The Need For Independent Oversight Of Congress

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct generally has jurisdiction to investigate members of Congress and whether or not they have committed an ethics violation such as receiving inappropriate gifts, gifts or money from foreign entities, or bribes from lobbyists. They have many rules regarding the use of free private corporate transportation, vacations that are disguised as fact finding missions, and even rules as to what stock may be owned by a serving member of Congress.

The Committee touts it's many investigations and resolutions of various complaints against House members, but the simple fact is that the Committee has degenerated into little more than a sham that is used not to investigate actual wrongdoing of importance, but as a political weapon of gotcha by both political parties.

Some recent cases that you may or may not have heard of pretty much sums up exactly what the Standards Committee has turned into.

James McDermott gave the N.Y. Times a recording of a telephone conversation between Boehner and Gingrich in which they were discussing how to skew a Congressional investigation into Gingrich's activities, that was recorded by a Florida couple. Using cell phones, Boehner and Gingrich must have known that scanners can pick up the conversations. Whatever the case, the two were discussing what should have amounted to criminal activity, because they were conspiring to interfere with a Congressional oversight committee investigation of Gingrich. What happened instead was a ten year nightmare for McDermott, because he was sued and pursued relentlessly by House Republicans, who demanded the Standards Committee investigate McDermott.

In 2004, the Standards Committee sent Tom DeLay a letter admonishing him for all of his ethics violations, but since sham criminal proceedings were going to take place in Texas, the Committee settled for just slapping DeLay on the wrist. Had DeLay not resigned in disgrace, he could actually still be a member of Congress.

Again in 2004, the Committee gave an admonishment to criminal conduct of House member Nick Smith in the matter of his voting a certain way on the new Medicare Bill in order to gain support for his son's Congressional candidacy. Oh. By the way, DeLay was part of that one also. Admonishment. Not ouster, loss of position, admonishment. Other recent House members who 'got away with it' include John Boehner, Harry Reid, and Charles Rangel.

Then we turn and take a look at the Senate Ethics Committee, the same body politic that gave John McCain a virtual pass for his criminal conduct during the now infamous Keating Five scandal.

Recent rulings by the Senate Committee can but make one shake their head in wonder. Such as the letter of admonishment to Senator Larry Craig for his criminal conduct in a men's bathroom in Minneapolis.

Another letter of admonishment went out to Senator Pete Domenici for his criminal pressuring of then U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to prosecute Democrats just before the 2006 elections. The letter actually states that the Committee finds no wrongdoing on the part of Domenici, even though Iglesias has laid out an entirely different story. It wasn't too long after Iglesias refused to prosecute that Gonzo fired him.

Senator David Vitter, whose name was in the little black book of prostitution Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey, (who herself conveniently ended up dead), has received a letter from the "Ethics" Committee absolving him of any and all sins. Almost apologetic in tone, the letter states that there is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Vitter. His name must be in the book for reasons other than soliciting a prostitute.

These events and actions taken by the House and Senate Oversight Committees prove that they can not be trusted to review matters pertaining to 'in house' investigations. Liken it to a police department with no Internal Affairs Division policing itself. Only this IS the Internal Affairs Departments for both the House and the Senate, yet they consistently are reluctant to enforce their own ethics codes. The reasons are probably many, but the most prevalent one would probably be the Congress not wanting the public to know the extent and the depth of the corruption within their own government.

There are those who seek to institute a Citizen's Oversight Committee. One that would independently investigate claims of wrongdoing on the part of members of the House and Senate. This is not an unreasonable idea, and one that is many years overdue. However, in order for any such organization to function properly, it's makeup would have to be carefully diverse. Having even one more person of a particular Party affiliation on whatever Board came into existence than another would cancel out the organization's effectiveness almost immediately.

So the makeup of any such organization should probably resemble something along the lines of a non-partisan Supreme Court. Not in any way a court itself, just 9 citizens from diverse backgrounds and political affiliations that would review allegations made against members of Congress, and decide whether they warranted further investigation.

Funding would have to come from the Congressional Budget Office, and should include salaries for the Citizen Oversight Committee, an investigatory team, travel expenses, etc.

Everyone is always complaining that we Americans don't have enough say in what goes on in our government, and they're right of course. But if we all start putting our heads together and coming up with ideas such as the one outlined here, we CAN take back our government, force the politicians to cut the corrupt practices out, and actually have a voice when corruption rears it's head. What we have now are a bunch of good old boys and girls who do whatever they please, knowing full well that even if they have to resign, the chances of any criminal prosecution from a crime they commit will be almost nil. That, ladies and gentlemen, is unacceptable, and we the people must start taking action, and taking action now.

