Duty to Warn
Now that the $100 tax rebate proposed by the Senate Republican leadership
as a response to rising gasoline prices has been discarded, it is time to
get serious. Any effective response to climbing gas prices must recognize
a geological reality, namely that the earth’s oil reserves are shrinking.
The amount of oil pumped has exceeded new discoveries since 1980. And the gap is widening. In 2004, for example, the world pumped nearly 31 billion barrels of oil while discovering fewer than 8 billion barrels of new oil.
Instead of encouraging gasoline use with tax rebates or gas tax holidays, we need a way to reduce gasoline use, one that is practical and politically acceptable. We need a higher gas tax, but the only way to get a gas tax rise large enough to wean us from imported oil is to offset the rise with a reduction in the tax on income.
The amount of oil pumped has exceeded new discoveries since 1980. And the gap is widening. In 2004, for example, the world pumped nearly 31 billion barrels of oil while discovering fewer than 8 billion barrels of new oil.
Instead of encouraging gasoline use with tax rebates or gas tax holidays, we need a way to reduce gasoline use, one that is practical and politically acceptable. We need a higher gas tax, but the only way to get a gas tax rise large enough to wean us from imported oil is to offset the rise with a reduction in the tax on income.
The reason Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White
House and the Supreme Court is because they have won the “language war.”
President Hoover called himself a “true liberal,” and President Eisenhower said that cutting federal spending on education would offend “every liberal — including me.”
“Liberal” has been made into a dirty word by Republican think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Republican linguist and pollster Frank Luntz.
How did they do it? The first step was to make the sound of the word 'liberal' seem like something undesirable. Notice the tone of voice used by most so-called conservative politicians and so-called conservative radio and television talk show hosts when they say the word: liberal. They make the word liberal sound contemptible. They always say it with a tone of voice of contempt, scorn and condescension.
They don't do this by accident. No doubt, most, if not all, have spend many hours in front of a microphone and video camera practicing and rehearsing their pronunciation of the word: liberal.
President Hoover called himself a “true liberal,” and President Eisenhower said that cutting federal spending on education would offend “every liberal — including me.”
“Liberal” has been made into a dirty word by Republican think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Republican linguist and pollster Frank Luntz.
How did they do it? The first step was to make the sound of the word 'liberal' seem like something undesirable. Notice the tone of voice used by most so-called conservative politicians and so-called conservative radio and television talk show hosts when they say the word: liberal. They make the word liberal sound contemptible. They always say it with a tone of voice of contempt, scorn and condescension.
They don't do this by accident. No doubt, most, if not all, have spend many hours in front of a microphone and video camera practicing and rehearsing their pronunciation of the word: liberal.
The U.S. Government has once again invoked the "state secrets" privilege, arguing that a public trial of a lawsuit against a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency for abducting and imprisoning a German citizen would lead to disclosure of information harmful to U.S. national security.
Once rarely used, the "state secrets" privilege has over the past five years become a routine defense used by the U.S. Government to keep cases from being tried.
The current case involves a suit brought by Khalid El-Masri. El-Masri was on vacation in Macedonia when he was kidnapped and transported to a CIA-run "black site" in Afghanistan. After several months of confinement in squalid conditions, he was abandoned on a hill in Albania with no explanation. He was never charged with a crime.
El-Masri, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is seeking an apology and money damages from the CIA. The first - and perhaps the last -- hearing on the case took place last week before a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Once rarely used, the "state secrets" privilege has over the past five years become a routine defense used by the U.S. Government to keep cases from being tried.
The current case involves a suit brought by Khalid El-Masri. El-Masri was on vacation in Macedonia when he was kidnapped and transported to a CIA-run "black site" in Afghanistan. After several months of confinement in squalid conditions, he was abandoned on a hill in Albania with no explanation. He was never charged with a crime.
El-Masri, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is seeking an apology and money damages from the CIA. The first - and perhaps the last -- hearing on the case took place last week before a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Will residents of Las Vegas be seeing a mushroom cloud over their city next month?
