Mencken: A downright moron

“When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack, or count himself lost. His one aim is to disarm suspicion, to arouse confidence in his orthodoxy, to avoid challenge. If he is a man of convictions, of enthusiasm, or self-respect, it is cruelly hard…

“The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even a mob with him by the force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second or third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

“The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

—H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

How many divisions do you have?

Here's what you find in the restrooms of the White House and the RNC...

Update below

Hey, Supremes? How many divisions do you have? I ask this because of your recent ruling against Commandante Bush. You see, Bush owns the military, he owns Guantanamo, he's signed over 700 "signing statements" opting himself from laws passed by Congress. If anyone thinks this pack of crooks and con men are going to be moved by the OTHER branch of the government all I can offer you is hysterical laughter. It's probably not so notable that Scalia, Thomas and, now, Alito (and thank you very much for that, Joe Lieberman) voted for the Commandante to eviscerate the Constitution. To the rest of the world who once admired the United States I say, "Welcome to the Banana Republic of America."

It should be obvious that the only way for the Democrats to dispossess these RICO's (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) otherwise known as the Republican Party is to get WAY MORE than the 50% plus 1 needed to win a real election. Probably something like 60% of the popular vote and 60% of the electoral vote. There is only so much that crooked electronic voting and tossed and purged voter rolls can be expected to do.

Fortunately, there's a hint in the air, a tantalizing wiff, that that just might happen, but then the question is, "How many divisions do you have, America?"

Washington Post: High Court Rejects Detainee Tribunals

The Supreme Court yesterday struck down the military commissions President Bush established to try suspected members of al-Qaeda, emphatically rejecting a signature Bush anti-terrorism measure and the broad assertion of executive power upon which the president had based it.

Brushing aside administration pleas not to second-guess the commander in chief during wartime, a five-justice majority ruled that the commissions, which were outlined by Bush in a military order on Nov. 13, 2001, were neither authorized by federal law nor required by military necessity, and ran afoul of the Geneva Conventions.

As a result, no military commission can try Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the former aide to Osama bin Laden whose case was before the justices, or anyone else, unless the president does one of two things he has resisted doing for more than four years: operate the commissions by the rules of regular military courts-martial, or ask Congress for specific permission to proceed differently.

Update: Those staunch defenders of the Constitution are already on the job...

Raw Story: Senators move to reverse effects of Supreme Court decision against Guantanamo commissions

A shocked Nation

James Wolcott

As a shocked and grieved nation now knows, Rush Limbaugh was detained at the Palm Beach airport upon returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic. His offense: trying to smuggle potential erections through customs and security. A search of his luggage turned up a quantity of Viagra, or as those pills are known to those who gratefully pop them, "boner boosters." (emphasis mine - ed.)

Limbaugh

One fallout from the "rush" to talk about the Limbaugh/Viagra story is that I have to see that fat freak's ugly puss all over my favorite blogs. Really, people! A little sensitivity would be in order.

They blinded me with science

I get email...

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Bushcronium."

Bushcronium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311. These 311 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. The symbol for Bushcronium is "W".

Bushcronium's mass actually increases over time, since each reorganization causes more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Bushcronium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "critical morass."

When catalyzed with money, Bushcronium activates Foxnewsium, an element that radiates by orders of magnitude more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since it has half as many peons but twice as many isodopes.

The Battle of Shiloh

Wikipedia

The evening of April 6 was a dispiriting end to the first day of one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. In the Civil War, medics were not sent into the field to collect and treat wounded soldiers. Hence, many soldiers were abandoned to bleed to death, or in the case of Shiloh, be eaten alive by scavenging animals as a thunderstorm went through the area. The desperate screams of soldiers could be heard in the Union and Confederate camps throughout the night. As the exhausted Confederate soldiers bedded down in the abandoned Union camps, Sherman encountered Grant under a tree, sheltering himself from the pouring rain, smoking one of his cigars, considering his losses and planning for the next day. Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

It's easy to think that Grant was just indulging in ego here, but I think Grant knew something that many Northern generals failed to grasp. That the Northern states had the advantage in population, soldiers, war material and a greater industrial base. Whatever advantages the Southern armies had up to then, in audacious and cunning generals, in aggressiveness, they would ultimately be ground down with the steady application of the greater pressure from the Northern armies.

