Voter Fraud

The website "truthout.org" contains a list of videos that offer points of view and hard evidence to support the truth that the media chooses to ignore. One of these videos is "Princeton Scientists Create Vote-Stealing Program for Diebold AccuVote-TS". After watching this video, I was sickened by the fact that there is an on-going effort to tear down what little democracy we thought we might have. It is unbelievable what Americans do for power. Also Keith Olbermann of MSNBC covered the discrepancies of the 2004 election in a Must See video days after the election. Where was the media coverage? I don't remember hearing about the massive discrepancies in Ohio and Florida that could have turned the election. This is very disturbing. Congressmen and Senators called for an examination of the 2004 vote by the GAO. The Free Press article "Powerful Government Accountability Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman October 26, 2005" gives a synopsis of these findings which they point out was not covered by mainstream media. It becomes exceedingly clear that this dictorial administration probably has been in office illegally for both terms. When you have a mission it doesn't matter how you get there - anything goes which they continue to demonstrate with there lies and unwillingness to listen to the American voter.
In an Alternet story the abusives of the 2002 election emerge. The Theft of Your Vote Is Just a Chip Away By Thom Hartmann, AlterNet. Posted July 30, 2003. I wonder where I was that I didn't understand the implications of all the discrepancies and issues that arose with the electronic voting machines This is one more chink in the armor of our democracy what little we have left.

Carl Bernstein - Bush/Nixon Comparison

Mike Sheehan's article in Raw Story states veteran reporter Carl Bernstein says the lack of truth and candor from the Bush administration is unprecedented in his experience and his experience includes the uncovering of Watergate during the Nixon Administration. In comparing Nixon's administration to Bush he says "We now understand the psyche of Richard Nixon, that his was a self-destructive act and presidency". Bush on the other hand, "This president has a record of dishonesty and obfuscation that is Nixonian in character in its willingness to manipulate the press, to manipulate the truth," he adds. "We have gone to war on the basis of misinformation, disinformation and knowing lies from top to bottom." For those of us who lived the Watergate scandal, feeling that was thw worst possible are now confronted with more evil then we could have imagined and it appears that Bush will get away with it and in the process take down the United States.

GAO & Phillip Perry (Cheney)

As reported in Think Progress, GAO Comptroller General David Walker told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that Homeland Security has been a challenge to get access to their records. Walker said the problem is “systemic” and not the fault of any single individual. But he complained that GAO has had to go through the office of Chief Counsel Philip Perry. Perry is married to Elizabeth Cheney, a former State Department official who is one of the vice president’s two daughters. Walker said it is his understanding that Perry’s office has to review documents GAO seeks before they are released and that Perry selectively sits in on interviews with department employees.

The GAO’s Skinner “said his investigations have also been hindered”:

“We’re experiencing the same problem,” said Skinner, who added his office is “oftentimes” told who they can interview and that it sometimes takes weeks to get documents. Skinner said he prepared a document last summer to inform all department employees of the IG’s responsibilities and authorities and encouraging them to cooperate with investigations. “That letter has been sitting up in counsel’s office at DHS since I believe June or July of ‘06,” Skinner said.

The latest semiannual report from Inspector General Skinner highlighted “a litany of staff misconduct: immigration officials demanding sex in exchange for visas, airport screeners stealing money from tourists’ luggage, federal air marshals smuggling drugs, and employees from various DHS agencies committing sex crimes.” Cheney's son-in law appears to be able to be as deceptive as his father-in-law.

All this information is available but the disclosure is going to happen after this administration is out of office. What a shame! Nothing will be done and the deception can continue.

Secrecy News from the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy has reported that the trial of defendants Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)is scheduled to begin on or around June 4 in the Eastern District of Virginia. This is an unprecedented case in which the government claim that the Espionage Act could be used to prosecute the unauthorized receipt and transmittal of classified information by private citizens who are not engaged in espionage. This was upheld by a Federal Court last year. The question is did they really spy for Israel or were they being used by the governments of the United States and Israel routinely as a diplomatic "back channel" to convey sensitive information. This is definitely not on the front page of any newspapers. The court has made it very difficult for the prosecution and the defense to do their jobs. The outcome appears to be questionable as more and more restrictions are added on.

