Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Don't let Bush destroy even MORE civil liberties
Hi!
The ACLU is sending this out. It's certainly worth doing:
Dear ACLU Supporter,
Thank you for demanding an investigation into whether the FBI has been violating its own internal guidelines. We're absolutely sure that once your friends hear about this outrageous 11th-hour power-grab, they'll want to take action, too.
Can you take a moment to ask your friends to get involved?
Just cut and paste the following text into an email and send it to your friends.
***********
Subject: We're all suspects?!
Under new FBI guidelines proposed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, all the FBI has to do to put anybody they want under prolonged physical surveillance is assert an "authorized purpose" such as detecting or preventing crime or protecting "national security."
These kinds of Bush/Cheney/Gonzales/Mukasey "just trust us" policies have been eroding our rights for the past eight years. After illegal spying and top-level torture policies coming from the White House, this seems like a bad joke. But it is very real. Enough is enough!
These new guidelines would allow the FBI to interview you, your friends and family under a false pretext. The FBI could recruit secret informants, and have them infiltrate peaceful protest groups. And the FBI to could initiate investigations based on little more than race, ethnicity or religion.
The FBI could also search commercial databases for personal details about your life with no real reason.
And all of this would be allowed without an ounce of evidence that you or anyone else has done anything wrong.
These guidelines represent one step closer to a police state. And the worst part is that there is good reason to believe the FBI has been violating its internal guidelines all along.
Fortunately, there is something we can do about this before the new regulations are implemented.
I just demanded that the Inspector General at the Department of Justice launch an investigation to determine if the FBI has been violating its own guidelines. The Inspector General's office at the Department of Justice has proven to be an unbiased, internal watchdog that has consistently exposed wrongdoing. We need to urge the IG to do it again.
Take action now at:
http://action.aclu.org/fbiguidelines
Thanks for taking a stand!
The ACLU Online Team
The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning ...a message from Michael Moore
Monday, September 29th, 2008
The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning ...a message from Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message
Friends,
Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country
is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million
hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half
trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for
the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the
tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and
his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S.
Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the
silverware as they can on their way out the door.
No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are
up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and
keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first
four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you
can see what the real deal is:
"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the
financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.
"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments
covered, not just those related to mortgages.
"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the
assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions,
a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.
"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets
of financial institutions."
Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are
going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm
to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.
The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even
Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is
needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head
of the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he
explain it to anyone.
And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession!
The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout
bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of
the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill
will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you
health insurance.
Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got to do
with the Wall Street collapse?
It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by
the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home
mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear
the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were
given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The
number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills.
Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this
mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.
This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has
been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top
shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their
yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of
America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for
once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a
day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all
another half-trillion dollars!
I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are
staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping
Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to
stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's
what you can do immediately:
1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting
there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made. Tell
him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what's
the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is
offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home
foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him
that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that
affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.
2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called
demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those
near Wall Street and DC).
3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to
find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.
When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you
reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your
actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one
set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set
of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on
a silver platter. No more! Not again!
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@ aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know
you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden
parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will
make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top
managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under
this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for
the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to
receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going
to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO
guarantee of ever seeing that money again.
P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems
are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads
and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start
blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class
constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But
this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have
witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over
to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign
country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug
on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the
crime of the century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them
do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when
President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS
THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.
