DragonFlight

We’ve been told for the last several years the economy is doing just fine. Who still believes that? Who still believes a tax cut benefiting mostly the top one percent of the wealthiest people in the United States, and during a time of war and already costing $800 billion and lasting longer than Vietnam, is a good thing? Who believes the middle class is not under attack, or at the very least, seriously damaged, as money flows into the war machine while much needed social programs for healthcare, education and the like, languish while the Administration suddenly has a very belated awakening to the need for fiscal responsibility?

Our economy is threatened with rising deficits and national debt, the fall of the dollar on the world market, rising inflation, the outsourcing of jobs to other countries, a housing market in recession and the impending foreclosure of a record number of homes across the nation, decreased pay and benefits for American workers, a full blown healthcare crisis, huge gas prices as the price of a barrel of oil rockets toward a record high $100, and the outrageous out of control importation of toxic food and toys from China.

This situation has been powerfully enabled by the appointment of various political cronies, appointed for their political affiliations rather than their competence, to positions of high government leadership. This list includes the now infamous Michael Brown as head of FEMA, Lorita Doan as the Administrator of the Government Services Administration, and Nancy Nord, the controversial acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

One can only begin to imagine how the rapidly rising cost of oil and gasoline will effect inflation. All consumer goods, as well as products of any sort delivered to hospitals, businesses and industry, or anywhere, must all be transported, and that means the use of gasoline, diesel fuel and oil. Add to this the cost of traveling via airlines, railroads, buses, boats and cars, and the cost of heating homes and buildings of all types and uses as winter rapidly approaches.

We all know the price of doing business will be passed on to the consumer; it always is. God forbid that a business or corporation should ever make a little less when prices rise. I envision a lot of people hurting, and soon -- not the very wealthy of course, they are conveniently isolated and safe. I don’t begrudge them that except when they start bitching about taxes and social legislation created to help those who are less fortunate, even as they have enough money to support themselves and all their friends and relatives for the next ten lifetimes!

I apologize, but I must once again interject my second favorite quote, one by Charles Dickens: "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" An awful lot of people had better sure hope there is not a a Day of Judgment!

One last word (I hope) on waterboarding and torture: Malcolm Nance, author of “The Terrorists of Iraq,” and former a U.S. Navy Interrogation instructor says that waterboarding is definitely torture. He went as far as to state on MSNBC's Countdown that it is misnamed, saying it has long been known in the field as the “drowning torture.” He also mentioned a navy seal that underwent the process claiming, it is “sheer pain and panic.” It appears from all I have seen and heard in various news sources over the past several weeks that those personally familiar with the technique don’t believe it to be simulated drowning so much as actual drowning (drowning is a process). This appears in curious contrast to what I heard a Republican pundit on TV refer to awhile back as “splashing some cold water on someone.” Do you think that person would be willing to try it out personally, just to confirm his hypothesis?

Many believe the United States should torture terrorists. I actually heard this from more than one Wally Herger constituent on a town hall conference telephone call a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t hear our Congressional Representative disagree. Someone needs to remind them that the Geneva Conventions were created with the purpose of protecting soldiers on both sides from torture. And even though I heard Wally Herger himself say that they (the terrorists) already torture our troops, using as his example beheading, I’d remind him that is a form of execution, and not torture being used as an interrogation technique. People who are so glib about the use of torture should remember the consequences for our troops in the field.

As a footnote, I repeat once again, shame on Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and the Senate (mostly Republicans) for confirming Judge Michael Mukasey as Attorney General of the United States. I have no doubt he is a very qualified judge and decent individual, however I question the veracity of anyone, especially a judge, who is unable to judge for himself if waterboarding is torture. So much for creating an atmosphere of truth and no politicking in the office of the Attorney General, recently decimated by the tenure of Alberto Gonzales!

Posted by Stephen at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s rather obvious why Rudolph Giuliani is so popular in the GOP polls around the nation; he has name and face recognition because of the events of 9/11, and for some people that seems to be all it takes. It’s as if being recognized for something automatically qualifies someone for anything.

