CIVILIANISM PODCAST

Tea Parties across America occurred on April 15th, and I was there among the crazy people.  Republicans are deranged, racist and anti-government people these days.   Retired people getting Social Security and Medicare protested against taxes on April 15th in cities across the country. Did it make any sense? No. Apparently they think that the social programs they enjoy are funded by magical fairies who drop money on the Treasury department. All taxes are bad to these people, (even as taxes are going down for 95% of most Americans) because they have been brainwashed by the far-right, especially the extremists on FOX News and the fascists like Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

I pull no punches with these people in this episode. We can’t afford to, because they are dangerous and they are violent. They simply hate Democrats/liberals/socialists. They didn’t even know what they were protesting. Are they misguided? To say the least.

The Tea Party itself was mostly, overall, anti-Obama and seemed to be a bunch of right-wing white supremacists.

I play audio from the Tea Party in my city, and my (mild) heckling of this “event”.

I also play audio from the fascist Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “climate forum” last week, where she was accompanied by her fascist friend Chris Horner of the Competitive Fascists Foundation. (CEI)

It’s so astounding to see these so-called 99% right-wing Christians advise against helping even the most poor and down and out people in this country, and also against doing anything about global warming — even denying it exists. There is no logic to these extremists anymore. We have to stop these uninformed blowhards before they destroy every good thing our government is trying to do, and worse. We need to fund the fight against climate change with a carbon emissions tax soon and they are against that too. They are against every good and progressive thing that the Obama administration needs to get done this year and next.

Apparently, right-wing extremists want civilization itself to fail!

Music by Santigold- “Pretty Green” and Ricki Lee Jones “Have you had enough”?  I have!

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Related articles by Zemanta

• Democratic Climate Plan Would Trim CO2 Emissions 17% (bloomberg.com)
• Gore Sees Economic Crisis As “Opportunity” (cbsnews.com)
• Gore: Bad Economy Is Time For “Decisive Action” On Global Warming (huffingtonpost.com)

Highlights from Powershift09 sending a message to end the use of coal — and as speaker Robert Kennedy put it, coal is a criminal enterprise. What they are doing to mountains and our air is nothing short of criminal. It’s time to take action to stop coal. It’s time for a citizens arrest of coal. Speakers from Powershift09 include RFK Jr., Van Jones and Lisa Jackson; also Bill McKibben and Jimmy Carter in the second half.

The Age of Stupid movie trailer can be seen here.

Interested in the Clean Energy Corp — story link about green jobs from the Environment News Service:
“Clean Energy Corps Proposed to Create Jobs, Fight Global Warming”

In the 2nd half, you’ll hear about why natural gas isn’t such a great fuel, why it’s not “clean” like Pelosi is claiming, and whatever happened to Jimmy Carter’s solar panels, and his dream of clean energy. It’s not a happy story, but 30 years later, we have another realistic chance at it. And at the end, bits of a speech from 32 years ago, much of which President Obama could be saying today.

Nancy Pelosi’s conflict of interest is her financial interest in T. Boone Picken’s natural gas venture.
From the Wall Street Journal.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband invested between $50,000 and $100,000 in T. Boone Pickens’s Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which could benefit from legislation the California Democrat favors to boost U.S. use of natural gas.

Nancy Pelosi’s letter about switching the CPP to natural gas: Read the whole thing here.

Pelosi has a conflict of interest with natural gas, being an investor in T. Boone Pickens natural gas company. She’s an investor in natural gas, so she is pushing the use of natural gas on the nation’s capitol, insinuating that it’s “clean” and renewable, which it most certainly is not. She should be installing solar panels instead. — like our president did 30 years ago. The drilling process for natural gas contains the use of toxic chemicals, including Benzene which causes cancer. And get this — the company who perfected this deadly technique was Halliburton. Here more about this in part 2 of this episode.

From Scientific America.

“Sublette County is the home of one of the nation’s largest natural gas fields, and many of its 6,000 wells have undergone a process pioneered by Halliburton called hydraulic fracturing, which shoots vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals several miles underground to break apart rock and release the gas. The process has been considered safe since a 2004 study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today fracturing is used in 9 out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States.”

