way "the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism." Yes, our so-called president actually said people in other countries might like their countries better. I was so shocked I nearly dropped the Bible I was using to help me masturbate into my gun.

In her farewell speech -- if only -- Sarah Palin kept telling us "how she's wired." Now I'm not a doctor, or an electrician -- but this is faulty wiring, this world view that, in her words, "we should never apologize for our country." Really? Never? Not for slavery? Or Japanese internment camps, or if we tortured the wrong guy at Guantanamo? The Indians? Nothing, Sarah? "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"? Shouldn't John McCain apologize for... you?

When did intractability become a virtue? Mitt Romney's new book is called No Apology: The Case For American Greatness. You can find it at Borders, in the "Suck-Up" section. It's such a perfect title, combining paranoia with arrogance: "No one has yet asked me to apologize but, if someone ever does, fuck them."

Conservatives think apologizing is a sign of weakness. It's what liberal pussies do, when they're not busy driving electric cars and feeling empathy. When in fact it's the weak and the scared who are too insecure to apologize. Apologies are actually a sign of strength. That's why six-year-olds hate them.

In Rwanda, after a genocide that killed a million people, they set up special courts where people stood up and said, "Hey, sorry I macheted your entire family. My bad." And believe it or not, in most cases, that was enough. That's the power of an apology. A recent study reveals that doctors who are willing to apologize to patients for their mistakes are sued for malpractice about half as much as doctors who aren't willing to apologize.

Apologies can do great things, and they can enable great things. And if you still don't believe me, I have three words for you: make-up sex.

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AMEN TO THIS ASSESSMENT!

Paul Krugman has been right on every assessment he has made re. the Obama administration -- and, with this column, he's STILL right!  Obama should have him as an advisor instead of the bunch he's got around him--all those appeasers of Big Banks, Big Corporations, and Big Pharma.  Obama has lost my trust, and most of my friends feel the same way.

OBAMA'S TRUST PROBLEM

by Paul Krugman

According to news reports, the Obama administration — which seemed, over the weekend, to be backing away from the “public option” for health insurance — is shocked and surprised at the furious reaction from progressives.

Well, I’m shocked and surprised at their shock and surprise.

A backlash in the progressive base — which pushed President Obama over the top in the Democratic primary and played a major role in his general election victory — has been building for months. The fight over the public option involves real policy substance, but it’s also a proxy for broader questions about the president’s priorities and overall approach.

The idea of letting individuals buy insurance from a government-run plan was introduced in 2007 by Jacob Hacker of Yale, was picked up by John Edwards during the Democratic primary, and became part of the original Obama health care plan.

One purpose of the public option is to save money. Experience with Medicare suggests that a government-run plan would have lower costs than private insurers; in addition, it would introduce more competition and keep premiums down.

And let’s be clear: the supposed alternative, nonprofit co-ops, is a sham. That’s not just my opinion; it’s what the market says: stocks of health insurance companies soared on news that the Gang of Six senators trying to negotiate a bipartisan approach to health reform were dropping the public plan. Clearly, investors believe that co-ops would offer little real competition to private insurers.

Also, and importantly, the public option offered a way to reconcile differing views among Democrats. Until the idea of the public option came along, a significant faction within the party rejected anything short of true single-payer, Medicare-for-all reform, viewing anything less as perpetuating the flaws of our current system. The public option, which would force insurance companies to prove their usefulness or fade away, settled some of those qualms.

That said, it’s possible to have universal coverage without a public option — several European nations do it — and some who want a public option might be willing to forgo it if they had confidence in the overall health care strategy. Unfortunately, the president’s behavior in office has undermined that confidence.

On the issue of health care itself, the inspiring figure progressives thought they had elected comes across, far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of “bending the curve” but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama’s explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee.

Meanwhile, on such fraught questions as torture and indefinite detention, the president has dismayed progressives with his reluctance to challenge or change Bush administration policy.

And then there’s the matter of the banks.

I don’t know if administration officials realize just how much damage they’ve done themselves with their kid-gloves treatment of the financial industry, just how badly the spectacle of government supported institutions paying giant bonuses is playing. But I’ve had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they’re really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus — but that’s a distinction lost on most voters.

So there’s a growing sense among progressives that they have, as my colleague Frank Rich suggests, been punked. And that’s why the mixed signals on the public option created such an uproar.

