Deep Something

Reuters has a report from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Economic Policy Institute showing that, “Since the late 1990’s average incomes have declined 2.5 percent for families on the bottom fifth of the country’s economic ladder, while incomes have increased 9.1 percent for families on the top fifth.” That got brought home to me tonight when I went to grab a bite to eat, and saw a couple have to forego eating so the kids could. More on that later in this story. One of the Deep Thoughts on this site is a quote from Charles Darwin, who said, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” It doesn’t take much to help people, but the current crooks and liars running this government are hell bent and determined to not only forego providing that help, but in enriching their wealthy friends at the expense of those who can least afford it. One of the Deep Thoughts on this site is a quote from Charles Darwin, who said, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” It doesn’t take much to help people, but the current crooks and liars running this government are hell bent and determined to not only forego providing that help, but in enriching their wealthy friends at the expense of those who can least afford it. Read more »

I sincerely hope that no one is falling for this “false flag” (I believe it’s called in intelligence parlance) of the CIA Agent suddenly coming forward to condemn waterboarding as torture, but then saying it saved thousand of lives when used to interrogate Abu Zubaydah. It is just too convenient that this “former” agent, John Kiriakou, suddenly gets permission to come forward and openly discuss this operation on the national news circuit. Does anyone still fall for this shit from this Administration? Kiriakou says he thinks there should be a national debate about torture. BULLSHIT. There should be no discussion about torture. What has become of the values of this Republic and we as a people when we have to have a debate about torture? Read more »

Well, by now most of you have heard the story of the fake FEMA press conference. Apparently, a couple of weeks ago during the height of the California wildfires, Deputy Secretary, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, was asked questions by other FEMA employees posing as reporters. Real reporters were notified of the conference only 15 minutes before it started, and were only allowed to listen via a listen-only conference line. Read more »

The attacks of 9/11 were used to justify the invasion of Iraq, and ever since, Bu$h has been using the mantra to strike fear into the hearts of Americans and ensure continued support of his war. He and Dick have incessantly linked the words “al-Qaida” and “Iraq.” In a recent speech about Iraq, Bush mentioned al-Qaida 95 times. No matter that the insurgents in Iraq are not the same group that attacked the U.S. Read more »

In his weekly radio address Bu$h demanded that Congress update the laws governing electronic surveillance. Now why would George give a damn about whether the law is up-to-date or not. It’s not like the Cheney/Bush Administration is following any of the laws anyway. Read more »

This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen yet on YouTube. It’s an ad for “immunity,” the cure for republican memory loss. Read more »

Steve Benen, in a post at Crooks and Liars makes an excellent point about the U.S. Attorney firings. It seems that all these high ranking Justice Department officials have been asked who created the list of the U.S. Attorneys to be fired, and none of them know. I guess given Bush’s divine dispensation, it just floated down from heaven. Read more »

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.” Read more »

George Christian, executive director of Library Connection, a consortium of 27 libraries in the Hartford, Conn., area, has, since 2005, been fighting a National Security letter request from the FBI for subscription information on patrons of the library system. Because of the way the PATRIOT Act is written, he was only recently, through a court order, un-gagged to be able to testify to Congress about the experience. Read more »

This is a round of general news worth noting for the weekend April 15, 2007 Read more »

On December 12, 2003, $1.5 billion was shipped to Iraq, initially “the largest pay out of U.S. currency in Fed history,” according to an e-mail cited by committee members. It was followed by more than $2.4 billion on June 22, 2004, and $1.6 billion three days later. The CPA turned over sovereignty on June 28. Read more »

Just days after his resignation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany’s top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Read more »