A History Lesson For McCain and Obama

After watching Barak Obama and John McCain try to pass the illegal religious test in order to become the next President of the United States, I think it incumbent o set the record straight on one of the most ferocious lies and rumors that have been foisted on unsuspecting Americans. Rumors that John McCain tried to reinforce in our minds in his attempt to be the winner of the religious test.

Although Obama himself looked for all the world to be pandering to the religious tight, and that in and of itself being an embarrassment, McCain sat and with a straight faced declared that America was founded as a Christian nation. It there becomes obvious that this man is not fit to lead the nation. The United States never was, and is not now, a 'Christian' nation. Let's walk back through time and see what really happened at the birth of our country.

The simple fact is that the most prominent Founders were not Christians, but Deists. Called Unitarian Universalists now, they believed in a Supreme Being who created the universe, only to leave the entire affair, us included, to our own designs. They did not believe that God or the Creator communicated with humans at all, either through direct contact or revelations written in books. They believed that Jesus probably existed, praised Him for His teachings of love and peace, but they did not believe Him to be a Divine entity.

Arguments in favor of the notion that the Founders made conflicting statements when it came to the role of religion in our society become confused due to the actions of believers in Congress at that time. For instance, Jefferson wrote these original words: "All men are created equal and independent. From that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable."

Congress didn't like the wording and changed it to: "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights." This confuses many in our time because they attribute the latter to Jefferson, and say it shows his intent to merge religion into our government. But, even if that were the case, the words come from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.

In 1831, an Episcopal minister named Bird Wilson decried the fact that no President had been from a Christian background. He was quoted as saying: "Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism."

To go one step further to show that we were not founded on the principles of Christianity, let's hear what the Founders had to say about the subject.

Thomas Jefferson: "In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot ... they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer engine for their purpose."

"The priests of the superstition, a bloodthirsty race, are as cruel and remorseless as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and the local God of Israel. That Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God, physically speaking, I have been convinced by the writings of men more learned than myself in that lore."

Benjamin Franklin: ". . . Some books against Deism fell into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on my quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."

James Madison: "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

John Adams: "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole cartloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity."

Thomas Paine: "What is it the New Testament teaches us? To believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith."

"Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies."

George Washington: "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." (Washington was a Deist and a Freemason.)

Or how about Abraham Lincoln: "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."

That, Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama, is history. But let's talk about the here and now. What is it that would possess any politician enough that they would feel as though they had to pander to what amounts to one cult over another? Is the faith of Muslims in America to be ignored? Or Buddhists, Hinduists, Atheists, or the religion (if it can be called such) of our Founders, Unitarianism? Should you not be forced to pass whatever religious test they put forth to you, so they too may judge your worthiness to be President? Or are we now openly admitting that the United States is moving towards theocracy, where one religion dominates the whole, and intolerance will soon follow after? Any who have studied Freethought will know why I included those specific religions and non religion.

Go read the Constitution again Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama. Show me where the words Jesus, Christianity, God, or Bible are mentioned just once. Oh. What's that? Those words don't appear in the Constitution? Exactly. But these words do: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3)

What America witnessed was the exact thing that the Founders feared more than an invasion by another country. A religious test, with religious questioning of candidates, by one religious sect, and broadcast nationally on all the corporate owned media outlets. In this way they reinforce in the minds of Americans that we must be obedient in all things, never grasping the truth of the matter. Which is, were the United States truly founded on Judeo-Christian principles, there would never have been a Revolution, and we would still be a part of Great Britain.

Romans 13:1: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resist authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." Enough said......................

Netflix Destined To Be A Legend Of The Fall?

When the online movie rental firm known as Netflix first came online, it was such a radically different way to access thousands of movies from the comfort of your home, that millions of people eventually signed up for the service. From strictly mailing DVD's back and forth, Netflix outdid Blockbuster and Vongo by adding an 'instant' online viewing capability, that by itself boasted a pretty substantial library of movies to watch. So in essence, they combined what Blockbuster and Vongo offered separately, but offered them for the same price. Such a deal!

Not anymore. This week's latest failure of Netflix's delivery system was far worse than the corporation let on to the press and their subscribers. Their system was down not for three days, but this entire week. According to Netflix, they won't release the details of why their delivery system was down for three days, but I'll give you the rumor circulating in several online groups devoted to talking about all things Netflix. The rumor is a labor stoppage. It takes actual people to put the videos into envelopes, and according to the rumors, those people demanded a raise, Netflix said no, and so, 'Houston we have a problem' came about.