As for Jimmy Carter’s solar panels–they were removed by the Reaganites, and now you can hear why.
I read much of the story, but you can read the rest of it here.

You can download this episode here.

Related articles:

• Sen. Reid has plan to reform energy infrastructure (news.cnet.com)
• As Oil and Gas Prices Plunge, a Frenzy of Drilling Ends (nytimes.com)

This is a presentation of the latest science on climate change, as presented before the U.S. Senate Environmental and Public Works committee, one of our new “Burn Units”. The planet is burning up and our government is ready to get to work.

This is part one, and part two will only be on Futurism Now Radio.com.
This episode starts with a message about PowerShift09 from scientist James Hansen.

Here are the facts: this is the only planet any of us have, so let’s all work together to solve this climate problem. It truly is a crisis–more so than the banking crisis, but the government keeps bailing out banks while keeping action on global warming a lower priority. If there is any fire to put out, it’s climate change.

On February 4, 2009 Energy Secretary Stephen Chu told the Los Angeles Times:
“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” he said. “We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California,” He sees education as a means to combat this threat.

Much of the Senate hearing is played in this episode, but it was very long so I’m splitting it in two. The Full Committee was titled, “Update on the Latest Global Warming Science.” I didn’t see any major American media cover this, and it should have been big news. After all, this is the latest science on climate change, straight from the scientists. More of the scientists will appear in part II — Part I contains the Senate panel’s member comments and the statements of two of the scientists, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning IPCC, PhD, and Christopher Field PhD, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University, Co-chair of Working Group II (continued in part II)

Climate change is the biggest threat to life on this planet, and we can’t stand by and watch it happen while our mainstream media treats it like no big deal–certainly less of a big deal than banks collapsing, so I’m asking people to spread the word. Our media is once again letting us down and even worse, treating this like a debatable political issue, which it absolutely is not.

The testimony Hansen gave to the House Ways & Means Committee is available at
this site (pdf)

Download this episode here.

Bush is gone! This is the full inauguration address of President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009.

Imagine this: We not only have “hope” back but we have a president who respects science and the law again. What a relief!

Download or listen here.
A new episode of PLNC is coming soon. PLNC is new: Podcast Liberally News and Commentary and will be a new podcast under 20 minutes: news and commentary and music. You can see the website here, but I will also be putting it into the Civilianism podcast feed for a while. The Civilianism podcast will also continue but on bi-monthly basis instead of weekly.
Speech recording courtesy of ABC News.

It’s a New Year with all of the Old Problems, and then some.

The slaughter of innocent people in the Gaza strip continues with the blessing of the United States, while Dick Cheney and George Bush go on their media Fairy Tale Hour speaking tours. Both have admitted torture and are trying to avoid being prosecuted for war crimes by kissing up to the Obama administration and the media.

We get 30 seconds of news given to the war in Gaza, which we are helping to fund and supply with weapons, in our mainstream media’s nightly news. No wonder Americans are in favor of whatever it is that Israel is doing.

There were no Hamas rockets during the ceasefire of mid-June through November 4th, when Israel broke the ceasefire by attacking and kiling 6 Palestinians. Now, the propaganda wars are waging as fiercely as the bombing and shooting war in Gaza. As the death toll has gone over 1,000 with most of the dead being civilians, it’s hard to imagine why our Congress has endorsed this brutality, unless you reach the conclusion that the U.S. government is somewhat, ah, . . . . . . corrupt.

Pardon me, did I say that out loud?

Join me in my search for Happiness. I think I have found it.

Here is Froomkin’s little summary of the Bush legacy, ‘The Bush Verdict is In”. World Freedom ‘Retreats for Third Year‘

Livestation TV – watch foreign media in good quality. This episode contains news from Wednesday night from Al Jazeera. Max Blumenthal’s video about the pro-Israel rally he did for Alternet.org is here.

I wish everyone a happy and peaceful 2009.

Podcast artwork by Rami Abbas, for Palestine.

DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE HERE or subscribe on the right.

End Song: Michael Heart, We will not go down (Song for Gaza)
Middle song: Tom Chartier, Death Don’t Have No Mercy

Lets get UNserious today for a change. I play the Al Smith Dinner comedy show, starring John McCain and Barack Obama, almost in its entirety. Join me for political hilarity.

