It is common for politicians to court big money during a campaign. But private schmooze sessions such as the gathering in Utah pose a particular dilemma for McCain, who has spent a long career decrying "special interests" and politicians who offer special access to them in order to raise money.
As a presidential candidate this year, McCain has found himself assiduously courting both lobbyists and their wealthy clients, offering them private audiences as part of his fundraising. He also counts more than 30 lobbyists among his chief fundraisers, more than any other presidential contender.
31 December, 2007
30 December, 2007
Republicanism from Nazism?
Now we find out that Bush acts as though he is not legally obliged to follow his own executive orders. That means the Bush believes: "I don't have to follow my own rules, and I don't have to tell you when I'm breaking them." That includes actions of the Executive Order that governs surveillance of us.
The Executive Order governing surveillance may not be the only one that Bush has modified without revealing he has done so. It appears that Bush has also modified the Executive Order governing the treatment of classified information from its plain text meaning.
So he does whatever his mood dictates when and at whatever time he decides, ignoring the rule of law and the Constitution. The Nazi rule in Germany acted in the same way in taking over Germany and attempting to conquor the world one country at a time. Sound familiar..
The Executive Order governing surveillance may not be the only one that Bush has modified without revealing he has done so. It appears that Bush has also modified the Executive Order governing the treatment of classified information from its plain text meaning.
So he does whatever his mood dictates when and at whatever time he decides, ignoring the rule of law and the Constitution. The Nazi rule in Germany acted in the same way in taking over Germany and attempting to conquor the world one country at a time. Sound familiar..
Republican record supported by republican candidates
What an unbelievable record of deceit, destruction, hypocrisy, incompetence, treason and greed. What a tragic tale of debt, lost wars, stolen elections, environmental crises, Constitution shredding, national shame and diminished security.
torture and more Republican lies
CIA operatives now SAY they destroyed the torture tapes because they wanted to protect the torturers, now called "debriefers."
We know that is a crock because all they had to do is black out their faces as is done every day to protect the identities of children.
They realy wanted to protect these Republican officeholders.
We know that is a crock because all they had to do is black out their faces as is done every day to protect the identities of children.
They realy wanted to protect these Republican officeholders.
Should the USA torture people
In November 2002, an Afghan man froze to death overnight while chained in a cell at a C.I.A. site in Afghanistan, north of Kabul, the capital. Two more prisoners died in December 2002 in American military custody at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
By late 2002, interrogators were recycling videotapes, preserving only two days of tapes before recording over them, one C.I.A. officer said. Finally, senior agency officials decided that written summaries of prisoners’ answers would suffice. Clandestine service officers who had overseen the interrogations began pushing hard to destroy any taping.
Some of the C.I.A.’s techniques appeared to constitute "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" under the international Convention Against Torture. The CIA now prefers that we call their interrogators who tortured prisoners in secret CIA prisons around the world as "debriefers."
Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Williams, a JAG officer with the U.S. Naval Reserve, recently resigned his commission over the alleged use of torture by the United States and the destruction of video tapes containing instances of that torture.
Waterboarding was used by the Nazi Gestapo and the feared Japanese Kempeitai. In World War II, our grandfathers had the wisdom to convict Japanese Officer Yukio Asano of waterboarding and other torture practices in 1947, giving him 15 years hard labor.
John C. Gannon, a former C.I.A. deputy director, says it was a tragic mistake for the administration to approve such methods. as waterboarding. So should our country be a country that tortures people? We report, you decide.
By late 2002, interrogators were recycling videotapes, preserving only two days of tapes before recording over them, one C.I.A. officer said. Finally, senior agency officials decided that written summaries of prisoners’ answers would suffice. Clandestine service officers who had overseen the interrogations began pushing hard to destroy any taping.
Some of the C.I.A.’s techniques appeared to constitute "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" under the international Convention Against Torture. The CIA now prefers that we call their interrogators who tortured prisoners in secret CIA prisons around the world as "debriefers."
Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Williams, a JAG officer with the U.S. Naval Reserve, recently resigned his commission over the alleged use of torture by the United States and the destruction of video tapes containing instances of that torture.
Waterboarding was used by the Nazi Gestapo and the feared Japanese Kempeitai. In World War II, our grandfathers had the wisdom to convict Japanese Officer Yukio Asano of waterboarding and other torture practices in 1947, giving him 15 years hard labor.
John C. Gannon, a former C.I.A. deputy director, says it was a tragic mistake for the administration to approve such methods. as waterboarding. So should our country be a country that tortures people? We report, you decide.
29 December, 2007
Republicans continue lying
It is a lie for Republicans to say that they are not raising our taxes when some of us know that we will have to pay for all this waste and their redistributing the wealth of our country to the rich, PLUS INTEREST, from their astronomical increases in the country's debt that is covered mostly by foreigners, principally China.
The rest of you just don't get it. They have lied to you and are continuing to lie so much that you are brainwashed.
The rest of you just don't get it. They have lied to you and are continuing to lie so much that you are brainwashed.
Ahother law and order Republican
A day after a federal court slip-up exposed intimate office e-mail exchanges with his executive secretary, Texas most powerful prosecutor, the district attorney of Harris County, issued a public apology Friday to his family and others.
The issue took on immediate political dimensions on Thursday when Mr. Rosenthal, a 61-year-old Republican who has announced he will run for a third term next year.
The messages, which had been turned over to lawyers in the course of a federal civil rights lawsuit that alleges misconduct involving Harris County sheriff’s deputies, contained Mr. Rosenthal’s professions of love and longing for the woman, Kerry Stevens, with whom he has acknowledged having an affair during his first marriage.
As district attorney of a county with a population of four million, more than that of several states, Mr. Rosenthal also presides over the country’s busiest capital punishment establishment, which has sent 100 convicts to their deaths since 1976.
The issue took on immediate political dimensions on Thursday when Mr. Rosenthal, a 61-year-old Republican who has announced he will run for a third term next year.
The messages, which had been turned over to lawyers in the course of a federal civil rights lawsuit that alleges misconduct involving Harris County sheriff’s deputies, contained Mr. Rosenthal’s professions of love and longing for the woman, Kerry Stevens, with whom he has acknowledged having an affair during his first marriage.
As district attorney of a county with a population of four million, more than that of several states, Mr. Rosenthal also presides over the country’s busiest capital punishment establishment, which has sent 100 convicts to their deaths since 1976.
creeping Republican tyranny
It has been two years since top New York Times officials decided to let the rest of us in on the fact that the George W. Bush administration had been eavesdropping on American citizens without the court warrants required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.
The Times had learned of this well before the election in 2004 and acquiesced to White House entreaties to suppress the damaging information. In late fall 2005 when Times correspondent James Risen’s book, “State of War: the Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,” revealing the warrantless eavesdropping was being printed, Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., recognized that he could procrastinate no longer.
When Sulzberger told his friends in the White House that he could no longer hold off on publishing in the newspaper, he was summoned to the Oval Office for a counseling session with the president on Dec. 5, 2005. Bush tried in vain to talk him out of putting the story in the Times. The truth would out; part of it, at least. It was published with a slant toward limiting the scope of this treason.
Repbulicans are good at quoting our founding fathers but only when it suits their objectives. When was the last time you heard the following?
Our Founding Fathers were not oblivious to this issue; thus, James Madison addressed the problem as follows:
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ... The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
The Times had learned of this well before the election in 2004 and acquiesced to White House entreaties to suppress the damaging information. In late fall 2005 when Times correspondent James Risen’s book, “State of War: the Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,” revealing the warrantless eavesdropping was being printed, Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., recognized that he could procrastinate no longer.
When Sulzberger told his friends in the White House that he could no longer hold off on publishing in the newspaper, he was summoned to the Oval Office for a counseling session with the president on Dec. 5, 2005. Bush tried in vain to talk him out of putting the story in the Times. The truth would out; part of it, at least. It was published with a slant toward limiting the scope of this treason.