Since 2000, the Republicans have been able to cobble together a motley coalition comprising old-style conservatives, evangelicals, white supremists and dixiecrats, and corporate money types to get themselves close to the proverbial 50% electoral and popular vote. Add to that the Dixiecrat penchant for voter fraud and black voter exclusion, evident in Ohio and Florida, and in wherever state the Dems have been able to eke out 50% plus 1 majority, they have been able to steal the election and put themselves over the top.

The media is largely owned and operated by mega-corporations who's tax-breaks are controlled by the Republican Congress. It doesn't matter if an individual reporter is a Dem, Republican or a furry bunny, no bad news about Republicans will be allowed to make it's way into the public discourse and when it does the offending reporter will be punished.

Throwing up our hands and bemoaning the existence of Diebold voting machines in swing states is pointless. If 51% of the vote doesn't get us there then we have to get 52%, or 55%. We are the majority in the U.S. and reality does have a liberal bias. The old style conservatives are waking up to the dominance of the Dixiecrat Party and they're getting pissed.

I can't predict when the change is going to happen; it may have already started, but soon now their advantages will turn to disadvantages. They will go one "Swiftboat" bridge too far and we will have them.

Just keep the pressure on and we'll "lick 'em".

Glenn Greenwald: Lieberman, neoconservatism and Iran -- the need for more, not less, democratic debate

Unclaimed Territory

It would be incredibly irresponsible for the Democrats not to have an all-out debate about whether they want to be represented in the Senate by someone whose foreign policy views are more or less identical to the most militaristic ideologues in the administration. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that the primary challenge against Lieberman is motivated almost exclusively by his support for the Iraq war (an obviously false claim given that numerous Democrats who supported the war are still supported by most Democrats), Lieberman's neoconservative world-view is squarely at odds with the views of most Democrats (and most Americans), and that, among other things, is what is at issue in his primary challenge...

Greenwald makes it clear that Lieberman is a radical, hard-core neoconservative who is agressively opposed to any diplomatic solution to the Iranian flirtation with nuclear weapons. It's evident that Lieberman wants to eradicate the current Iranian government and a military solution is the quickest, bestest way to achieve that goal.

Our military is stretched to the breaking point with the Iraq debacle and adding a war with Iran is insane.

The Alternate, Better Universe

Yahoo News

Steve Young: If the Media Reported on Democrats the Way they Report on Republicans

But the Democrats' scored their biggest advantage this week when most of them did not get behind a Republican resolution to support the Bush policy that has resulted in the deaths of 2500 American soldiers as well as the over 100,000 Iraqis who never asked for the policy in the first place.

The politically-motivated vote will likely backfire on Republicans as a large majority of Americans believe that the President's decision to invade Iraq was not worth it. Now the Republicans have gone on record saying that the majority of Americans are wrong.

The Republican-controlled congress will be facing a tough uphill battle as the resolution also put Republicans on record saying to U.S. soldiers - and their families - that it's okay that we have no idea when they'll be coming home unless they are dead, horribly injured or gay.

While House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), declared that "Achieving victory is our only option," the Republicans refused to outline what that "victory" would entail. That in itself could seal the majority party's fate as most Americans no longer seem to buy rhetoric over action...

African-American Voters Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List

Published by Greg Palast June 16th, 2006 in Articles
Massacre of the Buffalo Soldiers by Greg Palast
As reported for Democracy Now!
(reprinted here with the author's permission.-Ed.)

Palast, who first reported this story for BBC Television Newsnight (UK) and Democracy Now! (USA), is author of the New York Times bestseller, Armed Madhouse.

The Republican National Committee has a special offer for African-American soldiers: Go to Baghdad, lose your vote.

A confidential campaign directed by GOP party chiefs in October 2004 sought to challenge the ballots of tens of thousands of voters in the last presidential election, virtually all of them cast by residents of Black-majority precincts. Files from the secret vote-blocking campaign were obtained by BBC Television Newsnight, London. They were attached to emails accidentally sent by Republican operatives to a non-party website.

One group of voters wrongly identified by the Republicans as registering to vote from false addresses: servicemen and women sent overseas.

