Punked by Putin -- and rightfully so

(Updated below)
Russian president Vladimir Putin not only called the Obama Administration's bluff  by offering to intervene in Syria, he made the Changeling look like the warmongering, Murderer-in-Chief that he is -- to the entire world.  Большое спасибо, президент Путин!

(Photo courtesy of Leon Kuhn)

In his September 11 op-ed, Putin said to America -- what I'm sure -- plenty other countries are feeling.  He took the Changeling to the wood shed (with a few licks to Shrub for good measure), by using his own "rule of law" rhetoric to slap him in the face.  Who woulda thunk it?  The ex(?)-KGB guy comes out smellin' like a rose as he artfully lays bare all the crimes against humanity the U.S. government has committed over the last 12 years.  Priceless!

I'm sure the Zionist AIPACers, as well as the New World Order PNACers (now the FDDers) are mad as hell right now that their little chicken hawk (emphasis on chicken for so-o-o-o many reasons) mucked up their plans to steamroll the Middle East.  Good!  I'm sick of all of them any-damned-way.

John Pilger speaks to how their "absolute power corrupts absolutely" here:

Under the "weak" Obama, militarism has risen perhaps as never before. With not a single tank on the White House lawn, a military coup has taken place in Washington. In 2008, while his liberal devotees dried their eyes, Obama accepted the entire Pentagon of his predecessor, George Bush: its wars and war crimes. As the constitution is replaced by an emerging police state, those who destroyed Iraq with shock and awe, and piled up the rubble in Afghanistan and reduced Libya to a Hobbesian nightmare, are ascendant across the US administration. Behind their beribboned façade, more former US soldiers are killing themselves than are dying on battlefields. Last year, 6,500 veterans took their own lives. Put out more flags.

The historian Norman Pollack calls this "liberal fascism". "For goose-steppers," he wrote, "substitute the seemingly more innocuous militarisation of the total culture. And for the bombastic leader, we have the reformer manqué, blithely at work, planning and executing assassination, smiling all the while." Every Tuesday, the "humanitarian" Obama personally oversees a worldwide terror network of drones that "bugsplat" people, their rescuers and mourners. In the west's comfort zones, the first black leader of the land of slavery still feels good, as if his very existence represents a social advance, regardless of his trail of blood. This obeisance to a symbol has all but destroyed the US anti-war movement: Obama's singular achievement. (all emphasis mine)

Read that last line again -- especially all you Black, "symbolism" folk (Soror Norton, are you listening?).  Quite frankly, I could give two shits about a little boy touching the Changeling's hair in the Oval Office -- we're talking about the MURDER of non-white peoples in which he's voluntarily complicit on a huge scale!  How's that for "symbolism?"  Wake the hell up, people (trust me, critical thinking is your friend)!   This is not about Republicans versus Democrats, Family.  That's some manufactured shit, specifically designed to delude.  They're all really the same -- none of whom is "us."

And wonder of wonders, Putin's gambit worked:

The just announced U.S.-Russia agreement in Geneva on a "joint determination to ensure the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons (CW) program in the soonest and safest manner" sounds the death knell to an attempt by Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to get the U.S. into the war in Syria.

For now, the Changeling's marching orders have changed (cuz he ain't runnin' Jack!).  But don't hold your breath.  As history dictates -- he'll get new ones :



***UPDATE:  Well, it didn't take long for the Changeling to get those new "marching orders"--  Obama to host Benjamin Netanyahu at White House:

Netanyahu said earlier Tuesday that Iran would be at the top of his agenda.

“I intend to focus on the question of stopping Iran's nuclear program, an actual halt to the nuclear program," the Israeli leader said. "And until this is achieved, the pressure on Iran should be intensified and not eased."

Netanyahu also pressed for the United States to strike Syria after an August chemical weapons attack attributed to strongman Bashar Assad’s regime. (emphasis mine)

Um, Bibi?  Stop lying, mkay?  The IAEA has confirmed, time and again, that Iran's "nuclear" program is currently only being used for civilian energy and medicine.  It has no weapons-grade nuclear program unlike Israel's stockpile (thanks to Dr. Vanunu, we all know unequivocally -- you do have a stockpile!).  That said, I see no reason why this sovereign nation shouldn't develop a weapons-grade nuclear program to defend themselves against the likes of those Hitler, Jr. Zionists who are already oppressing their brethren in Palestine.

And of course, Israel's little puppet fell right in line with this little veiled threat, revealing how little he really cares about those children allegedly gassed by Assad and how much he really cares about Israel:

However, Obama recently warned that Iran should not be emboldened by his decision to call off a strike on Syria.

“What the Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue,” Obama said during an interview this week with ABC. “The threat against Iran — against Israel — that a nuclear Iran poses, is much closer to our core interests. A nuclear arms race in the region is something that would be profoundly destabilizing.” (emphasis mine)

Was that a Freudian slip exposing Israel in his second sentence?  Nah, he doesn't have the guts to do anything like that.  He'd rather be led around by the nose into a war for which he will be eternally blamed -- way to literally "go down" in history, Mr. First Black President.  {smdh}

Related:
- The Honey Obadger: He Don’t Give a Shit
- Taking Exception to Exceptionalism
- Continuity of Military Agenda: Syria Catastrophe Engineered Under Bush, Executed Verbatim Under Obama
- Empire, Hypocrisy and Deflection
- Assad tells Obama to stop arming rebels, or no deal
- US Grandstands on Chemical Weapons Treaty While Violating It
- Syria Distraction Gone, What Will Obama Use to Cover Passage of TPP or a Comparable Sneak Attack on the Middle Class?
- Background and Articles relating to Project for a New American Century

"First they came...

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Martin Niemoeller

While the MSM continues to twist the facts to suit the powerful, Israel continues it's murderous attacks on the people of Gaza (where in the hell is Cynthia McKinney when you need her??).  I'd initially planned to repost parts of the extremely on-point piece, "Elites Will Make Gazans of Us All" by Chris Hedges over at Truthdig, but when I visited Dark Daughta's site and saw this video of Hedges delivering his, "It is not a war. it is murder..." speech -- the words, accompanied by those haunting images of what Israel is arrogantly and without conscience, perpetrating against the Palestinian people -- in their own homeland -- shook my very soul.

So with a h/t to my Sister (cuz I can't hold this shit in any longer), here's her post in which the speech is embedded (Please, do check out this Sister's blog!):

~#~

"They are calling out, but greedy psychopaths cannot listen..."




(Follow the link to Hedges' Truthdig piece above -- the entire read is certainly well worth it!)