Bush regains his footing?????

David Broder of the Washington Post believes that like Clinton, Bush is regaining some ground with public opinion. I can't tell if this article is tongue in cheek or Broder really believes what he wrote.

Washington Post allowing falsehoods and half truths on their outlook section

Robert Parry, who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek, expressed his concern in the Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel for an article published by the Washington Post on the front page of their Outlook section in which right-wing legal expert Victoria Toensing from the Reagan Administration presents false accusations against the prosecutor. Patrick Fitzgerald and Joe Wilson. Parry states "By presenting these pro-Libby arguments in such a high-profile manner, including fabricated “mug shots” of prosecutor Fitzgerald, the Post could be seen as joining in a last-ditch bid for jury nullification to spare Libby from conviction.(the mugs shots are not online) Parry also said "Back in the late 1980s, I co-wrote a lead article for the Post’s Outlook section and the piece underwent intensive review for fairness and accuracy. So the argument doesn’t hold that the Post sees no problem in publishing reckless charges in the Outlook section just because it can be passed off as opinion.(Before the Fairness Doctrine was repealed?) It appears that the Post is moving further to the right.

Hurrah for Rep Henry Waxman

The top auditors for the government say $10 billion dollars has been wasted or poorly tracked in the Irag war and reconstruction. The GAO gave the report to the Oversight Committee headed by Rep Henry Waxman who said he intended to investigate the fraud, waste and abuse agressively. Incidently the big abuser was Halliburton,the oil-field services firm once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney,with $2.7 billion in question. The problem is that by the time all the graft is uncovered Bush/Cheney will be out of office.

Race doesn't give Obama edge in S.C.

The title says it all. The Associated Press has done it again. Race should never be a deciding factor in voting for a political candidate. Why must they play the race card? Could we not have an election where it's about the issues and how they plan to solve them rather than what color they are or what religion they are or who they are married to, etc. Let's leave the sensationalism out of the news coverage. You might be surprised to find people still reading the news.

The Media and Unnamed sources

On FAIR.org they have found an honorable radio station (KSFR in New Mexico)that has decided not to report any more innuendos from unnamed sources concerning Iran or any other foreign entity since the reporting of similar innuendos coerced the US into war with Afghanistan and Iraq. Now if only more reporting agencies would follow their lead.

Also FAIR reported that the New York Times and the Associated Press violated their own rules on anonymous sources. Why is everyone in such a hurry to print news that can't be substantiated and the people giving the tips cannot stand up and be accountable. Another attempt by the administration to manipulate public opinion through the press and the press has become a door mat allowing the administration to wipe its feet on.

Neo-Cons - working with Israel to achieve goals

In an interview of Ramzy Baroud,a veteran Palestinian-American Journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Chronicle by Munish Nagar,an Indian Journalist who has a Master’s degree in Journalism and currently is pursuing PG diploma in Human Rights, Baroud asserts that
Israel's influence in the US through the American Israeli Public Relations Committee (AIPAC), has tilted in favor of Israel since the agenda of the neoconservatives to dominate the Middle East fits Israel's regional agenda that they alone could not accomplish but the US has been able to make the regime change in Iraq, contain Iran and Syria, etc. The neoconservatives convinced the US administration (of which Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld are members of PNAC)that what is good for Israel is good for America.
This was a very informative and thoughtful interview.

RenewAmerica - analysis of Neocons and Bush

The essays in RenewAmerica continue to surprise me. Even though this organization is a right wing conservative group based on the founding fathers constitution it offers a wide span of views. If you want to know what Bush and the neocons have been up to read Deanna Spingola
articles. She has numerous articles worth reading that have the back up information to prove what she asserts. Must reads!!!