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Monday, September 29, 2008
Army deploys combat unit in US for possible civil unrest
Army deploys combat unit in US for possible civil unrestBy Bill Van Auken
25 September 2008For the first time ever, the US military is deploying an active duty regular Army combat unit for full-time use inside the United States to deal with emergencies, including potential civil unrest.Beginning on October 1, the First Brigade Combat Team of the Third Division will be placed under the command of US Army North, the Army's component of the Pentagon's Northern Command (NorthCom), which was created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with the stated mission of defending the US "homeland" and aiding federal, state and local authorities.The unit—known as the "Raiders"—is among the Army's most "blooded." It has spent nearly three out of the last five years deployed in Iraq, leading the assault on Baghdad in 2003 and carrying out house-to-house combat in the suppression of resistance in the city of Ramadi. It was the first brigade combat team to be sent to Iraq three times.While active-duty units previously have been used in temporary assignments, such as the combat-equipped troops deployed in New Orleans, which was effectively placed under martial law in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this marks the first time that an Army combat uni t has been given a dedicated assignment in which US soil constitutes its "battle zone."The Pentagon's official pronouncements have stressed the role of specialized units in a potential response to terrorist attack within the US. Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, attended a training exercise last week for about 250 members of the unit at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The focus of the exercise, according to the Army's public affairs office, was how troops "might fly search and rescue missions, extract casualties and decontaminate people following a catastrophic nuclear attack in the nation's heartland.""We are at war with a global extremist network that is not going away," Casey told the soldiers. "I hope we don't have to use it, but we need the capability."However, the mission assigned to the nearly 4,000 troops of the First Brigade Combat Team does not consist merely of rescuing victims of terrorist attacks. An article that appeared earlier this month in the Army Times ("Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1"), a publication that is widely read within the military, paints a different and far more ominous picture."They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control," the paper reports. It quotes the unit's commander, Col. Robert Cloutier, as saying that the 1 st BCT's soldiers are being trained in the use of "the first ever nonlethal package the Army has fielded." The weapons, the paper reported, are "designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them." The equipment includes beanbag bullets, shields and batons and equipment for erecting roadblocks.It appears that as part of the training for deployment within the US, the soldiers have been ordered to test some of this non-lethal equipment on each other."I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered," Cloutier told the Army Times. He described the effects of the electroshock weapon as "your worst muscle cramp ever—times 10 throughout your whole body."The colonel's remark suggests that, in preparation for their "homefront" duties, rank-and-file troops are also being routinely Tasered. The brutalizing effect and intent of such a macabre training exercise is to inure troops against sympathy for the pain and suffering they may be called upon to inflict on the civilian population using these same "non-lethal" weapons.According to military officials quoted by the Army Times, the deployment of regular Army troops in the US begun with the First Brigade Combat Team is to become permanent, with different units rotated into the assignment on an annual basis.In an online interview with reporters earlier this month, NorthCom officers were ask ed about the implications of the new deployment for the Posse Comitatus Act, the 230-year-old legal statute that bars the use of US military forces for law enforcement purposes within the US itself.Col. Lou Volger, NorthCom's chief of future operations, tried to downplay any enforcement role, but added, "We will integrate with law enforcement to understand the situation and make sure we're aware of any threats."Volger acknowledged the obvious, that the Brigade Combat Team is a military force, while attempting to dismiss the likelihood that it would play any military role. It "has forces for security," he said, "but that's really—they call them security forces, but that's really just to establish our own footprint and make sure that we can operate and run our own bases."Lt. Col. James Shores, another NorthCom officer, chimed in, "Let's say even if there was a scenario that developed into a branch of a civil disturbance—even at that point it would take a presidential directive to even get it close to anything that you're suggesting."Whatever is required to trigger such an intervention, clearly Col. Cloutier and his troops are preparing for it with their hands-on training in the use of "non-lethal" means of repression.The extreme sensitivity of the military brass on this issue notwithstanding, the reality is that the intervention of the20military in domestic affairs has grown sharply over the last period under conditions in which its involvement in two colonial-style wars abroad has given it a far more prominent role in American political life.The Bush administration has worked to tear down any barriers to the use of the military in domestic repression. Thus, in the 2007 Pentagon spending bill it inserted a measure to amend the Posse Comitatus Act to clear the way for the domestic deployment of the military in the event of natural disaster, terrorist attack or "other conditions in which the president determines that domestic violence has occurred to the extent that state officials cannot maintain public order."The provision granted the president sweeping new powers to impose martial law by declaring a "public emergency" for virtually any reason, allowing him to deploy troops anywhere in the US and to take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of state governors in order to "suppress public disorder."The provision was subsequently repealed by Congress as part of the 2008 military appropriations legislation, but the intent remains. Given the sweeping powers claimed by the White House in the name of the "commander in chief" in a global war on terror—powers to suspend habeas corpus, carry out wholesale domestic spying and conduct torture—there is no reason to believe it would respect legal restrictions against the use of militar y force at home.It is noteworthy that the deployment of US combat troops "as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters"—in the words of the Army Times—coincides with the eruption of the greatest economic emergency and financial disaster since the Great Depression of the 1930s.Justified as a response to terrorist threats, the real source of the growing preparations for the use of US military force within America's borders lies not in the events of September 11, 2001 or the danger that they will be repeated. Rather, the domestic mobilization of the armed forces is a response by the US ruling establishment to the growing threat to political stability.Under conditions of deepening economic crisis, the unprecedented social chasm separating the country's working people from the obscenely wealthy financial elite becomes unsustainable within the existing political framework.
