Music Video - "Get Out of Iraq: Impeach"

I usually don't post videos, but this one is catchy. The music may not be to everyone's taste, but the message is clear. Enjoy!

Florida To Get Paper Ballots - Fair Elections A Little Too Late

So finally the folks in Florida figured out that they have problems with their voting machines. Well that’s not exactly fair, they figured that out in 2000 with the whole hanging chad fiasco, but now they got the touch screen machines. Guess what? They are error prone and easily rigged.

Sooooo. Now that Jeb Bush is out of office, Florida Governor Charlie Crist says the state need paper ballots. Wow! A politician wanting fair elections in Florida? Things must be changing. Pity they weren’t around in 2000. Had the election then been fair we wouldn’t be in Iraq and the world would be a safer place.

Laura & George Again - Trial Separation?

Like the ubiquitous Bat Boy, the tale of Laura and George's marital problems have become the latest fodder for the tabloids again. As I walked through the supermarket my eye was caught by the headline, "Trial Separation". According to the Globe Magazine, Laura and George have agreed to a one month trial separation. After that who knows?

Again, I take this with a big helping of salt. The real story is that it seems that middle America is now ready to believe that the President's life is the stuff of scandals, and that speaks volumes.

This story keeps resurfacing and I am beginning to wonder if there may be a little smidgen of truth somewhere in it.

Lesbians Register In Mexico's 1st Gay Union

It’s a sad day when our neighbor to the south, Mexico grants more rights to its gay and lesbian citizens that our own country. Of course it’s been a sad day here since Canada legalized marriage between same-sex couples, but that’s another story.

31 states in Mexico grant civil union privileges to same-sex couples, and here in the USA, only a handful recognize the right of gay and lesbians to have their unions recognized by the government.

Yesterday a lesbian couple in Saltillo tied the knot to be the first same-sex couple in Mexico to do so. Who knows, this may start a wave of migration by gay and lesbian Americans to Mexico?

Bomb Scare As PR Stunt? Bad Idea!

Sometimes I have to wonder if people involved in PR even watch the news. The folks at Cartoon Network take the prize for being out of touch with reality. Being a network devoted to animated escapades this shouldn’t surprise me!

Some rocket scientist in their PR department decided placing little electronic gadgets all over Boston and apparently some other cities with blinking LEDs was a great way to promote their new show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". Now let’s do the logic. We live in a paranoid country that jails people for simply saying the word "bomb", and you are going to put gadgets that to the untrained eye could resemble bombs all over big cities? Yea, that will be great PR!

Well guess what? Boston went on red alert for a day, with bomb squads running too and fro and the citizens scared shitless. I suspect the creators of this stunt will be charged with some crime and sent off to Gitmo. In this case, I think that is a good idea. Idiots like these, especially PR people whose very existence is of questionable use to humanity anyway, need to be taken off the street and locked away. Next thing you know, someone will start sending out guys with fake guns to hide on the tops of buildings to promote CSI or some other crime soap opera.

In reality, these geniuses will probably be given jobs in the Bush administration in charge of misinformation and propaganda. After all a scared populace is more malliable.

Molly Ivins, Proud Liberal, Dies At 62

In my mothers vernacular Molly Ivins was an SOB. That stood for "Salty Old Broad". It was the highest compliment my mom could pay anyone, and that was why Molly was her favorite journalist. Molly didn’t put up with fools and she called it like she saw it.

Molly lost very few battles in her life, but today she succumbed to cancer. Molly’s wit and candor will be sorely missed in Texas journalism. Texas will have one fewer voice of sanity after today, and that makes me very sad. Last year we lost another SOB, Governor Ann Richards, a woman cut from the same cloth as Molly. I just hope their legacy will inspire a few dozen writers to speak truth to power. This state needs all of that we can get.

In her last column, on January 12, Molly wrote:

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single
day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help
stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look
ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of
there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge.

Army Investigates Abu Ghraib Gang Rapes By US Soldiers

Just when you though the Iraq war couldn't get any stranger we have this latest atrocity that appeared on YouTube. Soldiers taped an interview of a guard at Abu Ghraib who told of selling female prisoners for sex at $50 a pop. In a quote from the video the unnamed soldier says of the man who was pimping the girls out, "I think at the end of the day he'd made like 500 bucks before she hung herself."

Great PR! Sounds so much like Vietnam I am getting chills. The video was pulled from YouTube and the Army is investigating its authenticity. Until then it is online here at IraqSloger.

Bush Guts Privacy - FBI Snooping On All Internet Communications

Bush is moving at full speed to consolidate power and now has pushed the FBI into a surveillance program like the NSA wiretap program. No communication is private anymore with this plan. The FBI can look at anything you do or write online without warrants. It is a wholesale sweep of digital communications with no particular target in mind.

Next will be the clamp down on media. That is a dire prediction, but Bush seems to be moving full speed ahead to consolidate power before anyone can throw him out of office.

Bush Guts Federal Oversight - Another Executive Order

In a further move toward complete dictatorial powers, President Bush issued an Executive Order yesterday that gives him complete control over all regulatory offices. The directive states that a political appointee must head regulatory offices that have previously been headed by scientists and civil servants.