Personally I don’t like Rudolph Giuliani. I don’t feel he is in any way qualified to be President, and I would have to agree with Joe Biden that he is “probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency…There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11.” In short, Giluliani’s only claim to fame is that he just happened to be the Mayor of New York City on the day the 9/11 catastrophe occurred, a rather dubious honor, even when meaningful. Not only did this disaster occur during Giuliani’s tenure, he had done nothing to prevent it and little to lessen the effects afterward. It’s one of the most popular myths circulating around the nation.

And while he is strutting from place to place taking credit for something, I’m not sure what exactly, there are things about his performance many don’t seem to know. It was Giuliani who had decided to build the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) at the World Trade Center, after having been warned not to in the mid 1990s by George Marlin, then executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Additionally, it was placed on the 23rd floor, where it would be vulnerable if and when the power went off. Communications on 9/11 were almost nonexistent between firefighters and the police because they had no means to communicate with each other. Giuliani claims the technology didn’t yet exist, but that’s bogus. It’s hard to believe that in one of the greatest cities in the world these separate and vital entities couldn’t communicate over a common frequency. The military had been using such technology for decades. Considering New York City, and the World Trade Center, specifically, had been targeted before, one would have thought that little problem would have been solved. It wasn’t!

I was motivated to write about Mr. Giuliani because of just one more thing: the headlines about Bernie Kerik, recently indicted by a federal court on sixteen counts, including fraud and conspiracy. Giuliani, Kerik's friend and former mentor, had appointed him as Police Commissioner. He had also recommended him to the President as a candidate for the Director of Homeland Security, a recommendation that looked strong until it was discovered that Kerik just might have mob connections.

According to Russ Buettner and William K. Rashbaum of the New York Times, Kerik “plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of accepting costly renovations to his Bronx apartment and failing to disclose a $28,000 loan to help buy it… At the heart of that case were allegations that a construction company with suspected ties to organized crime paid for the renovations in the hopes that Kerik would help it obtain a city license.” There was also mention of “charges that Kerik failed to disclose a $250,000 loan financed by an unnamed Israeli businessman and did not report as income more than $200,000 in rent paid by a developer on an Upper East Side Manhattan luxury apartment.” It has also been alleged he did not report more than $500,000 in income between 1999 and 2004. Phew!

Giuliani did apologize, stating he should have vetted Kerik more carefully. Though it’s nice that Giuliani admits to having made a mistake, I find it a rather curious one. We aren’t talking about a guy who was appointed dogcatcher, or the head of sanitation or transportation, but the head of the police department! Hmmm! -- Head of the police -- mob ties –- yikes!

When the only real qualification Giuliani has for any public office is that he was the administrative head of a large city, with a major role of appointing heads of local government, that seems like one huge blunder. Is this really a guy we want appointing people to important leadership positions in the federal government, especially after George Bush’s wonderful record of appointing countless incompetent political cronies to high government positions?

No doubt Mr. Giuliani has some redeeming features and talents, but I question not only his qualifications, but his truthfulness as well. This is a Roman Catholic who has been divorced twice, accused of “serial adultery” by his second wife, and who supports gay rights and legal abortion all the while pandering to the far religious right, telling them that he is conservative when and where it really counts. He recently told South Carolina Republicans, "I would want judges who are strict constructionists because I am. Those are the kinds of justices I would appoint -- Scalia, Alito and Roberts." This is in conflict with a statement by Ben Smith at Politico : “A Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state's lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular...A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology.”

Just a few reasons I don’t trust Rudolph Giuliani.

At a time when most political candidates have become tiresome and untrustworthy, I’ve grown weary of his visage, the sound of his voice and his 9/11 I can keep you safer blather and mantra. So apparently have the people of New York, including the city’s firefighters, people who have experienced his leadership directly, and have been quite outspoken about their dislike for the man. I surely wish people from all around the nation would pay some attention to them, and not just listen to empty words on the campaign trail. Sadly, all too many people are now getting their news from TV and radio, which unlike the print media, rely on sound bytes instead of the full story. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people in the United States of America are habitually vulnerable to the lies and charm of snake oil salesmen masquerading as leaders.

