Hello all,

I saw this tidbit and thought it was interesting. The Green Party has nominated McKinney to run for President.

President Bush commemorated Israel's 60th birthday by launching a political attack on the Democratic presidential candidates.

"Some seem to think that we should negotiate with the terrorists and the radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them that they have been wrong all along," said President Bush. "In actuality, the only thing that will appease the terrorists is cold hard cash."

In the tragedy of the Dineh-Navajo federal land swindle engineered by Sen. McCain  (PL 93-531), we have a human drama writ large of political corruption and influence peddling to wealthy corporate special interests.  The Dineh Navajo people were forceably relocated to Church's Hill - a radioactive toxic waste dump (recognized by Superfund) - in order to steal their land for strip mining by Peabody Western Coal Company, polluting the entire region's water table with Coal mine effluent in the process.

This didnt begin as a political issue, but it certainly deserves to become one later this year.  Here is one clip from the indie documentary "Vanishing Prayer", which details the situation:

Part One:

For a clip from Part Two and the background, keep reading below the fold...

Following recent investigative articles by the New York Times and the Washington Post  which detail two separate instances in which Sen. McCain apparently used his influence to bring about federal land deals lucrative for his friends and campaign contributors, another such case is about to come to the forefront.

This new land swindle is far less benign than the other two.  It involves wealthy corporate mining interests, electric utilities, and a Coal slurry pipeline through the homeland of Native Americans, which took not only their land but their precious water along the way as well.

In this case, Sen. McCain's influence did more than just bring profits to campagin contributors, it dispossessed thousands of indigenous people from lands they had occupied since before Columbus, not in the 19th Century, but in the 21st.  A story similar to that of many tribes sold out and taken advantage of by ruthless politicians, this wasnt the work of some banana republic dictator, but of the Republican candidate for President of the United States.

I'm posting an older note I wrote about Benazir when she died on the reasons why she wasn't exactly what she was perceived by Western media

Whereas the Bucket List is the list of stuff you wanna do before you kick the bucket, the Pardon List is the list of people you pardon before leaving the Oval Office.

Here's a list of all the Bush Administration folks I could dig up who resigned amidst scandal over the last 7 years.  I figure these folks are first in line for full Presidential Pardons.

On midnight of January 20th, 2009, it'd be worthwhile to do a Where Are They Now? on this list.

Let me know if I've missed anyone!  I'd love to do some updates.  I've provided external links for most of the stories here that I figure folks haven't already read heaps about.

   Not my words, but those of the author of this absolutely must read article in The New Republic who nails exactly what Hillary is doing and why.

http://www.tnr.com/...

Clinton's path to the nomination, then, involves the following steps: kneecap an eloquent, inspiring, reform-minded young leader who happens to be the first serious African American presidential candidate (meanwhile cementing her own reputation for Nixonian ruthlessness) and then win a contested convention by persuading party elites to override the results at the polls. The plan may also involve trying to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations, after having explicitly agreed that the results would not count toward delegate totals. Oh, and her campaign has periodically hinted that some of Obama's elected delegates might break off and support her. I don't think she'd be in a position to defeat Hitler's dog in November, let alone a popular war hero.

The decision to pursue the death penalty against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and a number of other suspects creates a situation that no doubt was thought through by the Bush administration more than whether to actually use torture against these people in the first place.  I haven’t seen this angle discussed too much in depth but if it has, please forgive me.

Regardless of whether anyone thinks that the death penalty is a just punishment, is "cruel and inhuman", or just plain doesn’t agree with it, I want to at least (for now) leave that out of this post.  If Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ("KSM" to make it easier for me) is guilty of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, or if he is guilty of any other crimes that can be proven, then he should receive the justice that he deserves.  This is not about whether he should or should not pay for his crimes.

I used to be one of those Democrats who expressed outrage at Ralph Nader. "How dare he take precious votes and let George W. Bush win", I cried in unison with the Democratic mainstream. Even though living in Jacksonville, Florida, I was fully aware that the Bush campaign suppressed at least 8,000 African American votes. Instead of expressing outrage at this unconscionable act, or that of that of nine people picking our nation's highest ranking official, I blamed the real "villain": Ralph Nader.