As a Netflix subscriber myself, (I hardly even bother with television any more), I can tell you first hand that their service has been going the way of Vongo for the past six months or so. The last service outage back in March was but a blip on the radar screen, and Netflix promised all a 5% discount on their next month's billing. No one is sure how many people actually received those discounts, but I can tell you that I wasn't one of them. Their promised discount of 15% to subscribers for this week's mess doesn't go nearly far enough to compensate for an entire week's loss of service, and this being the day of my next billing, there was no 15% discount any way. They charged full price.

The allure of Netflix was the convenience of being able to have movies and television shows shipped directly to your home, but while you waited for the mail, you could also find a good movie or television series to watch online from the Netflix web site. But once again, whether it's an attempt to shore up more profits, or just people with the worst taste in television and movies, the caliber of offerings by Netflix has been so horrendous, as in grade D movies, (B movies would be a welcome respite at this point), and television series from the '50's and '60's, that I personally find myself looking to Amazon's movie rental service and ordering pay per view movies. That view is held by many many people who are in the talk about Netflix movies groups.

When I first started with Netflix, it was due to a disillusionment with Vongo, who had the worst selection of movies to choose from. But their price was right at $10.00 a month, but they began to put all the good movies into their pay per view section. Movies that were ten years old became pay per view. Now that ticked me off enough to seek out another venue. I'd be damned if I was going to be paying a monthly fee for a service, and have to shell out more money to watch anything worthwhile. Almost the same setup that Napster has. Pay a fee, then have to buy any decent music.

So I tried out Netflix. And I thought it was the most brilliant idea anyone had ever had. There were first rate movies, blockbusters and all, and I didn't have to go running out to the video store like one has to do with Blockbuster. I would mail movies back on Monday, and by Wednesday, there would be more in the mailbox. I loved it so much that I moved up from their popular three at a time at home for $17.00 per month, to their 5 at a time for $32.00 a month.

I regret that now, and I also regret not cancelling my subscription a couple of days ago. Because since I've already paid for this month, Netflix doesn't give refunds, or even partial refunds. And I'm also pissed about their new 'Watch Movies On Your Television' crap. Instead of offering this as an extension of your existing service, it's an additional monthly fee. What hogwash! I'm not paying extra for that! That's called cable television. I can just go and buy an attachment from the computer store that runs from my system to my T.V. and not pay any monthly fee. Why would Netflix try to rip their customers off like this?

What I don't understand is why in the world Netflix believes they can allow their service to become so lousy. With start ups continuously thinking up new and better ideas, and with sites like Veoh and Channel Chooser, among many others, offering free television and independent shows, places like Netflix are sooner or later going to find their subscription rate fall to almost nothing.

Now, with the proliferation of video sites, with mainstream sites such as NBC, ABC, and CBS offering their shows online, and with the (*ahem*) advent of the free movie sites, (read bootleggers), Netflix had better start getting their act back together by providing decent material, and not put forth old Troma movies as 'New Releases', or they're going to find one day that their shiny bauble status has been reduced to a rusty old wagon. They've got this one month with me. If I don't see something positive happening, they can rest assured that I'll be one of many who are saying they're cancelling Netflix in favor of something else. Because today is Saturday, and I haven't seen a movie in my mailbox since last Thursday.

Hello Blockbuster? If you start streaming instant view movies, you'll probably gain a couple of million customers. Me included............................

Arizona Sheriff Needs A Stay In Own Jail

As the ACLU's lawsuit against Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his inhumane treatment of prisoners housed in the hell holes he calls jails in and around Phoenix kicks off today, one would think the sheriff would have tried his best to look outright holy in the public's eye. Not so. In fact, quite the opposite is true of the man who declares that he loves being sued, sucking up the television spotlights, and being called upon by Fox Noise as though he were America's Sheriff.

Arpaio appeared yesterday in front of reporters in Phoenix and tried to use documents long debunked by the courts to 'prove' his case for the cameras. This lying, tyrannical, bumbling excuse for a lawman may yet find out that voters in Maricopa County have had enough. He may also yet find himself behind the bars of the very jails he oversees.

It's always hard when one who has been propped up by the media to be a national hero turns out to be little more than a common thug. One who believes the laws of the land are to be obeyed by others, but not himself. But all of that will change very quickly if a group of Arizonans calling themselves Joe's Got To Go have there way. Putting together a web site that details so many instances of wrongdoing and criminal conduct by the ham handed sheriff, that it is almost surprising that Arpaio hasn't arrested himself. Let's see what the law and order types have been up to.