Posted by Stephen at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

I listened to Michael Bloomberg , the Republican mayor of New York City, yesterday morning being interviewed by Andrea Mitchell and I liked some of the things he had to say. He criticized the partisanship in Congress that has them split down the middle, essentially putting them at a stand still. He stated they are doing nothing about public education or other real issues facing the nation. He pointed out the ludicrousness of the campaign finance structure in which candidates are given money in exchange for giving favors to business. He believes, in essence, the focus should be on the nation and the people, not businesses. He said the candidates aren’t talking about how to fix crime in the cities, or how to help with environmental policies. He said he told Governor Spitzer of New York that he is not running for governor, and he says he is not running for president, but he sure looked very presidential. He could certainly shell out the money for a last-minute campaign. If he ran as an Independent he might just get my vote!

Two nights ago I watched Keith Olbermann on Countdown give his most scathing criticism of the Bush Administration to date. It is a must see for anyone who missed it. I consider Mr. Olbermann a voice in the wilderness, like John the Baptist, crying out with a truth that needs to be heard.

I laugh when I hear the right wing mantra about the “liberal media.” They label anything as liberal bias that just might be newsworthy because it actually represents the truth, however doesn't conveniently coincide with their own predeterimined perceptions. Most people by now realize the magnitude of this lie and its attempt to mislead and distract us from the right wing’s own misuse of the media. Their accusations against what they label the “liberal media” are merely projections of their own behavior on TV and radio, which they dominate. Print media, more likely to espouse more liberal ideas, is apparently not their forte’, perhaps because they don’t bother to read much. The president, for example, is a man who boasts how he doesn’t really read the newspapers, and he recently called C-span boring. Perhaps it’s not just reading that is uncomfortable, but anything substantive.

If anything, the print media has been grossly and irresponsibly lenient with the Administration and all of its failed policies. It enabled and participated in the false and misleading “information” campaign leading up to the invasion of Iraq, and has too often sugar coated coverage of the foreign and domestic policies decimating the nation. Even now the media continues to ignore the fact that the Republicans in Congress are the real culprits dead-ending that body, all the while criticizing the low ratings of the “Democratic Congress.” They seem to have forgotten there are at least two parties in Congress, and a small majority is powerless when the minority is determined enough to throw a monkey wrench into the works, especially when that majority isn’t in lockstep-sheep-like formation marching to the party drum.

On a final note, just a little tidbit I picked up from my better half. It seems that Texas presently leads the nation in the teen birthrate. According to Robert T. Garrett of The Dallas Morning News, “While the national teen birth rate has slowed, Texas has made far less headway, alarming public health officials and child advocates. Texas teens lead the nation in having babies. Last month, the nonprofit group Child Trends conferred another No. 1 ranking on Texas. In the latest statistics available, 24 percent of the state's teen births in 2004 were not the girl's first delivery.”

The reason I find this noteworthy is that Texas is one of those states, guided by its own particular brand of political attitudes and religious traditions, that sees abstinence as the only way to go. Garrett states, “Texas' policy is to deny contraceptives without parental consent wherever possible and to push an abstinence-only sex education program in public schools.”

In contrast, California, a state that advocates talking about contraception as well as teaching abstinence in public schools, saw the birth rate drop by 47 percent in the same time frame. According to Garrett, California “teaches abstinence but also explains contraception at school and has gone to dispensing birth control to teenage boys and girls – for free, no parental consent required – in community clinics and doctors' offices.”

In the present national climate of religious revival frenzy, primarily from the far right fringes where many are in favor of establishing public policies (particularly in schools) based on religious doctrine, I just found this interesting. I often wonder if in actuality there is indeed such a religious revival occurring, or whether this is just another political tactic being used by some to stir up and milk their base for all its worth?

In my experience, most people are happy enough to just be left alone to live their own lives in peace, without government involvement one way or the other. I could be wrong; it’s just a growing suspicion I have. I also wonder if Muslims all around the world really have any interest in a religious Jihad, or if that is also just another tactic being employed by those wishing to keep the pot stirred up to facilitate their own political machinations.

Do you ever wonder about these things?

Posted by Stephen at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rush Limbaugh is a pig!