Copyright 1998-2008
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
"The Deal" by Steve Fournier
Here's the Deal
From Fournier for Congress * www.FournierForCongress.org
Democrats and Republicans hatched a conspiracy yesterday to pay off the bad debts of the nation's crooked bankers. The bankers had been bidding up the price of real estate with low-interest mortgages for the past few years and pocketing the profits, when the bottom fell out of the market. Last week, they threatened not to lend any more money unless the American people give them almost a million million dollars to compensate them for their losses. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have now agreed to meet their demands, in a bailout they hope will postpone the reckoning until after election day.
This is not the sort of bailout sailors accomplish with buckets on a leaking boat. It's more like the bailout that frees an accused thief from the slammer or that allows a flyer to land safely while his plane crashes. It's risky, and it salvages almost nothing, and regular people are overwhelmingly opposed to it.
People understand that there's no money to do this deal and that the value of their money and property will have to be degraded. It's a trillion-dollar redistribution of wealth to rich creditors from debtors, whose worth has already been hurt by war, government malfeasance, and unemployment. And like a debt at the company store, it can never be paid back out of meager earnings. Our children and grandchildren will be sweating out the payments long after we're gone.
Some observers are saying that the bailout can't work without public support. Polls show (and congressional mail confirms) that, by a a huge margin, the people don't want to put up the money. Their reluctance is understandable: they know their government is a collection of crooks and scoundrels whose rap sheets of lying, cheating and stealing stretch from here to Nicaragua. Trust them with a million millions? We don't think so.
So here's the deal. Government, clean up your act and put the executive branch in receivership right now. Get resignations from Bush and Cheney and allow the Speaker to take office and then we'll give you your bailout check.
We're not asking much. The investment houses had to replace their management. Shouldn't their facilitators in government be answerable as well? Throw them out or get their resignations. As fiduciaries, they are tainted and corrupted and could never function credibly in any market of any kind. Their word is worthless. Their motives are venal. They are brutal and dangerous.
So here's the deal. You want our money? Close down this racket. Give us back our laws. Give us back our decency. Give us back our peace. Give us back our country.
From www.FournierForCongress.org
To stop receiving my emails send an email (no message necessary) to guy@currentinvective.com
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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Fwd: People Hit the Streets to Say "No" to the Bankers' Coup d'Etat
From: ANSWER Coalition <ANSWER@internationalanswer.org>
Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Subject: People Hit the Streets to Say "No" to the Bankers' Coup d'Etat
To: richard.duffee@gmail.com
Tell a friend: http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=OMLBAAo-Ii6xBUjnx5AF-A..
Subscribe: http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=0Tzyph4JkbPJFPfQ39CR1g..
**********************
** Please forward as widely as possible: to friends, co-workers, classmates and neighbors**
PEOPLE HIT THE STREETS TO SAY
"NO" TO THE BANKERS' COUP D'ETAT
Demonstrations scheduled for 150 cities throughout the United States
When more than 1,000 workers demonstrated on Wall Street, VoteNoBailout.org volunteers were there with signs and flyers. The ANSWER Coalition is organizing, joining and urging all of its members and supporters to participate in demonstrations that are taking place throughout the country.
Labor unions, community organizations, student groups, peace organizations and thousands of other unaffiliated individuals are taking part in demonstrations all around the country to say "No to the Bailout Legislation."
VoteNoBailout.org signs and leaflets were distributed on Wall Street today in a demonstration of more than 1,000 workers organized by the New York Central Labor Council.