Repbulicans are good at quoting our founding fathers but only when it suits their objectives. When was the last time you heard the following?
Our Founding Fathers were not oblivious to this issue; thus, James Madison addressed the problem as follows:
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ... The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
28 December, 2007
Bhutto, US lackey, killed in Pakistan
While some intelligence officials, especially within the US, were quick to finger al Qaeda militants as responsible for Bhutto's death, it remains unclear precisely who was responsible and some speculation has centered on Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, its military or even forces loyal to the current president Pervez Musharraf. Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed, is the garrison city that houses the Pakistani military's headquarters.
Perhaps more shockingly, an attendee at the rally where Bhutto was killed says police charged with protecting her "abandoned their posts," leaving just a handful of Bhutto's own bodyguards protecting her. "GHQ (general headquarters of the army) killed her," Sardar Saleem, a former member of parliament said.
Whatever the case, Bhutto's precise cause of death may never be known because of the failure to administer an autopsy. The procedure was not carried out because police and local authorities in Rawalpindi did not request one, according to IBNLive, but the government plans a formal investigation why this was the case.
Perhaps more shockingly, an attendee at the rally where Bhutto was killed says police charged with protecting her "abandoned their posts," leaving just a handful of Bhutto's own bodyguards protecting her. "GHQ (general headquarters of the army) killed her," Sardar Saleem, a former member of parliament said.
Whatever the case, Bhutto's precise cause of death may never be known because of the failure to administer an autopsy. The procedure was not carried out because police and local authorities in Rawalpindi did not request one, according to IBNLive, but the government plans a formal investigation why this was the case.
27 December, 2007
what republican war is doing to Iraq
According to an Oxfam International report released in July this year, 43 percent of Iraqis suffer from absolute poverty, and that according to some estimates over half the population is now without work. Children are hit the hardest by the decline in living standards. Child malnutrition rates have risen to 28 percent now.
George Orwell today
We are living George Orwell's nightmare in the 21st century; for war is claimed to be the way to peace and nuclear weapons are promised as the way to provide security.
26 December, 2007
Republicans without Nuremberg
A number of leading Nazis were executed for their unprovoked attack on Poland. The Bush administration has its own Poland in Iraq, and if there is an American attack on Iran it would also fit the Nuremberg definition. Unlike at Nuremberg, however, no one will be held accountable.
Is there any truth to this Huckabee story?
Read today: When the news is about your son actually hanging a dog -- one of the stranger moments of Mike Huckabee's campaign, which struggled with the rehash of an old story about the Arkansas governor's number one son killing a dog when he was a camp counselor in 1998 -- There isn't necessarily any need for the standard hangdog image. Because when you're riding an updraft of polling numbers, minor details like your son's torturing and killing of man's best friend don't lead to images of fatigue, sadness and impotence. A little sweat on the brow, perhaps.
republican war crimes
Read today: Current and former officials said the torture lasted weeks and even, according to some, months, and that the techniques included hypothermia, long periods of standing, sleep deprivation and multiple sessions of waterboarding. All these "alternative procedures", as Bush described them, are illegal under US law and the Geneva conventions. They are, in fact, war crimes
25 December, 2007
our Army due to Iraq update
The 15-month terms were always seen as a temporary measure. Talk to soldiers, and they will tell you that 15 months of continuous combat duty is simply too wearing.
Enlistment rates are down; junior officers are dropping out at rates unseen since Vietnam days. The war in Iraq is the main reason for both trends. The Army is already stretched to the bone. Senior officers and Gatess are deeply worried that maintaining this breakneck pace for much longer might break the all-volunteer Army.
If the terms of duty are cut back to 12 months of deployment, followed by 12 months home, it is not clear whether even 15 brigades can be sustained in Iraq for very long. And once troop levels fall below 15 brigades, it is not clear—as they approach 10 brigades, it is very unlikely—that the mission of securing the Iraqi population (the essence of counterinsurgency) can be sustained.
The clock is also ticking on the other games that are keeping ultraviolence at bay. After the Sunni-U.S. alliances defeat the jihadists, or reduce their ranks to a manageable level, nobody expects the Sunni fighters—who, before their "awakening," spent much of their time shooting and blowing up American soldiers—to become pliant citizens. Also, ethnic cleansing has Balkanised some neighborhoods and destroyed the mix of Sunnis and Shias.
In sum, U.S. forces may soon have more eruptions to damp down—or, to switch metaphors, more holes in the Iraqi dike to plug up. And the task will be more daunting still once the troop-levels decline.
All this is why Gen. Petraeus and most other officers refrain from wild cheering at the reports of declining casualties and violence. T
Enlistment rates are down; junior officers are dropping out at rates unseen since Vietnam days. The war in Iraq is the main reason for both trends. The Army is already stretched to the bone. Senior officers and Gatess are deeply worried that maintaining this breakneck pace for much longer might break the all-volunteer Army.
If the terms of duty are cut back to 12 months of deployment, followed by 12 months home, it is not clear whether even 15 brigades can be sustained in Iraq for very long. And once troop levels fall below 15 brigades, it is not clear—as they approach 10 brigades, it is very unlikely—that the mission of securing the Iraqi population (the essence of counterinsurgency) can be sustained.
The clock is also ticking on the other games that are keeping ultraviolence at bay. After the Sunni-U.S. alliances defeat the jihadists, or reduce their ranks to a manageable level, nobody expects the Sunni fighters—who, before their "awakening," spent much of their time shooting and blowing up American soldiers—to become pliant citizens. Also, ethnic cleansing has Balkanised some neighborhoods and destroyed the mix of Sunnis and Shias.
In sum, U.S. forces may soon have more eruptions to damp down—or, to switch metaphors, more holes in the Iraqi dike to plug up. And the task will be more daunting still once the troop-levels decline.
All this is why Gen. Petraeus and most other officers refrain from wild cheering at the reports of declining casualties and violence. T
24 December, 2007
Republicans top-down class warfare
On Tuesday, the Republican controlled Federal Communications Commission changed the rules to allow the nation's giant conglomerates to further consolidate their grip on the media by permitting them to purchase TV and radio stations in the same local markets where they already own daily newspapers.
As a gift to the country's automobile industry, The Republican Controlled Environmental Protection Agency ruled Wednesday, over the objections of the agency's staff, that California, the nation's largest and most polluted state, and 16 other states, can't impose regulations to limit greenhouse gases from cars and trucks that are stronger than the federal government's own weak standards.
Class warfare is, in fact, the very essence of the tenure of these Republicans in the White House. In thousands of ways, big and small, they have promoted the interests of the very rich and the largest corporations.
Corporate lobbyists have the run of the White House. Their agenda - tax cuts for the rich and big business, attacks on labor unions, and the weakening of laws protecting consumers, workers and the environment from corporate abuse -that is the Republican agenda.
As a gift to the country's automobile industry, The Republican Controlled Environmental Protection Agency ruled Wednesday, over the objections of the agency's staff, that California, the nation's largest and most polluted state, and 16 other states, can't impose regulations to limit greenhouse gases from cars and trucks that are stronger than the federal government's own weak standards.
Class warfare is, in fact, the very essence of the tenure of these Republicans in the White House. In thousands of ways, big and small, they have promoted the interests of the very rich and the largest corporations.
Corporate lobbyists have the run of the White House. Their agenda - tax cuts for the rich and big business, attacks on labor unions, and the weakening of laws protecting consumers, workers and the environment from corporate abuse -that is the Republican agenda.
more on Republican Blackwater
Hostility toward Blackwater was already high in the Interior Ministry. The February 2006 shooting incident in Kirkuk had damaged U.S.-Iraqi relations in the area, leaving the Americans "hated and ostracized," according to Ali, the provincial council president.
Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., was founded in 1996 by a former Navy SEAL, Erik Prince, a big Republican contributor. In Iraq, the company protects the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats.
The company developed a reputation for aggressive street tactics. Even inside the fortified Green Zone, Blackwater guards were known for running vehicles off the road and pointing their weapons at bystanders, according to several security company representatives and U.S. officials.
"They're universally despised in the Green Zone," said one security official, who has managed security for several companies since 2004"That's not an overstatement. 'Universally despised' is probably a kind way to put it."
Clearly the overall philosophy and tactics of Blackwater were not in keeping with winning hearts and minds," said a senior defense official involved in private security policy. The company's aggressive tactics provoked widespread frustration among U.S. commanders in Iraq, but complaints went nowhere.
Many memos were sent up the chain of command, It was a huge issue with the military. The "coalition" knew about it, but nothing was ever done. It was completely ignored.
When |Bush was onced asked, by a citizen, "I asked your Secretary of Defense a couple months ago what law governs their actions,"
"I was going to ask him," the president responded, drawing laughter as he issued a mock entreaty. "Go ahead. Help."
In other words, he just blew off the question which makes him directly and personally culpable; AND What about winning the hearts and minds?
It's also about millions going to fatcat Republican Contributors.
Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., was founded in 1996 by a former Navy SEAL, Erik Prince, a big Republican contributor. In Iraq, the company protects the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats.
The company developed a reputation for aggressive street tactics. Even inside the fortified Green Zone, Blackwater guards were known for running vehicles off the road and pointing their weapons at bystanders, according to several security company representatives and U.S. officials.
"They're universally despised in the Green Zone," said one security official, who has managed security for several companies since 2004"That's not an overstatement. 'Universally despised' is probably a kind way to put it."
Clearly the overall philosophy and tactics of Blackwater were not in keeping with winning hearts and minds," said a senior defense official involved in private security policy. The company's aggressive tactics provoked widespread frustration among U.S. commanders in Iraq, but complaints went nowhere.
Many memos were sent up the chain of command, It was a huge issue with the military. The "coalition" knew about it, but nothing was ever done. It was completely ignored.
When |Bush was onced asked, by a citizen, "I asked your Secretary of Defense a couple months ago what law governs their actions,"
"I was going to ask him," the president responded, drawing laughter as he issued a mock entreaty. "Go ahead. Help."
In other words, he just blew off the question which makes him directly and personally culpable; AND What about winning the hearts and minds?
It's also about millions going to fatcat Republican Contributors.
Iraq, Blackwater, your children and grandchildren
The U.S. government disregarded numerous warnings over the past two years about the risks of using Blackwater Worldwide and other private security firms in Iraq, expanding their presence even after a series of shooting incidents showed that the firms were operating with little regulation or oversight, according to government officials, private security firms and documents. Last year, the Pentagon estimated that 20,000 hired guns worked in Iraq; the Government Accountability Office estimated 48,000.
The warnings were conveyed in letters and memorandums from defense and legal experts and in high-level discussions between U.S. and Iraqi officials. Neither the Pentagon nor the State Department took substantive action to regulate private security companies until Blackwater guards opened fire Sept. 16 at a Baghdad traffic circle, killing 17 Iraqi civilians and provoking protests over the role of security contractors in Iraq. Nothing was done until WE, John Q public, found out.
From a pure counterinsurgency standpoint, armed contractors are an inherently bad idea, because you cannot control the quality, you cannot control the action on the ground, but you're held responsible for everything they do and they are costly.
The Defense Department has paid $2.7 billion for private security since 2003, according to USA Spending, a government-funded project that tracks contracting expenditures; the military said it currently employs 17 companies in Iraq under contracts worth $689.7 million. The State Department has paid $2.4 billion for private security in Iraq -- including $1 billion to Blackwater -- since 2003, USA Spending figures show. This is just a tip of the iceberg of costs in Iraq.
Since it is all financed by long term debt, it's going to be paid by your children and grandchildren thanks to these Republicans.
The warnings were conveyed in letters and memorandums from defense and legal experts and in high-level discussions between U.S. and Iraqi officials. Neither the Pentagon nor the State Department took substantive action to regulate private security companies until Blackwater guards opened fire Sept. 16 at a Baghdad traffic circle, killing 17 Iraqi civilians and provoking protests over the role of security contractors in Iraq. Nothing was done until WE, John Q public, found out.
From a pure counterinsurgency standpoint, armed contractors are an inherently bad idea, because you cannot control the quality, you cannot control the action on the ground, but you're held responsible for everything they do and they are costly.
The Defense Department has paid $2.7 billion for private security since 2003, according to USA Spending, a government-funded project that tracks contracting expenditures; the military said it currently employs 17 companies in Iraq under contracts worth $689.7 million. The State Department has paid $2.4 billion for private security in Iraq -- including $1 billion to Blackwater -- since 2003, USA Spending figures show. This is just a tip of the iceberg of costs in Iraq.
Since it is all financed by long term debt, it's going to be paid by your children and grandchildren thanks to these Republicans.
23 December, 2007
Do you see any Republicans?
Tuesday, December 18, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate combined to give President Bush $70 billion to carry the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next summer. Only 23 Democrats and one independent supported an amendment by Senator Feingold that would have required the safe redeployment of troops from Iraq.
Here are the senators who voted to end the war:
Akaka (D-HI)Boxer (D-CA)Brown (D-OH)Byrd (D-WV)Cantwell (D-WA)Cardin (D-MD)Durbin (D-IL)Feingold (D-WI)Harkin (D-IA)Kennedy (D-MA)Kerry (D-MA)Klobuchar (D-MN)Kohl (D-WI)Lautenberg (D-NJ)Leahy (D-VT)Menendez (D-NJ)Murray (D-WA)Reid (D-NV)Rockefeller (D-WV)Sanders (I-VT)Schumer (D-NY)Stabenow (D-MI)Whitehouse (D-RI)Wyden (D-OR)
Here are the senators who voted to end the war:
Akaka (D-HI)Boxer (D-CA)Brown (D-OH)Byrd (D-WV)Cantwell (D-WA)Cardin (D-MD)Durbin (D-IL)Feingold (D-WI)Harkin (D-IA)Kennedy (D-MA)Kerry (D-MA)Klobuchar (D-MN)Kohl (D-WI)Lautenberg (D-NJ)Leahy (D-VT)Menendez (D-NJ)Murray (D-WA)Reid (D-NV)Rockefeller (D-WV)Sanders (I-VT)Schumer (D-NY)Stabenow (D-MI)Whitehouse (D-RI)Wyden (D-OR)
Stop these Republicans
A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.
Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons.
Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.” The F.B.I would “apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous” to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The arrests would be carried out under “a master warrant attached to a list of names” provided by the bureau.
The names were part of an index that Hoover had been compiling for years. “The index now contains approximately twelve thousand individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven per cent are citizens of the United States,” he wrote.
“In order to make effective these apprehensions, the proclamation suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus,” it said.
Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons.
Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.” The F.B.I would “apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous” to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The arrests would be carried out under “a master warrant attached to a list of names” provided by the bureau.
The names were part of an index that Hoover had been compiling for years. “The index now contains approximately twelve thousand individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven per cent are citizens of the United States,” he wrote.
“In order to make effective these apprehensions, the proclamation suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus,” it said.
proof of Republicans ruining our economy
At the beginning of 2003, one euro bought one US dollar. Eighteen months ago, it bought $1.20. Now it is pushing $1.50, and there is no reason to think that it will stop there. Three of the world's biggest oil exporters, Iran, Venezuela and Russia, are demanding payment in euros rather than U.S. dollars. Last week a Chinese central bank vice-director, Xu Jian, gave voice to the suspicion of many others, saying that the U.S. dollar was "losing its status as the world currency."