Posted by Stephen at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, it happened: Judge Michael Mukasey got the nomination for Attorney General. Thank you very much Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) for selling out to the Administration. I can’t vote in an election for Schumer since he is the Senator from New York, but Feinstein can definitely count on never getting my vote again. Hopefully she will be defeated in a primary vote. If not, I’ll have to abstain from voting for her seat in the general election, and hope to avoid the nightmare decision to vote for a Republican. As long as the Republicans are going to represent party over people, a moderate Republican governor in California is all we need at present. I can’t state often enough how tiring it is to see either party in Congress enable this petulant president, but it especially makes me flinch when the Democrats do so. Why do the Republicans as the minority party still get their way in the Congress? They stick together. Not a great way to run the nation, but if they are going to act like lemmings, the Democrats only facilitate them when they don’t return the favor.

In all fairness to Senators Schumer and
Feinstein please go to their sites and read their own reasons for voting as they did.

I’m not convinced of the credibility of Schumer’s statement, "The best we can hope for is someone who is independent, has integrity, will put rule of law first and, above all, will clean the stench of politicization out of the Justice Department. I believe Judge Mukasey will be that type of Attorney General.” I’d be more inclined to believe it if Mukasey had voiced the opinion before Congress that waterboarding was torture, and therefore already against the law, without the need to have Congress pass another law to that effect.

When will this government start enforcing the laws we already have, without the need to pass new ones? And lest we forget, this is all about getting the president off the hook. He has said, "The United States doesn't torture," but he has allowed waterboarding. Technically he has already broken the law, and is now looking for another law to be passed giving him immunity after the fact. Sound familiar? How often is Congress going to be asked to pass legislation to immunize actions already committed by entities such as the White House, Blackwater, and the telephone companies?

In answer to Schumer's fear that if he were rejected, “it is almost certain that an acting, "caretaker" attorney general will take office without the advice and consent of the Senate,” I say that should be unacceptable. Congress needs to stand fast and not allow a "caretaker" attorney general. If push comes to shove and the president will not nominate a candidate acceptable to the Senate, they should hold him in contempt, and if necessary impeach him and the horse he rode in on, namely a man called Cheney. Enough is enough. Impeachment at least has the appeal of sending a message to the rest of the world that all Americans haven't just gone insane. It might also send the imperialistic Neocons back to whatever hole they crawled out of. Footnote: Kucinich mentioned impeachment three times during the last Democrat debate, and I myself haven't heard the media mention it once.

This “my way or the highway / you are with us or you are against us / decider“ president has shown no effort in seven long years to compromise on anything, nothing, nada, and I see no reason at this point to not return the favor. This nation is supposed to belong to "all" the people, not just the president, Congress, or the very powerful! The vast majority of citizens may not be capable of governing; that is why the Founding Fathers set up a Republic in which the people are supposed to have their interests fairly represented.

These are strong words I know. I have always liked Senator Schumer, and supported Senator Feinstein, but I repeat, enough is enough. It's time for the gloves to come off. I fear that if they don't, and soon, this nation is in danger of becoming unrecognizable as the great nation it should be and always has been. Our government consists of three separate and equal branches. It was never meant to become the plaything of the Executive Branch, especially such a bad one!

I didn’t care much for Feinstein’s rationale that Mukasey “isn’t Roberto Gonzales” or that he is “the best we are going to get." Personally I’d rather not have an Attorney General for the rest of Bush’s term than to have one who won’t simply tell it as it is under oath, and not be afraid of getting or losing a job. Having no Attorney General would have been better than having Roberto Gonzales, who left such small shoes to be filled.

Considering that it looks like Judge Michael Mukasey could very well be the new Attorney General, I hope I am 100% wrong! I really want to see this nation get back on the right track.

Posted by Stephen at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I thought instead of writing a major blog about one topic, I’d briefly talk about a few things on my mind. It seems that every day something annoying occurs that deserves mention.

This whole waterboarding debate is remarkable. I can’t believe there is anyone on the planet actually believing it does not represent torture, and, if it doesn’t why use it? It appears all too many believe torture is confined to procedures that only leave physical marks, deformities or disabilities, regardless of the emotional and psychological scarring. Many come back from war zones with no physical injuries but suffering in various degrees from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Does it not count when it leaves no physical scars or injuries?