The ANSWER Coalition encourages everyone to tell all of their friends to send a letter to elected officials through VoteNoBailout.org today! Download and print flyers to distribute in your community and at protests in your area opposing the bailout:
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=Debh4upos7Ob5KXH1WDtRw..
Printing leaflets, flyers, posters and banners on an emergency basis costs money. If you would like to make an urgently needed donation, you can do so by clicking this link:
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=Wy2Zhc-v77sq0OqHsMSqfA..
The grassroots movement of resistance to the Grand Theft Bailout is sweeping the country. More than 130,000 letters have been sent through the VoteNoBailout.org website to members of Congress telling them to vote "no" to the bailout legislation.
The bailout package takes our money and gives it to the same bankers and executives who drove the economy into the ground. The pay for chief executives of large U.S. companies is now at 275 times that of the average worker's salary in 2007. It was 25 times greater in 1965. The same bankers who will be given our hard-earned tax dollars refuse to support even the bailout of their own institutions if their obscene salaries are even slightly compromised.
Bush and top leaders of the Republican and Democratic Party are poised to sign this legislation. The so-called concessions by Bush and the bankers are basically a fiction. This is the biggest power grab in U.S. history. It is also one of the biggest transfers of wealth from working families to the ultra-rich in the history of the United States.
If you would like to make an urgently needed donation, you can do so by clicking this link:
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=M5G7XWnq-Xi4nkvWmYN_4g..
A VoteNoBailout To-Do List:
1) Download and distribute a VoteNoBailout flyer
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=3APJiI28mOpYz8DSU2-edA..
2) Send a letter to Congress
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=WmQDkQpJTxgIbMsbCOfHkw..
3) Tell a friend about VoteNoBailout
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=tHrlkhTTOpg7WpkyFfk9mA..
4) Put this button on your site or blog
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=VwPy3BpuJyrbWiOfx9AFpg..
**********************
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
www.answercoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
If this message was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive future ANSWER updates, click:
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Click to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fwd: Protecting the public interest in any economic "bailout"
Date: Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Subject: Protecting the public interest in any economic "bailout"
To: Rozanne Gates <rozannegates@optonline.net>
Protecting the public interest in any economic "bailout" Dear Friend, The U.S. government has been turned into an engine that accelerates the wealth upwards into the hands of a few. The Wall Street bailout, the Iraq War, military spending, tax cuts to the rich, and a for-profit health care system are all about the acceleration of wealth upwards. And now, the American people are about to pay the price of the collapse of the $513 trillion Ponzi scheme of derivatives. Yes, that's half a quadrillion dollars. Our first trillion dollar compression bandage will hardly stem the hemorrhaging of an unsustainable Ponzi scheme built on debt "de-leverages." Does anyone seriously think that our public and private debts of some $45 trillion will be paid? That the administration's growth of the federal debt from $5.6 trillion to $9.8 trillion while borrowing another trillion dollars from Social Security has nothing to do with this? Does anyone not see that when we spend nearly $16,000 for every family of four in our society for the military each year that we are heading over the cliff? This is a debt crisis, not a credit crisis. Just as FDR had to save capitalism after Wall Street excesses, we have to re-invigorate our economy with real - not imaginary - growth. It does not address the never-ending war on the middle class. The same corporate interests that profited from the closing of U.S. factories, the movement of millions of jobs out of America, the off-shoring of profits, the out-sourcing of workers, the crushing of pension funds, the knocking down of wages, the cancellation of health care benefits, the sub-prime lending are now rushing to Washington to get money to protect themselves. The double standard is stunning: their profits are their profits, but their losses are our losses. This bailout will not bring real jobs back to America. It will not bring back jobs that make things. It does not rebuild our schools, streets, neighborhoods, parks or bridges. The major product of this financial economy is now debt. Industrial capitalism has been destroyed.
In the next few days I will push for a plan that includes equity for every American in any taxpayer investment in this so-called bail-out plan. Since the bailout will cost each and every American about $2,300, I have proposed the creation of a United States Mutual Trust Fund, which will take control of $700 billion in stock assets, convert those assets to shares, and distribute $2,300 worth of shares to new individual savings accounts in the name of each and every American.