As I write this, "Divine Strake," the big bang with the macabre and vaguely blasphemous name (the military-industrial complex is playing God again), has been postponed from June 2 to June 23, thanks to legal proceedings against the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, related to unanswered environmental-impact questions. Maybe the delay will be enough of a wedge to allow the passionately bitter opponents of the blast - and they are legion - to build the necessary momentum to stop it altogether.
As I write this, "Divine Strake," the big bang with the macabre and vaguely blasphemous name (the military-industrial complex is playing God again), has been postponed from June 2 to June 23, thanks to legal proceedings against the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, related to unanswered environmental-impact questions. Maybe the delay will be enough of a wedge to allow the passionately bitter opponents of the blast - and they are legion - to build the necessary momentum to stop it altogether.
Will residents of Las Vegas be seeing a mushroom cloud over their city next month?
As I write this, "Divine Strake," the big bang with the macabre and vaguely blasphemous name (the military-industrial complex is playing God again), has been postponed from June 2 to June 23, thanks to legal proceedings against the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, related to unanswered environmental-impact questions. Maybe the delay will be enough of a wedge to allow the passionately bitter opponents of the blast - and they are legion - to build the necessary momentum to stop it altogether.
As I write this, "Divine Strake," the big bang with the macabre and vaguely blasphemous name (the military-industrial complex is playing God again), has been postponed from June 2 to June 23, thanks to legal proceedings against the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, related to unanswered environmental-impact questions. Maybe the delay will be enough of a wedge to allow the passionately bitter opponents of the blast - and they are legion - to build the necessary momentum to stop it altogether.
We destroyed a powerful secular regime in Iraq and replaced it with a powerless sectarian front, in order to create democracy and insure that we wouldn't be attacked by terrorists with nuclear weapons. We have killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, reduced much of the nation to bloody chaos, and its people are very grateful for this. Of course.
The immigration debate is simply about whether illegals come here to loiter on street corners, crowd our schools and save up welfare checks until they can buy homes in Beverly Hills, or to assist poor capitalists and help a stressed middle class do its housework and care for its kids, all at minimal social cost which is absorbed by the upper class and only questioned by racists. Sure.
Israel is our most important ally, deserves billions in aid from American taxpayers, merits the absolute support of our government and media, and we should prepare to invade Iran to protect it from genocide. Without a doubt.
The immigration debate is simply about whether illegals come here to loiter on street corners, crowd our schools and save up welfare checks until they can buy homes in Beverly Hills, or to assist poor capitalists and help a stressed middle class do its housework and care for its kids, all at minimal social cost which is absorbed by the upper class and only questioned by racists. Sure.
Israel is our most important ally, deserves billions in aid from American taxpayers, merits the absolute support of our government and media, and we should prepare to invade Iran to protect it from genocide. Without a doubt.
Four hundred thousand people coursing for miles through Chicago streets on May 1 - laughing, clapping, chanting joyously, bearing signs as heart-breakingly plaintive as "We Are Workers, Not Criminals" and "No Human Being Is Illegal" - came down, for me, to the image of one middle-aged woman walking beside her husband, silently signaling that the future has arrived.
Poking out of the knot of hair at the back of her head were two plastic flags, America's and Mexico's. Her wordless announcement - I am of both countries, and I'm proud - may have been the day's most radical statement.
Certainly this is what the exclusionists and border-obsessives fear most: that America could change, that the definition of what it means to be an American could broaden. They fear an invasion by denizens of an inferior culture.
Poking out of the knot of hair at the back of her head were two plastic flags, America's and Mexico's. Her wordless announcement - I am of both countries, and I'm proud - may have been the day's most radical statement.
Certainly this is what the exclusionists and border-obsessives fear most: that America could change, that the definition of what it means to be an American could broaden. They fear an invasion by denizens of an inferior culture.
George W. Bush likes to portray himself as a down-home Texan, the kind of guy you’d love to barbecue steaks or hunt with on the weekend. As most people know, Bush is in fact a child of Eastern establishment privilege, weaned in suburban Connecticut and the coast of Maine, grandson of a Wall Street partner and great-grandson of a brokerage house founder.