~#~

Israel has guilted the whole world for sitting back and watching what the Nazis were doing to the Jews, and I kinda get that (wish Black folk had that kind of power and influence regarding slavery and Jim Crow -- "nkali" as my young sister, Chimamanda Adichie describes it.  But then again, alabaster, we are not).  But getting gazillions of dollars from here there and everywhere, museums, special visa and education dispensations and most importantly -- stockpiles of military hardware of every stripe, to include -- "REAL" nuclear WMDs, as well as, missile defense systems to thwart most attacks??  As Hedges says, America is their number one supplier of all of the above.

The "real," exceptional Americans have been Punk'd y'all.  And given ALL THIS (sit back, relax and put your feet up) -- what fool thought that giving up all that shit was a good damned idea?! {smdh}  From the link:

Congress doesn’t seem to share the concern. "Part of the responsibility of Congress," says Bamford, "is not just to oversee the intelligence community but to look into the companies with which the intelligence community contracts. They’re just very sloppy about this." According to the Bush administration intelligence official who spoke with me, "Frustratingly, I did not get the sense that our government was stepping up to this and grasping the bull by the horns." Another former high level U.S. intelligence official told me, "The fact of the vulnerability of our telecom backbone is indisputable. How it came to pass, why nothing has been done, who has done what -- these are the incendiary questions." There is also the fundamental fact that the wiretap technologies implemented by Verint, Narus and other Israeli companies are fully in place and no alternative is on the horizon. "There is a technical path dependence problem," says the Bush administration official. "I have been told nobody else makes software like this for the big digital switches, so that is part of the problem. Other issues," he adds, "compound the problem" -- referring to the sensitivity of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

And that, of course, is the elephant in the room. "Whether it’s a Democratic or Republican administration, you don’t bad-mouth Israel if you want to get ahead," says former CIA counterterrorism officer Philip Giraldi. "Most of the people in the agency were very concerned about Israeli espionage and Israeli actions against U.S. interests. Everybody was aware of it. Everybody hated it. But they wouldn’t get promoted if they spoke out. Israel has a privileged position and that’s the way things are. It’s crazy. And everybody knows it’s crazy." (all emphasis mine)

Given the fact that Bibi's made his loathing of Chocolate Jesus quite clear, can somebody please tell me why I'm thinking that, "keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer" will one day have Israel turning our own weapons on us?  Is it just me, or is this utter madness?

We, who have hearts, minds, souls and an ounce of humanity, would do well to keep Niemoeller's words in the forefront of our consciousness because -- they are already coming!  The Jews, of all people, have become the modern-day Nazis that they so detested.

Better yet, in whatever way you can -- STAND.THE.HELL.UP!  Tell the Changeling and his Congress of not even useful idiots, "I do NOT have Israel's back!!  No more murdering in my name, nor with my tax dollars!"  Of course then -- you might have to duck and cover!

Related:
- Bloodlust in Israel: 'Flatten Gaza, send it back to Middle Ages, they need to die!'
-The US-Israeli Attack on Gaza

112th Congress -- not even useful idiots

Apparently it takes more than a 13% approval rating to make the do-nothing, 112th Congress do something.  Below is what they did last week before recessing -- absolutely nothing.  You can click on the links for a more in-depth summary of each bill and once there, you can click on  (see full tally) to see who voted for, or against what, before you give any of these Keystone Cops your vote again:

Recent Senate Votes

Veterans Job Training – Motion to Waive - Vote Rejected (58-40, 2 Not Voting)

The Senate spent much of last week working on this bill that would have created a so-called jobs corps to assist Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in finding post-service employment. After invoking cloture on a motion to proceed to the bill, a substitute amendment by Veterans Affairs Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., was introduced. Among other things, the amendment would have required states to issue certain licenses, such as for plumbing or truck driving, to veterans without the normal requirements if eligible applicants had at least 10 years’ experience in related military activities. Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., raised a point of order against the amendment that its costs exceeded the amount of funding allowed under current budgetary limitations. Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., then moved to waive the point of order, which would have allowed the amendment to be debated. 60 votes are required to waive budgetary points of order, however, and proponents of the bill fell two votes shy. Sustaining the point of order effectively killed the bill.

*(Okay, veterans can use CLEP tests to get degrees based on their military activities to look for work, but not licenses based on their military activities, so they can actually work.  Yeah, that makes sense.)

~#~

Foreign Aid Suspension - Vote Rejected (10-81, 9 Not Voting)

Despite only having one must-pass item to clear before recessing – namely a continuing resolution to keep the government running, the Senate was in session into the wee hours of Saturday morning. This was initially due to the insistence of Rand Paul, R-Ky., on getting a vote for his bill to suspend foreign aid to Pakistan, Libya, and Egypt. Eventually an agreement was reached to hold a vote on the bill, which was soundly defeated due to bipartisan opposition.

*(Gotta keep those regime-change dollars flowing!)

~#~

Iran Nuclear Threat - Vote Agreed to (90-1, 9 Not Voting)

This resolution from Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would reaffirm U.S. opposition to the Iranian nuclear program and states that the current regime of diplomacy and sanctions must continue until Iran meets certain benchmarks. These benchmarks include suspension of uranium enrichment, compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions and full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog. The resolution pointedly states that none of its language constitutes an authorization for the use of force. Rand Paul was the lone “nay” vote.

*(Does it really matter, amid Israel's war mongering, whether or not the "language constitutes an authorization for the use of force?")

~#~

Continuing Resolution - Vote Agreed to (62-30, 8 Not Voting)

After rejecting the Paul foreign aid measure and passing the Graham Iran resolution, the Senate was able to take up the continuing resolution that would fund government operations for the next six months at more or less flat levels (funding would increase by 0.6 percent for most programs.)



Recent House Votes

Student Loan Exemption for Deceased Veterans – Suspension - Vote Passed (400-0, 29 Not Voting)

This bill, passed under suspension of the rules and therefore requiring a two-thirds majority for passage, would exempt student loan debt from gross taxable income for veterans who die as the result of a service-related disability. Loan forgiveness would be back-dated to October 7, 2001, and families/survivors of the deceased would have up to one year after enactment of the bill to file for refunds. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain.

*("Prospects uncertain"?! -- Damn!  Even if you die in a made-up and/or unnecessary war, your family still may not get your student loan forgiven?  Nobody in those too-big-to-fail banks had to worry about that shit! SMDH)

~#~

Public Funding for Political Conventions – Suspension - Vote Passed (310-95, 24 Not Voting)

Another suspension bill would prohibit the use of monies in the Presidential Election Campaign Fund for financing presidential nomination conventions, e.g. the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Under current law each major party is entitled to $4 million to stage their conventions and minor parties are entitled to an amount proportionate to their popular vote percentage in the previous election. An earlier House bill passed last December (Roll Call 873) would have eliminated the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, and thus the public financing of elections entirely. Unlike that measure, which was unanimously opposed by Democrats, the more modest bill passed last week attracted about half of all Democrats voting as well as all Republicans. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has introduced a companion measure with bipartisan support in the Senate.