Also, an announcement of the 3rd party debates on C-SPAN on Sunday night! See ThirdPartyTicket for more information.

I don’t say much about the debates because what’s to say? You’ve heard most of the analysis already. But Jon Stewart helps with a few comments on Joe the Plumber. Here is the full story on the Joe the Plumber myth.
It’s a hit or myth podcast!

UPDATE: Regarding the remarks I made about Canada’s election, here is some clarification that was sent by a listener in Canada.

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Voter and nonvoter ignorance is so prevalent and accepted, from our politicians, to our media, to people we know. Yes, it’s everywhere. Help me fight it. John McCain is a Neocon and thanks to a listener, I have proof: he signed a PNAC document regarding Russia that is on their site.

You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

I discuss a maddening email from a John McCain supporter who also denies science and climate change, and my response to it. Climate change is real, and I have started a new information center on my website, under the “climate” tab at civilianism.com/gate. Please visit it and add comments and links to new sites if you are aware of any. Help me fight the ignorance of those who have a “religious” belief system that doesn’t accept scientific evidence.

If I hear one more person tell me that global warming is a myth I will turn into a solar flare myself. Shine some light in the darkness! And no, I do not want my country to go down in flames. Stop–don’t vote for John McCain!

ACORN: John McCain once loved them. Might have just been a sordid affair, like so many of his others. But Republicans everywhere are lying to Americans and telling them this is voter fraud, when any irregularities are actually just registration fraud. No one has voted yet using these registrations. I find out this morning my state’s ACORN is also being sued. Squirrels everywhere are very upset. And, more ignorance to fight: McCain Volunteers Taught to Accuse Obama of Terrorism from Feldman’s Frameshop.

The Rolling Stone article about John McCain: Make Believe Maverick. Related articles on the same page, all worth reading.

I also play a mysterious voicemail and I need help in deciphering its meaning.

The new 501 Lobby group against a nuclear Iran — for what purpose? — is here: United Against Iran

Juan Cole spoke on September 29th at St. John’s University in MN, on the subject of Iraq, and I play part of his talk in the 2nd half. (It’s a little bit hard to hear, sorry about that). Here is his website, Informed Comment.

First song: MidLife Crisis, by Faith No More

Middle Song: The Man, The Myth, The McCain by Roy Zimmerman

Final song: This World is Too Crowded by The Rotters

Our homeland insecurity is now of gargantuan proportions. Our economy is in ruins because of Reaganomics, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enormous bailouts we are giving corporations and the gigantic Pentagon budget. What we spend on war in six months could eradicate poverty in this country and probably many others too, but our goverment’s priorities are in all the wrong places. The Republican-led government would rather protect rich people than give what’s left of the middle class a break. In fact, they are now asking those middle class people to bail out giant investment companies and rich people with money to burn, including CEOs, who made the bad decisions. Will they succeed? Obama and McCain are also battling this out in the media — when McCain is not ignoring the media, that is.

As for martial law — we have a real danger, due to a combination of events, of heading for a very unpleasant “October surprise”. It could be both economic and militaristic in nature. What is really troublesome is this article from the Army Times that reveals a plan to deploy an Army brigade inside the united States, violating the Posse Comitatus Act. The brigade will be used for various “homeland security” issues.

ArmyTimes article on the Homeland Brigade is here.

National Defense Authorization Act article of 2007, setting up the end of the Posse Comitatus Act, is here.
Is this the End of America as we know it? If not, it’s a big wake-up call!

Naomi Wolf also presents her version of the battle plan for the Republicans
Wolf says that Sarah Palin is the Muse of the Conservatives and possibly, their political end game. See the article she wrote about it here.

Youth against war and racism’s website is here. My interview with Jon, a local high school student, is about the YAWR group, what they do, and more.
And here is the new GI Bill Overview that is mentioned in the interview — but this all hinges on the economy. If the economy goes down in flames, I doubt any soldier will receive a paycheck, much less GI Benefits.

