What You Should Be Watching

You should be watching your new president as he acts just like the old one.

"Let's be very clear about all this. The Obama Administration is going to court to uphold -- to uphold -- the president's "prerogative" to arbitrarily declare any U.S. citizen an "enemy combatant" -- even if the citizen is arrested on U.S. soil -- and have that citizen held for years on end, without charges, in federal brigs where he can be isolated, broken and subjected to 'harsh interrogation techniques.' The Obama Administration is going to court to uphold -- to uphold -- the "prerogative" of government lawyers to proffer blatantly illegal memos concocted solely to justify an already existing system of crimes that are punishable by death under American law. The Obama Administration is continuing the Bush Administration's blatant blackmail against the nation's closest ally in order to keep evidence of torture -- evidence which involves no "sensitive" national security information whatsoever -- from being made public."

Turn off the idiot box, and read Chris Floyd.

Sully and Suleyman

As I watched WCBS television here in New York, I heard a brief promo. "Salute Sully, Monday at 5 a.m.!"

Americans are as dumb as dirt. Instead of paying attention to the debate in Washington about the stimulus bill, they are stuck on stupid, worrying about octuplet moms and airline pilots.

The economy is tanking fast and Obama and Congress are making thinks worse with an ineffective stimulus plan. Paul Krugman tells us. ". . . to appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts." That is what we should all be worried about. Instead we are besotted with Nadia Suleyman and Chesley "Sully" Sullenburger

No one had ever heard of Nadia Suleyman until she gave birth to octuplets two weeks ago. It turns out she already has six kids, all conceived by IVF, and then had six more embryos implanted in her uterus. OK, that is pretty hardcore, but so what?

I don't know her, I won't be supporting her kids, she hasn't asked me to babysit, so I just don't give a damn. Many Americans do not share my lack of interest. First they were fascinated by the story, then they wondered who the mommy was, then they foamed at the month when they found out she was unmarried. She is the wreck at the side of the road that people claim they won't watch but instead slow down to gaze upon.

Speaking of wrecks. There was a plane crash here in New York a few weeks back. A US Airways jet lost both engines when they sucked in a few geese. Who knew? I thought the worst thing geese did was poop on golf courses, but I digress.

The pilot and co-pilot were forced to ditch the plane in the Hudson river and they did so without loss of life. Sullenburger and the rest of the crew deserve kudos for doing their jobs well, but of course our dumb ass culture and corporate media bent on getting ratings for broadcasting stupid crap won't leave the story alone.

CBS won the exclusive 60 Minutes interview and will be shoving Sully and company down our throats for the next couple of days. The Early Show will devote its entire Monday morning show to the US Airways story. The demand from the media is so great that Sullenburger, the pilots unions, the flight attendants union and US Airways all have their own media representatives deciding who they will and won't talk to.

We don't have the luxury of being distracted by this bullshit. There is not that much to say. The crew were skilled and lucky that conditions permitted them to land safely. End of story. Nothing to see here, just move along.

As for Suleyman, who cares that a weird chick keeps making babies when the nation is on the verge of an economic depression? Unfortunately, too many people care about things that are none of their business when things that are their business cry out for attention.

I will not be watching and Sully or Suleyman interviews. I will be watching Congress.

Thanks for the Shout Out

Counterpunch and OpEd News both linked to my current Black Agenda Report column, "Economic Crisis Widens." I love both of these sites. I am deeply flattered that they saw fit to include me.

Americans Won't Protest

The French, God bless them, are fed up with bail outs and declining employment. So they took to the streets and went on strike. The Icelanders brought down their government after their economy was destroyed by crooked bankers. What do Americans do? They do nothing but complain to each other and that is the best case scenario. Some are committing murder and suicide in their ever increasing despair.

Why won't Americans protest? I don't think the answers are very complicated. Americans are propagandized into stupidity and they are afraid of their government. If you believe your nation is "the greatest country in the world" you have no reason to complain. The greatest country on earth can't be wrong, even if millions are out of work and losing their homes and their health insurance.