Now, politics is the art of the possible. Mr. Obama was never going to get everything his supporters wanted.

But there’s a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line. It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke: Senator Charles E. Grassley feeds the death panel smear, warning that reform will “pull the plug on grandma,” and two days later the White House declares that it’s still committed to working with him.

It’s hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can’t be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled.

Indeed, no sooner were there reports that the administration might accept co-ops as an alternative to the public option than G.O.P. leaders announced that co-ops, too, were unacceptable.

So progressives are now in revolt. Mr. Obama took their trust for granted, and in the process lost it. And now he needs to win it back.


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Thursday, August 20, 2009

FOX NEWS is Liberal -- and Jon Stewart proves it


Jon Stewart's logic is impeccable -- and it is backed by a video montage of FOX News over the years. This is one of Stewart's best presentations!  Watch it at: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/20/stewart-slams-fox-hypocrisy-over-protesters/

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Declassified: Human Experimentation -- a Must-See

I watched this documentary today--it can be rented from Netflix or Blockbuster -- you can see a 5 minute trailer of it at: http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/activism_non_profit/watch/v18829492EZ9Tmfr8

It tells about the secret experimentation that was deliberately done on Americans throughout many decades by our own government--including the release of infectious bacteria into the subways of NYC, into the air in Minneapolis (especially into a grade school there), and San Francisco. Hundreds of people became ill from these bacterias--and many of them died.  It also tells about how unsuspecting patients at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY were injected with plutonium during their regular checkups. Plutonium is a deadly radioactive substance -- yet they wanted to see how humans would react with this substance injected into their bloodstream! 
The radioactivity level of an isotope such as plutonium is determined by its half-life, which is the time it takes for half of an original quantity to decay. The half-life of plutonium-239 is about 24,000 years! 

This documentary should be required viewing for all Americans. It gives an important warning: trusting your government can be very dangerous to your health.




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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

One of the BEST articles yet on Obama and Health Care

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/23378

I've given up on Obama's being able to change ANYthing!  He is wholly owned by the corporations. And, as David Michael Green says in this EXCELLENT assessment of today's political world, when the Republicans are in power, Republicans rule. When Democrats are in power, Republicans still rule.  Now that we've got that straight, there is no sense in having elections anymore.

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Monday, August 17, 2009

WHY WE WILL NEVER SEE THE END OF WARS

...as long as the Military/Industrial/Corporate Complex Rules Our World:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/23337
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OMG! Tom DeLay will be on Dancing with the Stars!

Just when you thought we had reached bottom in right-wing madness, here comes more torture from the nutcase arena:

From www.crooksandliars.com (by Nicole Belle)

Just because it's such a good opportunity to remember the n00bness that was Tucker Carlson on DWTS....

Think Progress has the whole nightmarish scenario:

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will participate in the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars,” facing off against pop singer Aaron Carter, actress Melissa Joan Hart, and former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin. According to DeLay spokesperson Shannon Flaherty, “Anyone who’s seen him on the dance floor at convention parties or weddings knows he’s going to surprise a lot of people — and in a good way. This is going to be a fun campaign, and at least we know he’ll make it as far as Tucker Carlson.” (Carlson was the first contestant eliminated in the 2006 season.)

ZOMG! Apparently this is step one of the Delay Reputation Recovery tour so that he can someday have as much gravitas in the national arena as his similarly scandal-ridden cohort in the House, Newt Gingrich. I'm sure that next will be a Very Special Episode of 24, in which Delay saves the world with Jack Bauer.

I have actually never watched this show and this *guaran-damn-tees* I never will.


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WORDS OF WISDOM FROM PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/opinion/17krugman.html?_r=1&src=twt&twt=nytimesopinion

As evidence of the ignorance of those who oppose health care/health insurance reform:

EXCERPT:
In an editorial denouncing Democratic health reform plans, Investor’s Business Daily tried to frighten its readers by declaring that in Britain, where the government runs health care, the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance,” because the National Health Service would consider his life “essentially worthless.”  Professor Hawking, who was born in Britain, has lived there all his life, and has been well cared for by the National Health Service, was not amused. (!!!)