I will also insist that all of the following issues be considered in whatever Congress passes:
- Reinstatement of the provisions of Glass-Steagall, which forbade speculation
- Re-regulation of the finance, insurance, and real estate industries
- Accountability on the part of those who took the companies down:
- a) resignations of management
- b) givebacks of executive compensation packages
- c) limitations on executive compensation
- d) admission by CEO's of what went wrong and how, prior to any government bailout
- Demands for transparencey
- a) with respect to analyzing the transactions which took the companies down
- b) with respect to Treasury's dealings with the companies pre and post-bailout
- An equity position for the taxpayers
- a) some form of ownership of assets
- Some credible formula for evaluating the price of the assets that the government is buying.
- A sunset clause on the legislation
- Full public disclosure by members of Congress of assets held, with possible conflicts put in blind trust.
- A ban on political campaign contributions from officers of corporations receiving bailouts
- A requirement that 2008 cycle candidates return political contributions to officers and representatives of corporations receiving bailouts
Dennis J Kucinich
www.Kucinich.us <http://www.Kucinich.us>
216-252-9000 877-933-6647
<http://kucinich.us/contribute>
PO Box 110475 | Cleveland | OH | 44111 | 216-252-9000
Forward email <http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?m=1102055395994&ea=rozannegates%40optonline.net&a=1102252091871>
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Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee | PO Box 110475 | Cleveland | OH | 44111
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Two Facts
From Fournier for Congress * www.fournierforcongress.org
Two facts: US government ownership of private business is un-American. The economy's in trouble because people don't have enough money to pay their debts.
When a capitalist wants to take over a business (for profit), the capitalist puts a pot of money together and makes an offer to its owners. When government wants to take over a business (in the public interest), it applies to a court to appoint receivers, trustees, conservators, or other fiduciaries, depending on what the law directs, and these officers administer the affairs of the business. They don't have to pay for this authority, and they don't have to buy anything. A judge puts them in charge. As agents of the judiciary, they can't share in profits. It's entirely fitting for law enforcement agencies, like our government, to seize corrupt enterprises from their owners and managers, all in accordance with our laws.
What we don't allow is the merger of government and for-profit business. We consider such arrangments to be dangerous and un-American, and the eldest of us remember that government-business arrangements were fundamental to the establishment and maintenance of Fascist regimes in 20th-Century Spain, Germany, and Italy. Such arrangements are inherently corrupt, as freedom-loving people around the world well know.
To the credit of our founders, they gave us a government of enumerated powers, and the power to operate for-profit business isn't in there. There is a clause that gives Congress the authority to do what is "necessary and proper" to carry out its constitutional duties, but there are limits, and this has to be one of them. The idea that Congress can open the treasury to executive officials for speculation in private markets is preposterous. The reason no group of leaders before this one has ever proposed such a thing is that it's un-American and almost certainly unconstitutional. It's far more radical than Roosevelt's New Deal, most of which was struck down by the Supreme Court. This means Congress can't do it, and it's time to consider something reasonable and legal.
That's where the second fact comes in. Suppose people had sufficient income to pay their debts. Then the debts wouldn't be bad, and the banks wouldn't be insolvent. If we're going to print a trillion bucks, let's use them to employ workers to build a fast train across the USA or install photovoltaics wherever the sun shines or repair rotting bridges and decrepit schools, empowering more people to pay their debts and improving the general quality of life at the same time. It's a percolate-up strategy, as opposed to the trickle-down approach now under consideration. Don't say we can't afford it, because Congress is ready to put these sums on the table in a game of chance. This is a sure thing. Demand it next time somebody asks for your vote.
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Connecticut Readers: Rally at Capitol Opposing Constitutional Convention, 9/28 1:30 pm Link
Sunday, September 21, 2008
STEVE FOURNIER ON THE BAILOUT
Racketeers' Tab Comes Due
From Current Invective * www.currentinvective.com
Congress is about to make an unprecedented payment on the national credit line that will cripple at least two generations of American workers. Even though Democrats and Republicans have been siphoning wealth to their rich patrons (foreign and domestic) from the rest of us for a couple of decades, it doesn't seem to have been enough. The big owners just suffered a loss of about 10% of their U. S. holdings and they're threatening to ruin us if we don't make a big payment. Now. Their sugar-daddies in Washington are leaving government, and they figure they had better get it now if they're going to get it at all.