Our corporate media lie to us all the time. We live in a state of perfect disinformation* about the most basic issues facing us. We don't know that military spending is killing our economy, or that Iran doesn't threaten us, or that private prison systems insure a steady stream of prisoners, or that we could have national health insurance or that American citizens could be bailed out like financial institutions are. When anyone rises up to tell us these facts, they are marginalized and prevented from playing a part in public discourse.

America has a greater percentage of its population behind bars than any country on earth. That statistic is not lost on anyone. If police can kill Oscar Grant in cold blood, they can certainly lock you up for stepping out of line at a protest. Of course, when Americans last took to the streets in large numbers in 2003 to stop the occupation of Iraq, it made no difference. The media disappeared the marches from their papers and their broadcasts and the Democratic party proudly disassociated themselves from the people who could have put them back into power. So even those predisposed to take action will ask themselves if they should bother.

What would make Americans protest? I can't think of anything. I don't know how bad things will have to be before protest will play a significant role in this country again. Now that Obama is president, the situation is even worse. We don't need to protest because our president is so wonderful and so understanding and so historic and so bipartisan and so post-racial and I could go on but you get the picture.

In any case, he didn't close Guantanamo yet, so if you protest you just might end up there.

*"If it were not for the Internet that provides Americans with access to foreign news sources, Americans would live in a world of perfect disinformation." Paul Craig Roberts

Laura, Is There Anything I Forgot to F_ _ k Up?

Obama Sides with Bush

"President Obama is substituted in his official capacity as a defendant in this case."

Yes, you read correctly. The Obama administration has sided with Bush administration policy on warrantless wiretapping. According to Wired, Barack Obama is now making the same argument that George W. Bush did in a lawsuit against federal government. Bush asked a federal judge to stay an order requiring the release of classified documents in the case of al-Haramain v. Bush. It is now known as al-Haramain v. Obama.

So what exactly why was anyone getting the vapors last Tuesday? Change we can believe in? Now that Barack Obama is officially George W. Bush can we please stop the pretense. I guess those 2 million people who went to Washington feel like chumps.

How could they? The story probably won't make the papers and even if it did, Obama would be excused.

In a recent Black Agenda Report column I called him Black Reagan. He certainly is that. Obama has teflon to spare.

Wish I'd Said That

"States aren't moral agents. They don't have personalities or pet peeves. States represent the interests of those who rule them. And it's in the interest of our present rulers to reboot the American brand. Words like "morality" and "ideals" are smokescreens, blown in the faces of the public. Bush used the same words, but fewer and fewer people believed him. It was his own damn fault. A cheap failure in so many ways, Bush's recklessness made Obama's ascent not only possible, but inevitable. His actions weren't out of the mainstream of imperial thought, just riskier, crazier, more destructive. Bush's tactics were questioned, but not his crusade, which remains with us. His violence didn't seriously bother Democrats, as they continually helped finance it. So all this "new day" blather is utter bullshit. What's new is that we have a better, smoother bullshitter in office."

Dennis Perrin

Let the Killing Begin

I was among the crush of humanity in Washington on Tuesday, January 20th. It was a strange place to be for an opponent of Barack Obama, the Democratic party, the Republican party, the military and prison industrial complexes, the Israeli lobby, and the Wall Street banksters, to name but a few.

Just when I wondered if anyone else knew they were witnessing dumbed down mass hysteria I turned and saw a brave/foolish soul protesting among the mostly zombified hordes. Adam Kokesh is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and a committed activist who I once heard speak at a peace forum here in New York. Adam stood atop a barricade and displayed a sign which read "Occupation is Still a Crime" on one side and "Obama: Future War Criminal" on the other.

Of course, American presidents always end up being war criminals at some point in their terms of office, but Obama was especially speedy. On Friday, just 72 hours after assuming the presidency, American attack drones killed 22 people in Pakistan. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs wouldn't respond to questions regarding the first pile of dead bodies created by the Obama administration.

"But Gibbs refused to answer the question by NBC News' Chuck Todd, saying, 'I'm not going to get into this matter.'