Since January of 2004, Arpaio has had over 3,500 lawsuits launched against him. The accusations range from abuse of prisoners, jail conditions so horrible they'd make Bush and Cheney blanch, wrongful deaths in his jails, destruction of evidence to cover up the true facts of those deaths, and many many other charges. The total bill to the citizens of that particular county has been $42 million dollars since 2004. In one of the wrongful death suits, a blind prisoner who was serving a short stint for shoplifting was in solitary confinement when he was found with a broken neck, broken toes, severe internal injuries, and a ruptured intestine. Arpaio brushed off the death as a 'poor guy who fell out of bed'. When a lawsuit was filed by the man's family, all evidence of what happened to the man 'disappeared', with the court finding that Arpaio's deputies had destroyed evidence. So much for law and order.

The funny thing about these 'Bring 'em on' lawsuits though, is that Arpaio keeps referring to the money being thrown down the well as "my money'. No, Joe, the money belongs to the taxpayers. It's not your personal piggy bank. Using private attorneys paid for with taxpayer dollars to fight these suits instead of the county's lawyers, somehow smacks of criminal conduct, as in misappropriation of taxpayer money. Looked at another way, the cities of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston had a combined total of 61 lawsuits against jail conditions between 2004 and 2008.

One of Joe's many violations of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution he swore to defend and uphold includes the placing of cameras in the bathroom areas of the women's section of his horror show, and streaming it live on the web for all to tune in and watch. It took a lawsuit to get him to stop. Anyone else would have been charged with all sorts of sexual offenses, and be labeled a sex offender. Let's just assume by his actions that he is one.

In his attempt to make the Maricopa County Jail System the most terrible gulag in the world, surpassing Gitmo and Abu Garib, Arpaio feeds his prisoners only twice a day. One meal almost always consists of contaminated baloney and rotten fruit. Arpaio justifies this by saying he's saving the county money, despite being told by the courts he can not do this. Another practice that is completely outside the bounds of the law, is Arpaio's use of better conditions for confessions. Those who wish to have a trial by jury are left to swelter in tents in the middle of the desert, in 120 degree heat. If you agree to a plea bargain that will end in conviction, you're moved inside.

In today's East Valley Tribune, there is a 'special report' that shows that at least 60 inmates have died between 2004 and 2008 due to a lack of medical treatment. In one of the cases, a woman brought into the jail told deputies that she was a diabetic, gave them the schedule for her insulin shots, and was placed in a cell. When the time came for her shot, staff ignored her, and when she went into insulin shock, other inmates pleaded with deputies to get her medical attention. The pleas went unanswered and the woman died. Her crime? A probation violation for drug paraphernalia.

Joe also has shown a love for bugs. Refusing any sort of pest control at his facilities, the cockroach problem is so bad that inmates are reduced to buying extra tubes of toothpaste to seal up cracks in an attempt to keep the critters out. Former inmate Shaun Attwood, who spent two years in Arpaio's roach hotels writes all about his experiences on his blog. An excert: " On Wednesday, I was moved back to my original floor, into one of the most infested pods in the building. Completely unarmed with AmerFresh, I watched helplessly as the cockroaches sized me up from the myriad cracks in the walls. I knew as soon as the lights went off I was doomed. My cellmate, Mark, and I didn’t get much sleep. We stayed awake watching the legions of cockroaches conquer the room. Slowly gathering into larger numbers around us, they swarmed the floor. The walls. The ceiling. Our commissary bags. And finally, our bunks."

Despite actual street marches in Guadalupe and Mesa against Arpaio, and demands that conditions for inmates be improved, Arpaio laughs the protests off as the actions of malcontents, and declares that he'll run things as he sees fit. Court orders? Ha! He's the sheriff don't you know, and as sheriff HE IS the law! And he proved it when he attacked the local press, in particular, The Phoenix New Times. In violation of who knows how many laws, Arpaio got the County Attorney to issue secret grand jury subpoenas for the records of all of the publication's online subscribers for the past four years. Huh? Why would he do that you ask? Because the New Times revealed the sheriff's questionable real estate transactions, so the good sheriff promptly had the newspaper's leaders arrested on made up charges of revealing a law enforcement officer's address. The paper's investigations into Arpaio and the County Attorney, Andrew Thomas revealed intimidation of political rivals, racial profiling by the Sheriff's Department, shady land deals, and the intimidation of media critics. The entire arrest affair escalated to the point that when Village Voice Media Executive Michael Lacey tried to get some background on the details of the arrest of the New Times personnel, HE was arrested himself!