If that happens, then America loses a great deal. Other countries have to maintain large reserves of foreign currencies - most of which they keep in U.S. dollars - to cover their foreign debts, but the United States can pay its huge foreign debts in its own money. If necessary, it can just print more dollars. Having their own money as the world's reserve currency confers advantages that Americans would miss if they lost them.
The main reason for the collapse of the U.S. dollar is President George W. Bush's attempt to fight expensive foreign wars while cutting taxes at home. This involved deficit financing on a very large scale, and inevitably the value of the dollar began to fall - slowly at first, but with increasing speed as it became clear that the White House did not care.
"Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don't matter," as Vice President Dick Cheney told then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
But they do matter. As the U.S. dollar fell in value, the price of oil (which is usually calculated in dollars) rose to compensate for it, but there was no comparable adjustment for foreign central banks that had huge amounts of U.S. dollars in their reserves. China, which was sitting on about a trillion U.S. dollars, simply lost several hundred billion as the currency's value fell. So various central banks started wondering if they should diversify their reserves, and some acted on it.
The downward pressure on the dollar will continue, because the United States is currently borrowing 6 percent of its Gross Domestic Product from foreigners each year to cover its trade deficit. Foreign banks were happy to go on lending so long as they had faith in the integrity of U.S. financial institutions, but that has been hit hard by the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Besides, other markets, notably China and India, now offer a better return - and Congress's resistance to foreign takeover bids, combined with tighter visa restrictions, make the U.S. a less welcoming place for foreign investors.
Above all, there are now alternatives to the U.S. dollar. The last time it faced a comparable crisis was in 1971, when a different Republican president was trying to run another unpopular war without raising taxes. Richard Nixon devalued the U.S. dollar and demolished the Bretton Woods system that had fixed all other currencies in relation to the dollar, inaugurating the current era of floating exchange rates.
There was no other candidate then for the role of global reserve currency, so the dollar stayed at the center of the system despite all the turbulence. This time, by contrast, there is the euro, the currency of an economic zone just as big as the United States, with the Chinese currency as a possible long-term rival. But nothing is likely to happen very fast.
Republicans are ruining our economy for their fatcat short term gains while permanently damaging our hardworking middle class.
If that happens, then America loses a great deal. Other countries have to maintain large reserves of foreign currencies - most of which they keep in U.S. dollars - to cover their foreign debts, but the United States can pay its huge foreign debts in its own money. If necessary, it can just print more dollars. Having their own money as the world's reserve currency confers advantages that Americans would miss if they lost them.
The main reason for the collapse of the U.S. dollar is President George W. Bush's attempt to fight expensive foreign wars while cutting taxes at home. This involved deficit financing on a very large scale, and inevitably the value of the dollar began to fall - slowly at first, but with increasing speed as it became clear that the White House did not care.
"Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don't matter," as Vice President Dick Cheney told then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
But they do matter. As the U.S. dollar fell in value, the price of oil (which is usually calculated in dollars) rose to compensate for it, but there was no comparable adjustment for foreign central banks that had huge amounts of U.S. dollars in their reserves. China, which was sitting on about a trillion U.S. dollars, simply lost several hundred billion as the currency's value fell. So various central banks started wondering if they should diversify their reserves, and some acted on it.
The downward pressure on the dollar will continue, because the United States is currently borrowing 6 percent of its Gross Domestic Product from foreigners each year to cover its trade deficit. Foreign banks were happy to go on lending so long as they had faith in the integrity of U.S. financial institutions, but that has been hit hard by the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Besides, other markets, notably China and India, now offer a better return - and Congress's resistance to foreign takeover bids, combined with tighter visa restrictions, make the U.S. a less welcoming place for foreign investors.
Above all, there are now alternatives to the U.S. dollar. The last time it faced a comparable crisis was in 1971, when a different Republican president was trying to run another unpopular war without raising taxes. Richard Nixon devalued the U.S. dollar and demolished the Bretton Woods system that had fixed all other currencies in relation to the dollar, inaugurating the current era of floating exchange rates.
There was no other candidate then for the role of global reserve currency, so the dollar stayed at the center of the system despite all the turbulence. This time, by contrast, there is the euro, the currency of an economic zone just as big as the United States, with the Chinese currency as a possible long-term rival. But nothing is likely to happen very fast.
Republicans are ruining our economy for their fatcat short term gains while permanently damaging our hardworking middle class.
Republicans stole the election
Read today: The 2008 elections have already been marred by a number of controversies, the worst of which is the report that was published last Friday by Ohio's top election official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
The report proves that the voting systems that decided the 2004 election in Ohio were rife with "critical security failures". The election was rigged; pure and simple--stolen by the Bush team and their friends in the establishment media who refuse to report the news. It's actually funny, in a cynical kind of way.
The perpetrators were so cocksure they could pull it off that---"the servers for the computation of the Ohio vote count were in the same basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee that houses servers for the Republican National Committee.
The programmers who worked for Ken Blackwell, the Republican Secretary of State, were Republicans who did websites for the Bush administration."
The report proves that the voting systems that decided the 2004 election in Ohio were rife with "critical security failures". The election was rigged; pure and simple--stolen by the Bush team and their friends in the establishment media who refuse to report the news. It's actually funny, in a cynical kind of way.
The perpetrators were so cocksure they could pull it off that---"the servers for the computation of the Ohio vote count were in the same basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee that houses servers for the Republican National Committee.
The programmers who worked for Ken Blackwell, the Republican Secretary of State, were Republicans who did websites for the Bush administration."
21 December, 2007
republican dirty tricks
The morning of election day 2002, repeated hang-up calls assaulted six phone lines tied to the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Three Republican operatives, including consultant Allen Raymond, eventually ended up in jail for their involvement in the phone jamming scheme. A fourth, former RNC offical James Tobin, will begin a second trial in February.
In his new book, Raymond says that the scandal goes "to the top of the Republican Party" because "the Bush White House had complete control of the RNC" and there was no way such a risky tactic wouldn't have been "vetted by" Tobin's "high-ups":
Phone records obtained in a civil suit brought against the NH GOP by the NH Democratic Party show that "Tobin made 22 calls to the White House political office in the 24 hours before and after the jamming" while the Republican National Committee has paid over $6 million in legal fees for Tobin.
In his new book, Raymond says that the scandal goes "to the top of the Republican Party" because "the Bush White House had complete control of the RNC" and there was no way such a risky tactic wouldn't have been "vetted by" Tobin's "high-ups":
Phone records obtained in a civil suit brought against the NH GOP by the NH Democratic Party show that "Tobin made 22 calls to the White House political office in the 24 hours before and after the jamming" while the Republican National Committee has paid over $6 million in legal fees for Tobin.
republican surge
Arming the Sunnis + using air strikes = a successful 'Surge', at least statistically, for the time being. In reality, this will make the situation even worse as the Sunnis will inevitably turn on the occupation force they hate, the Shias will be even further alienated by their betrayal, and the thousands of new civilian casualties will only result in more hatred for the brutal occupation.
Add to this the US support for Turkey against the Kurds and you have all the ingredients of a complete nightmare and even more bloodshed. The 'Surge' will go down in history as one of the dumbest and most immoral political stunts ever devised.
Add to this the US support for Turkey against the Kurds and you have all the ingredients of a complete nightmare and even more bloodshed. The 'Surge' will go down in history as one of the dumbest and most immoral political stunts ever devised.
20 December, 2007
Why we need for more Demos in Congress
The Democrats delivered much of what they promised last year. Of the six initiatives on the their "Six for '06" agenda, congressional Democrats sent five to the president and got his signature on four: a minimum-wage increase, implementation of the homeland security recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, college cost reduction, and an energy measure that requires conservation and the expanded use of renewable sources of energy.