After Fox News' Major Garrett joined the slight fray that erupted over the non-answer, asking if he considered whether there was 'justifiable curiosity about the president's first military actions.'

'There are many things that you should be justifiably curious about,' Gibbs responded, perhaps taking a knock at Fox News in general, 'but I'm not gonna get into talking about this.'

'If other members of the US government are confirming this, why is it that you can't?' Todd wanted to know. 'I'm not going to get into these matters,' Gibbs said with a smile.

Afterward, other reporters went back to the economy and didn't press Gibbs for more details about what could be the first military operation conducted during the Obama Administration."

In less than one week, the Obama administration continues the Bush administration policy of carrying out military actions in Pakistan against the wishes of the Pakistani government, and the press can't be bothered to ask more than two or three questions about it. At least they are being consistent with the new president, showing the same degree of deference to him as they did to his predecessor.

I should point out that Adam received a mixed reaction from the crowd around him. Some looked on curiously, some took pictures. He was greeted by people who appeared to know him. There were surprised and angry reactions too.

One woman said, "That is an ugly sign." I felt compelled to speak up and said that the sign was beautiful. The woman responded that I should look at the other side, the "war criminal" side. I replied that it was indeed beautiful. Obama had publicly stated many times that he would continue warfare in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, which would result in deaths, which was certainly criminal.

I got into similar verbal scuffles on Adam's behalf. Actually I should say on democracy's behalf. There will be precious little of that when we have a president who is sitting in the cat bird seat with an idol worshipping population prostrate at his feet.

Let the war crimes continue.

Glen Ford on the Real News Network

As I discussed in the previous post, my colleague Glen Ford, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report, participated in an inauguration day panel discussing the new president's foreign policy.

Black Agenda Report on The Real News

Did anything significant happen in Washington on January 20, 2009? You betcha. Black Agenda Report was in the house with The Real News.

Watch and listen to our very own Glen Ford here, here and here. While millions of people swooned, wept and danced for joy for no earthly good reason, Glen and I told the truth and held nothing back for very good reasons. (Hopefully you can see my interview tomorrow).

As I point out in my column this week, the over the top celebration for Wall Street grand theft and endless war should not be seen as a defeat, but as a call for determined resistance. It is time to resurrect the dead language of movement politics and put it front and center. Celebrations for the status quo, even if they are carried out by millions of people, are no reason to give up. There are millions of people unimpressed with the barrage of media propaganda, people who are desperately trying to find kindred spirits who need to know that they exist.

January 20th was a day for celebration. It is day to celebrate the beginning of determined dissent and uncompromised truth telling.

Valerie Jarrett, Who Asked You

Soon to be President Pompous Ass and his patronizing tone are getting on my nerves and he hasn't even been inaugurated. First friend and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett is equally presumptuous, telling Americans when they should and shouldn't be upset.

“You do not need to have demonstrations in front of the White House to convince this president that there is a disparate impact in the African-American community around issues such as health care and education. He’s got that. The campaign stood for change. It stood for a grassroots, bottom-up drive toward a better country. That does not have to be confrontational. It can be engaging.”

Pardon me Val, but could you just STFU? It is up to citizens to decide that they should or should not demonstrate and yes, sweetie, presidents have to be confronted. Your smooth "don't worry your pretty little heads" talk does not intimidate me or millions of other people either. Only a fool would choose not to confront the powers that be, and my mother didn't raise one of those.

You know what Val, sometimes engagement doesn't work. Sometimes presidents and their advisers just don't give a damn and they have to hear to things they would rather ignore. So if you look out the White House window and see me or others demonstrating, you will just have to get over it.

Black Voters Did Not Pass Proposition 8

I said as much in Black Agenda Report on December 17. A widely reported CNN exit poll stated that 70% of black California voters supported the anti gay marriage proposition. The true figure is between 57% and 59%.

A report released this week by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute reveals that Proposition 8 supporters were mostly older, over age 65, and regular church goers. It also states that the proposition was supported by every ethnic group to varying degrees. In other words, the argument in favor of gay marriage just didn't fly with enough people throughout the state. No one group can be blamed.