That was when the public finally had enough of the Chicago mafia tactics of their run amok sheriff and the County Attorney dropped all charges due to the outcry. See, Arpaio doesn't believe that he has to follow the Constitution or the law period. Ten different studies have shown his treatment of prisoners to be inhumane and one of the studies, done by Arpaio himself, says that all of Arpaio's facilities fall far below the Constitutional standards of humane treatment. These are not all hardened criminals we're talking about here. We're talking about people awaiting trial, or even just a preliminary hearing. Not convicts, but citizens who can not afford the monstrously high bails. As citizens, there can be no punishment meted out, but yet, in Arpaio's guilty till proven innocent fun ride, punishment for the sake of punishment is the name of the game. He says so himself. That's called sadism in any other circle of people.

The voters of Maricopa County have a chance to dump this legal terrorist by the side of the road come November 4th. All indications are that they will, as Democrats are pressing hard. Not just because Joe Arpaio is a Republican up for re-election, but because he's a law breaking, stalinistic, dictatorial, neo-con piece of gutter trash, and the side of the road is where trash belongs. Better yet, hopefully after he's voted out of office and the new sheriff decides a house cleaning is due, Joe Arpaio will get to visit the hellish conditions he imposed on fellow Americans. Someone please make sure there's an extra set of pink underwear saved with his name on them...............

Both Parties Play Hardball With Convention Protesters

One of the most fundamental freedoms that Americans have enjoyed, the right to free speech, is under attack from not just one of the Parties that are holding their Conventions soon, but by both. The heavy handed tactics by the Republicans and the Democrats in their attempts to keep protesters away from the sight and hearing of the delegates may be backfiring on them if recent polls are correct.

Having endured almost eight years of dictatorial conduct by the Executive Branch, Americans are angry and seeking respite from the stifling atmosphere of police state mentality. One would think that both of the major Parties putting forth candidates would clearly understand this, but judging from the actions taken by their surrogates, it becomes clear once more that neither Party has a clue nor a care as to the wishes of every day America.

Beginning on August 25th, the Democratic National Convention, to be held in Denver, has won their case in court to push demonstrators behind a 'freedom cage', an area set up in a parking lot more than 200 feet from the Pepsi Center, and surrounded by barbed wire topped chain link fence. Even as DNC coordinators try to slap us with the old 'it's for their own safety' line, and point out that megaphones will be available, they were also forced to concede that most delegates wouldn't be going past the protesters in the first place, being driven by bus or limousine directly into the arena itself. Or in other words, no one is going to see the protests except, well, the protesters. The Colorado ACLU has dropped all appeals to the ruling, saying the small victories they had won, such as protesters getting permits in a timely manner, were probably the best they were going to get.

Top this off with the Tickets To Nowhere program cooked up by the DNC to rid the streets of Denver of all of those inconveniently unsightly homeless people, and what you end up with is little more than an out of sight out of mind stamping out of free speech and free movement, no other way to put it. Citing 'terrorism' concerns will do the trick every time these days it seems.

Flip the coin to St. Paul on September 1st, and one can easily see the coming crisis. The Republican National Committee has done everything in it's power to thwart protesters from even receiving permits to march. Trying to force protesters to be at least several blocks away, out of sight and earshot of the delegates, and having failed, the RNC tried another tactic. Sicking the little known federal agency innocuously called the Community Relations Service on several peace groups and activists for the poor, the RNC hoped to at the very least have federal agents embedded within the protest groups. Claiming to be there to 'help better co-ordinate' the marches and protests, the CRS became extremely irate when they were turned down flat.

Pointing out something that this author has pointed out several times over the past three months, the CRS told the various groups point blank that unless they accepted CRS infiltration of their groups, that they should bear in mind that the St. Paul Police Department has just purchased 347 new tasers in addition to the 134 already on hand. An implicit threat if ever there was one, the groups told the CRS where to go. CRS now says that anything that happens at the RNC to the protesters will be the fault of march coordinators. In other words, get ready for a blood bath in St. Paul, because there is chatter of some protesters declaring they won't go down so easily, some saying they'll be wearing body armor. It wouldn't seem to do much against tasers, but it's something.

People from all walks of life wish to protest against the Iraq war, the economy, the liberals, the neo-cons, Bush, Cheney, and the entire criminal regime. They want to rage against the machine and in their wisdom, the Founders ensured that this right could never be taken away by anyone unless we allowed them to.

