Bush "is the first President to admit to an impeachable offense."

From a letter from Senator Barbara Boxer to four presidential scholars asking if Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean is correct in his statement that Bush is “the first president to admit to an impeachable offense.”
“On Sunday, December 18, former White House Counsel John Dean and I participated in a public discussion that covered many [...]

I Am a Very Fortunate Person

I am a very fortunate person. Why, just in the last week I’ve received about five notices that I have won various foreign lotteries and have won a total of about $1 million Euros and $2.5 million U. S. Additionally, I have been contacted by a number of folks from the Ivory Coast, Malta, Benin, [...]

Bolivians Reject U. S. Neoliberal Domination

It appears that Bolivians have voted to reject U. S. domination and elected Latin America’s first president of indigenous descent. Evo “Morales, 46, a coca farmer and Aymara Indian,” has apparently been elected Bolivia’s new president. To his credit, Morales’ opponent, “Jose Quiroga, a former president who was backed by Bolivia’s [...]

It’s Time for a New Declaration of Independence

The recent revelations that the New York Times, at the request of King George’s courtiers, withheld for a year information of illegal, unconstitutional domestic spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) and of our government paying writers (often media whores who present themselves as “journalists”) to produce propaganda presented as legitimate news and commentary bring [...]

Garden Update

I’ve fenced the main garden plot to prevent Rusty’s indiscriminate digging and the neighborhood cats from using the garden as their dumping ground. After erecting the fence I transplanted the tomatoes and peppers into the plot. The fence posts consist of the spines, I guess they would be called, from the palm fronds I [...]

KIVA Microloans

You’ve probably heard of the “microloan” phenomena, whereby small amounts of money are lent to poor folks in developing nations to enable them to establish small businesses.
KIVA is an organization that came to my attention today, through the “Raw Story” website which led to this article . KIVA enables individuals, like you and me, [...]

The St Petersburg Times Also Has It Right

The St. Petersburg Times editorial writers also have it exactly right.
Hillary’s pathetic ploy
A Times EditorialPublished December 12, 2005
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s decision to co-sponsor a bill to make it a crime to burn the American flag amounts to political pandering of the worst kind. She was against outlawing flag-burning before she was for it.
The New York [...]

Helen Thomas is Right

The legendary Helen Thomas has it exactly right.
If Democrats only had some courage
By HELEN THOMASHEARST NEWSPAPERSWASHINGTON — It’s about time that the “me too” Democrats, particularly those in Congress who vote with the Republicans so often, stand up and be counted.
Too many Democrats are tiptoeing around the major issues facing our nation, afraid to venture [...]

Nixon Redux – DoD Domestic Spying

NBC News reports on a 400 page Pentagon report of it spying on anti-war groups and protests. Cheny/Rumsfeld administration outrages just keep on coming.
Read the NBC report here

Rejection of Neoliberalism

I found very interesting this article about how developing countries are harmed by adopting the “neoliberal” policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as encouraged by the U.S. The article reports on a paper by Ha Joon Chang that argues that industries in developing nations must be protected until they are able to [...]

Check This Out

I unearthed this baby today while rooting around the back yard.
If anyone can identify it I will appreciate knowing what type it is. I estimate it is about two inches long, including its legs.
Update: The best I have so far been able to determine it is a Mexican Redrump Tarantula, but I’m still [...]

Abramoff’s Bribes

The Washington Post has a couple of nice graphics of the top 20 congressional recipients of Abramoff bribes. Six of the top twenty are democrats, including Patty Murray of Washington (one of Boeing’s congressional whores), Harry Reid, Patrick Kennedy, Gephardt, Dorgan, and Daschle.
View the WP graphic here

Secret Laws

Did you know that in the U. S. there are secret laws and regulations? I didn’t either.
Read the report here

Garden Update

Here is a picture of the garden I took today. I am done excavating for the time being, though am thinking about expanding the garden area. For now I will concentrate on planting the area I’ve already developed.
Since I last reported I’ve planted garlic, onions, another planting of lettuce, and a variety of larger tomatoes. [...]

Concert in the Park

This evening I walked to Parque Santa Ana, about 5 blocks from my apartment, as each weekend evening there is music, dancing, and food and craft vendors. As it turned out there was no dancing but there was a concert of Christmas carols in sign language. It seemed to me that the performance was by [...]

The "Free Market" in the U. S.

The New York Times article linked below describes how the “free market” system works in the U. S. Some businessperson makes a “campaign contribution”, read as legalized bribe, to a congressperson, in this case Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, and the dumb ass congressperson sponsors legislation that directs Amtrak to spend Congressionally appropriate funds [...]

Joe Lieberman’s Brown Nose

Now we know why Lieberman has been stuffing is nose further and further up George Bush’s ass.
Read why here.

Speaking of CIA Kidnapping

The CIA also kidnapped a fellow in Italy, needing somewhere around 20 operatives to do so. The operatives stayed in the most expensive hotels, used cell phones and credit cards during and after the kidnapping allowing Italian authorities to easily track their movements to Aviano air base from where the kidnapped fellow was [...]

Abolish the CIA

Read this Steve Clemons report of what the CIA is doing in the name of every citizen of the U. S. In summary the CIA kidnapped an innocent German citizen of Lebanese descent while he was vacationing in Macedonia, he was taken to Afghanistan where he was questioned while being roughed up, he was determined [...]

Silly Season Has Begun

It definitely is becoming silly season, which can be read as the run up to the 2008 presidential election. To wit three examples from the last few days.
Lieberman Calls For Formation Of ‘War Cabinet’ By DAVID LIGHTMANThe Hartford CourantDecember 6 2005, 11:43 AM ESTWASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, increasingly isolated in his own Democratic [...]