I hope that this data based conclucion will get the same degree of attention as the phony 70% figure.

Under the Bus

Thanks to Mike Flugennock for the great image. This picture is worth 1,000 words.

Black Reagan

“I am a little concerned by the way that Mr. Summers and others are going at this in that, to me, it still looks like a little more of this trickle-down, if we just put it in at the top, it’s going to trickle down. A number of people in there said, ‘Look, we have got to have programs that actually create jobs and put people to work.’ ” - Sen. Tom Harkin

Trickle down, trickle down, hmmm, sounds eerily familiar. Oh wait, it was Reagan, the last guy with serious teflon, the great communicator.

Don't say I didn't warn you. Obama hasn't even been inaugurated and he is already talking tax cuts and "reining in" medicare and social security. I was right but it is cold comfort.

Thanks to Guys from Area 51 for the image.

Obama to Liberals. "STFU!"

"Progressive" is a Latin word. It means "chump."

Wish I'd Said That

"What's the difference between a progressive writer giving instructions to the Democrats, and an insane homeless guy screaming at invisible devil dogs on the street corner? The homeless guy knows nobody cares what he says."
John Caruso

Wish I'd Said That

"Any individual who rises to the national political level is, of necessity and by definition, committed to the authoritarian-corporatist state. The current system will not allow anyone to be elected from either of the two major parties who is determined to dismantle even one part of that system."
Arthur Silber

The next time you wonder why Obama is keeping Bush's Defense Secretary or why the evil Lawrence Summers is still around, just remember Silber's words. They will keep you from asking silly questions like, "Isn't Obama a progressive?"

Wal-Mart Worker Trampled to Death by Shoppers

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people. They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."

No, that is not a headline ripped from a Saturday Night Live routine. A human being was killed by frenzied shoppers at a Wal-Mart located in Valley Stream, New York. Photos of the mad rush can be seen here.

Too bad shoppers didn't know that today is Buy Nothing Day. The day after Thanksgiving is an opportunity to digest the previous day's meal. It is a day to contemplate and reflect on the amount of credit card debt you already have. It is a day to stay as far away from stores as possible.

The reasons for boycotting post Thanksgiving shopping are numerous. When you celebrate Buy Nothing Day you are simultaneously giving consumerism the finger, saving money, and decreasing consumption of worthless crap that destroys the environment. Now it turns out you may be saving your life too.

Join up with Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping and get yourself some salvation. Then say a prayer for the poor man who not only had the misfortune of working at Wal-Mart, but dying there too.

I am concerned that reaction to this awful tragedy will be racist. All of the shoppers in the photos I saw were black. I certainly hope that we are not singled out for condemnation. Consumerism is a sickness maintained by propaganda fed to us all on a constant basis. Here in New York City ads can be seen on top of taxis, inside subway cars, outside of subway cars and on giant screens at bus stops and subway entrances. There is literally no way to escape them.

The behavior of people who ignored risks to their own safety in pursuit of cheap crap made in China should be put in its proper context. We have been turned into drones who work and buy and don't stop to think about anything other than working or buying. I hope that a needed discussion of the overt and covert messages we get to keep spending will not turn into a story of so-called pathologies unique only to black people.

Wal-Mart should not escape blame either. There was clearly no security at the store and employees and shoppers alike were in danger. But then again, Wal-Mart never spends more than it has to. Better think twice about rushing to the store next year. Don't fall for Black Friday propaganda. Observe Buy Nothing Day instead.

Rick McKee, Augusta Chronicle

Wish I'd Said That

"Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]?"

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that."

"I've always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted . . . "

Lawrence Summers, Clinton and possible Obama administration Treasury Secretary

"What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, terrorist

As I pointed out yesterday, Rahm Emanuel's devotion to neo-con, pro-war foreign policy nearly cost Democrats the majority in the November 2006 elections. I should have also pointed out that his father, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, was a terrorist. The president's chief of staff is the child of a terrorist.

