Global
We should impeach Vice President Dick Cheney first, and President George Bush immediately thereafter. This idea is not original with me. It's been seen on bumper stickers for quite some time. My attention has been called to it by the fact that Congresswoman and Judiciary Committee Member Maxine Waters is talking about it. See below.
I'm persuaded of thevalue of this approach for several reasons. Among activists who very much want impeachment, one can hear a long list of fears and concerns about how things might go wrong, how impeachment could help Republicans who come around and back it, how impeachment could take energy away from elections, etc. But by far the most common of the nonsensical fears one hears is this one: "Impeaching Bush would give us Cheney, who is worse."
By proposing to impeach Cheney first, we eliminate this fear.
I'm persuaded of thevalue of this approach for several reasons. Among activists who very much want impeachment, one can hear a long list of fears and concerns about how things might go wrong, how impeachment could help Republicans who come around and back it, how impeachment could take energy away from elections, etc. But by far the most common of the nonsensical fears one hears is this one: "Impeaching Bush would give us Cheney, who is worse."
By proposing to impeach Cheney first, we eliminate this fear.
For the past few weeks a sometimes comic debate has been simmering in the American press, focused on the question of whether there is an Israeli lobby and, if so, just how powerful it is.
I would have thought that to ask whether there's an Israeli lobby here is a bit like asking whether there's a Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor or a White House located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. The late Steve Smith, brother-in-law of Teddy Kennedy, and a powerful figure in the Democratic Party for several decades, liked to tell the story of how a group of four Jewish businessmen got together $2 million in cash and gave it to Harry Truman when he was in desperate need of money during his presidential campaign in 1948. Truman went on to become president and to express his gratitude to his Zionist backers.
I would have thought that to ask whether there's an Israeli lobby here is a bit like asking whether there's a Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor or a White House located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. The late Steve Smith, brother-in-law of Teddy Kennedy, and a powerful figure in the Democratic Party for several decades, liked to tell the story of how a group of four Jewish businessmen got together $2 million in cash and gave it to Harry Truman when he was in desperate need of money during his presidential campaign in 1948. Truman went on to become president and to express his gratitude to his Zionist backers.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Dec. 16, 2005, is a day that will live in infamy in the Hall of Fame of Unintended Republican Consequences.
A bunch of the guys were just noodling around in the House of Representatives in Washington, see, kind of fooling around with the idea that they might get some traction out of immigration as a hot-button issue. The old hot buttons have kind of cooled off here lately, with people up in arms about Iraq, oil, health insurance and all this other stuff that makes the boys say, "Who me?" Where's a good divisive social issue when you need one? They weren't that far wrong -- some variation on the race card usually works.
Trouble is, they played the card, tried to make every illegal worker in the country a felon and woke up the Sleeping Brown Giant, instead.
A bunch of the guys were just noodling around in the House of Representatives in Washington, see, kind of fooling around with the idea that they might get some traction out of immigration as a hot-button issue. The old hot buttons have kind of cooled off here lately, with people up in arms about Iraq, oil, health insurance and all this other stuff that makes the boys say, "Who me?" Where's a good divisive social issue when you need one? They weren't that far wrong -- some variation on the race card usually works.
Trouble is, they played the card, tried to make every illegal worker in the country a felon and woke up the Sleeping Brown Giant, instead.
Your help is needed to bring a dynamic exhibit on the human cost of war to Columbus, Ohio June 12-14. The American Friends Service Committee exhibit: "Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War" will open at 11:00 AM, Monday, June 12, on the West Lawn of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio (High Street between Broad and State) and remain in place through Wednesday, June 14. The Episcopal Peace Fellowship is bringing the exhibit to coincide with the national General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the USA. We need additional contributions from individuals and groups: $10 from 600 people, or $100 from 60 groups, or a combination! All contributions will be used for the exhibit.
The exhibit features:
• A panel display memorializing the civilian Iraqis killed in the war.
• A field of empty combat boots symbolizing the more than 2,350 US soldiers who have lost their lives, each pair of boots bearing the name of a fallen soldier.
• An interlocked field of shoes and sandals representing Iraqi children, women, and men who have died.
The exhibit features:
• A panel display memorializing the civilian Iraqis killed in the war.
• A field of empty combat boots symbolizing the more than 2,350 US soldiers who have lost their lives, each pair of boots bearing the name of a fallen soldier.
• An interlocked field of shoes and sandals representing Iraqi children, women, and men who have died.
Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young have just released a pair of incredible albums of protest, one a bone-rattling revival of the best of rebel music of ages past, the other an impassioned attack on our present slide toward fascism. A hundred years from now, if the human race has survived, when a future Springsteen records a future "Seeger Sessions" it will be bound to include the music of Young's "Living With War." Also by that time, Young's instant classic, "Let's Impeach the President," will have been translated, as any national anthem should, into a variety of languages, some or all of them, no doubt, destined to be deemed inappropriate by future proponents of the worst of the past.
Carol Fisher was found guilty today of two counts of felonious assault of two 200 + pound Cleveland Heights policemen (who, collectively, can bench 700#’s) and whose testimony contained serious contradictions. None of the other witnesses provided by the prosecution actually saw “the assault.” Their claims had more to do with Carol’s perceived lack respect for authority. The jury deliberated for more than 8 hours over two days before announcing the verdict.