*("Each major party is entitled to $4 million -- to stage conventions?!"  People can't eat, work, or live affordably -- and they are entitled to all this?!  As my grandmama used to say, Lawd ha' mercy!)

~#~

Welfare Work Requirements – Disapproval Resolution - Vote Passed (250-164, 15 Not Voting)

The issue of welfare was a persistent theme in the presidential campaign for months – with the Republican nominee Mitt Romney accusing President Obama of removing work requirements from the program and allowing people to collect money with no strings attached. At issue was a July 12 memorandum issued by the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), which oversees the welfare program, whose technical name is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The memo laid out a proposed waiver program for states that meet certain requirements for boosting TANF employment goals. Republicans claim that HHS does not have the waiver authority it claims in the memo, and that the proposal should have been formally submitted to Congress since it amounts to an agency rulemaking. The latter assertion was supported by a Government Accountability Office report. Partisans on both sides have either decried or supported the waiver proposal, including the two chief architects of 1990s welfare reform, former President Clinton and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. The action taken by the House last week would repeal the move by HHS. In order for the repeal to become law, however, a similar resolution would have to pass the Senate and be signed by the president, both highly unlikely.

*(All I'm going to say about this one is -- it's already been pretty interesting how this has been twisted by both parties on the "campaign trail.)

~#~

STEM Visa Program - Suspension - Vote Failed (257-158, 14 Not Voting)

Immigration has always been a partisan battleground, but one area the parties seemed to have formed agreement in the 112th Congress was on the need to boost immigration by high-skill workers, particularly those in the so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R.-Tex., had been working with Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for months on just such a proposal. As with so many bipartisan efforts in the last two years, however, talks foundered. Both chairmen support creating roughly 50,000 visas for graduates of U.S. institutions with advanced degrees in STEM fields. The detail that derailed talks is that Smith wanted those visas to come at the expense of an existing program, the diversity visa lottery, which sets aside slots for people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S. Schumer and other Democrats wanted to simply create new slots for the STEM graduates while holding the diversity lottery harmless. Last week Smith and House leadership decided to try their luck on the floor with a suspension vote for Smith’s proposal; it ended up falling 20 votes shy of the two-thirds needed for passage. Given the bipartisan support for the overall idea, it is possible talks could resume in the lame duck session, though the crowded agenda makes any decisive action unlikely before next year.

*(Way to foment "divide and conquer" at home and abroad, no?)

~#~

Manhattan Project National Park – Suspension - Vote Failed (237-180, 12 Not Voting)

Another failed suspension vote came on this bill to set aside federal land in New Mexico, Washington state, and Tennessee for a national park commemorating the Manhattan Project that led to the creation of the atomic bomb. Most suspensions are non-controversial, and Democrats in particular are usually in favor of creating parkland, but opponents of the measure said it would send the wrong message to allies such as Japan, which suffered mass casualties as a result of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. The bill fell 41 votes short.

*(At least most folk had the common decency to stop this crass display of American arrogance)

~#~

Energy Regulatory Rollback – Passage - Vote Passed (233-175, 21 Not Voting)

The final bill passed by the House before the November elections was a summation of sorts regarding one of Republicans’ core electoral and policy arguments – namely that regulations, particularly those concerning energy production – are hurting the economy. H.R. 3409 is a smorgasbord containing the texts of five different bills, four of which had previously passed the House (Roll Calls 249, 573, 741 and 800, all in 2011). The original bill would prevent the Interior Secretary from issuing any regulations before 2014 that would result in damage to the coal industry, e.g., reductions in coal mining jobs, the amount of coal available for consumption or export, etc. The other proposals would: prevent EPA from regulating greenhouse gases as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, as well as effectively repeal automobile efficiency standards that would increase gas mileage to 54.5 mpg by 2025; create a cross-agency council for analyzing EPA regulations and their effect on the economy, as well as pre-empting a handful of EPA rules from being finalized and nullifying others already finalized; prevent EPA from regulating coal ash - a byproduct of coal combustion that some states use to make asphalt – instead allowing the states to regulate it as they see fit; and limiting EPA authority over water-quality standards. The Senate will not take up the bill when it returns, and the president has issued a veto threat.

*(Listen to Marsha Coleman-Adebayo on the Clean Air Act from the 9:15 - 11:13 click in this interview with Tavis Smiley)


Upcoming Votes

Sportsmen's Act of 2012 - S.3525

Before breaking for recess, the Senate invoked cloture on the motion to proceed to this catch-all bill sponsored by Jon Tester, D-Mont. It would loosen a variety of regulations on hunters and fishermen, particularly regarding their activities on public lands.

*(Hmmm, "(1) authorize a state to pay up to 90% of the costs of acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing a public target range;" -- better get your orange reflector jackets! "Requires such projects to secure, through rights-of-way or the acquisition of lands or interests from willing sellers, recreational public access to existing federal public lands that have significantly restricted access to hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes." -- wonder what happens if sellers aren't "willing?"  What?  It could happen!)

Related:
- Congress members back legislation that could benefit themselves, relatives
- Nextel firemen could teach Congress a thing or two

I once was blind, but now I see?

(h/t Crew of 42)

Passing 218 - 210 in the House, with 5 abstentions, here's a breakdown of the voting on the Changeling's and Boehner's, hardly bi-partisan, "Please sir, can I have more"/debt-reduction bill (such an oxymoron!)

Hopefully for their sake, come 2012 - after (maybe) having been thrown a few crumbs and (definitely) more bullshit promises - the CBC and the rest of the "faithful" will remember this bamboozle and say:

~#~#~#~#~

"Hopefully for their sake, come 2012, after (maybe) having been thrown a few crumbs and (definitely) more bullshit promises..."

And just like clockwork...

UPDATE/Politico - President Obama looks past debt debate to job creation:

President Barack Obama turned his attention to jobs immediately after the Senate passed a measure that raises the debt ceiling and reduces the deficit by at least $2.1 trillion, narrowly averting a government default.

"We can't balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the brunt of this recession," Obama told the nation on Tuesday, pledging to fight for "new jobs, higher wages and faster economic growth." (emphasis mine)

...the "bullshit promises" begin.

"Immediately?"  Please!  He was selected THREE YEARS AGO! {SMDH}

And on another note; seems, rather than "crumbs," the Pentagon will continue to get almost the whole loaf (minus the two butt ends of course) in furtherance of empire - Tomgram: Engelhardt, Two-Faced Washington

Democrats or Republicans - same thing, people!!