*******
For Greg Palast’s discussion with broadcaster Amy Goodman on the Black soldier purge of 2004, go to Black soldier purge of 2004 at gregpalast.com
*******

Here’s how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, “Do not forward”, to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as “undeliverable.”

The lists of soldiers of “undeliverable” letters were transmitted from state headquarters, in this case Florida, to the RNC in Washington. The party could then challenge the voters’ registration and thereby prevent their absentee ballots being counted.

One target list was comprised exclusively of voters registered at the Jacksonville, Florida, Naval Air Station. Jacksonville is third largest naval installation in the US, best known as home of the Blue Angels fighting squandron.

See this scrub sheet at flicker.com

Our team contacted the homes of several on the caging list, such as Randall Prausa, a serviceman, whose wife said he had been ordered overseas.

A soldier returning home in time to vote in November 2004 could also be challenged on the basis of the returned envelope. Soldiers challenged would be required to vote by “provisional” ballot.

Over one million provisional ballots cast in the 2004 race were never counted; over half a million absentee ballots were also rejected. The extraordinary rise in the number of rejected ballots was the result of the widespread multi-state voter challenge campaign by the Republican Party. The operation, of which the purge of Black soldiers was a small part, was the first mass challenge to voting America had seen in two decades.

The BBC obtained several dozen confidential emails sent by the Republican’s national Research Director and Deputy Communications chief, Tim Griffin to GOP Florida campaign chairman Brett Doster and other party leaders. Attached were spreadsheets marked, “Caging.xls.” Each of these contained several hundred to a few thousand voters and their addresses.

A check of the demographics of the addresses on the “caging lists,” as the GOP leaders called them indicated that most were in African-American majority zip codes.

Ion Sanco, the non-partisan elections supervisor of Leon County (Tallahassee) when shown the lists by this reporter said: “The only thing I can think of - African American voters listed like this - these might be individuals that will be challenged if they attempted to vote on Election Day.”

These GOP caging lists were obtained by the same BBC team that first exposed the wrongful purge of African-American “felon” voters in 2000 by then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Eliminating the voting rights of those voters — 94,000 were targeted — likely caused Al Gore’s defeat in that race.

The Republican National Committee in Washington refused our several requests to respond to the BBC discovery. However, in Tallahassee, the Florida Bush campaign’s spokespeople offered several explanations for the list.

Joseph Agostini, speaking for the GOP, suggested the lists were of potential donors to the Bush campaign. Oddly, the supposed donor list included residents of the Sulzbacher Center a shelter for homeless families.

Another spokesperson for the Bush campaign, Mindy Tucker Fletcher, ultimately changed the official response, acknowledging that these were voters, “we mailed to, where the letter came back - bad addresses.”

The party has refused to say why it would mark soldiers as having “bad addresses” subject to challenge when they had been assigned abroad.

The apparent challenge campaign was not inexpensive. The GOP mailed the letters first class, at a total cost likely exceeding millions of dollars, so that the addresses would be returned to “cage” workers.

“This is not a challenge list,” insisted the Republican spokesmistress. However, she modified that assertion by adding, “That’s not what it’s set up to be.” Setting up such a challenge list would be a crime under federal law. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlaws mass challenges of voters where race is a factor in choosing the targeted group.

While the party insisted the lists were not created for the purpose to challenge Black voters, the GOP ultimately offered no other explanation for the mailings. However, Tucker Fletcher asserted Republicans could still employ the list to deny ballots to those they considered suspect voters. When asked if Republicans would use the list to block voters, Tucker Fletcher replied, “Where it’s stated in the law, yeah.”

It is not possible at this time to determine how many on the potential blacklist were ultimately challenged and lost their vote. Soldiers sending in their ballot from abroad would not know their vote was lost because of a challenge.