There’s no crime in being born rich. But the dichotomy between W.’s public persona and his family background has beclouded more dangerous parallels between the way his administration and Wall Street function on a daily basis.
Stock-market people often disagree on which way the economy is going. Bulls and bears are always in evidence, and an ironclad rule on the street is that if sentiment has shifted too strongly in one direction, the market will go the opposite way every time. There’s even a culture clash on Wall Street, between blueblood firms that specialize in investment banking and trading firms populated by blue-collar types. It’s not a monolith down there in the Canyon of Heroes.
There’s no crime in being born rich. But the dichotomy between W.’s public persona and his family background has beclouded more dangerous parallels between the way his administration and Wall Street function on a daily basis.
Stock-market people often disagree on which way the economy is going. Bulls and bears are always in evidence, and an ironclad rule on the street is that if sentiment has shifted too strongly in one direction, the market will go the opposite way every time. There’s even a culture clash on Wall Street, between blueblood firms that specialize in investment banking and trading firms populated by blue-collar types. It’s not a monolith down there in the Canyon of Heroes.
As the Bush/neo-con kleptocracy disintegrates in a toxic cloud of
military defeat, economic bankruptcy, environmental disaster and
escalating mega-scandal, its attack on basic American freedoms---its
"New Totalitarianism"---has escalated to a desperate new level,
including brutal Soviet-style prosecutions against non-violent
dissidents and an all-out offensive for state secrecy, including an attack on the internet.
In obvious panic and disarray, the GOP right has turned to a time-honored strategy---kill the messengers. While it slaughters Americans and Iraqis to "bring democracy" to the Middle East, it has made democracy itself public enemy Number One here at home.
The New Totalitarianism has become tangible in particular through a string of terrifying prosecutions against non-violent dissenters, an attack on open access to official government papers, and the attempted resurrection by right-wing "theorists" of America's most repressive legislation, dating back to the 1950s, 1917 and even 1797.
In obvious panic and disarray, the GOP right has turned to a time-honored strategy---kill the messengers. While it slaughters Americans and Iraqis to "bring democracy" to the Middle East, it has made democracy itself public enemy Number One here at home.
The New Totalitarianism has become tangible in particular through a string of terrifying prosecutions against non-violent dissenters, an attack on open access to official government papers, and the attempted resurrection by right-wing "theorists" of America's most repressive legislation, dating back to the 1950s, 1917 and even 1797.
So long as the markets are free and the rich stay that way, human suffering and environmental devastation are irrelevant. Beneath the “feel good” facade of baseball, apple-pie, mom, and Chevrolet lurks this sinister reality of the American Way.
Much of humanity is shackled by poverty and besieged by the violence of war. Earth is experiencing a slow, agonizing death. Animal and plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Despite these tragic and inevitable consequences, the United States persists in spreading the cancers of Americanized Capitalism and Democracy.
Here's to Saint Charles
America’s wealthiest owe a significant debt of gratitude to their patron saint, Charles G. Koch. Mr. Koch’s Herculean efforts have virtually ensured that the United States’ plutocracy and its complimentary corporatocracy will continue their reign in America’s highly dysfunctional democracy. Blessed with a significant number of Americans still rendered somnambulant by a mass media machine, Koch and his fellow patricians are riding high.
Much of humanity is shackled by poverty and besieged by the violence of war. Earth is experiencing a slow, agonizing death. Animal and plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Despite these tragic and inevitable consequences, the United States persists in spreading the cancers of Americanized Capitalism and Democracy.
Here's to Saint Charles
America’s wealthiest owe a significant debt of gratitude to their patron saint, Charles G. Koch. Mr. Koch’s Herculean efforts have virtually ensured that the United States’ plutocracy and its complimentary corporatocracy will continue their reign in America’s highly dysfunctional democracy. Blessed with a significant number of Americans still rendered somnambulant by a mass media machine, Koch and his fellow patricians are riding high.