I got this email from MoveOn.org today and thought it was hi-larious - let me just count the ways (all emphasis mine):

###

Dear MoveOn member,

Election Day is less than two months away, and we need to decide today whether we'll have enough resources for a major campaign to help stop the Republicans and their corporate allies from taking over Congress.  (1. Guess we can all agree on one thing - democracy is always for sale)

In a survey over the weekend, 92% of MoveOn members said that we should work broadly to help Democratic candidates—especially now that corporate front groups are spending $400 million to boost Republicans' chances.  (2. Now? So we should forget the millions for which the Dems and their front man prostituted themselves up to now? - UPDATE:  This is interesting, no?)

So here's our plan to do it:

• We'll launch a giant recruitment drive to turn out thousands of volunteers for dozens and dozens of vulnerable Democrats across the country. (3.  Please!  If they were doing what the people sent them to Congress to do, their asses wouldn't BE "vulnerable!  To the Changeling and his cohorts, I say: 

Nate Beeler/Washington Examiner

• We'll use the media and creative tactics to show that corporate front groups are pouring money into these races and helping elect Republicans to carry out their agenda.  (4.  Yeah, you of all people ought to know the media will shill for anybody with deep pockets - look how it worked in getting the Changling "selected."  And I won't even touch that whole "creative tactics" thing, except to say - Democratic Rules & Bylaws Committee - May 31, 2008!!)

• We'll especially focus on top progressive heroes like Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Alan Grayson who are facing the fights of their lives.  (5. She, of the land of economic meltdown and he, the man who spoke so loudly about health care, but didn't carry a big enough stick to get a public option included?  Heroes??  Really??)

• And because nearly 80% of MoveOn members said not to use our scarce resources to help Democrats who've sided repeatedly with corporate lobbyists on key votes like health care, we'll stay out of those races.  (6. Hell, they've ALL sided with corporate lobbyists on key votes like health care - on one side of it, or the other (need I remind you - again - about that pesky little "public option" disappearing?!)

This is a hugely ambitious plan that will involve serious work in 30-60 critical races.

All told, it'll cost at least $1.1 million and require at least 100,000 volunteer hours. To move forward, we need commitments for that much time and money—otherwise, we'll have to scale back the plan.

(7. C'mon people!  Don't you think that $1.1 million could be used for way more important shit?)

So we need to know today how much each MoveOn member is willing to chip in. We'll need at least 108 pledges from people in Washington. You don't have to donate right now—we just need to know how much support we can count on over the next two months.

Click to let us know how much you can pledge to stop the Republican takeover of Congress: 

(8.  Not one-red-cent!  Quiet as it's kept, both parties need to get the hell out of Congress!)

$15

$30

$75

$100

Another amount

I can't pledge any money right now, but I'll volunteer my time.

Thanks for all you do.



#####

  

Democrats have had the majority in Congress for quite some time now.  They've done nothing but either, allowed themselves to be bullied by Shrub & Co. OR, worked really hard at that which has been most politically expedient - for themselves.  Why MoveOn would even ask anybody to throw good money after bad is just beyond me -- and quite amusing!

To Catholic Charities: "What Would Jesus Do?"

Last month, I talked to my friend Eric Sheptock, the homeless - homeless advocate whose story I began to tell back in April.  After catching up, we talked about DC's same-sex marriage amendment that passed its second vote in the DC Council just two days ago.  I'd asked his permission to repost his literal, "Man on the Street" perspectives on the amendment, Catholic Charities, homelessness and the politics of it all in DC.  But procrastinator that I am - I didn't keep my word (Sorry Eric!).

Now that the 30-day clock is ticking for Congress to sign-off on the amendment and make it law - or not, I thought I'd share a little history from someone who will be personally affected if Catholic Charities decides NOT to do what Jesus would.

~#~

Catholic Charities Pimps DC Council Again, This Time Over Gay Marriage
By Erick Sheptock
(Posted November 13, 2009)  

What do a Catholic Charities homeless shelter and gay marriage have in common? Some would venture to guess that gay men want the right to identify as women and sleep in female shelters and that butch lesbians want the right to sleep in male shelters. That would be a very well-informed guess. I've witnessed gay men checking into female shelters, though I've yet to see a butch lesbian check into a male shelter. Such rights exist in DC homeless shelters already.

However, there is a new and strange twist (no pun intended) to the fight for gay rights. I received the news over dinner last night (before it even hit the airwaves) that Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC is considering the possibility of not doing any more business with the city of Washington if the gay marriage bill is passed. Being that the news has hit the airwaves at this point and you can get the story by going on-line, I'll take some time to give you a little of the background on relations between Catholic Charities and DC Government as well as the low-down on the mayor -- the parts of the story that the media won't tell you.

In March I did a blog post about several shelters having been threatened. (See below where I've re-posted it.) It was believed by the homeless community at that time that DC Mayor Adrian Fenty wanted to close ALL DC homeless shelters before leaving office in January of 2011. Then, the mayor was heard suggesting that homeless people who are not from DC go back to where they came from. (You can read about that in my September post entitled: "DC Mayor Tries To Rid City of Homeless".) In lieu of all of the reasons that the mayor has given the homeless to think that he wants them to just get out of town, it behooves the mayor to proactively prove otherwise. No matter how many layers of authority and contracts lie between the mayor and those who actually close the shelters, the mayor will still be implicated in the closure. He is still ultimately responsible. It is, therefore, in Mayor Fenty's best interest to actively prevent any shelter closures, especially at this time of year. He must use every weapon in his arsenal to come to the rescue of DC's homeless. Failure is not an option. Even if Catholic Charities shuts down all city operations, the mayor will be who everyone looks to for answers.

Catholic Charities is a different story altogether. Some believe that Catholic Charities is in dire straights and is using the gay marriage bill to suck more money out of the city. But before I explain the correlation between the gay marriage bill and the homeless shelters, I'll explain how Catholic charities likes to pimp the city.

The news came out on September 28th of this year that $12 million would be slashed from DC Government's Homeless Services budget. All homeless service providers were, in turn, ordered to cut 30% from their budget for FY 2010. Catholic Charities representatives attended a hearing in front of DC Councilman Tommy Wells on October 5th and stated that they could not continue to operate with one-third of their budget having been slashed. They threatened to shut down all of their city shelters, which would have resulted in the loss of about 2,000 shelter beds. The city scrambled to find the funds to keep the shelters open. Within 3 days the mayor found $11 million and the shelters were saved. He thereby averted a lot of major lawsuits due to hypothermia deaths.

However, this showed Catholic Charities that they are in a position to do a power play on the city. If this latest development is any indication, Catholic Charities is not going to let the city forget that they -- and not the city government -- hold the cards when it comes to social services in the city. When I referred to Catholic Charities as having pimped the city during conversations in October, it was blown off as being nothing but hype. In the articles about this latest move, various council members have weighed in on this issue of being pimped by Catholic Charities. It's too obvious to ignore at this point. I told you so.