They also boosted spending on veterans' needs. Just yesterday, Democrats unveiled a proposal to create the first nonpartisan ethics review panel in House history and passed the most significant gun-control legislation since the early 1990s, tightening the instant background-check process.
Beyond those, Democrats secured the biggest overhaul of ethics and lobbying rules since the Watergate scandal. And they passed a slew of measures that have received little notice, such as more money for math and science teachers who earn more credentials in their field, tax relief for homeowners in foreclosure, a doubling of basic research funding, and reclamation projects for the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast.
Federal funding for stem cell research was vetoed by Bush. Republicans in Congress blocked all end-the-war bills.
They also boosted spending on veterans' needs. Just yesterday, Democrats unveiled a proposal to create the first nonpartisan ethics review panel in House history and passed the most significant gun-control legislation since the early 1990s, tightening the instant background-check process.
Beyond those, Democrats secured the biggest overhaul of ethics and lobbying rules since the Watergate scandal. And they passed a slew of measures that have received little notice, such as more money for math and science teachers who earn more credentials in their field, tax relief for homeowners in foreclosure, a doubling of basic research funding, and reclamation projects for the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast.
Federal funding for stem cell research was vetoed by Bush. Republicans in Congress blocked all end-the-war bills.
17 December, 2007
Republicans
Republicans were (minimally) asleep at the wheel during America’s most severe domestic military attack in history, and are surprised that we might find that troubling.
They identify an enemy and claim that this person and his movement attacked the country, then they fail to come close to defeating this enemy in six years of war. Who’s ready to sign-up for that?
They bring us another war, based on lies, which turns into a quagmire based on lies, and which has nothing remotely to do with American security other than to radically diminish it. Then they belittle us as disloyal for opposing the moral, fiscal and humanitarian disasters they’ve made.
They polarize the country economically in the name of their radical (supposed) free market ideas, which turn out to have a lot more to do with privileging certain elites than with privileging nobody, as per the theory. Then, as we are being gouged paying for gas, food and mortgages, they are astonished that we don’t give them credit for the wonderful state of the economy. Hey, the Dow’s up! What’s wrong with you people?
They offer us record-setting deficits in place of record-setting surpluses, and are shocked that we aren’t interested in such a golden opportunity to go broke.
They create a giant new government benefit structured to enrich insurance and pharmaceutical industries, while maybe incidentally also helping seniors once in a while, and they wonder why we’re not enthusiastic.
They attempt to destroy Social Security, one of the most successful government programs of all time, in order to further enrich the already fabulously wealthy, and can’t imagine that we wouldn’t be all over that.
They allow us to suffer and die from diseases which might well have been cured by now, were it not for the fact that the religious radicals to which they cater have imposed their extreme fundamentalist views on the entire country. Then they’re astonished that we choose health and longevity over blastocysts in petri dishes.
They legislate by an act of Congress intervention into a personal family tragedy, and are amazed that we aren’t all clamoring to be treated like the Terri Schiavo family.
They block health care for children while uninhibitedly enriching crony contractors in Iraq and wonder why we don’t celebrate their twisted values.
They demonize gays and minorities and immigrants and liberals in order to divert attention from their real kleptocracy agenda, and we’re supposed to feel good about how they’ve restored dignity to American politics.
They imagine that good governance involves poor preparation before a natural disaster, criminal negligence during it, and shameful disinterest afterwards, and can’t quite fathom why even an embarrassingly intimidated American press can no longer withhold its criticisms.
They not only stand by and do nothing about the planet’s most serious environmental crisis ever, but they actually block other countries from rescuing themselves, all in order to maintain fossil fuel industry profits. And they wonder why we don’t beg for more of that.
They turn our country into a hated international bully, proud to be an aggressor, a torturer and a hypocrite, and then they’re shocked that we don’t find that a compelling self-image.
They trample the Constitution in every way imaginable, from checks and balances to separation of church and state to due process to illegal search and seizure to stealing elections. After constantly telling us how much we should revere the Founders, they are somehow surprised that we don’t approve of seeing their creation being trashed.
And this is just for starters...
They identify an enemy and claim that this person and his movement attacked the country, then they fail to come close to defeating this enemy in six years of war. Who’s ready to sign-up for that?
They bring us another war, based on lies, which turns into a quagmire based on lies, and which has nothing remotely to do with American security other than to radically diminish it. Then they belittle us as disloyal for opposing the moral, fiscal and humanitarian disasters they’ve made.
They polarize the country economically in the name of their radical (supposed) free market ideas, which turn out to have a lot more to do with privileging certain elites than with privileging nobody, as per the theory. Then, as we are being gouged paying for gas, food and mortgages, they are astonished that we don’t give them credit for the wonderful state of the economy. Hey, the Dow’s up! What’s wrong with you people?
They offer us record-setting deficits in place of record-setting surpluses, and are shocked that we aren’t interested in such a golden opportunity to go broke.
They create a giant new government benefit structured to enrich insurance and pharmaceutical industries, while maybe incidentally also helping seniors once in a while, and they wonder why we’re not enthusiastic.
They attempt to destroy Social Security, one of the most successful government programs of all time, in order to further enrich the already fabulously wealthy, and can’t imagine that we wouldn’t be all over that.
They allow us to suffer and die from diseases which might well have been cured by now, were it not for the fact that the religious radicals to which they cater have imposed their extreme fundamentalist views on the entire country. Then they’re astonished that we choose health and longevity over blastocysts in petri dishes.
They legislate by an act of Congress intervention into a personal family tragedy, and are amazed that we aren’t all clamoring to be treated like the Terri Schiavo family.
They block health care for children while uninhibitedly enriching crony contractors in Iraq and wonder why we don’t celebrate their twisted values.
They demonize gays and minorities and immigrants and liberals in order to divert attention from their real kleptocracy agenda, and we’re supposed to feel good about how they’ve restored dignity to American politics.
They imagine that good governance involves poor preparation before a natural disaster, criminal negligence during it, and shameful disinterest afterwards, and can’t quite fathom why even an embarrassingly intimidated American press can no longer withhold its criticisms.
They not only stand by and do nothing about the planet’s most serious environmental crisis ever, but they actually block other countries from rescuing themselves, all in order to maintain fossil fuel industry profits. And they wonder why we don’t beg for more of that.
They turn our country into a hated international bully, proud to be an aggressor, a torturer and a hypocrite, and then they’re shocked that we don’t find that a compelling self-image.
They trample the Constitution in every way imaginable, from checks and balances to separation of church and state to due process to illegal search and seizure to stealing elections. After constantly telling us how much we should revere the Founders, they are somehow surprised that we don’t approve of seeing their creation being trashed.
And this is just for starters...
16 December, 2007
Republican candidates of the same mold
The Republican candidates either have scandals in their past or are flipfloppers on the issues, or support unpopular causes. They all are talking about the past by promising to reduce the size of government (now while in power increased it) and appointing “strict constructionist” judges, etc, that make all judicial decisions based on their rightwing politics.
They all still support the war on Iraq and are in favor of running up huge debts to overseas governments like China. Their new "red scare" is to promise to be tough on illegal immigrants.
In many ways, at a time when the country — and even some Republicans — are hungry for change, this field of candidates is promising more of the same: to do just what Mr. Bush did, but promise to go one better.
They all still support the war on Iraq and are in favor of running up huge debts to overseas governments like China. Their new "red scare" is to promise to be tough on illegal immigrants.
In many ways, at a time when the country — and even some Republicans — are hungry for change, this field of candidates is promising more of the same: to do just what Mr. Bush did, but promise to go one better.
republicans call this progress in Iraq
When the Iraqi government last month invited home the 1.4 million refugees who had fled this war-ravaged country for Syria -- and said it would send buses to pick them up -- the United Nations and the U.S. military reacted with horror.