Former prosecutor Judge McGinty, who was supposedly “randomly” assigned to Carol’s case, is known to be “police-friendly,” a fact that was painfully obvious to observers. McGinty ruled out key pieces of evidence as “not relevant” to the case, denying the jury the opportunity (obligation?) of hearing them. The fact that virtually everyone in Cleveland Heights can relate “horror stories” about the Cleveland Heights police was not to be known by the jury of individuals born and raised in Northeast Ohio, but not in Cleveland Heights. As the court transcript will show, McGinty showed clear bias toward the prosecution.
Former prosecutor Judge McGinty, who was supposedly “randomly” assigned to Carol’s case, is known to be “police-friendly,” a fact that was painfully obvious to observers. McGinty ruled out key pieces of evidence as “not relevant” to the case, denying the jury the opportunity (obligation?) of hearing them. The fact that virtually everyone in Cleveland Heights can relate “horror stories” about the Cleveland Heights police was not to be known by the jury of individuals born and raised in Northeast Ohio, but not in Cleveland Heights. As the court transcript will show, McGinty showed clear bias toward the prosecution.
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.
Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Pachtama?waas ahhki Anishinabeok.
In the tongue of my Grandma's people, Mohican: "The Great Spirit blesses the land where we, the people, live."
God bless America!
Pachtama'waas ahhki Anishinabeok.
This is Goats in Prison, Volume 1 of the Free Press archives project.
I?m dedicating this never-ending quest to my aunt and uncle Bernice and Arvid Miller from the Mohican Nation Library in Wisconsin. Some of you may remember Arvid from the last page of Custer Died for Your Sins. He helped found the National Congress of American Indians, the United Nations of tribal governments. After he died, their cabin caught fire and all the young people, who never seemed to care much before, formed a bucket brigade and saved their library. Bernice was my Daddy?s childhood friend, and best, along with Bill Coleman, Chief Buffalo from the Aleut Scouts, first American to contact Japanese ground forces. When Aunt Bernice retired the Tribe hired twelve people to do her jobs and now she?s passed leaving over 220 direct Mohican descendents.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Pachtama?waas ahhki Anishinabeok.
In the tongue of my Grandma's people, Mohican: "The Great Spirit blesses the land where we, the people, live."
God bless America!
Pachtama'waas ahhki Anishinabeok.
This is Goats in Prison, Volume 1 of the Free Press archives project.
I?m dedicating this never-ending quest to my aunt and uncle Bernice and Arvid Miller from the Mohican Nation Library in Wisconsin. Some of you may remember Arvid from the last page of Custer Died for Your Sins. He helped found the National Congress of American Indians, the United Nations of tribal governments. After he died, their cabin caught fire and all the young people, who never seemed to care much before, formed a bucket brigade and saved their library. Bernice was my Daddy?s childhood friend, and best, along with Bill Coleman, Chief Buffalo from the Aleut Scouts, first American to contact Japanese ground forces. When Aunt Bernice retired the Tribe hired twelve people to do her jobs and now she?s passed leaving over 220 direct Mohican descendents.
Millions of Americans are deeply worried about their economic futures. The signs of the economic crisis ahead are literally everywhere, if one bothers to look at the statistical evidence.
The first, and most important indicator, is the unprecedented concentration of wealth within American society. According to USA Today columnist Yolanda Young, in 1970 the bottom one-third of all U.S. households (today, about 96 million people) “earned 10 times that of the top one percent” of all households. By 2004, the upper 1 percent “made as much as the bottom third of Americans.”
The vast destruction of millions of manufacturing jobs and out-sourcing of U.S. businesses have pushed growing millions of black, brown and working-class whites into what can be described as “the fringe economy.” Over half of all Americans, according to Young, now “live from paycheck to paycheck.”
The first, and most important indicator, is the unprecedented concentration of wealth within American society. According to USA Today columnist Yolanda Young, in 1970 the bottom one-third of all U.S. households (today, about 96 million people) “earned 10 times that of the top one percent” of all households. By 2004, the upper 1 percent “made as much as the bottom third of Americans.”
The vast destruction of millions of manufacturing jobs and out-sourcing of U.S. businesses have pushed growing millions of black, brown and working-class whites into what can be described as “the fringe economy.” Over half of all Americans, according to Young, now “live from paycheck to paycheck.”
A quarter century ago, the United States embarked on an economic crusade to “downsize” its working class: to eliminate millions of jobs by outsourcing employment abroad, and to push millions more middle-class employees into low-wage jobs. The argument advanced by U.S. corporations was that in an age of global economic competition, American workers were simply “overpaid” and weren’t as productive as their European and Japanese competitors. By cutting salaries and benefits, terminating pensions, eliminating jobs, and forcing workers to pay for their own health care, U.S. corporations could stay competitive in global markets.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the vast majority of layoffs occurred within the working class, especially skilled labor and manufacturing jobs. Blue collar workers were pushed in the service sector, frequently earning less than one-half of what they previously had been paid. Airplane mechanics and factory foremen were counseled to learn basic computer skills in order to compete for $10 per hour jobs that couldn’t cover their home mortgage payments or children’s college tuition bills.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the vast majority of layoffs occurred within the working class, especially skilled labor and manufacturing jobs. Blue collar workers were pushed in the service sector, frequently earning less than one-half of what they previously had been paid. Airplane mechanics and factory foremen were counseled to learn basic computer skills in order to compete for $10 per hour jobs that couldn’t cover their home mortgage payments or children’s college tuition bills.