The story goes like this:

The DC Council has been working on a gay marriage bill, which they expect to pass next month. While the bill makes certain exemptions for religious organizations, it doesn't make exemptions for businesses. Churches don't have to perform gay marriages or allow their space to be used for gay marriages. However, businesses are not allowed to discriminate against gays in any way, shape, form or fashion. They must serve gay patrons and must extend employee benefits to the gay partners of their employees. Catholic Charities, being a non-profit, is an uncanny marriage of the two -- a church and a business. They seek to assert their religious beliefs as reasons for them not to have to abide by the gay marriage bill as it pertains to businesses. They also claim that the increased cost of employee benefits justifies them opting out of city contracts due to the increased cost of those benefits having not been figured into the contracts at the time of the signing. Catholic charities is seriously considering not doing business with the city any more. If they were to make good on this threat, thousands of DC's most vulnerable citizens would suffer. That makes it rather selfish of Catholic charities to opt out of their city contracts. (As a quick aside, I must say that I told the person who first informed me of this situation with Catholic Charities that I feel obligated to remain a homeless advocate, in spite of me not getting paid for it, and that my reason is that I'd be letting a lot of people who look up to me down if I were to quit now.)

Let's also bear in mind that Catholic Charities receives city funding. This alone obligates them to lay aside any religious beliefs and to continue to deliver services -- secularly, as a non-profit and not as a church. My statement is not without precedent, that precedent having been set in the Central Union Mission (CUM) case. Central Union Mission sought to move to the historic and city-owned Gales School. With CUM being Christian-based, they were told that they could not acquire the Gales School unless they lifted the religious requirements. That is to say that they couldn't make anyone pray or attend chapel services as a requirement for residing at the shelter. Neither could they make or enforce any other religious policies such as not allowing people to smoke cigarettes. CUM is still bargaining with the city for the Gales School; but, they know full well that they must lighten up on the religious requirements in order for this deal to move forward. With Catholic charities receiving city funds, they can expect the same type of treatment.

The crux of the issue is whether Catholic Charities is more of a church or more of a business. (I can't help but think of a related ethnic joke.) Should they be exempt from honoring the gay rights law due to being a religious organization or be obligated to obey such a law due to them being a business and receiving city funding?????

While people ponder that question, I'd like to throw a possible solution out there. There has been conversation between homeless advocates and DC Government about the homeless community running the shelters. This too is not without precedent. The CCNV (Community for Creative Non-Violence) Shelter in downtown DC is run by homeless people. No one gets paid to work there. The shelter runs entirely on donations, with the building being owned by the city. The building was actually wrested from the Reagan administration by homeless people who were operating under the leadership of Mitch Snyder.

This conversation needs to be picked up and become a bit more serious. Furthermore, the city should actually pay the homeless to run the shelters. They should transfer the money that they would've given to Catholic Charities to the homeless who would run the shelters. The homeless would be willing to run the shelters with the reduced budget that Catholic Charities cried about in October. Furthermore, it would serve to empower the homeless -- to instill in them a can-do attitude. This alone would lead to a substantial decrease in homelessness. Just something to think about.

~#~

For more of Eric's thoughts on this, here's a link to his most recent post:  On the Clock with Eric Sheptock: Have a Heart For the Homeless -- Raising Awareness on a Social Justice Issue

Obama's "War of Necessity"

As everyone waits to see what spews forth from the Changeling regarding Afghanistan later today, let's be clear people - THIS is the site of Obama's "Necessary War"...

When I got these pictures from the husband in April (I think you can click on them to enlarge), all I could do was shake my damn head. I couldn't even begin to write everything I was feeling, particularly since "Hearts and Minds" (like so many other issues, hotly debated and often not agreed-upon during this 29-years-last-Saturday union) had also become another one of those double-edged swords, slicing my emotions into two distinctly different, yet equally important parts between which I ultimately find my idea of "right."

I read Eric Margolis's, Chasing Mirages in Afghanistan, a little while before the U.S. presidential "selection" redux  Afghan elections.  It was an interesting take on the no-win, win for which Obama & Co. keep constantly aiming. He makes the very good point:

Ravaged Afghanistan needs genuine, honest elections, and patient national reconciliation, free of foreign manipulation. That's the only true road to peace and stability.

And I was right there with him, but then, he had to go and say this:

America has a great deal to teach Afghanistan about how to run clean elections and build the essential institutions of democracy.

and this...democracy and good government are what America should be exporting to the Muslim World, not dictators, B-1 bombers, and Predators.

and this...Running phony elections is unworthy of the United States and demeans its values and traditions.

Really now. You know, just as well as I do, that America's already taught/exported enough of "US" to Afghanistan to nearly choke the life out of an entire people - especially if we were to really unpack those good ole American "values and traditions."  But I do get where he was trying to go with the whole "makes a mockery of everything we preach around the globe" thing.  And so do they:

Starting at the 6:18 click, the men say, "We're hoping that Obama would be much better than Bush." Then they go on - wearily it seems - to the ending 7:08 click, explaining what should be painfully clear, even to the most empathetically-challenged of us.

I tell you, if watching just that little snippet (never mind the other parts - to include that brand, spanking new SuperMax-looking prison they just built on Afghan soil - among other things) does not convince you of the absolute wrongness of this thing that the Changeling, et al are doing in our names, I don't know what will.  And, either this is some serious Undercover Brother maneuvering, or these fellas need not hold out any hope of him being better:

And he had the nerve to say, "This will not be quick nor easy." Well, all I have to say to that is, what Queen Gorgo from the movie, "300" said to the crooked, rapist-politician Theron, after she rammed that sword deep into his belly in the council chamber:  Mr. President - "This will not go quickly, YOU will not enjoy it!" 

Based on his consistent-from-the-beginning rhetoric and continued hawkish behavior on Afghanistan, coupled with his general's conveniently leaked report and "Karzai's tattered victory," nobody should have any questions about whether or not he's "better than Bush."  But of course, that's wishful thinking.   

Scott Ritter illustrates some historically inconvenient truths about Afghanistan in his, McChrystal Doesn’t Get It—Does Obama? - truths Obama & Co. don't seem to even care to get as they continue their feeble march toward imperialist nation-building.  I'm sure Hill wouldn't have been overseas a couple of weeks ago (looking for some reason to me - eerily Nixonesque), telling Der Spiegel - 'Our Goal Is to Defeat Al-Qaida and Its Extremist Allies' - if they did care.  Now, nearly deafened by his administration's increasingly louder drumbeats for more war, I felt that "quiet riot" beginning to rumble.  And with her Oscar-worthy performance in the "Patriarchy Category" - parroting the lies, and posturing, just like the man who'd brushed her off his lapel Jay-Z style during the campaign - the words that had eluded me since April finally came.  But not for the warmongers.  The words are for the Afghan brothers and sisters suffering the same foot-on-neck behavior upon which this country was founded:

"My enemy's enemy is my man remember?  I ain't tryin' to be endin' up in this Man's dilemma...'til we get there, I am on your side."