U.N. refugee officials immediately advised against the move, saying any new arrivals risked homelessness, unemployment and deprivation in a place still struggling to take care of the people already here. For the military, the prospect of refugees returning to reclaim houses long since occupied by others, particularly in Baghdad, threatened to destroy fragile security improvements.
You move back to the house that you left and find that somebody else has moved into the house, maybe because they've been displaced from someplace else. And it's even more difficult than that, because in many cases the local militias . . . have seized control and threw out anybody in that neighborhood they didn't like."
U.N. refugee officials immediately advised against the move, saying any new arrivals risked homelessness, unemployment and deprivation in a place still struggling to take care of the people already here. For the military, the prospect of refugees returning to reclaim houses long since occupied by others, particularly in Baghdad, threatened to destroy fragile security improvements.
You move back to the house that you left and find that somebody else has moved into the house, maybe because they've been displaced from someplace else. And it's even more difficult than that, because in many cases the local militias . . . have seized control and threw out anybody in that neighborhood they didn't like."
15 December, 2007
your children's money to Iraq
The Republican approach to Iraq is the classic case of a politician arguing that a problem will be solved if only we keep throwing large sums of money at it.
That's why a report on the staggering costs of our Iraq intervention, issued this week by the Congress's Joint Economic Committee, is useful. The report noted that Bush has requested a total of $607 billion for the war and that its actual cost to our economy is $1.3 trillion.
That's why a report on the staggering costs of our Iraq intervention, issued this week by the Congress's Joint Economic Committee, is useful. The report noted that Bush has requested a total of $607 billion for the war and that its actual cost to our economy is $1.3 trillion.
14 December, 2007
US Graft in Iraq, tip of the problem
The U.S. military paid a Florida company nearly $32 million to build barracks and offices for Iraqi army units even though nothing was ever built, Pentagon investigators reported.
The Ramadi construction contract is one of many problems Pentagon investigators cited in this month's report on the military's oversight of $5.2 billion Congress approved in 2005 to help train and equip the Iraqi military and police.
The fat cats are getting rich on our money.
The Ramadi construction contract is one of many problems Pentagon investigators cited in this month's report on the military's oversight of $5.2 billion Congress approved in 2005 to help train and equip the Iraqi military and police.
The fat cats are getting rich on our money.
12 December, 2007
take a guess?
".......But now I know that all that they want is to break my faith, my soul, to separate me from my brothers in Christ. So I have to be more concerned about what they are doing. And be stronger in my faith and keep my faith deep in my heart with me here in my small cell......God called me to know him and to be his servant and I accept his mission.
All what I have done is from my conscience......I did my decision alone by the voice of God who called me in my heart. And the same thing happened with my action against nuclear weapons. From the beginning it has come to me from my belief from inside - my values, my respect for the human being and the human right. And of course everyone knows and understands all about nuclear weapons - the new holocaust that is hanging over our lives...... "
The question is.......where is he in prison?
All what I have done is from my conscience......I did my decision alone by the voice of God who called me in my heart. And the same thing happened with my action against nuclear weapons. From the beginning it has come to me from my belief from inside - my values, my respect for the human being and the human right. And of course everyone knows and understands all about nuclear weapons - the new holocaust that is hanging over our lives...... "
The question is.......where is he in prison?
only 14 cases against gitmo prisioners?
The current neo-con republican administration has been able to create cases against only 14 of those remaining at Gitmo. After all the years of illegal detention, harsh treatment, and denial of access to attorneys, the Bush regime has come up with 14 cases, and they are probably fabricated.
Where is the rule of law when hundreds of people can have years stolen from their lives?
It is uncertain how the court will decide the case. Bush’s solicitor general has told the justices that they should trust the executive branch to correctly balance “the interests of the prisoners” with the administration’s ability to “prosecute the global war on terror.”
In other words, it is Waco all over again. The executive branch runs roughshod over the US Constitution and then demands, “trust us,” which means don’t take away any of the illegitimate power that the executive branch has claimed and exercised or hold anyone accountable for abusing executive power.
The Republican justices or most of them are, or were, members of the Federalist Society, an organization of Republican lawyers committed to increased power for the executive. These Republican justices will be inclined to decide the case in the interest of executive power.
Where is the rule of law when hundreds of people can have years stolen from their lives?
It is uncertain how the court will decide the case. Bush’s solicitor general has told the justices that they should trust the executive branch to correctly balance “the interests of the prisoners” with the administration’s ability to “prosecute the global war on terror.”
In other words, it is Waco all over again. The executive branch runs roughshod over the US Constitution and then demands, “trust us,” which means don’t take away any of the illegitimate power that the executive branch has claimed and exercised or hold anyone accountable for abusing executive power.
The Republican justices or most of them are, or were, members of the Federalist Society, an organization of Republican lawyers committed to increased power for the executive. These Republican justices will be inclined to decide the case in the interest of executive power.
11 December, 2007
why now Iran, Bush threat to Israel
Congress’ intelligence committees, Pentagon brass, and senior CIA officials reportedly made it quite clear they would go public if the White House did not publish a sanitized version of the key judgments of the latest National Intelligence Estimate.
Bush’s words and body language he is far from giving up on ways to “justify” attacking Iran’s nuclear program—weapons-related or not. He appears convinced he must honor the pledge he has made to Israel’s current leaders to eliminate what they have called an “existential threat” to Israel.
This came through in a particularly pointed way on October 17, when an agitated president ad-libbed about the possibility of World War III, complaining loudly, “We’ve got a leader in Iran who has announced he wants to destroy Israel.” So that is what this is all about. We are fighting and dying for Israel.
The idiot eliminated Iraq which was the best counter weight to Iran, therefore Bush became the worst threat to Israel.
Bush’s words and body language he is far from giving up on ways to “justify” attacking Iran’s nuclear program—weapons-related or not. He appears convinced he must honor the pledge he has made to Israel’s current leaders to eliminate what they have called an “existential threat” to Israel.
This came through in a particularly pointed way on October 17, when an agitated president ad-libbed about the possibility of World War III, complaining loudly, “We’ve got a leader in Iran who has announced he wants to destroy Israel.” So that is what this is all about. We are fighting and dying for Israel.
The idiot eliminated Iraq which was the best counter weight to Iran, therefore Bush became the worst threat to Israel.
you, me and torture
Read this on the net: Since our government tortures people, we need to know how to deal with it, just in case they come for you and me.
1. They will try to tell you that you are alone. This is a lie. You are never without your ancestors.
2. They will "isolate" you. Again, this is a lie. The truth is that you come from a long line of survivors. This is simple biological fact. Your people have survived worse. Your people have already been tortured.
3. They will tell you that you are bad and evil. This is again a lie. You love many things and THERE IS NO EVIL IN LOVE.
4. They will make you think death is bad. It's not. All of your people, going back to the beginning have died.
5. They will make you feel pain and it will be real but this does not compare to their alternative.
1. They will try to tell you that you are alone. This is a lie. You are never without your ancestors.
2. They will "isolate" you. Again, this is a lie. The truth is that you come from a long line of survivors. This is simple biological fact. Your people have survived worse. Your people have already been tortured.
3. They will tell you that you are bad and evil. This is again a lie. You love many things and THERE IS NO EVIL IN LOVE.
4. They will make you think death is bad. It's not. All of your people, going back to the beginning have died.
5. They will make you feel pain and it will be real but this does not compare to their alternative.
10 December, 2007
Romney ducks Mormonism question
The Religious Right (the New Calvinists or New Puritans - as I call them) are not "mainstream" at all, but religious radicals who are working to establish a sort of Theo-democracy. As such they belong to the very sector of religious Americans who brutally persecuted Mormons in 1830's Missouri, and then led the successful campaign to completely disenfranchise Utah Mormons between the 1886 and the 1890's.