Emanuel senior was a member of the Irgun, the group that blew up the King David hotel in Jerusalem and murdered Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948. Dad is very proud of his son and proud that he will be helping out Israel in his new position.

" 'Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House.' The Ma'ariv article also quoted Dr. Emanuel as saying that his son spends most summers visiting in Tel Aviv, and that he speaks Hebrew, but not fluently."

Should Jews worry about an Obama presidency? I guess not, although the rest of us ought to.

Loser Rahm Emanuel Wins

That was fast. Less than 24 hours after Barack Obama won the presidential election, he proved his detractors right. Change is an empty slogan for Obama, a marketing ploy used to make fatigued and grateful Democrats disbelieve their own eyes, ears and memories. While an official announcement has yet to be made, it appears that Congressman Rahm Emanuel will be named White House chief of staff.

Emanuel is Chair of the democrats Congressional Campaign Committee and has been credited with engineering the 2006 return to the majority. Yet the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in spite of Emanuel's strategy, not because of it. John Walsh (scroll down for story) explained it all in Counterpunch back in November 2006.

"Long ago Rahm chose 22 key races, open or Republican seats, where Dems might win. By any reasonable criteria, all the candidates chosen by Rahm, save perhaps for one, were pro-war as is Emanuel himself. In two cases Rahm had to put in considerable dollars and effort in the primaries to drive out antiwar candidates. He drove out Cegelis in Illinois's 6th CD, at the cost of one million dollars, in favor of Tammy ("Stay the course") Duckworth who lost in the general election. In California's 11th CD primary, Emanuel backed the prowar Steven Filson who lost to the antiwar candidate, Jerry McNerney, who went on to win in the general election."

Looking at all 22 candidates hand-picked by Rahm, we find that 13 were defeated, and only 8 won! (3) (One is still undecided.) [Note: 9 eventually won] And remember that this was the year of the Democratic tsunami and that Rahm's favorites were handsomely financed by the DCCC. Tammy Duckworth, for example, was infused with $3 million ­ and was backed in the primary by HRC, Barack Obama, John Kerry, etc. The Dems have picked up 28 seats so far, maybe more. So out of that 28, Rahm's choices accounted for 8 [Note: 9]! Since the Dems only needed 15 seats to win the House, Rahm's efforts were completely unnecessary. Had the campaign rested on Rahm's choices, there would have been only 8 or 9 new seats, and the Dems would have lost. In fact, Rahm's efforts were probably counterproductive for the Dems since the great majority of voters were antiwar and they were voting primarily on the issue of the war (60% according to CNN). But Rahm's candidates were not antiwar. So Rahm Emanuel nearly seized defeat from the jaws of victory."

At Black Agenda Report we have been saying all year long that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were "political twins." Now that Obama has won, it looks like Clinton administration retreads will be his top advisers and cabinet members. Lawrence Summers may be headed to the Treasury department and Emanuel will be Obama's second in command.

I'm sorry to burst the bubbles of those of you who wept in ecstasy just two days ago, but the truth is still the truth. Obama's chief of staff is a pro-war democrat who couldn't figure out how to beat republicans when the voters had turned against them. His appointment is a signal not only that endless war will remain on the table, but that the choice of Obama over Clinton was a meaningless one. Obama is smarter and savier than Hillary Clinton and he used those skills to be favored by more big money people than she was. That is why he is the president elect.

Face it. There will still be a Clinton in the White House. The people at the top of the establishment pyramid will always be friends. Nothing changes among the power elite. They are the biggest cynics on earth and they don't believe most of what they tell us. Obama and Bill Clinton will be thick as thieves and triangulation will still be the order of the day. If it weren't, Emanuel's name would not be atop the adviser rumor mill.

Obama Wins

When I went to my polling place here in Harlem I witnessed something I had never seen before. There was a line stretching out the door, down the block and around the corner. Fortunately the poll workers did an excellent job of managing the crowd and it took me no longer to vote than it did in any other presidential election year.


