Covering your tracks : The Speaker at War with Justice.

You gotta admire the guts of Dennis Hastert. After years of laying down and allowing the executive branch to run roughshod over the constitutional rights of everyday people , he finally has a hissyfit when it comes to protecting members of congress. The fact that the member in question William Jefferson is a democrat makes it almost a principled stand. However a cynic like me might draw the conclusion that the Speaker's real intention is to protect his own party. In the months ahead there will be many investigations that just might hit a little closer to home for the Speaker. The Abramoff scandal threatens to embroiled dozens of lawmakers. The investigation into who leaked the N.S.A story has just begun. And the Duke Cunningham scandal is scraching the surface. If the FBI gets the notion that they can barge into member's office and uncover wrongdoing that makes 90,000 dollars in the freezer look like lunch money, the Republicans will surely be shaking in their loafers. Mr Jefferson at the very least should step down from the Ways and Means commitee until his name is cleared. Speaker Hastert it should be noted was accused over the weekend of being a player in the Abramoff scandal. Is that the real reason why he suddenly feels compelled to defend his turf ? Stay tuned.........

All hail King George : The Death Of Democracy

And so it begins. With the recent revelations about the extent of the spying being conducted by the N.S.A . on ordinary citizens, this country has been place on a collusion course with destiny. The future of this country will be driven in large part by the answer to this question : Will we allow George Bush to govern like a dictator , or will we rise to the occasion and fight the battle that needs to be fought today. George Bush has finally, mercifully gone too far. If there were ever a poster child for a leader in need of serious oversight it is George W. Bush. Virtually ever single pronoucement that this man has uttered in his last four years has turned out to be not true. A brief rundown for those of us with short memories. He said he'd get Osama Bin Laden " Dead or alive " . He said there were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. He said the Battle of Iraq was " Mission Accomplished." He said no one in his administration was involved in leaking Valarie Plame's name. Every single of of these declarations turned out to be utterly false. But somehow we're supposed to believe that they have nothing but good intentions when they collect every single phone call made by every single person in the United States. This after declaring that warrantless spying was only done to " person communicating to members of Al-Queda. Who do these people think they are ? Who do these people think we are ? They actually believe that this issue will benefit them because they can protrey critics as " weak on terrorism". This from the same folks who couldn't even protect us from a hurricane they knew was comin a week in advance. What remains to be seen is , are they right ? Are Americans so afraid of terrorists that they will look the other way when Big Brother listens in. Does anyone even care that we don't live in a democracy any more. Are there any patriots left who'll defend the constitution that has made us the greatest country in the known world. Will we swallow lie after lie because we're so busy shopping ? The answer to these questions will determine the future course of this nation. It was Ben Franklin who said " Those of would sacrifice liberty for a little safety deserve neither freedom nor safety." Im sure right now, he turns in his grave.

Wheels falling off.

31% approval ? More shoes to drop. How low can Bush go?

For all those who still don't understand why I detest George Bush.

This a article by William Rivers Pitt written to washington post reporter Richard Cohen who wrote a article whining about the fact that so man people hate George Bush and anyone associated with his regime. Pitt does a good job explaining why. This is the money quote.

" Why the anger? It can be summed up in one run-on sentence: We have lost two towers in New York, a part of the Pentagon, an important American city called New Orleans, our economic solvency, our global reputation, our moral authority, our children's future, we have lost tens of thousands of American soldiers to death and grievous injury, we must endure the Abramoffs and the Cunninghams and the Libbys and the whores and the bribes and the utter corruption, we must contemplate the staggering depth of the hole we have been hurled down into, and we expect little to no help from the mainstream DC press, whose lazy go-along-to-get-along cocktail-circuit mentality allowed so much of this to happen because they failed comprehensively to do their job.
George W. Bush and his pals used September 11th against the American people, used perhaps the most horrific day in our collective history, deliberately and with intent, to foster a war of choice that has killed untold tens of thousands of human beings and basically bankrupted our country. They lied about the threat posed by Iraq. They destroyed the career of a CIA agent who was tasked to keep an eye on Iran's nuclear ambitions, and did so to exact petty political revenge against a critic. They tortured people, and spied on American civilians.
You cannot fathom anger arising from this? " I rest my case.

