Hooray For Barney Frank

Barney Frank on special protection
House should not criticize FBI for warranted search of member's office

(Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I disagree with the bipartisan House leadership criticism of the FBI's search of a Member's office. I know nothing specifically about the case, except that the uncontroverted public evidence did seem to justify the issuance of a warrant.

What we now have is a Congressional leadership, the Republican part of which has said it is okay for law enforcement to engage in warrantless searches of the average citizen, now objecting when a search, pursuant to a validly issued warrant, is conducted of a Member of Congress.

I understand that the speech and debate clause is in the Constitution. It is there because Queen Elizabeth I and King James I were disrespectful of Parliament. It ought to be, in my judgment, construed narrowly. It should not be in any way interpreted as meaning that we as Members of Congress have legal protections superior to those of the average citizen.

So I think it was a grave error to have criticized the FBI. I think what they did, they ought to be able to do in every case where they can get a warrant from a judge. I think, in particular, for the leadership of this House, which has stood idly by while this administration has ignored the rights of citizens, to then say we have special rights as Members of Congress is wholly inappropriate.

Thanks to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo for the link.

I Think This Is Really Funny

The New York Times is reporting that, at the same time the neo fascists are ginning up a military strike on Iran, Iraq’s recently installed Foreign Minister has “endorsed the right of Iran to pursue the ‘technological and scientific capabilities’ needed to create nuclear power for peaceful purposes”.

Those Straussian “philosopher” neofascists are just a bit too smart for their own good. They orchestrated the conquering of Iraq in the name of the grand Wilsonian ideal of bringing peace and democracy to the Iraq and then the entire Middle East, though they had to lie about WMDs and nukes to convince the USA public to go along with scheme. And what do they get?

They get a government in Iraq that is very closely aligned with the another charter members of the “Axis of Evil”, Iran, and which is now defending that which those smarty pants neofascists are decrying.

I also support Iran’s right to pursue nuclear technology, and not just for peaceful purposes. Why shouldn’t Iran be able to have nuclear weapons, like at least 8 to 10 other nations on earth? And why should anyone expect Iran to comply with provisions of the non-proliferation treaty when USA allies India, Pakistan, Israel do not? I think nuclear weapons are the only effective means of Iran deterring USA aggression and of all the nations on earth the USA has the least moral standing to lecture other nations about nuclear weapons.

More on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

In an April 18 post I commented on an Asian Times article reporting on the formation and enlargement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

This May 25th Boston Globe comment on the subject, via the International Herald Tribune, makes a similar point to which I made in April.

In some ways I guess I should thank Bush, Cheney, and their neofascist cabal for actually hastening the decline of their dreamed of Pax Americana and the imperial USA era that began, at the urging of aristocrats with names such as Lodge, Taft, Roosevelt, McKinley, and Wilson, with the stealing of Spanish colonies during the glorious Spanish American war.

The Chicks Are Back

In case you haven’t heard, the Dixie Chicks are back and ready for a fight, having reportedly in essence told the country music establishment to kiss off. Their new CD, “Taking the Long Way”, opens with "Not Ready to Make Nice”, in which Maines announces "I'm not ready to back down/ I'm still mad as hell." The 14 songs on the album were composed by the Chicks in collaboration with a number of renowned rock and pop composers.

You will remember that, during a 2003 London concert the ever frank Maines informed the crowd “"Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" and indicated that she thought Bush’s policies were alienating the rest of the world. Maines comment enlivened the Rovian right wing smear machine, which featured a Clear Channel Communications orchestrated boycott of the Chicks. Clear Channel, headquartered in Texas, is the corporate owner of 1200 USA radio stations and is headed by Bush cronies Lowry Mays and Tom Hicks. Clear Channel owned station personnel orchestrated, Fahrenheit 451 type Dixie Chicks CD burnings. As far as I’m concerned the despicable acts of Clear Channel Communications in punishing the Chicks for exercising their First Amendment right is forever unforgivable and think folks should forever punish Clear Channel by not listening to its stations.

Martie Maguire commented that the dust up over Maines’ comment has caused the chicks to reevaluate their approach to their art which led to their decision to eschew commercialism in favor of pursuing their artistic tendencies and playing to a loyal fan base. "I'd rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith," Maguire said. "We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

While I’m on the subject of the Chicks, if you haven’t watched the “An Evening With The Dixie Chicks” DVD, do yourself a favor and check it out. The 2002 concert, in the amazingly stunning Kodak Theater, featured the Chicks playing through the songs on their then soon to be released CD “Home”, followed by an encore of older material that had the crowd, composed primarily of younger women, up on their feet singing along with every word. I find it very emotional, particularly their presentation of “Goodbye Earl”, which recounts the dispatching of an abusive husband by two female friends.