...At this point, all that stands in the way of universal health care in America are the greed of the medical-industrial complex, the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine, and the gullibility of voters who believe those lies. (Sigh--this is SO true!)
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Friday, August 14, 2009

THE GOP CHOOSES FASCISM

by Bob Burnett

After Barack Obama's convincing win over John McCain, it was clear the Republican Party was at a crossroads. The Grand Old Party had to decide what ideology was going to guide it in the post-Bush era: a philosophy rooted in conservative ideas or a credo based upon fear and anger. Unfortunately for America, Republicans turned to the dark side and chose the road to fascism.

By "fascism" I mean a national political movement that rejects democracy, embraces nativism and racism, and promotes violence. The Ku Klux Klan is an American fascist movement. The German Nazis were another example.

The Republican dance with fascism dates to the Nixon era when the GOP recruited Southern Democrats alienated by passage of the Civil Rights Act. When George W. Bush first ran for President, rabidly racist and sexist groups became major campaign players. The Bush White House encouraged nativism with its imagery of America the Christian nation leading a worldwide crusade against infidels. And, Bush fed distrust of reason - another hallmark of fascism - with his fear-based propaganda and anti-science agenda.

Since Obama's election, we've seen the Republican Party tighten its embrace of fascism. First, they made the decision to oppose whatever Obama proposed without offering contrasting ideas; their hope was that the President would fail and this would work to their advantage. Republican leaders rooted for a collapse of the American financial system, wanted the current recession to be as severe as the Great Depression, so their Party could take advantage of the chaos.

Second, in the absence of strong internal leadership, the GOP looked to demagogues - Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity - to represent the Party. Republicans adopted Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels' "big lie" tactic, where Party spokespeople could say anything so long as it advanced their cause. Limbaugh denied there is a healthcare crisis, called Obama a racist and compared him to Hitler. Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly took the same path as Limbaugh and claimed the Democrats' healthcare bill supports euthanasia.

Third, the GOP embraced nativism and racism by supporting border vigilantes, opposing the Supreme Court nomination of Sonja Sotomayor, and spreading lies about Obama's birth. In effect, the Republican Party rebranded itself as the White People's Party.

And finally, in their advocacy of disruptions at Congressional town hall meetings, Republicans have explicitly supported violence. Beginning with the lie that the Obama Administration wants to suspend the second amendment and deny Americans the right to bear arms, Glen Beck has promoted armed resistance. Falsely claiming Obama has "surrounded himself by Marxists his whole life," Beck proclaimed the Obama era is reminiscent of ""the early days of Adolf Hitler" and suggested America is rapidly becoming " a totalitarian state." The Republican Party and closely allied lobbyists promoted thuggery that disrupted town hall meetings. Now the Republican Party teeters on the edge of the signature tactic of fascist movements: sponsoring paramilitary groups.

It's time for Americans to call the Republican tactics for what they really are and launch a counter-attack against fascism.

(1) Encourage Democratic members of Congress to vote for the Obama healthcare plan when they return from their August recess. Republican leaders understand that healthcare reform is vital for the American people and the economy and its passage will further diminish GOP influence and credibility. So long as they are united, Democrats don't need Republican votes to pass healthcare reform.

(2) Show up at town hall meetings, support healthcare reform, and object to the mob violence espoused by the Republican Party. Ask GOP leaders to denounce thuggery. Send letters to your local newspaper supporting healthcare reform and condemning Republican fascism.

(3) Donate to progressive groups that pledge to combat fascism; for example, Organizing for America, Democracy for America, and Move On.

(4) Support Democratic Representatives from swing Congressional districts; those holding seats that might be jeopardized by a vote supporting the Obama healthcare initiative. The Cook Report lists 18 Democratic incumbents at risk.

(5) Demonstrate against hatemongers - Beck, Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, Malkin, O'Reilly, Savage and others - and the Republican leadership that supports them - Boehner, McConnell, Palin, and Steele. Send them disapproving emails and show up at their public appearances.

(6) Boycott sponsors that advertise on the shows of hatemongers. Fox News Boycott has a complete list of Fox sponsors.

(7) Demand that the FCC or Congress reinstate the Fairness Doctrine to limit the power of Fox News and hate radio. In 1987, the Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission suspended the fairness doctrine, which required holders of broadcast licenses to report on controversial issues in an honest, equitable, and balanced manner. This action opened the door for Fox News, the Rush Limbaugh show, and other conservative outlets to spew Republican propaganda without having to offer the opposing perspective.