If this sounds like racketeering, that's because it is. It's trillion-dollar blackmail. The blackmailers are folks who accumulated dollars by selling us crap and then loaned most of them back to us so we could afford to spend. We mortgaged everything to get the money, and we bid up the price of everything with the money they loaned us. Meanwhile, the actual value of our assets (and theirs) was degraded by war, outlaw government and criminal business practices. Now, they want their money, and, if the racketeers who run our government don't pay them, they'll shut the whole operation down.
Somebody could have told the creditors that US dollars were a bad risk. Here's a nation that wages aggressive warfare year after year, that imprisons large segments of its population and drugs the rest, that craves violent entertainment, that doesn't read, that elects crooks to public office, and that believes God is coming presently to take them directly to heaven. Responsible investors know better than to dispense money to an outfit like that. These suckers fell for an old con game--churning up sales to simulate value--and they deserve to bear the consequences. But if we don't meet their demands, the economy will crash, our leaders tell us.
Poverty is spreading like a virus, and this makes it easy to sow panic. Certainly, the commercial news media (owners of many excess dollars) and the political class have been promoting the idea that there will be a catastrophe if we don't make the protection payment. Notice that they never tell us where the money will be going. Which pockets will be full when the trillion is handed out? Not mine, I'm betting, and not yours, either. Ask your congressman how much of it will be going to foreign investors. Ask the pundits how much will wind up in the hands of millionaires. Ask how much will be used to augment bank accounts already swollen by two decades of frantic buying and selling.
Will we be saved if we fork this money over? It's just a downpayment, after all, and the financiers' creditors are merciless. As extortionists, they will demand and demand and demand, and our kids and grandkids will have to sweat out the next half-century trying to meet the obligations we take on. Then there's the problem that the money to pay the protection doesn't exist. We can print it, but that will degrade the value of the dollars in our pockets and bank accounts, which will buy less and less. That's already happening.
What if we refuse to pay? That will be the end of loaned money for awhile. At least, that's what they're threatening. My credit card from Chase Bank probably won't work anymore because Chinese drug-makers and Arabian oil-mongers and German wine-merchants will no longer be giving Chase money to lend. It's not smart to lend to debtors who can't pay the money back or who will pay it back in devalued currency. When credit dries up, commerce slows, and people lose jobs. That's already happening, too.
So we're screwed either way. If we don't make up the crooked financiers' gambling losses they won't lend us any more money. If we do, we saddle our kids and grandkids with debts they can't possibly handle. Either way, most of us end up broke, and many of us end up hungry and homeless. All because of our profligate system, which requires us to buy endless crap, including megatons of bombs and bullets, with money we don't have.
If I have to choose between profligate poverty and responsible poverty, I'm inclined to choose the latter. Our leaders have disqualified themselves from making any further decisions for posterity, and we should stop them from throwing our grandchildren's money away. Voters should pledge not to vote for any incumbent or candidate who supports this. Let the lenders grab their lost money from the billionaires who have it. Don't put it on my tab. Economic consequences? Bring 'em on!
From Current Invective * www.currentinvective.com
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Steve got so mad, he had to run for Congress. Check out www.fournierforcongress.org
More info on US attacking Iran - in October!
"Leslie is a member of CodePink and is actively working to prevent an attck on Iran. In her latest e-mail, she gives even more proof that Israel (with US help) intends to bomb Iran in October - before the election! You may still think I'm crazy, but I don't think we will have an election - Bush will put the country under marshall law.
He must be impeached before that!
Barb":
Leslie has returned to the CodePink House and plans to stay in DC until Congress hits the campaign trail. She's there to hold our representatives accountable during these last three weeks of the Congressional session. Click here to see Leslie standing up to Congress (and scroll down to see her photo): http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v23n3/leaderless_counterterrorism_strategy.html
Leslie is particularly concerned about Ackerman and his proposed naval blockade of Iran, H.Con.Res. 362. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JI13Ak01.html. Last year he was willing to ride a bicycle in Iran to prevent a war. Now he wants our Navy to inspect the cargo of foreign ships before they enter Iranian waters. Petroleum is on the embargo list and Iran currently imports 40% of what it needs to meet its energy requirements. Does Ackerman think Iran will allow this blockade? How long will it take before this untenable situation provokes an "incident"? Do you think AIPAC ( American Israel Public Affairs Committee) might have had something to do with his transformation? Please call him if you oppose this resolution: 202 225-2601.