__________________________________

For the full story of caging lists and voter purges of 2004, plus the documents, read Greg Palast’s New York Times bestseller, ARMED MADHOUSE: Who’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?, Armed Madhouse: Who’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats Bush Sinks, the Scheme to Steal ‘08, No Child’s Behind Left and other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War.

http://www.gregpalast.com/massacre-of-the-buffalo-soldiers

Bald Eagle soars overhead

My daughter came running into the house on her first day off of school for the summer. "There's a bald eagle flying over the house!" I rush out with her and shield my eyes from the mid-day sun as I look up in the sky and, indeed, there WAS a bald eagle up there; white head, white tail feathers, wing span you wouldn't believe. Now you say, so what. Well I've never see a one in Ellicott City, Maryland before. Of course after a few seconds I ran in to find the camera (that pic is not the one I saw) but by that time it had flown off.

The Death of traditional Conservatism

Madison Capital Times

GOP loses out by snubbing Redick, By John Nichols

Says Redick: "The Republican Party nationwide is 'off course' compared to its traditional values, and Republican leaders at the state and county level seem to like it that way or, at least, (they) will settle to be submissive and abused 'loyalists' to D.C. The far-right religious groups, corrupt congressmen and warmonger 'neocons' have taken over in D.C., and it seems no one is willing or able to push them back. (The GOP) is now the war, big-spending and homeland spy party. My campaign efforts to gain support for reform have been fruitless, but revealed the depth of trouble the Republicans are in. While they engage in self-serving denial to hide problems, the cliff of the November 7 election is fast approaching. Pollsters predict many losses.

"Hence I have left the Republicans to their well-earned fate and joined the Libertarian 'party of principle.' It embraces my philosophy of limited government, fiscal conservatism and peace, along with social liberalism consistent with the Bill of Rights."

Crazy Republican Talking Points

An array of crazy Republican talking points has been sold by the massive Republican Spin Machine until widely believed by many uninformed citizens. Essentially these political lies can easily be debunked by simple applications of common-sense and logic. Here are a few of examples.

Saddam Hussein was the next Hitler and Iraq the next Nazi Germany. This is a staple Republican talking point used to sell Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The claim is repeated on Right-Wing Republican talk shows, in media controlled by partisan Republicans and by hundreds of Republican talking heads.

Iraq was never going to be a threat to world peace on the scale of Nazi Germany under Hitler. The economy of Iraq was and is absolutely tiny compared to the United States. It could never fund a military threat that would seriously challenge the American military.

The United States spends much more each year on our military than the entire value of the Iraq economy by many multiples. Our nation spends 48 percent of the entire world’s military expenditures on our armed forces. The next four big defense spenders are Japan, China, France and the United Kingdom at 3 to 4 percent each.

Saddam Hussein was the dictator of a nation with around ten percent of our population. His population was not as skilled, healthy or educated as the American public. His nation was not united behind Saddam Hussein’s leadership like Nazi Germany was under Hitler.

The earliest aggressions by Hussein were met and repelled by military actions by other nations. By the time George W. Bush invaded Iraq, the Iraqi military was no threat to Iraq’s neighbors. Internal enemies of Saddam Hussein were growing stronger. Islamic militants were seeking to overthrow Hussein. Kurds were in revolt in northern Iraq. The Shia Moslems were restive in southern Iraq. The Iraqi economy was in shambles. Saddam Hussein was effectively contained and no real threat to America.

A second crazy Republican talking point concerns the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Palme by highly placed operatives at the Bush White House. The essential lie is that Valerie Palme status as a covert CIA agent was not secret. The claim is that her CIA status was “well-known in Washington cocktail circles.”

It is simply not true that Valerie Palme was widely known to be working for the CIA. Even her neighbors and best friends were unaware of her CIA connection. Logically, rumors at cocktail parties of Washington’s power elite are not equivalent to intentionally publishing her covert CIA status in major newspapers. The fact is that the White House intentionally leaked her identity, in violation of US law, to politically punish her husband for revealing lies used by the Bush team to push the United States into invading Iraq.

In a third example, the death of al-Zarqawi has been promoted by Republicans as a major blow against the enemies of American occupation in Iraq. It is an easy sale to those without a deep knowledge of al-Zarqawi and his actions in Iraq.

This terrorist was engaged in bloody violent actions that actually undermined the popularity of the Iraqi insurgency among average Iraqis. Iraq is populated largely by Shia Moslems. The terrorist organization of al-Zarqawi was targeting the Shia along with American forces under his leadership.