I think the Dixie Chicks are exceptionally talented musicians who always have top notch back up musicians and I find their in-your-face approach very refreshing in an entertainment world dominated by market driven entertainers. Maines provides powerful, spot-on lead vocals and sisters Emily Robinson and Martie MaGuire contribute incredibly sweet harmonies, as well as their virtuosity on a variety of instruments.

I hope both of my readers will run right out and buy every Dixie Chick product they can. Their new CD was released earlier this week in the USA but will not be available internationally until some time in June.

“You can’t have a war without a good disinformation campaign”

Kudos to the “Jewish Week” newspaper for this “Yellow Journalism” report tracking to Benador Associates, an agent for some of the most prominent USA neofascists, the erroneous report that Iran was to require non-Muslims to wear particular colored clothing.

The article reports that even after the report was debunked the story continued to breathlessly reverberate through the media echo chamber.

“'You can’t have a war without a good disinformation campaign,' opined Mathew Yglesias, of the liberal American Prospect Magazine. "

Thanks to “Talking Points Memo” for linking to the article.

Federico's Cafico Coffee Shop

Meet Federico Navarro A., proprietor of the Cafico coffee shop on Calle 58 a few doors South of Parque Santa Ana and purveyor of the best coffee I've been able to find in my limited explorations of Merida.

When I accompany my neighbor Armando on the 4 block walk he takes each day to pick up his lunch, from the cocina economica operated by my Spanish teachers, we often go to Federico's for a cup of high test Cafe Cubano served in styrofoam demitasse.


The walls of Federico's shop are adorned with quite a number of pictures of Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa.

Federico roasts beans grown in Chiapas and Veracruz in his really cool coffee roasting machine you can see at the right. When Federico is roasting one can detect the wafting aroma from a half block away.

I buy expresso roast ground as fine as Federico's machine will turn it out for my morning fix of high test.

Federico es un hombre muy amable. He has taken to saving his waste coffee grounds for me, which I use as abono in my garden. I returned the favor by taking him one of the watermelons from my last crop.

Federico is another one of the many reasons I like it here.

Trojan Cooling Tower Goes Down

The cooling tower portion of the Trojan nuclear plant, a bit North of Portland, OR, has been demolished. The picture at left, which I pirated off the KOMO TV web site, shows the cooling tower disappearing into the implosion induced cloud of dust.

The Trojan plant operated for only about 10, or so, problem plagued years and was ultimately shut down by its private utility company owner as the electricity produced was not cost competitive.

We hippies knew in 1978 that the plant was doomed economically. Here we are, the members of the Satsop Fireweed division of the Crabshell Alliance, standing across the Columbia River from the Trojan tower during a stop on our return from Portland to protest operation of the plant.

More On Wikipedia

Don't go to Wikipedia looking for reliable information on Cuba, as the Cuba page has become a battleground for ideologues, as apparently the pages addressing a number of other controversial subjects.

Traditional encyclopedias have articles reviewed and edited by folks determined to be knowledgeable on the subject by the encyclopedia purveyor. I find it amusing that Wikipedia is now having to assign an “’mediation cabal’ -- an informal mediator –“ to referee the Cuba discussion. The “cabal” resigned after “editors” were mean to them.

So the Cuba page, at least, and apparently those dealing with abortion and other controversial subjects have turned into a discussion forums.

It really is too bad, I think. And I know that a recent study (all “studies” should also be looked at with a jaundiced eye, for everyone has a point of view) concluded that there are about the same number of errors in Wikipedia and the encyclopedia that was examined, but I suspect that as more and more people learn that they can post supposed facts to Wikipedia the more unreliable it will become.

Having said all of that, I know what “open source” software is, the concept behind it, and I think it is a great concept. But software can be editing and augmented by enthusiasts and other enthusiasts can take the changes or leave them. An encyclopedia is quite different. Just ask John Seigenthaler or the congressional staffers caught sexing up their bosses bios.

Galloway v Di Rita. It's No Contest.

Check out this email exchange between Joe Galloway, renown and awarding winning Knight Ridder military correspondent and commentator, and Rumsfeld spokesperson Larry Di Rita.

It's one thing to be an hubristic, incompetent Secretary of Defense who has publicly derided and dismissed professional military officers who have expressed military judgments which didn't square with neoconservative ideology. It's entirely another to disclaim any responsibility for wasting the nation's military resources and personnel in pursuance of the neofascist chimera of world domination.

Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cambone, and the rest of Bush's Pentagon civilian brass, should be charged with, and tried for, treason and war crimes.