Leslie has an appointment with Reva Price, an aide in Pelosi's office, to urge the Speaker of the House to oppose the sale of the 100 bunker busters this administration has recently decided to sell to Israel: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020702.html. They "penetrate fortified facilities located deep underground" and it's reported in The Jerusalem Post, "The bombs would likely be used in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran." Congress has thirty days to object. Please call your Congressional representative (202-224-3121) and ask her/him to oppose this sale.
Nothing was ever accomplished by hiding in a dark corner. Why not discard the hermitage for the heritage that awaits any red-blooded American woman who dares to claim it?
— Del Martin, lesbian rights pioneer and activist who passed away on Aug. 28, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Register for the Phone blockade NOW! ONE OF THE BEST IMPEACHMENT TOOLS EVER
Susan Serpa <scsserpa@yahoo.com> wrote:
To: "Susan C. Serpa" <Sue4theBillofRights@yahoo.com>
From: Susan Serpa <scsserpa@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:31:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [ctimpeach] Register for the Phone blockade NOW! ONE OF THE BEST IMPEACHMENT TOOLS EVER
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Monday, September 8, 2008
Please sign Kucinich's petition for impeachment
From: Volunteers for KUCINICH <mail@kucinichvolunteers.ning.com>
To: "german@allamericanlimoservice.com" <german@allamericanlimoservice.com>
Subject: On Volunteers for KUCINICH: We need more petition signatures - activate your friends!
A message to all members of Volunteers for KUCINICH
hi everyone -
Congressman Kucinich will be presenting his impeachment petition signatures to House Speaker Pelosi this Wednesday. Our goal is 1,000,000 and we need your help to reach it! Please email all of your friends and ask them to sign the petition at www.kucinich.us. You can also include this information if you like:
With an election right around the corner, why seek impeachment now?
If we allow the President and VP to 'get away with it', we are saying their type of conduct is permissible in future administrations. Any and all crimes committed by the President and VP must be put on the official record to facilitate future law enforcement concerning the crimes (even after they leave office), to remind future Administrations to adhere to the law, and to avert another looming illegal war - this time against Iran.
Thank you very much!!
Visit Volunteers for KUCINICH at: http://kucinichvolunteers.ning.com
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Steve Fournier on the Republican convention's criminality
Bust St. Paul
From Current Invective * www.currentinvective.com
The city of St. Paul received multi-million-dollar guarantees from the Republican Party to insure against lawsuits resulting from police misconduct and other unconstitutional acts. In other words, a political party conspired with local government to violate the law of the land.
And the Twin Cities did just that. Storm troopers armed and outfitted in kevlar and gas masks by the governments of Minneapolis and St. Paul unleashed wave after wave of violent force against people on the streets to protest government policy.
There were pre-emptive seizures and arrests. There were beatings. There were gas and percussion grenades. Tightly-handcuffed protestors, along with bystanders swept up in the dragnet, were manhandled and jailed. Cameras were confiscated, and press credentials were ignored.
These two city governments violated fundamental constitutional rights to assemble, to speak and publish, to be secure from government searches and seizures, to report on events, and to maintain political affiliations, not to mention the right to walk the public streets unmolested by thugs in police uniforms.
New York City just settled with protesters arrested several years ago in that big, rich city. A two-million-dollar damage award isn't going to bust the apple, but 20 or 30 million in punitive damages could cause St. Paul's constitutionally deficient leaders some serious hurt.
In fact, legal strategies are being plotted, and we should all press for a mammoth class action, plus criminal prosecutions, and make sure the awards exceed whatever insurance and other guarantees these two lawless boroughs think they have.
I'd like to participate, but from a thousand miles away in Connecticut, all I can do is holler. I can turn off "Prairie Home" at the first mention of anything Minnesotan and quit using Scotch tape, but I'd like to do more.