"13/30" - The Damaged within - Part 2

UPDATE:  Covering their ass is what Congress does best,  This just in:  S1963: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 - a bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide assistance to caregivers of veterans, to improve the provision of health care to veterans, and for other purposes - was passed in the Senate 12 days after the Ft. Hood killings.  Would those 12 day have mad a difference for Mahor Hassan?

  Watching the early stages of CNN's coverage of the shooting at Ft. Hood with my son and husband, I asked aloud - already knowing the answer, "Why's it gotta be a terrorist attack, or possible gang activity before they even know what the hell is going on???"

And when the "lone" shooter was identified - with that "funny-sounding" Middle Eastern name and they began the "terrorist" speculation in earnest (still not knowing what the hell was going on!) - I asked, again already knowing the answer, "Why can't it be that this guy - a CARE-DAMN-GIVER for the legions of soldiers returning from war zones, suffering the effects of having seen some horrific shit - be suffering some PTSD of his own??"  Or, "Why can't it be that some people (military troops ARE people) are just damned tired of fighting, killing, dying, losing limbs and worse - for wars in which there are no rational explanations!!"

The answers to my first questions are pretty clear: - He is Muslim.  And the MSM puts more stock in "being first with a story" way more than they do in being first with facts.  Such is the current mindset of America's Fourth Estate.  And the answers to the second set of questions?  He is Muslim.  And the MSM has long been in bed with politicians who'd rather fan the persistent fears of the "other" upon which this country was founded.  But more importantly, this country is a patriarchy, immersed in the language of manliness - Real soldiers can't be broken.

Though we, as a country, are doing a little better (and that's VERY little!) with domestic violence, violence against women, child abuse and sexual abuse, we - and that includes some of the "experts" - are a terribly long way from understanding a simple, yet important fact - TRAUMA IS TRAUMA no matter its origins and if its effects are left untreated, it not only threatens those sharing the sphere with the perpetrators - but the perpetrators themselves.  As a country, we just can't seem to get that through our, I'm-okay-so-you-must-be-okay consciousness, even though the manifestations of that bass-ackward thinking have been swirling around us from 1619 to today.

We function as if our branches of government, our corporations, our banking industry, our churches and certainly our military services - all those seats of perceived power - are not all bastions of "manliness" and intolerance - still.  And if we're honest, that women have managed to break into them and/or advance up any of those chains-of-command has not made one bit of difference over all.  Conversely, the complicit female presence has pretty much maintained the status quo, or made it worse - all in the name of feeling powerful themselves.  So where do the "damaged within" go for real help?

Chris Hedges explains where, in Stop Begging Obama and Get Mad:

"The soldiers and Marines who return from Iraq and Afghanistan are often traumatized and then shipped back a few months later to be traumatized again. This was less frequent in Vietnam. Veterans, when they get out, search for the usual escape routes of alienation, addictions and medication. But there is also the escape route of violence. We risk creating a homegrown Freikorps, the demobilized German soldiers from World War I who violently tore down the edifice of the Weimar Republic and helped open the way to Nazism.

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars have unloaded hundreds of thousands of combat troops, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, back into society. According to joint Veterans Affairs Department - University of San Francisco study published in July, 418,000 of the roughly 1.9 million service members who have fought in or supported the wars suffer from PTSD.

 
As of August 2008, the latest data available, about a quarter-million military veterans were imprisoned on any given day-about 9.4 percent of the total daily imprisoned population, according to the National GAINS Center Forum on Combat Veterans, Trauma and the Justice System. There are 223,000 veterans in jail or prison cells on an average day, and an unknown number among the 4 million Americans on probation. They don't have much to look forward to upon release. And if any of these incarcerated vets do not have PTSD when they are arrested, our corrections system will probably rectify the deficiency. Throw in the cocktail of unemployment, powerlessness, depression, alienation, anger, alcohol and drugs and you create thousands, if not tens of thousands, who will seek out violence the way an addict seeks out a bag of heroin." (emphasis mine) All of you, screaming that Maj. Hasan had never been deployed so he couldn't possibly be suffering PTSD, need to re-read the highlighted portion above.  Are we so blinded by his Muslim-ness, or too caught up in that "Real soldiers can't be broken" manliness, or that, "I'm-okay-so-you-must-be-okay" craziness to put two and two together and come up with four?

According to Hedges (and I concur), the answer is a resounding Yes!:

"There is a yawning indifference at home about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. The hollow language of heroism and glory, used by the war makers and often aped by those in the media, allows the nation to feel good about war, about "service." But it is also a way of muzzling the voices that attempt to tell us the truth about war. And when these men and women do find the moral courage to speak, they often find that many fellow Americans turn away in disgust or attack them for shattering the myth. The myth of war is too enjoyable, and too profitable, to be punctured by reality. And so these veterans nurse their fantasies of power. They begin to hate those who sent them as much as they hate those they fought. Some cannot distinguish one from the other."  (emphasis mine)

In what little the media did get right about the major, it seems the Army, through the use of a "bad performance review," could have been doing some "muzzling" of it's own while he was stationed at Walter Reed, the facility about which the lack of real treatment and, in some instances, abusive treatment have been copiously reported.  But of course, that's not how it's being spun.

Without even knowing what was in the review, I challenge - any of you - to make some damn sense of what was just said in that video!  If the review was so bad, why didn't it affect Maj. Hasan's promotion and subsequent transfer to Ft. Hood?  Was it a toe-the-line-and-shut-the-hell-up-you-ungrateful-bastard-or-you'll-lose-everything warning (muzzling) to the major?  What was it's purpose??

If he was unable or unwilling to continue to provide poor, or no treatment to his patients after hearing, for the last six or so years, what they had been, and continued to go through, why was he still there?  Even Greta seemed to be sidling up to that question!  Call me stupid, but that twisted logic, along with that pesky Stop-loss policy Congress created, is nothing but a recipe for the disaster that happened at Ft. Hood.

Fort Hood, written on the body,  by Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon, is an interesting and prescient piece about the soon to be aired documentary about our "fighting men" - at Ft. Hood, set to begin airing on PBS starting November 8 at 9:30 p.m.:

"Much will be written in the days to come of the mind-set of the alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist who counseled military personnel and was reportedly distressed over his own imminent deployment. Though Schiesari's film predates the horrifying violence at the fort yesterday, it reveals a military culture rarely seen. By following both returning and deployment-bound young soldiers and the stories told on their bodies, she gets under their skin." (emphasis mine)

The trailer alone is, or should be, enlightening:

This is something with which I am intimately familiar.  My youngest was deployed to Iraq for a year as soon as he went into the Army in search of a better life - in his own control - at 21 years old.  Yeah, as young kids increasingly do these days, he had a couple tattoos already (my husband's and my name among a couple others).  But he got this rosary tattoed around his neck during his MOS training before deploying overseas.----->

Because I try, everyday, to live in the light of truth,  I had to ask his permission to tell this part of his story - I thought it only fair.  He gave it.