As the AP reports Rudolph Giuliani is apparently already so desperate in his quest for the 2008 republican presidential nomination that he has gone to Georgia to kiss Ralph Reed’s ass. Reed, as you will remember, is so far enmeshed in the numerous Abramoff felonies that even Georgia republicans have deserted him in his pursuance of election as the state’s Lieutenant Governor.

The much heralded Giuliani is such a whiz that he decided to place the NYC emergency operations center in the World Trade Center after the building was the target of a 1993 terrorist bombing. Let’s also remember that apparently Giuliani thinks so highly of himself that, in the wake of the 9-11 WTC attacks, he suggested he should remain in office beyond the end of his term, as presumably mayor elect Bloomberg was not up to the task of salving NYC.

Immigration Facts

Kevin Drum's piece, taking a Robert Samuelson commentary to task, includes links to studies that determine that Hispanic immigrants do in fact assimilate; that they only compete for jobs with high school drop outs, and then only barely; that they have a net positive influence on the USA economy; and that they in fact learn to speak English.

Why has the immigration issue emerged this year and why is Bush sending troops to the border?

Bush won't enforce the law against employers who hire illegal immigrants because those employers might stop sending campaign contributions. On the other hand Bush's religious right bigot base is howling for the government to keep the Hispanic out. So Bush throws the sending troops to the border bone to the whackos to energize them for the upcoming midterm election.

Every election the religious right whackos get played by the Republicans, whether with the raising of the specter of the "gay agenda", the mad abortionists, or the onslaught on nonwhite immigrants, and the dumb asses never figure out they're just being played.

Recommended Reading

I am about half way through Peter Irons "A People's History of the Supreme Court" (thanks to the Merida English Library collection) and recommend it.

Irons begins by covering the drafting of the Constitution, moves on to the composition and notable decisions of the early Supreme Court, and wends his way through various notable cases to present times.

The books illustrates that the Federalists, who generally determined the outcomes of the Constitutional Convention and appointed the early Supreme Court justices, were motivated by the protection of their self interests as the creditor class and how the interests of landless folks, laborers, women, African Americans, and Native Americans were not considered. Except of course as a part of the Great Compromise which decided that slaves would be counted as three fifths of person for purposes of determining populations for apportioning representation.

Kevin Phillips Takes on Robert Rubin and His Hamiltonian Project

KevinPhillips really is one of the most intelligent political commentators around. Here he takes on Robert Rubin, Clinton's Treasury Secretary and current Citigroup chairman, and his efforts to promote Wall Street friendly Hilary Clinton. I think it is worth a read.

Welcome to the Police State

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito, of ABC news report that:

"A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources."

And close to half of the USA pulic supports the illegal government spying on its own citizens. I think the Bush administration facists should distribute brown shirts to each of those who support the illegal spying.

The USA is no longer a national security state, it's a police state. And the stupid half of the population think's it's just fine.

A Really Stupid Diebold Spokesperson

In the wake of revelations of serious security flaws in Diebold electronic voting machines the New York Times reports that the Diebold spokesperson is really stupid.

"“David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Election Systems, said the potential risk existed because the company's technicians had intentionally built the machines in such a way that election officials would be able to update their systems in years ahead.

"'’For there to be a problem here, you're basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software," he said. "I don't believe these evil elections people exist.'"

David Bear, meet Katherine Harris and J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State. The stealing of elections by "evil and nefarious election officials"” is routine, and a number of instances of tampering with Diebold machines during the 2004 election have been well documented. There was also, of course, the case of the president of Diebold, headquartered in Ohio, promising to deliver Ohio for Bush in 2004. Not to mention Blackwell's discriminatory distributiontion of voting machines to facilitate republican voting and impede democratic voting.

Every vote should be cast on a paper ballot which can manually recounted if necessary.

Is Michael Hayden's Nomination Doomed?

With the latest USA government domestic spying revelation that under Hayden's direction the NSA "collected the records of billions of domestic calls" his nomination to head the CIA may be on the way to withdrawal.

As Kevin Drum notes, Qwest Communication is the only telecommunications company that insisted the NSA comply with the law and obtain a FISA court order.

Do You Use Antibacterial Soap?

If so, why? Science Daily reports on the persistence and environmental distribution of one of the primary antibacterial chemicals.

Appeals Court Judge Goes to Work for Boeing

What was it Eisenhower said about the military/industrial complex?

Judge Luttig finally had enough of the Bush administration B. S. in the Jose Padilla case, called the administration on it's screwing of Padilla, and was plucked from the bench, with a doubling or tripling of is salary, by Boeing, which will presumbly profit handsomely by removing a Bush administration embarassment.

The Irony Escapes Cheney

Is Dick Cheney:

a) Stupid

b) Evil

c) Demented

d) Crazy

e) All of the above

President in Fact Cheney lectures the Russians.

