Secrecy and the Rule of Law: Connecting the Dots

Senator Chris Dodd made a statement on the Senate floor on Friday, January 25th during the cloture debate on Bush’s FISA bill – the one granting retroactive immunity to America’s telecom giants for aiding and abetting Bushco’s rampant lawbreaking. The statement well explains what’s wrong with the entire situation in which we find ourselves after 7 long years of the decidedly un-American “Unitary Executive” – a.k.a. “The Deciderer.”

Dodd had threatened to filibuster the bill last month, so Harry Reid was forced to withdraw it from debate until last Friday, when Dodd again threatened filibuster. Reid then put off the cloture vote until today, January 28th. Senators Clinton and Obama, who were out of town campaigning in South Carolina on Friday, are scheduled to be present for this afternoon’s cloture vote (and filibuster, should that ensue).

Dodd noted that it wasn’t his colleagues in Congress – either house – who convinced him of the unacceptability of telecom immunity, it was the many citizens he met in his recently aborted campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination…

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US Press: Still Silent as the Grave

On January 10 I wrote about British press coverage of former FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds’ shocking revelations of high-level nuclear spying. Nearly 2 weeks later Edmonds’ charges have still not seen the light of day in the Corporate Owned Media [COM] in this country. Even after the Sunday Times scooped them all again on January 20.

On Monday (Jan. 21) Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame wrote about the lack of US coverage in an op-ed at Brad Blog and hosted at Huffington Post on Tuesday. Another strong diary at Daily Kos appeared Tuesday, UK media slams US media on Sibel Edmonds case.

[Ellsberg] For the second time in two weeks, the entire US press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch’s London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt US officials promoting nuclear proliferation. But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the US Congress and the courts.

Ellsberg notes that some American journalists have reportedly received calls from “intelligence sources” hinting that what Edmonds happened upon is not a ‘real’ spy ring, but a very sensitive covert operation with highest authorization. Yet if her allegations are true, we have this insane operation to thank for the Pakistani bomb and A.Q. Khan selling nuclear technology to places like Syria, Libya, Iran and North Korea!

[Ellsberg] …if there is any truth to that, we clearly have another prize candidate …in the category of “worst covert operation in US history,” rivaling such contenders as the Bay of Pigs, Iran-Contra, and the secret CIA torture camps abroad.

Knowledge of the charges, the backup, the evidence and the players is widespread in D.C. on both sides of the aisle. Complicity in the cover-up is just as widespread and includes the US mainstream media. But the cat’s out of the bag now – the whole world knows about it, except Americans who get their news from newspapers and television. There’s no good reason why the American people should be the last to know about the traitorous deeds of their government.

Links:

US National Security for Sale

US journalists ignore Sunday Times scoop

FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft

Daniel Ellsberg: Covering Up the Coverage

UK media slams US media on Sibel Edmonds case

Fun and Games in Nevada and SC

Wow. I’m beginning to think this extended primary season has wreaked some havoc on the whole system, making mincemeat of the “old wisdom” about who wins what early primary being a shoo-in to the respective convention nomination.

On the Democratic side, between Clinton’s rejected lawsuit to block culinary workers at Las Vegas and Reno casinos from caucusing (the union had endorsed Obama) and her campaign’s lengthy list of dirty tricks and voter intimidation tactics in Nevada, one might wonder how the heck she managed to ‘beat’ Obama (though Obama got one more delegate out of the deal than Clinton did).

Clinton knows she won’t win South Carolina next Saturday. She might get second, but Edwards may place strongly and beat her once again. SC’s Republicans went strongly for McCain, which has Huckabee claiming Thompson stole his margin of victory and Thompson thinking about quitting. Since it’s South Carolina that has the Reconstructionist subculture wanting to secede from the union and declare itself under Sharia… er, Biblical law, one would have guessed Huck would show much better. Looks like even serious southern Republicans have more sense than they’re given credit for. Especially since they overwhelmingly rejected – with their votes – Huckabee’s disgusting defense of the Confederate battle flag.

Can’t wait to see what SC does on the Dem side, this primary circus could get even more interesting in the next few weeks (through February 5). My own personal take is that McCain is the only reasonable candidate Republicans can run. He has enough cross-over value to independents and centrist Dems to make up for the Bush deficit going in. None of the other Republicans have that.

Widespread Cheating & Vote Supression by Clinton Campaign in Clark County, NV

Corporate Media versus John Edwards

We in the political blogosphere who have a low opinion of the various celebrity puppets, talking heads and pompous clowns of the major news organizations used to call it “Mainstream Media” – MSM for short. Not really wondering why they always echoed right-wing talking points, or make bad attempts to pass off blatant propaganda, disinformation and Britney’s latest pantyless booze-binge as real news.

Now the buzzword is “Corporate Owned Media” – COM – for short. COM is actually more accurate, given the major media’s heavy-handed attempts to control the 2008 primaries (as well as which Democrat we’ll get for President in November, since Republicans don’t have a prayer). But these last couple of weeks definitely take the cake.