Romney knows that he can't come public with Mormon theology without completely losing the support of the New Calvinists but also many average Americans who, unfortunately, look to the New Calvinists for sound-bites on Christian belief and practice. Unlike orthodox Christianity,
Mormon thelogy is polytheistic, teaching that the Gods organized the universe from pre-existing, eternal, uncreated chaotic elements. It rejects Original Sin. It rejects Salvation by Grace, teaching that individuals must "work out their own salvation" and "learn to become Gods [themselves] the same as all Gods before have done."
At its inception, with the publication of "The Book of Mormon" in 1830, Mormonism rejected the doctrines of Biblical infallibility and Biblical literalism.
As a Mormon, I was put-off by Romney's disingenuousness when he was asked on a TV interview to explain how Mormonism differs from other Christian denominations. Romney tried to give the impression that he was unqualified to speak for the LDS Church, referring poeple to the Church's website.
When confronted with the fact that he has been an LDS Bishop, he tried to give the impression that, in a "lay church," the calling of a Bishop isn't important. This is untrue.
Bishops interview, and must approve every person in their Ward boundaries (aka Parish) who wishes to convert to Mormonism and be baptized. The process by which they do this (the Bishop's Interview) is the means by which the Bishop finds out if the would-be-convert understands the LDS Church's theology.
If the would-be-convert is ignorant of certain doctrines, it is the Bishop's job to instruct them in the theology before approving that person's baptism.
The Bishop also interviews every single member of his congregation yearly, to pastor them through any spirital crisis or tragedy, and to determine if each person is "keeping the commandments" (i.e., following Church dictates on lifestyle choices), is "active" (attending Church meetings regularly), and "has a testimony" (understands and accepts the Church's theology.)
A Bishop is asked almost daily by some individual or some organization with the LDS Church to explain some aspect of Mormon theology. Whenever a Mormon has a question or concern about any aspect of Mormon theology, they are instructed to ask their Bishop about it.
Romney is intentionally misleading the press by making it seem as if he is unqualified to discuss Mormon theology. Remember, besides being a Bishop, he served as a full-time Mormon missionary for two years. For two years, his full-time calling was specifically to teach Mormon theology to potential converts--not only explaining Mormon doctrine, but explaining how it differs from orthodox Christian doctrine.
The LDS Church brags that young men come back from two year missions who a deeper understanding of their religion than that enjoyed by believers of other faiths. Is Romney the lone exception to this?
The fact is, Mitt Romney is probably one of the LDS Church's MOST qualified speakers on the subject.
Romney knows that he can't come public with Mormon theology without completely losing the support of the New Calvinists but also many average Americans who, unfortunately, look to the New Calvinists for sound-bites on Christian belief and practice. Unlike orthodox Christianity,
Mormon thelogy is polytheistic, teaching that the Gods organized the universe from pre-existing, eternal, uncreated chaotic elements. It rejects Original Sin. It rejects Salvation by Grace, teaching that individuals must "work out their own salvation" and "learn to become Gods [themselves] the same as all Gods before have done."
At its inception, with the publication of "The Book of Mormon" in 1830, Mormonism rejected the doctrines of Biblical infallibility and Biblical literalism.
As a Mormon, I was put-off by Romney's disingenuousness when he was asked on a TV interview to explain how Mormonism differs from other Christian denominations. Romney tried to give the impression that he was unqualified to speak for the LDS Church, referring poeple to the Church's website.
When confronted with the fact that he has been an LDS Bishop, he tried to give the impression that, in a "lay church," the calling of a Bishop isn't important. This is untrue.
Bishops interview, and must approve every person in their Ward boundaries (aka Parish) who wishes to convert to Mormonism and be baptized. The process by which they do this (the Bishop's Interview) is the means by which the Bishop finds out if the would-be-convert understands the LDS Church's theology.
If the would-be-convert is ignorant of certain doctrines, it is the Bishop's job to instruct them in the theology before approving that person's baptism.
The Bishop also interviews every single member of his congregation yearly, to pastor them through any spirital crisis or tragedy, and to determine if each person is "keeping the commandments" (i.e., following Church dictates on lifestyle choices), is "active" (attending Church meetings regularly), and "has a testimony" (understands and accepts the Church's theology.)
A Bishop is asked almost daily by some individual or some organization with the LDS Church to explain some aspect of Mormon theology. Whenever a Mormon has a question or concern about any aspect of Mormon theology, they are instructed to ask their Bishop about it.
Romney is intentionally misleading the press by making it seem as if he is unqualified to discuss Mormon theology. Remember, besides being a Bishop, he served as a full-time Mormon missionary for two years. For two years, his full-time calling was specifically to teach Mormon theology to potential converts--not only explaining Mormon doctrine, but explaining how it differs from orthodox Christian doctrine.
The LDS Church brags that young men come back from two year missions who a deeper understanding of their religion than that enjoyed by believers of other faiths. Is Romney the lone exception to this?
The fact is, Mitt Romney is probably one of the LDS Church's MOST qualified speakers on the subject.
why some Gitmo Saudis are inmates?
For five years, Jumah al-Dossari sat in a tiny cell at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, watched day and night by military captors who considered him one of the most dangerous terrorist suspects on the planet.
In July, he was suddenly released to his native Saudi Arabia, which held a very different view. Dossari was immediately reunited with his family and treated like a VIP. He was given a monthly stipend and a job, housed and fed, even promised help in finding a wife. Today, he is a free man living on the Persian Gulf coast.
So, why was he held in a cell for five years?
In July, he was suddenly released to his native Saudi Arabia, which held a very different view. Dossari was immediately reunited with his family and treated like a VIP. He was given a monthly stipend and a job, housed and fed, even promised help in finding a wife. Today, he is a free man living on the Persian Gulf coast.
So, why was he held in a cell for five years?
09 December, 2007
who benifits warmongering on Iraq and Iran
Bush has been trying to work up an attack on Iran based on a non-existent nuclear weapon program. When asked how he could be threatening World War III with a nuclear-armed Iran when US intelligence (and the International Atomic Energy Agency) cannot find evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Bush said that “nobody told me” about the new finding. Noone except the neo-cons believes that.
Surely, no one believes that Bush invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, or that Bush and Cheney were working up an attack on Iran because the executive branch did not know of the intelligence findings of its own agencies.
So why are they. The real answer is to look at who is benefiting, getting rich or gaining more wealth.
Surely, no one believes that Bush invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, or that Bush and Cheney were working up an attack on Iran because the executive branch did not know of the intelligence findings of its own agencies.
So why are they. The real answer is to look at who is benefiting, getting rich or gaining more wealth.
waterboarding US claims of morality
Waterboarding as an interrogation technique has its roots in some of history's worst totalitarian nations, from Nazi Germany and the Spanish Inquisition to North Korea and Iraq.
08 December, 2007
Republican spin machine
These neo-con republicans are certainly professional wordsmiths. What do all of the following words mean???: tough methods,
number of tactics, harsh methods,aggressive techniques,all of the techniques used,appropriate interrogation procedures,interrogation practices,coercive techniques,effective coercion,interrogation program,aggressive interrogations, interrogation policies and the tactics, harsh interrogation methods,tough methods used, and enhanced techniques
Talk about Republican spin! The use all of those words really means >>> the word TORTURE. And if waterboarding is not torture, Please give me a neo-con Republican politico to demonstrate it on.
number of tactics, harsh methods,aggressive techniques,all of the techniques used,appropriate interrogation procedures,interrogation practices,coercive techniques,effective coercion,interrogation program,aggressive interrogations, interrogation policies and the tactics, harsh interrogation methods,tough methods used, and enhanced techniques
Talk about Republican spin! The use all of those words really means >>> the word TORTURE. And if waterboarding is not torture, Please give me a neo-con Republican politico to demonstrate it on.