This is a critical moment for healthcare reform, the Obama presidency, and American democracy. In their ill-considered scramble for power, the Republican leadership is feeding the fires of fascism. It's time for all of us to do what we can to ensure meaningful healthcare reform legislation is enacted and the GOP tactics are rebuked.
_______

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REPUBLICAN DEATH TRIP

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=2

Paul Krugman predicted this -- and it has come to pass.  He is right; there is no appeasing this minority that hates Obama, just as they hated the Clintons.  They are a vengeful,  paranoid breed that fears everything that isn't like themselves. Their greatest fear came true when a black man won the Presidency.  Racial bigotry now adds more fuel to their innate hatred and fear of Democrats/lib'rals.   These people fear that "their country" is being taken from them, as if the lily-whites owned it.  Their fear of change is so great, they follow lying rabble-rousing ranters like Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, O'Reilly, and Malkin who are intent on pulling down Obama's presidency. The right wing is full of nutcase propagandists who create outlandish lies as easily as taking a breath--and then feed them to their "dittoheads," who haven't the sense they were born with. Many of these "dittoheads" are so dangerously deluded, they have gone out and murdered innocent people, taking their direction from the hatred spewed out daily by the propagandists.  Blood is on the hands of these liars who lead the ignorant with their wild accusations. Their karma will one day catch up with them. In the meantime, it seems we must endure their vitriol until it culminates in some horrendous deed that cannot be undone. As a country, we have been there before and apparently the lessons have not yet been enough for us to learn from.

EXCERPT:
President Obama is now facing the same kind of opposition that President Bill Clinton had to deal with: an enraged right that denies the legitimacy of his presidency, that eagerly seizes on every wild rumor manufactured by the right-wing media complex.This opposition cannot be appeased. Some pundits claim that Mr. Obama has polarized the country by following too liberal an agenda. But the truth is that the attacks on the president have no relationship to anything he is actually doing or proposing.


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Thursday, August 13, 2009

CHENEY SIGNS BOOK DEAL



Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush: 'Statute of Limitations Has Expired' on Many Secrets, Former Vice President Says (By Barton Gellman)

Cheney's daughter Liz has talked him into writing his perspective on the Cheney/Bush years, even though Cheney has condemned others for writing memoirs. Hypocrisy continues to reign in right wing politics.  And don't you love the following that reveals so clearly his disdain for the will of the people he was supposed to be serving (as if we didn't already know this by his belligerent attitude towards anyone who disagrees with him). If you ever needed more proof that Republicans don't believe in the will of the people, here it is:

But there is a sting in Cheney's critique, because he views concessions to public sentiment as moral weakness.
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOKS!!!

I am now reading a book entitled JFK and the Unspeakable by James Douglass. Douglass has done assiduous research on the assassination, discovering who was involved -- and has brought many puzzle pieces together in a revelation of darkest intrigue. His research uncovered a plot horrifyingly obscene in evil intent, with ingenious Plan A, Plan B, Plan C threads interwoven into its warp and woof by a shadow government/CIA/FBI, intent on keeping our world in constant war and turmoil and determined to rid themselves of anyone who got in their way. As I read it, my mind reels at their ability to plan murderous scenarios and then carry them out, without even a hint of conscience about any of their nefarious deeds. Carefully planned step by side-step, they set up Oswald, one of their own agents (often using doubles for him), as the fall guy for the assassination of JFK, which their own people carried out with deadly accuracy on that fateful 1963 November day in Dallas that changed the future for all of us.

How they did this has now been pieced together through Douglass's research/interviews -- and, as he takes you through the puzzle pieces, fitting them together, word by word and sentence by sentence, the terrible picture takes form before your eyes. The information it delivers to the reader is appalling, because it reveals in chilling detail how the fate of our world is hanging in the balance as a result of the evil manipulation and control this shadow government has over all of us. The madness of those who really rule over this country is complete. Their mission is to keep wars and mayhem continuing on this planet, in order to maintain power and profit for themselves. To achieve this, the assassination of presidents is nothing to them. The killing of 3,000 innocent people on 9/11 is nothing to them, nor the telling of huge lies to start a war that will result in the deaths of millions. They employ puppets to do their evil and then get rid of the puppets once they have accomplished their assigned purpose. These are monstrous men without hearts or conscience, capable of great depths of evil, and it is hard to believe they were born of human parents.

It does make you wonder where do the Allen Dulles's, the Dick Cheneys, the Henry Kissingers, the Hitlers, the Stalins--these men with ice water in their veins--come from, really? Do they high-five each other when they pull off each assassination and each bloody disaster in which thousands of lives are lost? It is apparent that full power and control are all they care about, and it doesn't matter what it takes to help them maintain it.

