Powell Speaks !!!!!!!!!!

Maybe he got the message . Maybe not. Either way the candor is refreshing and we need to hear more from him.

Highway Robbery, How Big Oil Scored America

Upon reading this rather devastating critique of the Bush Oil policy I came upon a conclusion : Iraq is the diversion, the real scam occurred right here at home. Bush, Cheney and the Republican Party have enabled a crime of historic proportions . Here's how it went down. In 2001 Dick Cheney held a series of meetings with executives from the Oil industry. These meetings were secret, in fact they were so secret that Cheney actually fought all the way to the supreme court a lawsuit filed by environmental groups seeking info and prevailed with the help of his hunting buddy Justice Scalia. In other words, no one knows what was said in those meetings . Not Congress , not the media and surely not the public. Nobody knows what kind of promises were made. Nobody knows what assurances these executives were given by Cheney who along with Bush have always been well known to be oil men. Now consider these facts. Exxon Mobile posted a PROFIT last year of 36 Billion. Also consider that since Bush has been in office they contributed some 35 million dollars to politicians , 82% of which went to the Republican party. In other words they invested 35 million got back 36 billion and that's just in ONE YEAR. Exxon Mobil's CEO recently retired and took home a retirement package of over 400 Million . Needless to say this is one area of Bush's Presidency that has been a resounding success at least if you happen be in the energy business. As for the rest of us, get used to it. Even with the President's recent so called interest in reducing prices, chances are the situation will get a lot worse before it gets better. There is a reason for this. If Bush and Cheney have nothing to hide and cannot be linked to the current gas shortage, they should not have any reason to withhold information about interactions they had with top executives in coming up with their energy policy. Surely they would not go so far as to fight it in the Supreme Court. There is a document out there that will spill the beans at some point and tell us precisely what occurred . Bush better hope he's long gone before the people see how he enabled us to be literally robbed blind. Especially considering that most of the people (33 % approval rate ) don't like him anyway.

Fall from grace, Why Bush is doomed.

George Bush is in trouble. He is in a position that may seal his fate as the worst President in history. His decline will be so swift, so complete many will wonder just how such a man managed to become leader of the greatest country in the world. He will leave office a defeated and broken man. Here's why. Right now if you study the national polls Bush is polling somewhere between 33 and 38 percent. That indicates that right now he has clearly managed to alienate well over 60 percent of the country. Polls in the 30s mean that the President is down to his hard core base the true believers. These are people who support Bush because they believe he is a moral man a Christian man. These are people with unwavering belief and confidence in the President. Indeed they attack the very notion that their leader George W. could be wrong about anything at all. It is they who will be the most disappointed when it all goes down. Very soon a series of events are going to occur that are going to expose his administration as the most venal and corrupt ever to call the shots. It will start very slowly. First former white house aide Claude Allen will plead guilty to theft charges relating to stealing out of Target Stores. Then things will get a bit more interesting. Former Federal Procurement office head David Safavian will also plead guilty to charges involved in the Abramoff scandal. This will show proof that Jack Abramoff had access to the highest levels of the White House and will place the administration smack in the middle of the biggest corruption scandal in decades. Then the bombshell. Karl Rove will be indicted in the CIA leak investigation. Rove's indictment will set off shockwaves for several reasons. First Rove remains the preeminent Republican political strategist alive, having him under indictment will surely limit the amount of influence he will have in the upcoming election. Second , if Rove is indicted that means its possible that many people at the highest levels off the white house possibly even the President himself may be called to testify at trial. Also it will augment the perception that this administration is corrupt, criminal even. The stain of corruption would be a deathnell to a President who depends on his image as a supposedly moral man for his sole base of support . If Christian Conservatives come to see Bush for what he is, that is the head of a government where more people get arrested than get fired , he stands to lose them. Once he loses their support, Who's left ?

An Open Letter to General Colin Powell

Although you were they only person in the administration who challenged the neocons in the march to the war, the fact remains that your reputation has been damaged beyond repair by your presentation to the U.N. before the war. Because you failed in your effort to slow the march to war. Because you , being the good soldier you have always been, saluted the commander and fell in line . Troops have died. Good men have lost their lives in a war that didn't have to happen. Nothing can be done to undo that fact. But you alone are in a position to insure that it never happens again. Six of your former collegues have spoken out against your chief antagonist, Donald Rumsfeld. All of them bring their own stars and credibility to the table . But you alone know the truth. You alone were in a position to see who told the lies, who covered it up and who buried the bodies. Your military experience gives you the credibility to speak about the ill conceived war plan. Your experience as the nation's top diplomat gives you the chops to speak about the administration's " cowboy diplomacy." Most of all you were there. You were in the briefings. You saw the plans. You knew the score. Sometimes even good soldiers need to speak up. Its time for you to be heard. Don't go quietly into the night while good men die. Don't allow war crimes to be commited in the name of the country you love. Reclaim your greatness. Reclaim your reputation as a moderate , pragmatic voice of reason. Publicly and boldly denouce the presentation that the world has come to be see as totally bogus. Demand the truth be told about this war where so many have suffered. Never let it be said in this day or any other that General Colin Powell was silent in the face of tyranny. The troops need you, the world needs you but most of all this country urgently needs to hear your voice. Its time general, greatness awaits you.

THE BLUEPRINT : HOW DEMOCRATS CAN RETAKE AMERICA. First and foremost the Democrats need to change the 2006 campaign theme to " Our Commitment to Our Country . " The Democrats need to lay our the changes they are committed to making to the country in a simple four point platform and draw clear distinctions with the Republican party. We will end the culture of corruption. We will rebuild the gulf coast. We will end the war in Iraq. We will demand answers. The Republicans stand Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff. We stand for real comprehensive lobbying reform that includes earmark reform. The Republicans stand for Micheal Chercoff and fumbling FEMA. We stand for a united effort to rebuild the gulf coast including building levees that can withstand a category 5 storm. The Republicans stand for more of the same in Iraq. We stand for redeploying our troops and getting them out of the civil war in that country. The Republicans shun the really hard questions. We demand answers. We will fight to get to the bottom of how Valerie Plame's career was destroyed by the White House. We will demand answers about the way intelligence was used by the White House to go to war. We will challenge this President's commitment to making sure that no person is ever tortured by U.S. personnel. We will demand to know the fate of Usama Bin Laden. We will hold administration officials to account for statements they have made that ended up being misleading , misinformed and sometimes outright lies. The Democrats must abandon the notion that its somehow poor form to fight for what you believe, to call a lie a lie and to confront a regime that depends on the weakness of others to advance their agenda. The Republicans have had their moment. We have seen what they can do. Together we can do better. The Fate of the Republic depends on it.