I heard one political pundit (guess which party) refer to it as splashing a bit of cold water on someone. No doubt that will make them talk! Perhaps that pundit would volunteer for a session himself to confirm this belief? Matter of fact, why don’t we just line up everyone claiming it’s not torture and let them experience it for themselves; and it won’t be for just two minutes, and they won’t be told when it will end. Sound fair?

This leads me to Senator Diane Feinstein. I’ve always voted for her, believing she was better than the alternatives, something I now question. I sent a strong email of disapproval to her when she voted “aye” on the Senate resolution to censure the MoveOn Petraeus ad. I don’t believe it is the Congress’ role to censure political ads. This is a free speech issue.

The straw breaking the proverbial camel’s back, however, was her recent statement that she would vote for Judge Mukasey for Attorney General in spite of the fact that he can’t decide if waterboarding is indeed torture. According to her, “he isn’t Roberto Gonzales” and he “is the best we are going to get.” I’m sorry, but 1) I don’t want another Attorney General who condones torture, 2) I expect a member of Congress to go beyond this level of mediocrity, and 3) I’m sick and tired of people in Congress enabling what I consider the worst presidency in my lifetime, and perhaps ever, simply because the president gets petulant and goes on TV telling us anyone disagreeing with him is unpatriotic or doesn’t want to keep America safe. This would be funny in a TV sitcom, but not in our national leadership.

And speaking of a petulant president, we have one who now stomps away from those who challenge him, slams the door on the way out, and then a day or so later accuses Congress of wasting time with Congressional oversight. Of course it’s not really surprising he is unaware that oversight is one of the primary roles of the Legislative Branch. Up until the midterm elections of 2006 he had gotten use to co-existing with a same party rubber stamp Congress that gave him whatever he asked for.

The very next day he warns us on national TV that by holding up the confirmation of his new Attorney General nomination the Democrats in Congress are subjecting the nation to a possible Bin Laden attack (the guy he says he doesn’t think about much anymore). First, I don’t buy into that flawed logic, and secondly, this nation doesn’t just confirm presidential nominations because it’s what the president wants. There is a process for a purpose, and the need for it in this situation is discussed in paragraphs two and five above.

What I find curious is that although many Congressional Republicans are beginning to speak out against various presidential actions and edicts of late, they don’t seem to follow that talk with the appropriate vote against them. Talk doesn’t make change, action does. And why aren’t more voters outraged over the diminishing of the Constitution and gross empowerment of the Executive Branch under this president? Does partisanship now take precedence over the welfare of the nation and it’s people?

As a change of pace, did you know there is a religious group known as the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas that actually pickets the funerals of soldiers killed in action? Albert Snyder, whose son was killed in Iraq is suing this church of fundamentalists for picketing the funeral services, and carrying signs saying things like “Thank God for dead soldiers” “Thank God for IEDs.”

Two of the people holding such signs were ten and thirteen year old members of the founders of the church, namely the Fred Phelps Sr. family, which has apparently “picketed at more than 30,000 events in the last 17 years” according to the Sacramento Bee. The Bee goes on to claim the Phelpses say they protested the funeral because the dead soldier “was a member of the military, defending a country they said has institutionalized sodomy.”

Geeeeeeeze, I have to wonder if the pictures of this family don’t show up in dictionaries next to the word moron. I would imagine that a vast majority of Christians in our nation would be quite offended by the way this family and church represents the teachings of Christ! Thank God most people aren’t totally insane!

I’ll end this on a lighter note. If you watched the last presidential debate you noticed that Dennis Kucinich was asked to confirm a statement he had once made saying he had seen a UFO (simply an unidentified flying object). He wasn’t going to lie about what he had said, being unlike so many other politicians and a religious leader I can think of (all of whom seemed unaware that all their statements were on video tape), so he acknowledged having made such a claim.

After the debate, the commentator of Hardball, Chris Matthews thought this was the most incredulous thing he had ever heard. He went on and on about it in a tone filled with ridicule. I guess he was trying to make a point that Kucinich did not belong in the White House, but in Bedlam instead.

I believe something like fourteen percent of Americans (at least 42,000,000) have stated they believe in UFOs, and personally, I’d much rather have a President who is open minded about UFOs than one who doesn’t believe in evolution.

Just a few things worthy of mention.

Posted by Stephen at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)