While nominally aligned with the Bin Laden international organization, al-Zarqawi was attacking Shia leaders against the wishes of Bin Laden and his international movement. The international Bin Laden terrorists want the Shia and Sunni Moslems united in opposition to American interests. The death of al-Zarqawi may eventually result in a more united opposition by both Shia and Sunni Moslem fighters. It seems likely he will be replaced by a more effective terrorist leader. I am glad al-Zarqawi was killed but his death is certainly not a major blow against those opposed to American occupation of Iraq.

All citizens should condemn this kind of intentional disinformation and failed logic. There are hundreds of similar examples of intentional lying and distortion by Republican leaders on the most important issues facing our nation. When citizens hear these kinds of crazy talking points, they should immediately challenge them.

Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host, Democratic Talk Radio). Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland 21919. Phone: 443-907-2367. Email: midsouthcm@aol.com .

Feel free to publish in your newspaper, newsletter, magazine, website or blog at no charge without prior approval.

Will the DSCC be committing fraud?

The DSCC is actively soliciting and accepting donations to "elect more Democrats". As they put it on their contribution page...

We Need Your Support

The sole mission of the DSCC is to elect more Democrats to the Senate. And in 2006, the battle for the Senate will be what determines how successful George W. Bush is in imposing his ultra right wing vision on America in his second term.

By supporting the DSCC, you are supporting the only organization that can effectively push back against the red tide of the GOP. Please make a contribution today!"

Wouldn't it be an act of fraud for this type of organization (actually, I can't tell from the website whether they are a PAC or another kind of non-profit political group) to accept money for "electing Democrats" and to disburse it to non-Democratic candidates like Lieberman if he bolts from the party?

Maybe a threat of a juicy lawsuit initiated by a "concerned donor" might nip this in the bud. Maybe a polite inquiry to the DSCC will resolve this.

UPDATE: Hmmmmm, if it's "sole mission of the DSCC is to elect more Democrats" then wouldn't endorsing a non-Democrat be a violation of it's clearly stated purpose and constitute a fraud?

UPDATE II:I'm not trying to make a legal judgement, but I'm wondering if anyone, who might know the case law for political non-profits, and is reading this, might have an opinion as to the legality of the DSCC potentially endorsing and contributing to an Independent Lieberman campaign.

UPDATE III: I'm not the only one thinking along these lines. DailyKos and Firedoglake were there sooner.

Part of the problem

The Real News Project

25 Democratic Consultants, By Russ Baker

... In today’s cash-fueled political world, both parties claim they have no option but to function as indentured servants of corporate America. This, not surprisingly, creates a dynamic of dependency and obligation. The Republicans have excelled at this game, especially under the tutelage of Karl Rove and Tom DeLay. But the Democrats have, increasingly, belied their long-assumed commitment to the little guy and the average American by cozying up to the money trough as well.

This pattern accelerated markedly under the Clinton Administration, which, despite some reformist tendencies, often aided the big-business agenda, easing domestic regulations and passing international trade agreements that tended to unshackle the large corporation. Some of these changes were clearly in the public interest, such as streamlining cumbersome and often-antiquated bureaucratic processes. But many others were not: lowering environmental thresholds and diminishing governmental oversight. Once the Democrats turned into the opposition, key Clinton figures found a home in offering their advertising, public relations and arm-twisting skills to industry trade associations and corporations. They retained their links to the party, and have lived a kind of dual life ever since, moving effortlessly from corporate work to campaign work and back. The friendliness with big business has escalated under the reign of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who has assembled his own so-called “K Street Cabinet” – named after the street where the lobbying hordes are headquartered...

The "N" word

No, not THAT one. The other one. The one I won't print here because I don't want to make Google's search engine link to it. The one that describes the National Socialist Party of Germany in the 1930's.

That one.

Now it can be said that the N-word Germans had given Fascism a bad name. That wouldn't be accurate because Fascism already had a bad name. Really bad. The N-word Germans just gave us Fascism on steroids with an arsenic kicker. So now a modern commentator cannot connect the N-word and any other person, political party or social movement without being laughed out of the metaphorical building. And rightfully so, I would imagine but there are times when a cogent argument can be made of certain parallels between the Chancellor of N-word Germany and you-know-who.