Since stop-loss was catching so much flack during the time he was in, the Army instead convinced many kids to reenlist while in-country with the lure of "the bonus."  The  son certainly could already see the new car he planned to buy.  But, as soon as they set foot back on U.S.terra firma., he and some of his buddies in his platoon sought out some of that "medication" Hedges talked about above, not realizing that they'd be tested the next day.  The "sting" (for lack of a better word) netted quite a few of them.  But he wanted to stay, and I resolved to help him because the choice was his, not mine.  After a lot of back and forth between me, his female commander and his First Sergeant, in writing and by telephone, it was decided he could. 

But his commander went on maternity leave before he got the official all-clear, replaced by yet another female.  And  he was caught "disobeying a lawful order from a Superior Commissioned Officer" (I shit you not, that is the exact wording in the letter she sent in response to our bullshit congressman's inquiry).  His crime?  He was caught operating a motor vehicle on post after his on-post driving privileges had been suspended - pending determination of a disputed charge levied by the Ft. Bragg police department who had jurisdiction over open roadways leading into, and out of the post.  He was sent home with a General Under Honorable Conditions discharge, and a bill to repay the Army for the bonus he'd received - both of which continue to wreak havoc on his life as he tries to move forward.

Trust me, he understands how he got here from there and beats himself up about it way more than he needs to.

Am I excusing what he did?  Nope.  I'm understanding how he got there.  That being said however, it all changed him - though he continues to swear up-and-down that it didn't.  He's gone from being the sweetest, most compassionate, helpful, loving, grateful kid (I save everything!  He was in middle and high school respectively when he wrote and left these notes for me) - to this angry, often hostile and short with me (and many others), young man, that I rarely recognize a lot of the time.  And it  hurts - deep in my heart.

But like many of us, considered "collateral damage" by the government and the military, we "soldier on" (no pun intented), hoping that eventually, we'll get it right.  We're still soldiering.

Like everybody else, I'm waiting to see what the major has to say about the whys and wherefores.  But unlike most who wait, I wait with discernment.

"13/30" - The Damaged within - Part 1

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39 year-old Army psychiatry resident  - tasked with helping soldiers suffering the debilitating psychiatric effects of having been deployed to a war zone, at both Walter Reed Army Hospital in DC and later at Ft. Hood -  has been identified as the alleged lone perpetrator of the latest incident of violence against U.S. military troops - on U.S. soil.

Will this Democratic POTUS, with his Democratic Congress in the majority, finally take a stand against War?

According to the Army Times piece, "Major named as Fort Hood shooter:" 

Greg Schannep, an aide to Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, told the Austin American-Statesman that he was on the Army post to attend a graduation service. He said that as he neared the entrance of a building where the service was being held, a soldier with blood on his uniform ran past him and said a man was shooting.

Per news reports, this could have been a whole lot worse than it was - seeing as the building directly adjacent to the the graduation service is where the "killing fields" were.

*******************

I've pretty much sworn off watching the "celebrity news" on television - especially CNN!  Once I get caught up in all their s'posed-to-be news, my blood pressure tends to shoot right through the damn roof!  But, raised blood pressure notwithstanding, I watched the coverage of the shooting pretty much non-stop and what I saw unfolding was tragic in more ways than one.

Why is the fact that this happened on U.S. soil so amazing to everyone.  Because Ft. Hood is a closed military post?  Because this was an act of "terrorism," on American soil as CNN and others first tried to imply? Because there has been, according to CNN, a lot of reported "gang activity" on Ft. Hood?  I don't think it's amazing at all, given we've been involved in two wars - of our own making- for the last eight years on someone else's soil.  Anyway you slice it, this has brought the war home in a way that pictures of flag-draped caskets arriving at Dover never could.

I was watching this exchange on Larry King live and thought, "What the Hell!!" This is clearly illustrative of the dichotomy in this country surrounding the discussion of what are now, Obama's wars, that makes this so decidedly "un-amazing" to me:



I know Dr. Phil was the purported "expert" on the panel, but there was no better expert among them than sister, Shoshana Johnson, former Army Specialist and POW (tried to upload a photo of her when she was released from captivity but apparently, due to the upcoming release of her book, all the photos I could find have been copyrighted and I couldn't). 

And yes, I'm so very proud of her for calling former JAG Officer, Tom Kenniff out on his racism, elitism and sheer ignorance (did this guy learn to pronounce terror and terrorism from Shrub or something?).  Props to Dr. Phil for his two cents, but he's never been to war, never been shot in both ankles, never been captured and held for some 22 days.  This sister of Panamanian descent did what has heretofore been taboo in both Black and white society - she stood up, speaking her truth - out loud (and yeah, there was some neck-workin' going on) - to one who can definitely be considered a poster boy for the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy.  Good for her, and Blacks/Browns (had to add the "Browns" here.  I don't want any of my people in the diaspora to think I intentionally forgot them.)  in general - but for sisters in particular.

Other military members have died ON POST in this country - at the hands of fellow military members:

- From a July 2009 cbsnews.com piece, Was Navy Sailor Killed For Being Gay?

The 29-year-old Houston native was found dead Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Roy said the family was told that Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned.

- From an October 2009 hamptonroads.com piece, Family of sailor slain in Newport News seeks court-martial:

In February, in a new apartment complex for Navy sailors, Mackie, a sailor on the amphibious assault ship, Kearsarge, put a gun to the back of Trask's head and pulled the trigger.

- From an October 2008 NY Daily News piece, Army to probe five slayings linked to Colorado Brigade:

Three other members of the unit were accused in the slaying of two soldiers.

- From a July 19 ABC News piece, Reports Clears Army in Gay Soldier's Death:

At Glover’s trial, soldiers testified that Winchell had been relentlessly taunted with anti-gay slurs in the months leading up to his slaying.

- From the 1956 St. Petersburg Times piece Sailor Killed in Race Fight at Naval Base:

A Navy spokesman said the riot broke out Friday night outside the recreation hall at Ford Island, the naval air station in the middle of Pearl Harbor.

And I would certainly be remiss, particularly as a Black Navy veteran, if I didn't list the 1944 Port Chicago Mutiny:

...many black divisions were being bet upon by the whites commanding them.  White officers were wagering whose division could load the most ammunition in the least amount of time. This atmosphere of speed-above-safety put the loaders in further peril.

 Probably the best source I've seen on the type of killing that happened at Ft. Hood,  is Salon's excellent and  in-depth, Coming Home series.  Check it out.  It's definitely worth the read.  Also, here's a short list of Some other military slayings from the Austin-American Statesman.