I am complaining about the decision of the COM to pointedly ignore John Edwards as a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination and pretend that the only ones running are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Despite the FACT that after 1 primary and 1 caucus (of 49, Michigan doesn’t count), John Edwards BEAT Hillary Clinton in Iowa and the delegate count is very close. The split works out thusly:

Obama: 25
Clinton: 24
Edwards: 18

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The Health Insurance Racket as Organized Crime

“…insurers are just like shoplifters, they devise a new scheme a day.”
Michael A. Sedrish, M.D.
Director of Utilization Management
MediSys Health Network

In comments to other posts on the subject of the health care crisis in America, I have been asked to list some of the practices of health insurers that require rectification, and asked if doing away with health insurance altogether might be the best option for the country.

It is difficult to use examples from other people’s health insurance horror stories or even my own – though such horror stories are common enough – as objective justification for my belief that insurers need to be stripped of their excessive profits retroactively for at least a decade and a half (by means of punitive fines), and that a complete realignment of health care in America to single-payer, universal care is the best possible option for our society in the 21st century.

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John Edwards and “Dead Liver Girl”

Wow. Just… wow. Those Moonies at the New York Post have once again proven themselves to be as evil as their megalomaniacal leader (you know, that rich Korean nut case who swears he’s Jesus Christ), taking on John Edwards and the parents of Nataline Sarkisyan in a radical hit piece entitled Edwards’ Evil Insurance Scam – I kid you not. The subtitle is even more demeaning – “Twisting Tragedy of Dead Liver Girl.”

Dead Liver Girl? Oh, for pity’s sake! Nataline’s parents contacted Edwards’ campaign headquarters after their daughter died. She died because Cigna Insurance Company denied her doctors’ pleas for a liver transplant to save her life, saying that liver transplants are “experimental.” They reversed their decision when the California Nurses Union and Armenian activists demonstrated at their headquarters, but by then Nataline was already dead. The Sarkisyans appeared at a health care forum in New Hampshire with Edwards, and have come out in support of his candidacy as well as his plan to provide health care to all Americans.

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US National Security for Sale

The Insane World of Nuclear Spies and Counter-Spies

FBI translator Sibel Edmonds

Britain’s Sunday Times published an article on January 6 entitled For Sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets, detailing the extraordinary claims of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds about how corrupt US government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to ‘steal’ nuclear weapons secrets. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a real “bombshell” that ties together many years’ worth of nefarious dealings in the Middle East by officials charged specifically with the task of protecting those nuclear weapons secrets from theft by the very people who were allowed to ‘steal’ them!

Edmonds, a Turkish language translator before turning whistleblower, listened to hundreds of sensitive communications intercepted by the FBI while she was stationed at the FBI’s D.C. field office, described to the Sunday Times how foreign intelligence agents enlisted the support of US officials to establish a network of ‘moles’ inside sensitive US military and nuclear installations. The officials involved included one well-known senior official in the US State Department, whom Edmonds says was being paid by Turkish agents in D.C. Those Turks then sold the information to black market buyers, including Pakistan.

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Let’s Talk Nukes and Politics

I consider health care to be the #1 concern for the future viability of this nation, though oil wars/energy independence, revamped ag policies top to bottom and regulatory housecleaning across the board are all important issues as well.

Under the heading of energy policies, I’m going to have to weigh in on the whole renewed “nuclear option” horsehockey disguising itself as a cure for global warming and a means to energy independence in the 21st century. Nuclear power is a pig not even in its poke anymore – it’s fat and ugly, it’s voraciously greedy, it’s arrogant of its filth, and it can’t even fly. Hogzilla Unleashed.

We tried to leash it, honest. Succeeded for more than a quarter of a century, too. But they think we’re all dead now, or maybe just so old we’ve forgotten. We have not.

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The Ultimate Campaign Tool!

Aileen

Gordon Smith over at Scrutiny Hooligans turned me on to this very cool version of the game “Mortal Kombat,” where you can pick a candidate (in either party) to fight any other chosen candidate. To The Death!

It’s the usual slice ‘em dice ‘em scenario, and each candidate has a Secret Weapon super-attack move that’s just sure to make you laugh. Bill Richardson has the heft and weapon to do some serious slicing (my grandson’s favorite), his Secret Weapon is to stomp the ground and set off seismic shock waves that don’t work nearly as well as John Edwards’ freeze-ray. Though neither works as well as Hillary’s Doomsday Device, which is Bill. He appears, grabs the opponent by the neck, and proceeds to do a Nolan Ryan style punch-out. Hilarious!

If there are any gamers out there reading this, go to Kung-Fu Election and start playing! Do let me know who won in your elimination match. I figure this is a pretty good way to figure out who the final nominees will be – just pit all your candidates in one party against each other until one emerges as the clear winner. When both parties have a final nominee, we should then be able to hold the final Championship Match and know who will be our next President!

That’s:

Kung-Fu Election

Have fun!!!

The Iowa Surprise Package: Analysis

Obama! …and Huck?!?

The Dems

For those of us who weren’t thrilled with the idea of revolving political dynasties – the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton mantra – Iowa’s caucuses came as a refreshing surprise. Given Hillary’s “brass balls” approach to belligerent foreign policy, obvious ties to Big Business and business as usual, and her penchant for dirty politics, I think she got what she deserved – a sound slap-down.

It’s not that I like Barack Obama that much either, or that the mostly rural, stoically rustic population of Iowa is a particularly good representative of America in general (or the political leanings of the nation). But when Hillary Clinton set her staffers on Obama with repeats of already established lies and smears, it’s gratifying that Iowans turned against her in droves. The *last* thing this country needs is just another dirty politician in a bad suit.

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