Of course, freedoms are an acceptable loss as long as the politicians that are supposed to work for us don't have to hear our whiny little voices complaining about their criminal conduct and corruption aren't they? Or ask them stupid little questions about the missing $27 million dollars from the federal government to the RNC for security? Oh. You didn't hear about that one yet? Seems the RNC can only account for $23 million dollars of the $50 million dollars in taxpayer money that went to each Convention for security. But, they assure us that nothing untoward has happened, just like Bremer did with the missing $12 billion dollars that disappeared from Baghdad International Airport. We just must be dumb or something. Tin foil hatters.

So, as Americans who are practicing democracy get tasered by the hundreds along the streets of St. Paul so the rich politicos can party in peace, and the homeless of Denver wonder what they're doing in Colorado Springs so the elitist sons of bitches can whoop it up at Mile High Stadium, maybe it's finally time for Americans to look at this asinine one Party with two branches system, and decide how we're going to start putting forth third, fourth, and fifth Party candidates. How we end this tyranny once and for all, because as every election cycle passes with nothing being done, these people fear the populace less and less, and their march towards stamping out the light of freedom once and for all gains speed, just like a snowball rolling downhill. Demand these unConstitutional practices be stopped, or be prepared to hand over your papers the next time you are asked by any local, state, or federal persona. Run for office yourself as a third Party candidate, or back someone else who is. The old saying of together we stand, divided we fall has never been more apparent, and God help us all if we allow the upcoming evangelical push to put the gay marriage, abortion, etc. issues back in the voting booth. Because that's just around the corner along with the suppression of free speech and right to assemble, and as we all know, it's hard to fight a flanking maneuver when a bull is charging at you front the front. Get involved and call your Congress person today.............................

Dead Soldiers Don't Watch The Olympics

The feeling of outrage felt by many Americans over the Bush trip to the Olympics while we are supposedly at war is justified more than ever as yet another soldier was killed and two wounded, to say nothing about the twenty two other people who were maimed, mostly civilians. Reported on as almost an after thought to the rest of the 'news' of the day, a war weary media and a numb population are beginning to forget that our young men and women are still dying for the neo-cons' false war, as though because the Democrats have refused to force the hand of Bush to end this thing, that an attitude of acceptance and a perception that we'll just revisit the issue come January of next year has taken hold.

The old "We've done everything we could and besides, the government says it's getting better" mentality, as though we should believe anything the most corrupt government in the history of our country tells us. So let's take a mind's eye stroll through Iraq to see just how much more in control things really are. That is, if you can stop watching the meaningless Olympic Games for a few minutes.

Not being exactly sure what an acceptable death rate would be five and one half years into this war of lies, let's first keep in mind that 10 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq so far this month. That's one per day on average. Another 19 have been wounded, to say nothing of the Iraqi Army deaths nor the civilian casualties.

Now let's take a look at the wider picture happening in Iraq and we'll see how well the surge really worked there John McCain.

Besides the suicide bombing in Tarmiya, another guy with a mini busload of bombs tried to kill the mayor of Khanaquin but failed. Instead, he killed three civilians and wounded twenty five more.

In Madaen, one Iraqi soldier was killed and five more wounded when a parked car bomb exploded. Madaen is on the outskirts of Baghdad, about 20 miles to the southeast.

The Bab al-Sharji area of Baghdad was rocked by a roadside bomb that killed three people, one of whom was an Iraqi soldier, and wounded 10 more people, of whom six were civilians.

Another roadside bomb blew up in the Amil district of Baghdad, wounding four people, two of whom worked for a private security firm.

In the Kamaliya area of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed three people and wounded seven others, all civilians.

Now that's just today's total. Yesterday, in what can be called just another ho-hum day in war torn Iraq, a U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded by an IED in increasingly safe according to our glorious leader Baghdad.

Also not making headlines were the stories about the manager of the Qadisiya Olympic swimming pool being wounded by gunmen while one of his sons was killed and another wounded.

Three bodies were found by the side of the road in Baghdad. They had been tortured to death.

A member of the U.S. backed neighborhood patrol plan was killed in Jurf Al-Sakar while he manned a checkpoint, and another man was shot to death as he left his home in Tuz Kharmato because he was a backer of U.S. policies in Iraq.

As the entire world condemns the Israelis and demands that they tear down the walls that have imprisoned the Palestinian people, causing death, disease, and untold misery, guess who came up with the bright idea of walling up entire sections of Baghdad, effectively imprisoning people in their neighborhoods? Mr. Bush. Tear down these walls! They are causing more harm than good and endangering our troops as more people are joining the resistance to fight against them.