And what about the pawns like Oswald who carry out their wishes--and then are sacrificed before they can ever reveal what they have done? Where do people like this come from--who are willing to sell their souls to the devil for a mess of pottage? Do they start out as innocents, as new FBI or CIA agents, thinking (like soldiers recruited into the Iraq war) that they are doing their duty to defend and protect their country? And then they get hooked into a system so evil, with so many twists and turns in a maze of secrecy and codes of do-or-die (do-AND-die) obedience, they can find no way out? Where along the way do they become corrupt like their masters? How do these men go home at night to their families--their own wives and children--after a day in which they deliberately murdered others--men, women and children--ripping them away from their families? How do these men-turned-into-monsters call themselves "Christians" and go to church on Sunday with their families?

Those questions go through my mind when I read carefully researched, factual material such as that laid out in this book, JFK: The Unspeakable. Yes, it is unspeakable! An unspeakable horror story that happens to be true. It was true in our world back on November 22, 1963. It was true on September 11, 2001. And it is true in our world of the present. This kind of madness is taking place every day in our country, which we so naively love to think of as ruled by a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Books like this one prove that to be a lie, no matter how much we would want to believe it. When a book like this appears, pulling away the rock to reveal the skittering creepy-crawlers underneath, do any of our up-front politicians (as opposed to the behind-the-scenes powers) cringe when they read it? Do those who are not yet caught in the web of deceit go into a state of denial about it all? I wonder. But no matter how many times the nefarious players are exposed in books like this one--and there have been many other revelatory ones preceding it--somehow the ruling elite manage to keep the lid pulled down tightly enough to get away with their deeds, and the majority of the populace remains ignorant and docile, easily able to be manipulated and controlled in whichever way the powerful want them to act. As proof, you can witness how right now their well-controlled minions/dittoheads are disrupting town hall meetings all around the country, following the dictate of their masters who want the powerful reign of insurance companies and Big Pharma to continue in this country.

What a world.... Thankfully, the quantum physicists assure us it isn't real, but just illusory (although they can't tell us what this illusion really is)! Yet in this illusion we call earth life, there is much ado -- is it all about nothing? So I continue to read and educate myself. I have learned a great deal in my 7 decades on the planet -- and yet, there is much more to know. My main thrust for knowledge/wisdom has been in the spiritual arena, and, as it turns out, that was the best direction for my curiosity and desire for understanding. It has given me a very broad scope with which to view these short life spans on planet Earth that we seemingly whirl through, incarnation after incarnation. Through that search, I have come to a more profound understanding than one could ever get by just observing the externals in life.

With all that said, I still recommend this book to anyone who wants a better comprehension of the externals, such as the political scene in an illusory world. As a wise sage once said, "If I have a dream in which a house is on fire and people are crying out to be helped, I don't pass by but do what I can to help. Just so, in this dream called life. Whatever is appropriate will be done."

HOWEVER, for those who want a realization that takes one beyond all suffering (Yes, REALLY!), I highly and passionately recommend any of John Wheeler's books that can be found on amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=john+wheeler+the+light+behind+consciousness&x=18&y=19&sprefix=John+Wheeler

Anyone who is fortunate enough to read John's books and feel the resonance of his words (pointers) within him/herself can be free for all time from the harsh suffering apparently caused by thoughts, fears, memories, guilt, world events, and everything else that comes with the belief in an individualized existence. Life will still appear the same, but your experience will be far different than it was when you were suffering under a false belief. As John says, in one of my favorite quotes from him:

Suffering is sustained by the belief in the reality of the separate, independent, limited self. This concept is the root of all the other self-centered thoughts and beliefs. We picked these up in the "years of ignorance" when our natural and innate identity was unclear. This lack of clarity led us to assume that the conceptual "I" or self-image was true, that this mind-created person and all of its identifications was who we are. The arising of the self-centered thoughts and belief in the reality of the "I" thought as our actual identity is itself what suffering is. As long as the "I" is assumed to be present and true and, most importantly, to be what we are, the root of suffering is alive and we will fall victim to belief and interest in the self-centered concepts. It is not a matter of waiting for "conditioning" to fall away. This is a common but misguided view. It is not the thoughts per se that constitute the suffering. It is the belief in them. It is the continued tendency to look into the mind and take its images to be valid definitions of ourselves that sustains the suffering. Often, this basic mechanism is not clearly understood, in spite of whatever other understanding we may have. This leads us to misperceive the cause of suffering and fail to understand it. But once this is clear, the ability to believe in the concepts falls away and the basis of the suffering is removed.