So I'm suing my city over something that happened here in April, when George Bush paid a visit. A hastily-arranged peace demonstration in which I participated was herded into a "free-speech" zone a block away from the Hartford street down which the Bush motorcade drove. This was a violation of my rights under the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, and I decided to bring suit today, as a citizen, as a writer, and as a candidate for public office.
If all of the 200 or so people who were with me when Bush passed within a quarter-mile of us were to join my suit we could cause some heartburn among the city leaders who impeded us in our exercise of the duties of citizenship. Between Hartford and the Twin Cities, we might even raise a bit of money for progressive causes. My city has till September 23 to respond to my complaint, which is posted on-line at www.fournierforcongress.org/lawsuit.
From Current Invective * www.currentinvective.com
To stop receiving my emails send an email (no message necessary) to guy@currentinvective.com
If you like these rants, give the gift of outrage to your progressive correspondents and let me add your email list to mine. Same contact, with "emails" on the subject line.
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Steve got so mad, he had to run for Congress. Check out www.fournierforcongress.org
Lord Stirling on habeas corpus
the Tory Shadow Home Secretary has resigned as Shadow Home Secretary and as
a MP in protest at the passage of a Bill to allow pre-charge detention up to
42 days of suspected "terrorists". The Bill, a major political initiative of
neocon Prime Minister Gordon Brown, only passed when the Government made
massive undisclosed promises to nine Northern Irish Members of Parliament.
Many Labour Members of Parliament and almost all opposition MPs voted
against the Bill as they felt that imprisoning people without charges, or a
trial or conviction, for up to six weeks is not something that a free
society does.
David Davis has resigned and will run for re-election in his district both
as a protest over the Government's Bill and to allow his constituents (and
the British people at large) to debate the Government's "erosion of
freedom".
The United Kingdom, under neocon Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon
Brown, has led the way to jack boot police state laws ~ all of which are
claimed "necessary to fight terrorism". The UK has one CCTV camera for every
14 citizens. It is not possible to travel down any major roadway in the UK,
for hardly any distance at all without being under police CCTV surveillance.
English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish cities and towns are covered
with CCTV police cameras. Some even have speakers so that the police can
talk to you if they don't like whatever it is you are doing or not doing or
whatever.
The United Kingdom has a DNA database larger than any dictatorship in
history with a million innocent citizens in the ever growing database. The
Brits have one of the most intrusive ID card systems in the world.
Increasingly, the right to trial by jury is being restricted by the
Government.
Mr. Davis, in his resignation statement has said, "This Sunday is the
anniversary of Magna Carta, a document that guarantees that most fundamental
of British freedoms, habeas corpus, the right not to be imprisoned by the
state without charge or reason. Yesterday, this House decided to lock up
potentially innocent citizens for up to six weeks without charge." He went
on to say, "The state has security powers to clampdown on peaceful protest
and so-called hate laws to stifle legitimate debate whilst those who incite
violence get off scot free. This cannot go on. This must be stopped and for
that reason, I feel it is incumbent on me to take a stand. I will be
resigning my membership of this House and I intend to force a by-election in
Haltemprice and Howden."
"I'm not fighting on the government's general record, there is no point in
repeating Crewe and Nantwich, I won't fight it on my personal record ~ I am
just a piece in this great chess game. I will fight it, I will argue in this
by-election against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms
by this Government. Now that may mean I have made my last speech to the
House and of course, that would be a cause of deep regret to me but at least
my electorate and the nation as a whole would have the opportunity to debate
and consider one of the most fundamental issues of our day ~ the ever
intrusive power of the state into our lives, the loss of privacy, the loss
of freedom and the steady attrition undermining the rule of law. If they do
send me back here it will be with a single message ~ that the monstrosity of
a law that we passed yesterday will not stand."
It is a real shame that here in America we lack such senior political
leaders as David Davis.
Sometimes a leader, if he or she is to be real, has to place the interests
of the nation before himself. Sadly, most politicians are so psychopathic
that they see themselves as more important than the Constitution and all 300
million Americans.
Maybe David Davis will start a new trend ~ standing up for something real
and important not just more self serving lying bullshit.
Stirling