Jon M. talks about ways students can counteract recruitment in schools. He also tells me about a rally and march in my city that will go to a military recruitment center. If they can distrupt students trying to learn in schools, he says that we can disrupt their work. If you want to join the rally and march on October 4th, visit for more information: October 4th march to recruitment center in central Minnesota.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

This episode contains the 2nd part of the interview with Anne Kilkenny of Alaska on the subject of Governor Palin. The first part of this episode is a discussion of some news items, and more things about how John McCain and Sarah Palin equal a Bush-Cheney Term III. The first half of this interview is in episode #66.

Anne’s original email is here
Articles mentioned:
2006 Governor’s questionnaire
from Eagle Forum Alaska, a conservative website.

Good voting information site: Votersunite.org and Election Law News Wire
Palin links Iraq to September 11! Shades of Bush and Cheney . . . .

Here is the Pastor Bess story about Palin’s belief in religion on government

Palin and the teleprompter ad-lib story is here. It’s funny, but not as funny as how my interest in Palin is exorcised.

War Crimes videos from last week’s Conference hosted by the Massachusetts School of Law.
Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

On September 1st and 2nd I attended anti-war protests and rallies in St. Paul Minnesota, and this video contains some of the photos and videos I took while there. I’ve also included some video clips I found online of some of the violence I didn’t witness myself, and the protests on the other days I wasn’t there.

Yes, there were police in riot gear everywhere. It was also very difficult to move around due to the fences and barricades. The Xcel Center where the RNC was taking place was cordoned off like the Green Zone in Baghdad and probably as heavily protected.

This 30-minute video includes Iraq Veterans Against the War at the protest rally on September 1st, CodePink, and Rosa Clemente, footage of the protest march itself, several photos of the rally and march, and some video others produced. That video includes footage of some of the violence that occurred on the 2nd and 3rd days of the RNC, the inspiration for all of the protest activity in St. Paul. There was an enormous police and security presence for this “security” event and you can see that in the video. A portion of the Poor People’s march is shown (thanks to TheUptake.org video).

(Click here to play/download the video, or it will be in the RSS feed)

There was a lot going on in St. Paul these 4 days and I missed quite a bit of it due to other things I was doing. Ralph Nader and Ron Paul were also in town holding their own conventions. The main event for me, the March on the RNC to Stop the War on the 1st was great (and mostly peaceful) and I wish everyone had been there. We hoped for 50,000 people and about 15,000 showed up. It was enough to scare the police, apparently. In contrast, there was a police presence of 3,700, in addition to secret service, private security, the FBI, Blackwater, and the National Guard. All for a few protesters exercising their rights of Freedom of speech.

You can also see me in the video, but I was wearing my usual protest disguise of a hat, sunglasses, etc, which is also my usual travel disguise. It didn’t work…. I was apparently tracked by some type of RNC security for 2 days.

The music is from Greenpeace video, Michael Franti from the Ripple Effect concert on September 2nd, and Rage Against the Machine, who gave a concert at the Target Center on the last day of the RNC. I included about 4 photos of the RNC itself, which I got from MTV.com photos. Footage at the end of Amy Goodman is courtesy of SFGate.

Some of my photos from the anti-war march on September 1st can be seen at my Citizen Against Lies blog. I will have a gallery of them later. I wasn’t there when things got violent later, so none of that is in my photos. The violence happened because several anarchist groups started damaging property and purposely confronting police. Their purpose was to incite the police to react, and that’s exactly what happened. No one was stuck in a cage or freedom zone/barrier, so it wasn’t violence that made a lot of sense to me. (The march itself went nearly an hour over schedule and no one harassed us).

The net result was violence, property damage, and the anger of people who wanted to keep the march peaceful, because that was the purpose of the march to begin with — peace.   I was pretty surprised that things got violent after the march was over.  Acceptance of violence is the whole reason we are in Iraq to begin with, so starting violence at a peace march was exactly what I hoped would not happen. However, it did lead to a lot of local media coverage, which meant the anti-war march itself got a lot of coverage. In that respect, it was successful.

Also, Cynthia McKinney was not at the march or rally but Rosa Clemente was and I got to meet her.