This move is obviously an attempt to further consolidate power and put a lock on the government by the Bush administration. It effectively expands the powers of the President and is unprecedented in US History.

This should be another warning of Bush’s intentions to become an absolute ruler without accountability or opposition. Imagine how the FCC will issue broadcast licenses with a political appointee at the head. Imagine how the FDA will change the approval process of new drugs with a political appointee as head. Imagine how the EPA will deregulate industry with a political appointee as head.

Bush is once again playing the role of Queen Evileen in the musical "The Wiz". "Don’t nobody bring me no bad news!"

Time to send him really bad news. Impeach him now before we no longer have the option.

Bush Divorce Story Back In The Tabloids

Last December the Globe Magazine, legendary supermarket tabloid featured the First Family on the cover with the shocking headline about an impending divorce for Laura and George. This week there was another cover with a similar story. Now I know that these scandal sheets make things up, or at least blow little details out of proportion, but it does show the mood of the country when scandals about Bush are big sellers at the supermarket checkout.

That means Middle-America is willing to consider that Bush is not the Godlike figure he presents, and also signals a disillusionment with his persona and I would assert his policies as well.

(The cover shown is from last December.)

The Real John McCain - New Video On YouTube

Finally someone is using YouTube for a good cause. Exposing the real John McCain is the latest project of Brave New Films, a socially responsible online film company that is changing the way documentaries are made.

Watch it here, and if you had any notions of John McCain being a moderate, think again! He is a wolf in sheep's clothing and as I have blogged before has made a deal with the GOP devils to be the next candidate.

His duplicity and lies rival Bush's and he comes off as a complete media whore.

Kucinich Warns Bush Of Impeachment

Dennis Kucinich has never done much to excite me as far as a presidential candidate, but his statement yesterday about Bush’s being "up to his old tricks" really got my attention. He used the "I" word, and that was a first. Could the Democratic Party be awakening after its long slumber?

He made a long statement about the Bush administration building up the misinformation towards an Iranian offensive. That seems to be very true to me. Bush is beating the drums loudly on Iran, but what Kucinich sad last was the kicker.

"The degree to which this President continues to take steps to go to war against Iran without consulting with the full Congress is the degree to which he is increasingly putting himself in jeopardy of an impeachment proceeding."

I might have to start looking at him seriously as a presidential candidate now.

Molly Ivins Hospitalized

I don't often encourage people to put names on a prayer list but I will today. Molly Ivins, the brightest star in Texas journalism was hospitalized today. She has been fighting cancer for several years and doctors say she may be able to go home as soon as Monday.

Her tough Texas girl persona, along with her unapologetic liberalism was a refreshing change from the usual right-wing reporting that is common in the Lone Star State. Her frequent jabs at "Dubbya" and the Texas "ledge" always brighten my reading.

Get well soon, Molly.

New Mexico Lawmakers Call For Bush Impeachment

Well one thing about New Mexico aside from the natural beauty of the land and the inferno like summers, the state lawmakers have balls. State lawmakers there have floated an Impeachment resolution in the New Mexico legislature.

If more states showed this kind of initiative, the US Congress might get off its collective ass and do something. Right now the hearings have started but they promise to be slow and cautious. When will a Congressperson stand up and state the obvious, this President has broken the law numerous times.

Write your representative and demand impeachment now.

Outrageous Video Of Iraqi Troops Beating Suspects While US Troops Laugh & Watch

This video shows some of the brutality that is taking place in Iraq. It is disturbing and raw, and speaks volumes about the lack of focus to our mission in Iraq. Posted on Raw Story it was reported by Channel Four.

Rummy Has Not Left The Building

Just when you thought Rummy had left the building, he’s back! Seems Donald Rumsfeld has a job at the Pentagon as an unpaid consultant. The excuse for this is so he can sift through all the papers he generated to find those he may need for memoirs or library etc. To do this he has a staff of two military officers and two enlisted men helping.

So, it seems from the date he resigned, in early November until the day he officially left the Pentagon just before Christmas, was not enough time to get things in order.

I have to wonder if the shredders aren’t working full time in that office and that "top secret" stamp isn’t running out of ink. With this administration everything becomes secret and no evidence is left in the public record. They must have taken their cues from Enron.

Exonerated

IN a country with a President who claims to believe in a "culture of life" why do we still have the death penalty?

Diebold Voting Machine Keys On The Web!

So you want to throw an election? Well, Diebold, the same people that brought you those bug-filled voting machines have provided detailed directions in the form of a photo of the master key that opens all Diebold voting machines. How stupid are they, or more precisely, how much do they want their machines hacked to throw an election? Anyone with a little talent, a file and a key blank can cut the required keys and voila, you got an election in the bag!

Brad Blog has the story and a video of the homemade keys opening a Diebold machine. Write your Congressperson and demand paper ballots!