Doomed. Why Micheal Hayden is a terrible choice to lead the CIA

Once again the Bush administration is making decisions based on world they live in, rather than the reality on the ground. In their mind General Hayden is a great choice because he can't be questioned on his credentials ( unlike say, Mike Brown ) and he isn't seen as a political hack ( Unlike Porter Goss ) . Also the administration believes that the domestic spying program, which General Hayden oversaw at the NSA, won't be an issue because the public for the most part agrees with them on that issue. The reality is that most people aren't up in arms about the domestic spying because they don't really know much about it, and to the extent that they do they are misinformed by three critical lies. One : the program is limited and targeted to only suspected terrorists. Two : the program is effective in catching terrorists. Three : the program is legal. First of all there have been reports that as many as 500 Americans a day are having their telephone calls, their emails and their online communications intercepted by the NSA. 500 Americans a day for three years ? Thats about half a million American citizens hardly " limited and targeted. " Second , the Admistration insists on making the point that the program has led to great success in capturing suspected terrorists . A report a few months back in the New York times said that most of the intercepts have turned out to be false leads taking up valuble time that could be spent on real threats to the nation. Finally the 4th amendment to the constitution guantees that all americans have protection against illegal searches and seizures. Also a law was passed in 1979 called the F.I.S.A statute that governs the conduct of the executive as it relates to information gathering on citizens. In other words there is a law that covers specifically warrantless wiretaps that the President has basically decided to ignore so claims that the program is legal are simply laughable . Any confirmation hearing on Micheal Hayden is sure to focus on just these issues. Besides that Hayden is a military officer who will be in charge of what is supposed to be a civilian agency. Will Donald Rumsfeld be his counterpart , or his boss ? These questions could very well doom the nomination before hearings even start. General Hayden had better be ready.

The New Manhattan Project : Winning the Energy War.

Critics of the left always like to point to the tendency of democrats to simply criticize policies , without offering an alternative. With that in mind i'd like to offer a solution to the gas crisis. Whats needed is leadership and bold thinking. First , everyone needs to realize that on some level the oil companies are right , the price of gas is dictated by supply and demand . There is very little that can be done to increase the supply of oil , this is a problem that has to be addressed from the demand side. In other words we have to reduce consumption in a way that works in concert with market forces as opposed to dictating market forces. We need to start by seriously funding the creation , the marketing and the distribution of affordable alternative energy. I propose to create the funding by rolling back the tax cuts of the top 1% of income earners in America. This will generated billions of dollars to start. The income generated should be used to first require that all vehicles in the federal government with special exceptions by hybrid cars or some sort of alternative energy source by 2008 . The money should also be use to fund the transition of state governments. Requiring all goverment cars and trucks to be hybrids would save millions of gallons a year. It would also set a strong example to consumers that hybrids are safe and reliable cars while having an effect on prices at the pump. In addition I propose that a tax credit be given to every consumer who purchases hybrid car equal to the difference in price from a similar gas powered make and model. In other words if a hybrid car is 2000 dollars more than the same standard car, a 2000 tax credit should be given. This will equal a win win for the market and the consumer. The consumer gets much better gas mileage without punishing the market for selling hybrids. At the same time funding should go towards developing hydrogen cars and other alternatives. The administration to its credit has commited to spending millions of dollars on other energy sources but they could be doing much more. With a massive effort employing all the resources of the Greatest country in the world we could be totally energy independent in 10 years. This means less global warming , less dependence on unstable regions of the world for energy supplies , and more money going into the economy from consumers who save billions by not spending so much on just getting around. Its time for a change. But will we be shocked into action by sudden 5 dollars a gallon gas or will we take control of the future and transform this country on our own terms. Sadly with Mr. Oil Man himself still with us for 1000 more days, it may be too late by the time real leadership is in place.

Porter Goss Resigns

This is breaking news from the brokenglassdemocrat. Cnn is reporting that Porter Goss, director of the CIA has just announced his resignation . This is coming on the heels of a federal investigation involving disgraced congressman Duke Cunningham's use of a hotel in D.C. to entertain friends which allegedly involved the hiring of prostitutes at parties . Goss's number three man Kyle "Dusty" Foggo has already been fingered as having been at these parties. If Goss is involved we could be looking at the first sex scandal of the Bush administration. Buckle your seatbelt folks its about to get realll bumpy.