06 December, 2007
Mitt Romney, a Republican presidential candidate who is also a Mormon,
Unlike traditional Christians, Mormons also revere the Book of Mormon equally with the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. They believe that Jesus visited the Americas after he was crucified and that he will return and reign from the United States and Jerusalem.
They believe that the dead can be baptized, that God was once a man and that a human can become like a god. And, they say, God speaks through living apostles and prophets, such as Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Mormon Church.
Mormons believe the faith's founder, Joseph Smith Jr., a Palmyra farmer, was guided by an angel to a set of ancient records etched on golden plates. Those records, which include an account of Jesus Christ's appearance in the Americas after his crucifixion, are in the Book of Mormon. For many traditional Christians, such ideas are heresy.
Smith taught that the true church of Jesus Christ disappeared with the death of Christ's last apostle and that Christianity lapsed into darkness -- the "great apostasy," Mormons call it -- for almost 18 centuries. He also said that God used him to restore the "only true church" to the Earth.
In addition to believing that polygamy was sanctioned by God, they believed until 1978 that God did not allow black people to serve in their priesthood. They have rejected both doctrines, but they still allow only men to serve as priests.
They believe that the dead can be baptized, that God was once a man and that a human can become like a god. And, they say, God speaks through living apostles and prophets, such as Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Mormon Church.
Mormons believe the faith's founder, Joseph Smith Jr., a Palmyra farmer, was guided by an angel to a set of ancient records etched on golden plates. Those records, which include an account of Jesus Christ's appearance in the Americas after his crucifixion, are in the Book of Mormon. For many traditional Christians, such ideas are heresy.
Smith taught that the true church of Jesus Christ disappeared with the death of Christ's last apostle and that Christianity lapsed into darkness -- the "great apostasy," Mormons call it -- for almost 18 centuries. He also said that God used him to restore the "only true church" to the Earth.
In addition to believing that polygamy was sanctioned by God, they believed until 1978 that God did not allow black people to serve in their priesthood. They have rejected both doctrines, but they still allow only men to serve as priests.
04 December, 2007
another republican lie
President Bush got the world's attention this fall when he warned that a nuclear-armed Iran might lead to World War III. But his stark warning came at least a month or two after he had first been told about fresh indications that Iran had actually halted its nuclear weapons program.
The new intelligence report released yesterday not only undercut the administration's alarming rhetoric over Iran's nuclear ambitions but could also throttle Bush's effort to ratchet up international sanctions and take off the table the possibility of preemptive military action before the end of his presidency.
The new intelligence report released yesterday not only undercut the administration's alarming rhetoric over Iran's nuclear ambitions but could also throttle Bush's effort to ratchet up international sanctions and take off the table the possibility of preemptive military action before the end of his presidency.
02 December, 2007
your children's money going down the Iraqi rathole
U.S. officials now say one-third of what they spend on Iraqi contracts and grants goes unaccounted for; an estimated $18 billion has gone missing from Iraqi government coffers since 2004. "Everyone is stealing from the state," says one Shiite leader.
are these top republians racist?
The G.O.P., by its own doing, is saddled with a history that most recently includes “macaca” and Katrina, Mr. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University in 2000, and the nonexistent black population of its Congressional delegation.
Their party’s top 2008 presidential contenders would not even show up for a September debate moderated by Tavis Smiley for PBS at the historically black Morgan State University
These Republicans are strangers to the mainstream multiracial and multicultural America..
Their party’s top 2008 presidential contenders would not even show up for a September debate moderated by Tavis Smiley for PBS at the historically black Morgan State University
These Republicans are strangers to the mainstream multiracial and multicultural America..
big business republicans vs. working people
Big business republican lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections, are racing to secure final approval for gutting a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules.
They are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. Electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements.
For example, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting final rules that would allow utility companies to modify coal-fired power plants and increase their emissions into the air we breath without installing new pollution-control equipment.
Corporations and trade associations are expecting battles over taxes and health care as they lobby in advance of the next year's elections.
They are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. Electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements.
For example, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.
The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting final rules that would allow utility companies to modify coal-fired power plants and increase their emissions into the air we breath without installing new pollution-control equipment.
Corporations and trade associations are expecting battles over taxes and health care as they lobby in advance of the next year's elections.
01 December, 2007
Iran,neo-cons,patriotism,facism
But, "attacking Iran" could just be the last act of "losing on purpose". Suffering a massive loss on an ill-advised third front would make a good excuse for all sorts of reajustments in the power paradigm.
The neo-cons have been out to wreck the USA from the start, so what's to stop them now? Sure, militarily we'll get a black eye, but we'll also get a surge of patriotism and a reason to suspend elections. Beyond that, we can talk NAU while we "heal", since we're all so ashamed of being 'merican "losers".
The neo-cons have been out to wreck the USA from the start, so what's to stop them now? Sure, militarily we'll get a black eye, but we'll also get a surge of patriotism and a reason to suspend elections. Beyond that, we can talk NAU while we "heal", since we're all so ashamed of being 'merican "losers".
republican war with Iran for the election
The Bush administration has charged that Iran is funding anti-American fighters in Iraq and sending in sophisticated explosives to bleed the U.S. mission, although some of the administration's charges are disputed by Iraqis as well as the Iranians. The Bush administration is headed straight for a war with Iran that had been set on this course for years.
The Iran war will be another elective war, not a war of necessity. A war of necessity would be fought at the point and time a conflict is required, if somebody is threatening to invade you, to attack, etc. But an elective war is one where we choose to go to war. It will be conducted on a timescale that's beneficial to the republicans in the next presidential elections.
Also, the need to redefine the Iranian threat away from exclusively being focused on nuclear activity, because now you have the difficulty of both the IAEA saying there is no nuclear weapons program and the CIA saying pretty much the same thing.
So the Bush administration needs to redefine the Iranian threat, which they have been doing successfully, casting Iran as the largest state sponsor of terror, getting the Senate resolution calling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command a terrorist organization, and creating a perception amongst the American people, courtesy of a compliant media, that talks about the reason why things are going bad in Iraq is primarily because of Iranian intervention.
Take a look at items in the defense budget, the rapid conversion of heavy bombers to carry bunker-busting bombs on a specific time frame, the massive purchasing of oil to fill up the strategic oil reserve by April 2008.
Everything points to April 2008 to being a month of some criticality. It also matches the obvious, that the Bush administration will want to carry this out prior to the political season of the summer just in time for the presidential election of 2008.
The Iran war will be another elective war, not a war of necessity. A war of necessity would be fought at the point and time a conflict is required, if somebody is threatening to invade you, to attack, etc. But an elective war is one where we choose to go to war. It will be conducted on a timescale that's beneficial to the republicans in the next presidential elections.
Also, the need to redefine the Iranian threat away from exclusively being focused on nuclear activity, because now you have the difficulty of both the IAEA saying there is no nuclear weapons program and the CIA saying pretty much the same thing.
So the Bush administration needs to redefine the Iranian threat, which they have been doing successfully, casting Iran as the largest state sponsor of terror, getting the Senate resolution calling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command a terrorist organization, and creating a perception amongst the American people, courtesy of a compliant media, that talks about the reason why things are going bad in Iraq is primarily because of Iranian intervention.
Take a look at items in the defense budget, the rapid conversion of heavy bombers to carry bunker-busting bombs on a specific time frame, the massive purchasing of oil to fill up the strategic oil reserve by April 2008.
Everything points to April 2008 to being a month of some criticality. It also matches the obvious, that the Bush administration will want to carry this out prior to the political season of the summer just in time for the presidential election of 2008.
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