The point here is this. 'The surge worked' is a lie, a bald faced lie. Our soldiers continue to die needless deaths in Iraq, the Iraqi government wants us out, and oh, by the way, there's a war going on in Afghanistan where troops are desperately needed. Because as the death toll for troops may be down for the time being in Iraq, in Afghanistan they have been rising year by year.

In 2001, 12 U.S. soldiers died in Afghanistan. In 2007 the total was 117. This year, we are already up to 96 fatalities, with stepped up attack by Taliban forces. Mr. Cheney. The pipeline has been built. Either win this war or get the troops out of there.

We as a country keep forgetting the important issues in favor of idiotic nonsense stories that include celebrities and what they say or do. We keep falling for the fear mongering in articles written by people who like to perpetuate long debunked myths, such as Bruce Reidel's story about Al-Quaeda's October Surprise. What we don't do is keep our soldiers in our minds. The ones who are over there fighting for their lives every day, whether they themselves believe in the wars or not. It doesn't even matter if WE as a nation believe in these wars. If everyone that keeps talking about unity in America really believes what they're saying, they can show it, both right and left, by sending a letter to a soldier, a care package to a soldier, and the best part is, you don't even have to know them.

There are several organizations online that will put together special packages and send them to a soldier in the field. Unless you designate where the package should be sent, they'll usually try to get packages and letters to soldiers who don't receive much mail from home first. Here's some web addresses that you can choose from: http://www.treatanysoldier.com/ This is the branch of AnySoldier that actually delivers packages. http://www.usafns.com/email.shtml This site called Armed Forces News Service will give you all types of information, including new zip codes for Iraq, how to send emails to troops, as well as regulations if you wish to mail letters and packages without going through an organization. (Although I recommend using an organization.) https://www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx?id=850& Here's the donation page for the USO. http://www.angelsstore.org/ Along the lines of AnySoldier, Soldier's Angel's will send care packages to the troops. They only require either cost recovery plus postage, or in some cases, just the postage itself due to donations they receive like coffee and what not.

That's just a few of the never growing number of web sites that are trying to remember the troops not just on Thanksgiving and Christmas, you know, when the media needs human interest stories, but all year long. Take fifteen minutes away from the Olympic Games to help a fellow American feel like he or she hasn't been forgotten by us. You'll feel better for it, it will boost morale overseas, and it can be done by everyone together, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party, Communist, whatever. Now that's unity......................

The Hilarious Week In Media Review

Flipping from media web site to media web site this week, it was my first reaction to laugh at what is obviously a tragic situation. The FBI's non arrest of scientist Bruce Ivins for a crime they claim to have proof of would have been a serious affair had the mainstream media not botched the entire story, (save for Olberman, who as usual got most of it right), by trying to make Ivins look like Lee Harvey Oswald. On almost every single mainstream media site, the picture used for Ivin was a black and white photo with the headline reading "FBI says scientist acted alone!" or some variation thereof. The instant it caught my eye, I burst out laughing at the transparent attempt to link in the public's mind, shades of the Kennedy assassination with the anthrax case. Did this guy act alone? Highly doubtful. But it is an election year and all that.

The President of the United States said some really funny shoot while overseas this week. Trying to strike a balance between insulting corporate business partner China, telling it like it is, and not coming off as the world's biggest hypocrite, was truly a gloriously humorous moment. Imagine this dictatorial little gutter snipe telling China that they shouldn't interfere with their people's right to free assembly, free speech, or human rights such as freedom of religion, while here in the U.S., he has done everything he and his little fascist bully friends could do to destroy those very same ideals. I roared with laughter at that one. I also thought it greatly surreal that as our troops are still getting killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, our glorious leader is on yet another vacation, you know, being an avid sports fan and all. And the funniest part is, You, yes you, and you and you, are PAYING for it! Hahaha.

Switching back home, we have proof that the new police state mentality has given at least one sheriff the impression that he's above the law. I could laugh away the pink underwear, but what isn't funny, although many right wing media outlets made it appear to be, is the fact that Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio feels that the Supreme Court of the State of Arizona was only kidding when they issued a ruling against him for not transporting female inmates to medical appointments that had to do with terminating pregnancies. This media hungry monster, who also believes it to be funny that he only feeds prisoners two meals a day, one of which usually consists of green baloney not fit for dogs, somehow doesn't understand the meaning of the word heat stroke. As in allowing for up to 2,000 inmates to swelter in tent cities under 120 degree heat. If you don't want to obey the law Joe, maybe someone needs to out your latent homosexual tendencies by forcing you to visit your own American Abu Garib in some of those pink underwear. Now that would be funny.