[tags]march on the rnc, republican national convention, protest march, anti-war march[/tags]

Do you consider yourself patriotic? Yes or no, you will want to listen to this. Protesting is one of the most patriotic things you can do, especially considering the way Congress is giving away our rights on a weekly basis, all to buy a little so-called safety. That’s the excuse for the wars we are in too, but it’s a false sense of safety. These military exercises just drag on and on. It’s time to end these optional for-profit wars, and bring the soldiers home.

Check out U.S. House Res. 362 — Sanctions on Iran. This is being fast-tracked and these are severe sanctions, including a possible blockade. A blockade is especially serious since it is considered an Act of War. This won’t win us any help at the negotiating table when we finally sit down with Iran after Bush is done damaging the process as much as possible.

House Resolution 362 is really a scary thing to consider. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on “Meeting the Iranian Challenge” on Tuesday, July 8, 2008. The Honorable William J. Burns is the only witness announced so far. It has been endorsed by 146 cosponsors and has momentum with reportedly 43 cosponsors jumping on the last two days. Gareth Porter says that US House Res. 362 suggests the use of force with new bill. See his video explaining this at the link above.
The following groups will be involved in the March on the RNC in September:
United for Peace and Justice
ANSWER

Troops out Now Coalition

September 2nd: Poor People’s economic Human Rights campaign

Big Concert on the 2nd being planned, so far for the state capitol: Anti-Flag and Michael Franti

The National Assembly to End the War and Occupation of Iraq

Anti-war Committee.org

Protest RNC 2008.org — A clearinghouse for every protest group going to the March on the RNC, the site is good for info. on what will be happening all four days.

If you want to get the real inside info on the March for the RNC, listen to my Interview about the big anti-war march scheduled in St. Paul September 1st, 2008, at the Republican National Convention with Katrina P. from MarchonRNC.org

Download this episode directly here or subscribe on the right.

Music: Peace in America by Dan Coyle, I am a Patriot by Little Steven

Gutting the 4th Amendment? The Congress is seemingly paid off to sell our 4th Amendment rights. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer lead the charge with the most money received to them directly from the telecoms and they are the most enthusiastic in fighting for them. The Senate then voted for cloture and the FISA vote may now be delayed to July. The true heroes of this saga: Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold. Where is Obama on our 4th amendment rights? Nowhere to be seen. Instead, he released a statement that said he supports the compromise.

Supreme Court Exxon decision here.

The Physician’s for Human Rights report called Broken Laws, Broken Lives can be found here.

Major General Antonio Taguba, USA, Preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives

JUSTICE is on the table — via Lawrence Velvel: Law School to Plan Bush War Crimes Prosecution

“A conference to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other high administration officials for war crimes will be held September 13-14 at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover .

“This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred,” said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. “It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth.”

“We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice,” Velvel said. “And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war-criminals in the 1940s.”

John McCain gave an energy speech that contradicts his own habits! The cars he drives are not energy efficient at all. How about 13 mpg?

June 21 Air Force Air Power Summary – the fuel we are using for war is insane.

As for the FISA compromise: Nancy Pelosi is not upholding the constitution and should be impeached.

FISA compromise bill is here. (Download pdf)

The Politico (linked above) has provided the full text of the compromise bill (114 page PDF file) and points to section 201, listed as, “Procedures for implementing statutory defenses under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.” That is where it explains the portion that has caused the most conflict, which is immunity for the telecommunications industry.

Cloture vote against furthering debate on FISA compromise: List of votes in the Senate

Obama’s support for the FISA “compromise”

AntiWar Radio (Entire Glen Greenwald interview)

How are telecoms are attempting to buy amnesty from Congress? Read about it here.

George Carlin has died, and he was much more than just a comedian. He was a liberal warrior. At the end of this episode I play a clip of Glenn Greenwald on FISA, and a bit of George Carlin. Make sure with the upcoming FISA vote: Call your Senators!

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right. Music at end: Iris DeMent, Our Town. Subscribe to the new podcast feed here. The old one will disappear soon!