The problem with drawing attention to these parallels is that people start extrapolating it back, in this case, to the American military, etc. and the connections start to look absurd. LET ME STATE CATEGORICALLY, THERE ARE NO PARALLELS, EITHER PHILOSOPHICALLY, MORALLY OR ETHICALLY BETWEEN THE AMERICAN MILITARY AND THE MILITARY OF GERMANY OF THE 30'S AND 40'S. Abu Graib and Haditha, notwithstanding, which I see as aberrations of long standing American military policy and military law.

N-word Germany	United States
Highly trained, well equipped military.	Highly trained, well equipped military.
Largely successful in it s strategic goals of dominating Western Europe, it invades the Soviet Union in defiance of any rational strategic and tactical military considerations (two front war strains military capabilities).	With widespread international support, is largely successful in achieving it's strategic goals in Afghanistan but turns away to invade Iran Iraq. A strategic and tactical military blunder (too small a force to deal with civil unrest and growing insurgency) of incandescent proportions.
Commander-in-chief with limited to no military strategic education and who is tone deaf to any criticism and advice contrary to his goal of establishing his place in history.	Ditto
A "Bunker mentality" that refuses to accept or acknowledge the damage being done to his military force because of his policies	Ditto

Let's do a little "thought experiment" like Einstein liked to call them. Imagine that the United States had continued to finish off the Taliban in Afghanistan. Imagine we took about a tenth of the money we've squandered in Iraq and rebuilt the infrastructure in Afghanistan. Schools, power plants, manufacturing facilities, etc.: a modern day Marshall Plan. Now imagine how the world and the mid-east situation would look if we had done THAT. And imagine how we could then turn, along with the international community, that once was on our side, to the problem of Saddam Hussein.

It staggers the mind.

I know the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Traveling Asshats known as the modern Republican Party will disagree but it must be a steadily dawning realization to many former War cheerleaders that George W. Bush and his clown show of an Administration has so completely and thoroughly mismanaged the effort in Iran. The military is being broken. Our nation's ability to address real threats has been severly weakened, and Bush is bunkered down in his own head and refuses to face this reality. As long as that reality threatens the Republican Party's political power there will be no real solutions to this f.u.b.a.r. situation. Bush will stumble along, berating ANY hint of failure that squeaks out in the mainstream media until circumstances change and he can put the blame on someone, anyone else.

He has his place in history to think of.

Fighting The Democratic No Ideas Myth

by Stephen Crockett, co-host Democratic Talk Radio

The key to huge Democratic gains in the 2006 and 2008 elections is debunking the prevalent political myth that Democrats have not advanced a program of new ideas to solve our pressing problems and only criticize Republican policies. This myth is a recurring talking point for Republican politicians. It has been echoed unjustly by the Corporate Mainstream Media until many voters believe the myth.

The tight institutional control over debates and the introduction of alternative Democratic legislative proposals to Republican measures in the Senate and Congress have made it difficult to publicize Democratic ideas. The Republican policy of freezing out Democratic legislators from policy debate is intentional and undermines both democracy and effective government. It is useful to Republicans in terms of electoral politics. It is the core element used to create and advance the "Democratic no ideas myth."

The Corporate Mainstream Media has not been reporting on events and proposals advanced by Democrats because the Republican dominance of all branches of the government makes these Democratic ideas unlikely to become law until Democrats gain control of Congress. This media failure is unjustified. Actions and policies by opposition Parties out of power should be covered fully by print and broadcast journalists. The ideas exist but are not being reported by journalists.

Many of these journalists are spreading the "Democratic no ideas myth" because they failed to do their jobs as reporters by reporting the real truth. One of the best examples of this media failure was the Alternative State of the Union Address event and program put forward by the Democratic Progressive Caucus in January. The event was held at the Democratic National Committee. This organization of over 60 Democratic members of Congress presented a complete platform of progressive Democratic ideas and proposals on dozens of important policy issues. Many of these ideas were published in a special edition of the liberal magazine, The Nation which was one of the sponsors. It was ignored by all the major TV networks, cable news, newspaper chains and largest news magazines. The event and the ideas presented did not exist for most American voters because they were ignored by these journalists.