Cheney, an opponent of the reforms of the Magna Carta 400 years ago, who has sanctioned torture, secret trials, and the return to a monarchy, lectures the Russians:

"In Russia today, opponents of reform are seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade,"

Cheney, who has overseen the illegal spying of USA advocacy groups ranging from religiously affiliated peace groups to animal rights groups, further lectures the Russians:

"from religion and the news media to advocacy groups and political parties, the government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of the people."

And Cheney, as USA Commander in Fact who advocated and orchestrated the conquering and attempted subjugation of Iraq (not to mention the attempted coup in Venezuela and kidnapping of the democratically elected president of and the coup in Haiti, instructs the Russians:

"And no one can justify actions that undermine the territorial integrity of a neighbor, or interfere with democratic movements."

Given the irony of his lecturing of the Russians apparently escapes him I am concluding that Cheney is stupid. But, when all the evidence is considered, I’m going with e) All of the above.

"Minutemen" Get Cold Shoulder in South L. A.

The L. A. Times Reports the Minutemen bigots thought they'd roll into L. A. and enlist African Americans into their bigotry. Instead they are compared to the KKK.

"The Minuteman Project, the self-proclaimed citizen border patrol that has emerged as a vocal
opponent of illegal immigration, arrived in the heart of South Los Angeles on Wednesday hoping to recruit blacks to their cause.

But instead, they were met by protesters — most of them African American — who compared the group to the Ku Klux Klan and urged them to take their campaign elsewhere."

And, by the way, the proposition that illegal immigrants to the USA are taking jobs from the native born is a canard.

From the NYT report linked above:
"Even economists striving hardest to find evidence of immigration's effect on domestic workers are finding that, at most, the surge of illegal immigrants probably had only a small impact on wages of the least-educated Americans — an effect that was likely swamped by all the other things that hit the economy, from the revolution in technology to the erosion of the minimum wage's buying power."

Alabama Legislature Leads Nation

In advocating the removal of "all trade, financial and travel restrictions relating to Cuba", that is.

A resolution adopted by both legislative houses ends with:

"Be it resolved by the legislature of Alabama, both houses thereof concurring, that we hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to remove all trade, financial and travel restrictions relating to Cuba.

"“Be it further resolved, that official copies of this resolution shall be forwarded to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate of the United States Congress, and to each member of the Alabama Congressional Delegation with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record of the Congress of the United States of America."

Bolivia Joins Axis of Evil

Look for "Mother Hen"” Rice and the other purveyors of USA propaganda to ratchet up their war of words against Bolivia and its democratically elected president, Evo Morales; and to declare Bolivia an official partner in the Latin America division of the “Axis of Evil", along with Cuba and Venezuela.

Morales has announced the nationalization of the countries natural gas resources, second in volume in South America only to those of Venezuela, and the USA response will illustrate the primary objective of USA foreign policy - the maintenance of multi-national corporate access to and control over foreign resources and markets.

Morales joins Castro and Chavez on my list of heroes who spit in the face of the USA economic hegemonic ambitions; and George Bush, its latest proponent. Morales has also spit in the face of the dumb asses managing the USA "War on Drugs" by advocating the Bolivian coca industry upon which much of the peasant population depends for its livelihood.

I give heroic honorable mention to Lula da Silva in Brazil and Kirchner in Argentina for loosening the economic hold of the multi-nationals, but am withholding my judgment of true heroic status until they begin spitting. I am also hoping for an AMLO victory in July.

Give 'em hell President Morales.

There is a Better Electoral System

During the run up to the 2006 “mid-term” elections USA residents are being subjected to the usual empty campaign promises, negative campaigning, pandering, posturing, and other standard nonsense associated with elections in their “two-party system.”

Imagine an election system within which everyone is automatically registered to vote upon reaching their sixteenth birthday and wherein anyone sixteen years or older, attending meetings in their election district (ranging in population from 300 to 4,000), may nominate anyone or be nominated to stand for either local or national offices. A system in which candidates are not associated with a “party”, but must run as non-partisans, much like most municipal elections in the USA. Where 5^th and 9^th grade students are present at polling stations to learn of their important responsibility and voter turnout routinely exceeds 90 %.

Imagine a system in which campaign advertising is not permitted so media advisers, spokespersons, strategists, pollsters and the other assortments of campaign whores and pimps are not employed; and money does not determine the election outcome. A system within which candidate profiles publicized and provided to voters by election officials contain only the biography of the candidate, so voters aren’t barraged with the B.S. that characterizes elections in the USA.

Imagine a system in which those elected are not paid for their service to their community or country and where the average reelection rate is only 46.5 %.

Such a system in fact exists only 90 miles from the Florida coast. The above is, and has been since 1992, the election system of those evil communists in Cuba.