[tags]FISA, telecom immunity, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, 4th amendment, constitution, constitutional rights, George Carlin, Maplight, Glenn Greenwald[/tags]

Too tired to write a real blog post, but the National Media Reform Conference is going great. This morning started out with a bang. Congressman Keith Ellison was extremely enthusiastic. Tonight I saw the movie, Body of War, with Amy Goodman and Phil Donahue and about 500 other people. Really! I think I scared Amy Goodman earlier in the day, (in any case, she sort of ran away from me.) However, I am surrounded by people who think like me and are furious about Iraq and the fact that George Bush isn’t in jail. It’s wonderful. Here are some pictures, and tomorrow is going to be just as wall-to-wall stuff happening so I won’t be writing much at all until I get home on Sunday. The first picture here is of Keith Ellison this morning, the rest of Minneapolis and inside the outside the convention center tonight.

[tags]national media, reform conference, media, NCMR, minneapolis[/tags]

It looks like the Democrats finally have their nominee.
Obama unofficially gets the nomination for the Democrats; Hillary and Obama give gracious, inspiring speeches after the last primaries finally end, and both of them would be better than McCain so let’s get them to run together. Seriously. Then the plan is: Get progressives to fill Congress. The day of Republican rule is over.

Now that he has the clout, Obama should fix what the Rules and Bylaws Committee did on 5/31 — they took votes from one person and gave them, arbitrarily, to another person. It was a backroom deal, away from the public and the cameras. No matter what you think of either candidate, this was wrong, and probably illegal. You can read the details I have gotten from another writer who know the rules better than I do here.

On Monday, McCain gave a frightening, misinformed and misleading AIPAC speech. Obama and Hillary are sure to give similar pro-Israel speeches on Wednesday but they will probably lack the highly paranoid tone of McCain’s speech. Paranoia combined with a war-glorifying tendency is much worse than just plain old tough talk.

The Lieberman-Warner climate change bill is being debated this week in the Senate with a vote next week. Call your Congressman! Dumb Army scientist story here.

Iran gets a new speaker for its parliament. Supposedly, he’s a moderating force. The Ayatollah calls Bush a few choice words. There is little love lost between us and Iran at the moment, thanks to the Bush administration.

Next up, a possible report from the Media Reform Conference. Don’t expect much! When I get back there will be more to it, but I may attempt something low-quality while I am there this weekend.

Blackwater gets a new fighter jet from Brazil and gives it to its new subsidiary, EP Aviation. Along with its new armed helicopters, Blackwater seems to be building its own private Air Force, — I wonder why?

Hear a clip of Terry McAullife on The Daily Show from Tuesday night at the end. You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

[tags]Obama, Democratic, nominee, Democrats, Hillary, Clinton, Primary, presidential election, speeches, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul Minnesota, Iran, Ali, Larijani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Bush[/tags]

Politics, waste and fraud are related topics in the U.S. but one of them isn’t getting enough media attention. Meanwhile, our media has a problem fairly covering Hillary Clinton, and I play opinions from AAR of how someone else believes that also. What are Hillary’s plans, and will it all be over after this weekend, and will all the votes be counted? (It looks like they will not be, which was announced after this was recorded.)

Here is information on the movie In the Valley of Elah (trailor) and Democracy Now’s Winter Soldier episode.

What does the future Bush administration have in store for us this summer? It could be an attack on Iraq, or it could be random incarceration of anyone it chooses under Directive 51.
NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d’état during a National Emergency.
Also discussed: Top Iraq Contractor Skirts US Taxes Offshore
Iraq Spending has ignored the rules, according to the Pentagon itself.
Byron Dorgan and the Senate appropriations committee on waste, fraud and abuse has found that billions of American taxpayer dollars have supposedly gone to fund war and reconstruction, but are now missing. There is little accountability in Iraq and contractors are war profiteers of the most irresponsible kind.

Pictured above is President Bush at the Air Force Academy, his last speech as commander and chief to Air Force graduates, May 28, 2008. His speech declared that they could fight terrorism by sitting in a cubicle in the U.S. and pushing a button so that a drone thousands of miles away could bomb a “terrorist hideout”. I’m sure that’s exactly what the Air Force graduates were hoping did not happen to their careers. You can find the original photo and others here. The video is interesting too.

This episode also discusses what happens if Karl Rove ignores his latest subpoena, and how Congressman Wexler is still pursuing the impeachment of George Bush.