If you're like me, you were upset about the thought that the Congress would give telecom companies immunity for participating in a warrantless wiretapping program set up by the Bush Administration.  If you're from California like me, you were upset that your Senator, Diane Feinstein, would actually have considered supporting such a horrendous idea.  And, if you're like me, you contacted Senator Feinstein about it.

It seems like it was a long time ago that I wrote to Senator Feinstein, and I frankly expected that she would blow off all of us.  But tonight, I received a response from her via email.

That quote comes direct from Allen Raymond's new tell-all book, How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative.

In it, according to Josh Marshall at TPM, "upon a limited initial perusal, the normally low-key and laconic Paul Kiel concludes that it is 'awesome.' So that's saying a lot."

BENEATH THE SPIN    • ERIC L. WATTREE, SR.

JESUS WAS A LIBERAL

It never ceases to amaze me how Democrats can allow conservative Republicans—a group whose only reason for being is to undermine the poor—to co-opt the love of God as a political issue. I once read a bumper sticker that said, "The Christian Right is neither Christian, nor Right." I remember thinking at the time, what a profoundly concise statement of fact--Shakespeare couldn’t have done any better. It’s unbelievable what these thugs have done--they not only stole Christmas, they stole the Messiah himself. So instead of caving in to the conservative theft of Christianity, every Democrat in America should drive that position home every time they opened their mouths to address the Christian community. They should use every opportunity to educate the people to the facts, and the fact is, Jesus Christ was a liberal--and according to his teachings, to be anything else is less than Christian.  

In the move to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney, the online petitions abound. I've signed a number of them myself, but as we all know, real letters get better results.

With that in mind, I received an email from WDRC member R. Tamm and with his permission, I'm placing his letter template and the address where it can be sent - if you want to write a real letter to Nancy Pelosi, asking for impeachment.  After the fold...

Dear Mr. Nossiter,

I just finished your article on the NYTimes website and I wanted to send you a brief note to add some clarity to an important topic that scarcely received attention in your piece. I have posted a special report about what you deemed "suggestions" that Barbour has maintained ties to Barbour, Griffith & Rodgers. All of the findings are sourced and all of the facts come from newspaper coverage of the blind trust.

I look forward to reading a follow-up article investigating this matter further. In order to be fair to the people of Mississippi and the taxpayers across this nation who funded the Post-Katrina recovery, these deals need to be brought into the national spotlight and the contents of Barbour's blind trust need to be exposed.

With less than a month until election day, we are running out of time; and without help from you and yours in the national media, our window of opportunity to find out the truth will surely close.

-YD

WHO CONTROLS HALEY BARBOUR?
a special report by the yaller dog blog

We have heard all kinds of different stories from Haley Barbour about his ties to Barbour, Griffith & Rodgers, the Washington DC lobbying firm that still bears his name. Since this whole ordeal has confused everyone (including Haley himself, we might start to think), let's begin with the most glaring facts that we know about Haley's ties to his lobbying firm.  Despite how often Barbour and his campaign have tried to claim that these facts are a product of those who are trying to smear him, there is hard proof that Barbour has selected his former clients and his family members to receive contracts that are funded by Mississippi taxpayers and Post-Katrina federal funds.   When we follow the end of this twisted series of contradictions and cover-ups to the end, one thing becomes clear: Haley Barbour is beholden to his former clients at BG&R, so much that we should start to wonder whether we should even refer to them as his former clients.

Despite a feeling of unlawful subservience, unwilling subordination, unfettered subjection; I retain a feeling of peaceful subversiveness.  Today, America is sub-prime.  We need a way out.  We need a way to break the cycle and prevent it from gaining any more amplitude.  The Fascist regime is closing in and I, for one, will not tolerate it.  People are falling to poverty by the scores, losing everything.  I myself am trying to keep at least 2 meals a day intake as my mortgage rates go up, along with my taxes and cost of living.  This is not how America is supposed to be.  I work 60 hours a week and I feel like an exploited third world child.  I am lied to on a daily basis as things only get worse.  This war is going nowhere and is a waste of valuable time and money, it should have never been started.  If I could secede from the union, I would. We NEED a way out.