Democratic Response To State Of The Union Speech

Below is the transcript of the Democratic Response delivered by Senator Jim Webb. It is not only good, it's terrific, and far more truthful and inspiring than the clap-trap Bush delivered. Read it and be grateful that the Democrats have begun to recover their true identity as liberals and true patriots.

Good evening.

I'm Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, where this year we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown – an event that marked the first step in the long journey that has made us the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth.

It would not be possible in this short amount of time to actually rebut the President's message, nor would it be useful. Let me simply say that we in the Democratic Party hope that this administration is serious about improving education and healthcare for all Americans, and addressing such domestic priorities as restoring the vitality of New Orleans.

Further, this is the seventh time the President has mentioned energy independence in his state of the union message, but for the first time this exchange is taking place in a Congress led by the Democratic Party. We are looking for affirmative solutions that will strengthen our nation by freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil, and spurring a wave of entrepreneurial growth in the form of alternate energy programs. We look forward to working with the President and his party to bring about these changes.

There are two areas where our respective parties have largely stood in contradiction, and I want to take a few minutes to address them tonight. The first relates to how we see the health of our economy – how we measure it, and how we ensure that its benefits are properly shared among all Americans. The second regards our foreign policy – how we might bring the war in Iraq to a proper conclusion that will also allow us to continue to fight the war against international terrorism, and to address other strategic concerns that our country faces around the world.

When one looks at the health of our economy, it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.

Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world. Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.
In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table. Our workers know this, through painful experience. Our white-collar professionals are beginning to understand it, as their jobs start disappearing also. And they expect, rightly, that in this age of globalization, their government has a duty to insist that their concerns be dealt with fairly in the international marketplace.
In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy – that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street. We must recapture that spirit today.

And under the leadership of the new Democratic Congress, we are on our way to doing so. The House just passed a minimum wage increase, the first in ten years, and the Senate will soon follow. We've introduced a broad legislative package designed to regain the trust of the American people. We've established a tone of cooperation and consensus that extends beyond party lines. We're working to get the right things done, for the right people and for the right reasons.

With respect to foreign policy, this country has patiently endured a mismanaged war for nearly four years. Many, including myself, warned even before the war began that it was unnecessary, that it would take our energy and attention away from the larger war against terrorism, and that invading and occupying Iraq would leave us strategically vulnerable in the most violent and turbulent corner of the world.

I want to share with all of you a picture that I have carried with me for more than 50 years. This is my father, when he was a young Air Force captain, flying cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift. He sent us the picture from Germany, as we waited for him, back here at home. When I was a small boy, I used to take the picture to bed with me every night, because for more than three years my father was deployed, unable to live with us full-time, serving overseas or in bases where there was no family housing. I still keep it, to remind me of the sacrifices that my mother and others had to make, over and over again, as my father gladly served our country. I was proud to follow in his footsteps, serving as a Marine in Vietnam. My brother did as well, serving as a Marine helicopter pilot. My son has joined the tradition, now serving as an infantry Marine in Iraq.

Like so many other Americans, today and throughout our history, we serve and have served, not for political reasons, but because we love our country. On the political issues – those matters of war and peace, and in some cases of life and death – we trusted the judgment of our national leaders. We hoped that they would be right, that they would measure with accuracy the value of our lives against the enormity of the national interest that might call upon us to go into harm's way.

We owed them our loyalty, as Americans, and we gave it. But they owed us – sound judgment, clear thinking, concern for our welfare, a guarantee that the threat to our country was equal to the price we might be called upon to pay in defending it.

The President took us into this war recklessly. He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War, the chief of staff of the army, two former commanding generals of the Central Command, whose jurisdiction includes Iraq, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many, many others with great integrity and long experience in national security affairs. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable – and predicted – disarray that has followed.

The war's costs to our nation have been staggering.

Financially.

The damage to our reputation around the world.

The lost opportunities to defeat the forces of international terrorism.

And especially the precious blood of our citizens who have stepped forward to serve.

The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction. Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally-based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq.

On both of these vital issues, our economy and our national security, it falls upon those of us in elected office to take action.

Regarding the economic imbalance in our country, I am reminded of the situation President Theodore Roosevelt faced in the early days of the 20th century. America was then, as now, drifting apart along class lines. The so-called robber barons were unapologetically raking in a huge percentage of the national wealth. The dispossessed workers at the bottom were threatening revolt.

Roosevelt spoke strongly against these divisions. He told his fellow Republicans that they must set themselves "as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other." And he did something about it.

As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. "When comes the end?" asked the General who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became President, he brought the Korean War to an end.
These Presidents took the right kind of action, for the benefit of the American people and for the health of our relations around the world. Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.

Thank you for listening. And God bless America.

It's Fitzmas! Opening Statements In Scooter Libby Trial Finger Cheney and Rove

Well finally it's Fitzmas! Just read the live blog from the trial written by Firedoglake.com and looks like Fitzgerald has taken off the gloves and is hitting hard. His scathing accusations of perjury against Libby are only the start. What is really news is how deep this whole shebang goes. Looks like Rove was a bit player and Cheney was the top dog on the whole disinformation project regarding Joe Wilson and his wife.

More soon.