The clarity of those words rings like a bell within me -- and helps me to laugh as more of an observer of the human scene than as a strongly involved participant. I still observe and participate as a seemingly separate person, but am no longer involved in a suffering way. I am forever grateful to my friend John for pursuing his own spiritual search until he found the answers that rang true within himself -- and then felt he could share this with his friends (no cost, no organization, no hierarchy, nothing but good conversation and simple, clear truth). I do feel blessed to have discovered this in this lifetime. And I would like to share it with friends who also feel drawn, as I did, to find real truth in what appears to be a confused mish-mash of a world.


For spiritual seekers who have been searching in the "marketplace" for years, the following warning comes from an amazon.com reviewer of one of John's books, that I think is very helpful advice:
If you are "enjoying" your spiritual life-- reading spiritual books, watching videos, going to satsang, following teachers with funny names about, getting enlightened, developing your psycho-spiritual being, opening your chakras, consciously evolving, going deeper, understanding more, then don't read this book! John's books are not about feeding "your" spiritual life but rather ending it by the simple and direct recognition of your true nature, this Light Behind Consciousness which is prior to the conceptual mind and yet completely illuminates it.


Because this recognition is so simple and direct, there is nothing the conceptual mind can do with it or about it. There are no practices, no philosophy, no beliefs. There is nothing in this pointing for a separate "me" to do.


Fortunately, John has infinite patience dealing with the confusion and questions of the mind as he helps the "reader" recognize what they always already are. As 'Sailor' Bob says, "This is simplicity itself."


AMEN.

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Monday, August 10, 2009

There is a great deal of truth in this essay!

THE LAST GASP OF THE ANGRY WHITE MAN
by Cenk Uygur

What we're seeing in these angry town halls these days is the last gasp of the angry white man. He's not quite sure what he's angry about, but he knows he's angry. It's not the world he used to know. He gets the disquieting feeling that he doesn't rule the roost anymore. And it's driving him crazy. 

One of the chants at the town hall events was, "No national healthcare!" Okay, mission accomplished. No one has proposed such a thing. So, I guess they can go home now befuddled at what they were yelling about.

The reality is that what they have been manipulated into arguing against is a public option that would give them more choices, not less in health insurance. It wouldn't nationalize health insurance at all, let alone any part of the rest of the health care industry.

But this isn't about health insurance. It isn't even about health care. You think those people are really this animated about having less health care options and making sure it costs more for them and their family? No, this is visceral for them. And it has nothing to do with their perceived choices on health care. This is about the sinking feeling in their stomach that they are losing power in this country - losing control. That the reigns of power are slipping out of their hands and they don't know what to do about it, except yell, really loud.

One guy famously shouted, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare." Everyone is understandably amused by this. But there is a larger point here. They don't care about the logic of the issue at hand. I'm not convinced they even care what the issue is. These are the same people that were yelling at the Palin rallies. They were screaming just as loud then, and it was different issues, or no issues at all. Just name calling and fear. Pure, unadulterated fear.

At a recent Tampa town hall people were yelling at the top of their lungs, "Hear Our Voice." Ironically, that's all we could hear. No one could hear the congresswoman there. Or any arguments that were being made or any issues debated. All they could hear was the loud, angry voices demanding to be heard.

And who is stoking these fires? Encouraging and egging on these screams, this anger, this fear? Conservative talk hosts all across the country (and, of course, special interest groups funded by the healthcare industry who are relishing using these poor schleps as fodder for their effort to kill health care reform). They're telling them the proper response is anger. Don't wait your turn. Don't listen to the congressman. Shout. Be heard. Be angry. Obama is taking this country away from you.

The woman who now famously stood up in a Delaware town hall and demanded that her congressman recognize the illegitimacy of Barack Obama's birth certificate, said something telling in her rant. She said, "I want my country back!"

Indeed. Where did it go? Of course, the country is still right here. It's the "my" part that's missing. She doesn't want this country back. She wants her country back.