Byron Dorgan, U.S. Senator from North Dakota, from the U.S. Senate talking about waste fraud and abuse by the U.S. contractors in Iraq is played. If you want more of an in-depth interview with him, see this one by Anti-war Radio in which he discusses corruption within the al-Maliki government, the State Department corruption in Iraq, Halliburton Iraq contracts, the situation of Iraqi judge al-Radi and more.
You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

[tags]Memorial Day, Byron Dorgan, Waste Fraud and Abuse, government corruption, Iraq, war, spending, taxpayer fraud, Scott McClellan, Hillary, Obama, Democrats[/tags]

Think it is possible to keep your anti-war idealism and back a non-anti-war candidate? Maybe, maybe not (see below). Making concessions for politics is what most people end up doing but it doesn’t necessarily mean you lose your principles. We need to be goal-oriented and defeat McCain, and in this podcast I make a case for it. I think even Republicans might agree, McCain isn’t really what they want either. The most important thing is to keep Republicans far away from the White House and if that happens, real change will happen.
After admitting he approved torture, Bush has made us less safe. The torture may continue, the uncharged prisoners in Guantanamo Bay may continue to be held, but in the meantime, the ACLU has obtained important documents through the FOIA. This is from the ACLU:

“NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union has obtained previously withheld documents from the Defense Department, including internal investigations into the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Uncensored documents released as a result of the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantanamo Bay.”

False Pretenses: Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Doug Feith, Architect of the Iraq War, and head of the Office of Special Plans, appeared on the Daily Show, and hear some of his cut interview.

Environmental news: The Guardian reports that we have reached levels of 367 ppm C02 in the atmosphere. This is not good news. The levels are rising to dangerous levels while our “leadership” doesn’t do nearly enough.

*MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE info here*.

Phillipe Sands — the Green Light

TORTURE: Prisoner 063 and the Keith Olbermann Special Comment of May 13.

This podcast also contains a large part of the last Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Bush. It’s a scorcher!

You can Download Podcast #53 here.

U.S. is continuing to bomb homes Sadr City: Hospital was accidently bombed as neighborhood house was bombed, no ‘terrorists’ inside.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s crimes confessed to under waterboarding, now he’s one of five that will probably be given the death penalty, even though their “evidence” of crimes was obtained under torture. He confessed to over 30 (some outrageous) terrorists attacks, and if he was tortured (he was) none of it is admissible in court.

DON’T TAKE this to mean I won’t change my mind about the “Democrats”. I always reserve the right to change my mind about politics, politicians and election topics.

[tags]political, progressive, podcast, Civilianism, Civilianism, Countdown, Olbermann, special comment, Daily Show, Feith, interview, anti-war, anti-torture, torture, campaign 2009, election[/tags]

A discussion with Texans on their upcoming primary and caucus, the two remaining Democratic candidates, and politics. Also, a brief explanation on my viewpoint of Clinton’s war resolution vote of 2002. You can find her speech explaining the vote here, or better yet, you can listen to me reading it with my analysis.

In part, it states: “A vote for it is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our President and we say to him – use these powers wisely and as a last resort.”

At nearly the same time, Barack Obama was giving a speech that started out: “Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances.

The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don’t oppose all wars.”

As an anti-war person, I don’t think the Civil War was necessary either. Other countries ended slavery by making it illegal, not by fighting a long and bloody war. So it’s clear that neither Democratic candidate is anti-war.

You can download this episode directly here or subscribe on the right.

I’m leaving Skype on on Tuesday night (03/04) if you want to report on your primary or anything else, you can call in. If I get any reports they will be recorded and included in the next podcast.
The number to call is 320-300-4273. Voicemail comments are welcome too, which may be played in the podcast.