Democrats cannot schedule official public hearing by Congressional committees. Republicans control those Congressional committees and will not permit Democrats to examine Republican scandals, abuses or policy failures. Democrats like Congressman Conyers sometimes schedule more or less unofficial hearings. These hearings get very little coverage by the Corporate Mainstream Media.

Democrats running for public office should condemn the "Democratic no ideas myth." They should criticize the role of the media in creating and spreading this myth. All campaigns should issue press releases presenting their new ideas and discuss the media coverage of those ideas when the media fails to cover them. Democratic writers should tackle the myth directly issue by issue and submit their writings widely. We need to use the Internet, flyers and call-in shows to present the real facts.

Bush Listening

Sidney Blumenthal: George Bush Sr. asked retired general to replace Rumsfeld

A subscription is needed but this is so good you probably should consider getting one.

Salon

"The elder Bush's intervention was an extraordinary attempt to rescue simultaneously his son, the family legacy and the country. The current president had previously rejected entreaties from party establishment figures to revamp his administration with new appointments. There was no one left to approach him except his father. This effort to pluck George W. from his troubles is the latest episode in a recurrent drama -- from the drunken young man challenging his father to go "mano a mano" on the front lawn of the family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, to the father pulling strings to get the son into the Texas Air National Guard and helping salvage his finances from George W.'s mismanagement of Harken Energy. For the father, parental responsibility never ends. But for the son, rebellion continues. When journalist Bob Woodward asked George W. Bush if he had consulted his father before invading Iraq, he replied, "He is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength. There is a higher father that I appeal to."

The former president, a practitioner of foreign policy realism, was intruding on the president's parallel reality. But the realist was trying to shake the fantasist in vain. "The president believes the talking points he's given and repeats on progress in Iraq," a Bush administration national security official told me. Bush redoubles his efforts, projects his firmness, in the conviction that the critics lack his deeper understanding of Iraq that allows him to see through the fog of war to the Green Zone as a city on a hill...

...Before the Iraq war, the administration received and dismissed warnings of the dangers of a prolonged occupation from the State Department, the CIA and the military. A month before the invasion, in February 2003, the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute published a paper by a team of its experts, "Reconstructing Iraq: Insights, Challenges, and Missions for Military Forces in a Post-Conflict Scenario." Civil war, sectarian militias, anarchy, suicide bombers and widespread insurgency -- if there was a lengthy occupation -- were predicted: "Ethnic, tribal, and religious schisms could produce civil war or fracture the state after Saddam is deposed ... The longer a U.S. occupation of Iraq continues, the more danger exists that elements of the Iraqi population will become impatient and take violent measures to hasten the departure of U.S. forces." But the Bush administration simply ignored this cautionary analysis. Among the report's cogent warnings was that insurgents could incite violence to provoke repression, forcing U.S. troops into an uncontrollable "action-reaction cycle." Nearly three years after the invasion, the Marines in Haditha were apparently caught up in that whirlwind...

...Haditha is a symptom of the fallacy of Bush's military solution. The alleged massacre occurred after the administration's dismissal of repeated warnings about the awful pressures on an army of occupation against an insurgency. Conflating a population that broadly supports an insurgency with a terrorist enemy and indoctrinating the troops with a sense of revenge for Sept. 11 easily leads to an erasure of the distinction between military and civilian targets. Once again, a commander in chief has failed to learn the lessons of Algeria and Vietnam.

Bush's abrogation of the Geneva Conventions has set an example that in this unique global war on terror, in order to combat those who do not follow the rules of war, we must also abandon those rules. This week a conflict has broken out in the Pentagon over Rumsfeld's proposed revision of the Army Field Manual for interrogation of prisoners, which would excise Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions that forbids "humiliating and degrading treatment." And, this week, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., proposed a bill that would make the administration provide "a full accounting on any clandestine prison or detention facility currently or formerly operated by the United States Government, regardless of location, where detainees in the global war on terrorism are or were being held," the number of detainees, and a "description of the interrogation procedures used or formerly used on detainees at such prison or facility and a determination, in coordination with other appropriate officials, on whether such procedures are or were in compliance with United States obligations under the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture." The administration vigorously opposes the bill..."

Posted by fightingdem at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)