Funnier still is the slap in the face the entire Bush MadHouse received when Hamdan was found innocent of most of the charges the government trumped up against him, and found guilty of being.........uh, a driver. Hahaha. Given 5 1/2 years, he will have finished serving his term in 5 months, but the stir of echoes from Darth Cheney's office are already beginning. This sap isn't getting out in 5 months, because the above the law White House is just going to hold him as an 'enemy combatant' for the duration of the war of terror. Meaning forever. Meaning that if they decide tomorrow that everyone who dissents against this run amok government is an enemy combatant, we could all be siting in the cells alongside Hamdan for the duration of the U.S. Government's war against the American people.

Yet another gut busting story came along this week as the authorities arrested the wrong Rockefeller. This guy supposedly kidnapped his own daughter; ie; a custody battle was ensuing. The nationwide media manhunt for this Rockefeller should have instead been directed at the real Rockefeller family. The ones who along with the Bilderberg Group, meet every year to determine who lives and who dies. Which part of the world gets to eat and who starves to death. How to set policy that the U.S. government will follow and how to best exploit Americans and drive the wedge between rich and poor even deeper. Funny how the true criminals get away with murder, while some clearly out of his mind foll gets all the media attention.

The son of Satan himself will be speaking at the Republican National Convention we learned this week. What? Do the Republicans just have a desire to lose as many positions as they possibly can this year? Hahaha. Letting Dick 'Shoot 'em and as questions later' Cheney speak is akin to asking for every blogger in the world to collectively copy Hugo Chavez's line from his speech at the U.N. after Bush spoke there the day before. "I can still smell the sulphur. The devil was here, right here, and I can still smell the sulphur." Hahahaha. How come the media isn't being very hard on Cheney? Come on, this guy don't look so tough. Well, maybe to Wolf Blitzer he does.

I can no longer laugh at John McCain's senile antics. Even though they are pretty funny, especially his wild and wacky plea for votes from such groups as the Outlaws, the Devil's Disciples, The Bandidos, The Hell's Angels, and other such lesser known biker gangs at Sturgis this week, I wonder why he offered poor Cindy up as a Buffalo Chip Girl contestant. Did he not know that nudity was a requirement, and that contestants that lose are, wink, wink, required to service groups of men? Did he even know where he was? Stumbling over his words, making stuff up on the fly, I think he heard all those Harley's growling and just wanted to get the hell out of there. But the frightening part of this amusing story is that McCain is clearly not playing with a full deck, and those of us tin foil hatters are starting to look like geniuses, because we were the first ones in the world to point out that McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign, as per his own campaign manager. Hahaha.

But wait, there's more. At a hacker's conference in Las Vegas, (a what?), three French reporters that work for Global Security Magazine and it's web site, were booted from the conference for gaining access to other reporters passwords and user names. The wronged reporters worked for CNET and eWeek. The crime? The French reporters HACKED into the other guys' computers. Hahaha. You can't make this stuff up.

But the really funny story of the week is that we may not have too much to worry about at all in about one month's time as the Hadron Collider comes online this week for pre-trial tests that will lead to the smashing together of protons next month at speeds designed to break them into vapor basically. There is a group of scientists from around the world attempting to stop the experiment claiming that the testing could create a black hole or other condition that has the potential to destroy the earth. Hahaha. Put your tin foil hats on Docs. Oh. What's that? The scientists at the Hadron Collider don't deny that it's possible in theory that the scenario laid out actually could come about, even though the chances are extremely remote? Hahaha. Now that's funny. We could all be dead in a month because some mad scientists are going to go ahead with an experiment that they say they have no clue as to the results of the test, and we're here arguing over the Paris Hilton/John McCain ad. Hahaha. Yeah, very funny.

And just for laughs, I thought I'd remind everyone once more that the St. Paul, Minnesota police department will be receiving 347 brand spanking new tasers this month, on top of the 134 tasers their cops already carry around. The police chief claims that it's just a coincidence that they'll be getting these toys for boys just in time for the Republican national Convention. Oh. I hope some independent reporters are on hand, because MSM is never going to show us those hilarious videos of hundreds of protesters writhing in the streets with taser darts stuck in them, hahaha.

Hopefully the next week will bring as much comic relief as this week just past. Although my side hurts from laughing so much, I quite enjoy the asinine stories the media expects the public to swallow, and even worse, the parroting of talking points put out by anyone in this government of liars, thieves, traitors, and crooks.