[tags]election, 2008, primary, caucus, Texas, Ohio, Clinton, Obama, Brazil, war resolution[/tags]

How are we all going to stay calm and sane through this last year of the Bush administration’s reign? I’m stressed out by the presidential campaign already, and what seems like eternal war. I’ll be spending this year hoping for no new wars and that Bush won’t totally wig out and devolve further. Where has my country gone? I’ve been looking for it since 2002. We have problems with Palestine, Al Qaeda, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan; the list goes on and on. An Iraqi woman knows the ‘joke’ about all dead men in Iraq being labeled “Al Qaeda”. (They’re on to you George.) Yet NATO wants permission to start a preemptive nuclear war? It’s going to be a very bumpy year.
The movie mentioned: Taxi to the Dark Side trailor is here

Escape from Gaza — Voluntary transfer?
The Information clearing House article is here. You can find the usual news everywhere, but for news on Gaza and Israel, ICH is great.

TMPMukraker article on the FISA fiasco.

What, only 935 lies to get us into war with Iraq? That number seems low to me. You can see the project to compile all of the Bush Administration’s many many lies here at the Center for Public Integrity. It’s astounding, but true. Surely, this proves impeachability.

Dennis Kucinich drops out of the presidential race, endorses no one, and is facing an uphill battle for reelection to Congress. He needs moral and financial support for his race for Congress, and moral support for his introduction on January 28th, the date of the State of the Union address, articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. Visit http://www.kucinich.us
Then he had to retract his comments, but we all heard them and I sure agreed with them. He was my candidate so now, my list is sadly blank.

The State of the Climate is bad. See the article here.

Green party can be found here.

Cynthia McKinney is running for president, had you heard? She has some thoughts on Palestine: be an honest broker. Are you listening, Obama and Hillary?

Thanks to 156 from Canada and Coleman (?) for their voicemails and as always, thanks to AJ for Eco Moment #13. Visit his podcast, the 2CentsWorth podcast.

Download this podcast here or Subscribe on the right.

[tags]Bush, Kucinich, Israel, Cynthia, McKinney, progressive, liberal, podcast, Green party, Greens, Cheney, impeachment, FISA, Congress, Senate[/tags]

It is an outrage that Dennis Kucinich was excluded from the NBC debate in Las Vegas, especially after they invited him and then changed the criteria after they decided he wasn’t wanted. I hope everyone either boycotts MSNBC or writes them an email and tell them why you are angry with their censorship. The exclusion of Kucinich was probably based on his being anti-war, and GE, which owns NBC, is a major war profiteer. In 2005 their war profits totalled 2.2 billion dollars. At the end of this podcast I play a heavily edited version of the DemocracyNow.org modified debate viva Las Vegas the includes Dennis Kucinich. Visit DemocracyNow.org for the whole thing.

Last Sunday, Iraq factions met to agree on a unity pact, which would not allow their country to be split up and would not allow their oil to given to other governments or corporations.
On Monday night, Condi panicked and on Tuesday she was in Baghdad on a “surprise visit” to talk to Maliki. The end result… they are closer to reaching a “hydrocarbon resource agreement”. Uh-huh. Every time Iraq tries to kick us out and show some backbone, Condi or Bush arrives to twist their arms or “explain” to them — probably with threats and bribes — how they have to meet OUR benchmarks. Not theirs.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell wants to read all your email and look at all your searches online. Don’t trust Google! We spend billions on spying and what good does it do?

What good did Bush’s trip to the Middle East last week accomplish? Nothing other than trying to drum up support for war with Iran, promising Israel we’d be behind them if they decided to strike Iran with a nnuclear bomb, giving them the OK to go into Gaza and attack people (which they did.) Bravo Bush. Yours was the most devasting winter holiday in history so far. But advancing the peace process–? Don’t make me laugh.

Watching what you say and do more than you used to? Ah, the insidious creeping of compliance and conformity. Our FBI wants to cooperate with IDENT1, a UK database to search for criminals. They want to gather biometric evidence on everyone on the planet and then share it with everyone in the world. Welcome to “1984″ or even worse, East Berlin and the Stasi. Feeling watched and spied on? Read ‘The Picture of Conformity‘

We’ll nuke Iran – Bush promises Israel

The Iraqis Don’t want us there

Thanks to AJ for the Eco Moment.
He is the host of the 2centsworth podcast.
Download this podcast episode here or subscribe on the right!

[tags]iraq, iran, hillary clinton, barack obama, debate, las vegas, dennis kucinich, excluded, bush’s tour, middle east, israel, gaza, palestine[/tags]