It just boggles the mind the way people are acting like Ft. Hood is some kind of anomaly, initially blaming it on terrorism, or some possible gang activity.  This is totally irresponsible on the part of what passes for media in this country, particularly because it allows the military, Obama & Co. and the rest of the country to continue burying their heads in the sand regarding what war does to people - deployed or not.

Caption this picture...

No, really!!!

Bombs and banks - and a complicit Congress

I was watching David Sanger on CNN talking about this, U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site and thought, "They want us to give them more weapons just to use on Iran. Right." Then I thought, "All out war on Iran - over Iraq?" What the hell??? Involved in WWIII because they don't trust Shrub to "handle" Iran before he leaves and no confidence in any return on all those AIPAC dollars they gave the Changeling once he gets in.

Then, I went to AROO and read this, "The Bag Lady's Lament", which led me to this:

"Life savings gone, 'Madoffed' best-selling writer back at work", which led me surprisingly to this:

"Madoff investors may get money back" Those fleeced by $50 billion fraud may be able to retrieve funds from Securities Investor Protection Corp in a few months, Congressional non-profit says. In which I found this: "SIPC is a non-profit agency set up by Congress to maintain a fund to help investors who had accounts at brokerage firms that failed."

Congress set this up? Did they set anything up for anybody else who lost their shirts in this Ponzi scheme of a bailout to the same banks that caused them to lose their shirts in the first place with all their mortgage schemes and not-representing-any-real-money-credit default swaps/derivatives games?

Gotta do something for all those AIPAC dollars spent I guess.

Nextel firemen could teach Congress a thing or two

"A lot of paper here to tell us we need to keep the rich, rich and the poor, poor. Want it guys?" "NO!!!" At least that's how it should have gone this past week. But then again, the firemen are among the working poor now aren't they?

I won't even say I'm surprised that this no-cojones-havin', low-approval-rating gettin', pattin'-themselves-on-the-back-posturin', impotent, poor excuse of a Congress voted for this obvious and blatant sell-out of the American people - because I'm not. For the four years the Democrats have had the majority in Congress, they've continued to do the same things, expecting different results. I know Shrub & Co. are rolling on the floor laughing their asses off in Crawford, TX tonight saying, "We got 'em again boys!"

As I watched the run-up to this "rescue plan," it felt so strangely reminiscent of their "Hurry, hurry, act now or we're doomed!!" run-up to Iraq that for a minute there I thought, "Now I know The Second and Fourth Estates won't even fall for this again!" But I was wrong. I gave them all too much credit for, at the very least, having some damn common sense. It was like Groundhog Day watching the mainstream media stoke the flames with the fears fed them by Paulson and the Bush Administration! Over at Poynter Online, David Cay Johnston wrote, "Ask tough questions about the bailout." It's an interesting piece about how the media really needs to do their job and one with which I totally agree.

I'm no economist, but I don't need to be one to know that if I ran my house the way the powers-that-be have run this country, I'd be on the street or in jail! Those same financial institutions who've lied, manipulated the market and stuffed their proverbial mattresses would be poised to take EVERYTHING I had as punishment for my irresponsibility. I wouldn't be allowed the opportunity to get credit again for a long damn time - no matter what reason I gave. And the government certainly wouldn't be beating a path to my door with boatloads of other people's money to "rescue" me. Oh, I forgot. Only the common people can be labeled irresponsible for borrowing more money than they could pay back.

And don't you just love the condescending way the talking heads make it sound like we just don't understand how this all works? How they know what's best for the rest of us and we, lemmings should just shut up and get on board? And have you noticed who was pushing the hardest for this debacle of a piece of legislation? Not your everyday, average John Q. Public of the population, that's for sure.

Why is it that we, the people, continue to allow those whose hands are the least clean to make such life-changing decisions for us? Every single person in on this hijacking has a personal stake in seeing those government dollars flow into the coffers of these hat-in-hand institutions. Hell, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has intimate knowledge of how this all works! After all, having been with Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years (the last four of which he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Investment Banking), he received a $37 million compensation package in 2005 and more than $16 million in 2006! You be the judge of whose interests he sought to protect. Naked Capitalism's piece, "Mussolini-style Corporatism in Action: Treasury Conference Call on Bailout Bill to Analysts (Updated)" should give you a clue.

Let's be clear, I have no intention of voting for John McCain. But when he announced he was suspending his campaign to head back to The Hill to do the damn job he was elected to do, I said "Bravo!" Obama's sarcasm-laden, "A president has to be able to do more than one thing at a time" bullshit was just more confirmation of his hubris (You're not the damn president yet!!!) and dereliction (You are a U.S. Senator - no matter how you got there - you don't get to delegate your legislative responsibility for your own personal gain!). Sure, it was probably a campaign stunt on McCain's part, but at least it was one that said, "This is a big deal and my constituents are watching. I better act like I know why they sent me to Congress." I noticed Obama didn't suspend, but he ran his happy-ass on back to the White House for that photo-op with Shrub & Co. and later showed up to vote so as not to be bested by McCain's appearance - the effectiveness of which remains debatable.

When the Republicans voted down the first package, I thought looming elections had forced their hand (after all, election time is really the only time the people ever get a fraction of what they want, or need for that matter). But true to form, corporate greed ruled the day and they buckled. Democrats tried to make it look like Obama played a major role in turning some of their votes around and the MSM, rather than asking the tough questions, lapped it up and regurgitated that bullshit.

And once the deal was sealed, Nancy Pelosi had the nerve to say they didn't know how they got to this place! Jesus wept!! Isn't that the reason we put them in Congress? To know what the hell is going on and make laws in the best interest of the people! Then she added insult to injury by saying, "We sent a message to Wall Street -- the party is over." What??? How can the party be over when Congress just gave the "Barbarians at the Gate" not only a pass for knowingly ripping off the American people, but a reward??!! Where are those Nextel firemen when you need them???

At the end of the day, both presidential candidates, knowing on which side their bread is buttered, voted "Aye" on a bill sure to rock the poor and shrinking middle class to their core, all the while telling us they did what was "best" for us. Considering Obama and McCain have together spent over a half-billion dollars - that's BILLION with a "B" (approximately $368 million and $196 million dollars respectively) - on this joke of a presidential campaign, nobody needs to tell me whose "best" they meant. I know my girl Sugar over at Sugar N Spice will not want to hear me say this (she's told me many times before!), but I think Obama will win this thing. Sad part about that is if you close your eyes, an Obama administration will likely look and act like all those that will have preceded it. For all his crowing about McCain not mentioning the middle-class, he's no better - because for me anyway, it's not what you say, it's what you do. And based on his marionette-like actions to date, he's proven he too, is merely talking loud and saying absolutely nothing. The more I think about that sad fact, the more I'm with Maxine on this one.