Libby & Russert

The article by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post recounts Tim Russert's testimony in the Scooter Libby trial as if he was on trial. Comparing the difference between Russert's persona on his TV show versus the trial, he seemed to be demeaning, closing with how he had once caught Russert in an inaccuracy. Whooptee do. The story should have been about the conflicting testimony of Russert versus Libby not about this reporter catching Russert in a faux pas. What a waste of space! Thanks goodness the Washington Post had several reporters working on this story as the article filed by Carol D. Leonnig and Amy Goldstein seemed to be an unbiased look at Russert's testimony. Just the facts Ma'am. Just the facts.

So looking further to see what all this means I found an article by political analyst Brent Budowsky -- who helped Sen. Lloyd Bentsen write the law prohibiting the willful disclosure of covert CIA officers -- taking a look at how the Libby trial has morphed into the shadow trial of Vice President Cheney. He lays out a clear path leading to Cheney. It's what we all suspected but no one has been will to say. This is just the beginning. Libby is a small part of a bigger picture which is going to continue to unfold. Deja Vu - Nixon. First his Vice President, then him and his staff.

Congress in No-Action

How can it be that the majority of members of congress and the senate are Democrats and still they cannot even get a simple non-binding resolution to the floor for a vote? Have symantics taken over any common sense in Congress. The BBC news reported a resolution opposing President George W Bush's decision to send extra troops to Iraq has failed to advance in the US Senate, dealing a blow to war critics. The international community must be wondering why we cannot get a consensus between 100 men that the Iraqi surge is foolish and the Bush policy in the Middle East be stopped. Are they all such ego-maniacs that each had to propose their own version to present? I understand a total of 4 different versions were floating around and there was not sufficient support for any one to bring it to a vote. If a resolution that is only a verbal stance, that cannot change the course of the administration, is bogged down in symantics, will this happen again when Bush declares war against Iran. Let's get our act together before it's too late.

NeoConservatives - Still a foot hold in the Bush administration

In an article by Juan Cole, he states that "getting Iran is an obsession of the Neoconservatives at the American Enterprise Institute and their plants inside the administration, such as Iran-Contra felon Elliot Abrams in the National Security Council(How does a felon pardoned by the President he committed the crime for get to be a member of the National Security Council?) and David Wurmser (a scholar with strong ties to a number of neoconservative policy institutes) and John Hannah(played a major role in corralling intelligence that the Bush administration used to justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq) on Cheney's national security council. Neoconservative Condaleeza Rice is now being dubbed a realist since rejecting the case compiled against Iran. Gates and Rice confirmed that they were concerned about possible inaccuracies.
It appears there is descension in the Neoconservative rank and file in the Bush administration.

Presidential Candidates - Obama and Edwards - No Pac or Lobbyist Money

It was refreshing to read an article concerning two potential Presidential hopefuls who have decided to not take special interest monies. Edwards has never taken special interest funds in any of his campaigns although the article did imply that having millions of your own to put into a campaign was somehow not good either. Obama who has taken Pac funds previously has made it clear that he will not be taking these funds in this campaign. However some of the other candidates are willing to take the special interest monies, among them are Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd. Although this could seem as a black mark against these two it is hard to know if the Pac funds will be of any influence. It definitely sends a signal to the American public, if their concerned, that two candidates believe that special interest monies do play a role in political policy.

News Analysis: Do we have the power to prevent the looming conflict with Iran?