I want everyone to be heard, too. I hated it when the Bush handlers would keep out dissenting voices from their town halls. If conservatives are frustrated with some of the policy initiatives of the Obama administration, I think it's an appropriately democratic reaction to show up at town halls and ask questions. In fact, if they did it in a way that asked their representatives interesting and tough questions, I'd be proud of them.

Some of them are holding up constitutions. They finally got them out of the drawer where they were collecting mothballs as the Bush administration ran roughshod over that sacred text. They didn't seem to demand loyalty to that document as the Bush team eviscerated the Fourth Amendment.

But bygones be bygones, if they want to hold Obama responsible for his signing statements for example, great. You can argue he is impinging against Article I of the Constitution just as Bush did.

Do you think that's the argument the town hall screamers are making? Come on, can anyone really discern an argument? Could they point to one clause that they think Obama has violated? My guess is if challenged they would scream out the Second Amendment. Except Obama has not only not done anything to impose gun control, he has gone out of his way to reign in his Attorney General to make sure he also does nothing about it. It isn't about the Second Amendment. It isn't about the constitution. It's about the anger.

It's a self justifying anger. The angrier they get the more they feel the imperative to get angry. What is it? What's really eating away at them? I don't think it's a conscious racial thing for them. It's more a feeling of their way of life slipping away from them.

Think about it. If you worked at the local shop and in the old days you could get your son hired there, things were pretty good. Now, they tell you that they have to give the job to someone else's son. Someone that doesn't look like you, someone that you've never met or ever talked to. There's been a lot of generations of that now.

You think those guys are going to inquire into the history of racial prejudice in this country and why it might make sense to increase diversity in a workplace when some groups have been excluded entirely? No, all they know is that their son couldn't get the same job that their dads got for them. They want their country back.

Of course, this has been building up for quite awhile. But now they have lost their political power. Now the epitome of what they were fighting against is their new leader. His first hire for the Supreme Court is a Hispanic woman, who they hear is racist against white men and was only picked because of her race and gender.

And when the president is talking about a confrontation between a white man (a cop trying to do his job) and a black man (another one that got to be a professor, though God knows if he earned it), he immediately chooses the side of the black man - without even knowing the facts. Man, they're angry. This is the guy they were warned about.

Whether their perception is true is not relevant. It's the intensity of the perception that is relevant. And on top of all this, they feel the whole system is rigged against the average guy (and they're right about this one).

The bankers get all the money. The government spends a ton of cash, but they feel like it never comes to them. It feels like the guys at the top are the ones who always make out like bandits (the fact that their anger against this is being used by those same guys for their own interests is of tremendous irony).

But then add on top of that, their team lost. They don't feel like the president is "one of them." Maybe that's not even malicious, or at least consciously malicious. But that's how they feel. The world is changing around them and every time they turn on the radio or television (which, of course, is glued to Fox News), they are being told they're right to be angry. And that their anger should be directed primarily at one man - Barack Obama.

That's where the trouble comes in. It's starting to feel like a third world country around here. In developing countries there are organized mobs. There are disruptions of political gatherings. There are angry crowds and talk of gathering weapons. Talk of revolutions (one man in South Carolina told Rep. Inglis that "there is not a day that goes by ... that I don't hear talk of revolution in our country.").

We're America. We're supposed to be better than this.

We're supposed to resolve our differences peaceably and civilly. We're supposed to listen to one another. We're supposed to have the best democracy in the world. As it stands, we're one burning tire away from Haiti. We have to dial this thing back down.

Of course, the problem isn't the progressives here. Their side won. The moderates and independents aren't necessarily boiling over with anger. No, in this case, it's the right-wing. And there's the problem. Because there does not seem to be anyone on that side who is capable or inclined to bring down the volume of the conversation. If anything, their response is more shouting, more disruptions, more rancor and more accumulation of weapons. As one local Republican nominee in Virginia put it, "We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box." So, what happens when they keep losing at the ballot box?

It's beginning to smell a lot like banana republic around here. And there is no answer. If you try to suggest that they bring it down a notch, they scream censorship and warn their audience that their rights are about to be taken away from them. And so is their country. If you say it might not be such a good idea to have all of these weapons in the hands of all these angry men, they scream about the Second Amendment and tell their audience to hold on to their guns even tighter. And many have held on so tight that some of them even pulled the trigger.

How many more will? When does this stoking of anger and fear stop? And who would stop it? I really don't know. Here's one more thing I don't know. What happens if it doesn't?


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