The Melbourne IndyMedia reported on a well-attended public meeting in Sydney of the World Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party (SEP)"to oppose the escalating US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the preparations for new illegal wars of aggression against Iran and other countries targetted by Washington. The featured speaker was David North, chairman of the WSWS International Editorial Board and national secretary of the SEP in the U.S." Speaking first was James Cogan, a WSWS staff writer who blamed the media for giving credibility to Bush’s claims that the mobilization of 21,500 more troops would stablize the region and help the Iraqi govenment become a “functioning democracy”. Cogan believes that "the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is a war crime of historic dimensions, carried out by the American capitalist elite and its international allies to seize control over the second largest oil reserves in the world.”
Then David North spoke about the history of the United States world economic rise and fall. North believes that “if the most important factor in the fate of world capitalism in the twentieth century was the rise of the United States to the position of global economic pre-eminence, then the most important and explosive factor in the beginning of the twenty-first century is the breakdown of this dominant position. The dissolution of the Soviet Union has been interpreted by significant sections of the American ruling elite as an opportunity to employ military force to offset and counteract the consequences of its increasingly serious economic weaknesses." So "with no significant military opponents to place restraints on the unbridled use of its military power certain American analysts came to call this the “unipolar” moment. From that point on, there has been a pattern of increasingly reckless and self-aggrandising policies." This has pinnacled with the Neo-Cons' (headed by Dick Cheney)goal to occupy and control the Middle East and their oil. And even though the NeoCons are utilizing this unipolar moment, U.S. supremacy has passed. Power is now diffused between multiple states and groups.
"The megapower status of the US is a dominant fact of life on the planet today states Fawaz Turki, Special to Gulf News , though "declinist" scholars, such as Paul Kennedy in his The Rise and Fall of Empires, and Walter Meade in another declinist treatise called Mortal Splendour, have been warning the American establishment, since the late 1980s, that wanton arrogance, or hubris, can easily lead to overreaching, and overreaching to collapse."

With this knowledge in hand, the Republicans have been able to stall the vote on the resolution to disagree with the President on the war with Iraq. How can this be? It continues to show the American people that we have no say. The Democrats cannot even take a stand for a non-binding resolution and they are the majority. How are we going to end this conflict and keep from starting another one?
Further, in the Washington Post today is Bush's budget for 2007/2008. Increasing military spending dramatically for the remainder of 2007 and 2008 under the guise of global terrorism including funds to keep nuclear activity out of the hands of countries that we deem as possible terrorists (Iran). The Office of the Budget has the numbers included in the WP article. Can we not stop this insanity or in the name of funding the troops is Congress going to be compelled to give Bush what he wants - enough funds to make his move in Iran? The $2.9 trillion budget as characterized by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) "uses deception to hide a massive increase in debt, and its priorities are disconnected from the needs of middle-class Americans." The President "insists on spending billions on $150,000 tax breaks for multi-millionaires at the expense of the middle class," and his budget "hands out favors for the oil and gas industry while eroding health coverage for children and seniors." Bush continues to do his own thing not outside of public opinion. James Fallow, a correspondent for the Atlantic believes that "no one can any longer trust the Administration to recognize and defend America’s rational self-interest — not when the President says he will carry out a policy even if opposed by everyone except his wife and dog, not when the Vice President refuses to concede any mistake or misjudgment in the handling of Iraq. According to the constitutional chain of command, those two men literally have the power to order a strike that would be disastrous for their nation. The Congress has no official way to prevent them from doing so...What the Congress can do is draw the line. It can say that war with Iran is anathema to the interests of the United States and contrary to the will of its elected representatives. And it should do that now. But they can't even get a non-binding resolution to the floor for a vote.
It appears the only way there will be change is if U.S. citizens stand up and let their government know what they want. In an article by William Huges on Media Monitors Network, he gives us a course of action - "America is going down the toilet! What are you going to do about it? Let me suggest that you make a copy of Solzhenitsyn’s essay, “Live Not by Lies,” and send it to your House of Representative member in the U.S. Congress and also to your two U.S. Senators. Put a personal note with it and say something like this: “No more lies. End the Iraqi war. No war with Iran. Bring our troops home, now. Put America’s interest first and work to reverse global warming. My Republic isn’t a global cop for the Wire Pullers of the New World Order. And--Impeach Bush and Cheney!"