It was a strange day for the Obama non-fan. We were definitely left out of a very big party. It was quite moving to see people who were obviously first time voters. They were excited and engaged about the political process, some for the first time in their lives. It is good to know that it is still possible for people to be newly energized. Hopefully they can be energized to do something truly useful in the future. I don't know how they would explain their feelings, but it is certain that by voting for Obama they were upholding war and theft on a grand scale.


I know that Green party candidate Cynthia McKinney got at least one vote in New York City yesterday. I used to say that living in a solid blue state made my third and fourth and fifth party votes justifiable. Now I say that I will only vote for peace candidates. If I lived in Ohio, the swing state where I was born, I still would have voted for her. I will never again cast a vote for a war criminal. That conviction means I am disenfranchised. My vote will never count and I can only play the role of spoiler. I no longer care. I can't pretend that America's aggression around the world can be dismissed if it is carried out by the lesser of two evils.

So what do we have to look forward to? Read Black Agenda Report and find out.

"We have learned that this generation will have to learn from damn near scratch what a real social movement looks like - which will be doubly hard, since they have been misled to believe that this year's frenzied electioneering was actually a "movement." Now it is over, and one Black man is moving - into the White House, having never promised his Black supporters a single thing of significance. But of course, hardly anyone Black made any demands of Obama."


Sad but true. I fear that the situation will continue. Obama can get away with anything, and that makes him a truly dangerous man. Black America lives vicariously through him, asking and getting nothing in return. White progressives are likewise silent.

"I'll give Obama this much -- his campaign has been one of the most brilliantly conceived and cynically executed appeals I've ever seen. His propaganda team has ably exploited people's desire for HOPE and CHANGE, offering them empty platitudes which they can fill with any fantasy they choose. Even when Obama baldly states whose interests he actually serves, his followers either don't care or pretend not to hear. Besides, they bleat when pushed, Obama will be pressured to do the right thing should he stray too far from liberal concerns. The fact that he already has done this shows that claim to be as empty as Obama's speeches. The idea that libs are going to shift from genuflection to lighting fires under Obama's feet is preposterous, but fully in line with the general fantasia."

Dennis Perrin is absolutely correct. Progressives aren't interested in saying anything. I know because I used to be just like them. When Bill Clinton was president I was overjoyed to see a democrat in the White House. I excused almost everything he did because I thought that support was the only way to keep republicans at bay.

It takes one to know one. Obamites will say nothing if he bails out thieving banks or starts new wars. It will be a sad day when black Americans , ordinarily the group who opposed the empire, fall in line and make excuses. It will be a day to grieve when people who took to the streets to opposed the occupation of Iraq excuse Obama's continuation of that violation of international law and human rights.

Much of the joy comes from relief that the republicans are gone. Ding dong the witch is dead. The Bush years have been a nightmare and we are waking up from the terror.

Now we have a man in the White House who can hide his criminality with intellect and good marketing. Because he is the big money candidate the press will protect him as much as they protected Bush. McCain got the shaft because his party had fallen out of favor. Their brand is dead right now. Otherwise he would have gotten the kid glove treatment like Bush did for so long.

Stay tuned. So much is changing in the world right now. The economic meltdown has not hit bottom and new wars are in the planning stages. We will see what supposedly good people are made of.

It Isn't Over on November 4th

Joe Biden drunk on campaign trail - NOT a joke video

Hmmm. It may explains his famous "gaffes." Read my Black Agenda Report column on Wednesday.

Colin Powell is Still a Criminal and So Are Most Progressives

"I'm well aware of the role I played [in the Iraq war]. My role has been very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war. The president agreed with me. We tried to do that. We couldn't get it through the U.N. and when the president made the decision, I supported that decision. And I've never blinked from that. I've never said I didn't support a decision to go to war."
Colin Powell

Liar, liar pants on fire. Chris Floyd explains.

"This is murderous bullshit of the highest order. Before the invasion, Bush and Powell claimed they were being forced to consider war because of Iraq's alleged non-compliance with past UN demands to destroy its WMD arsenal and programs. In late 2002, the UN duly authorized -- and Iraq accepted -- a vigorous program of inspections to verify compliance -- or discover non-compliance. This process was going on, successfully, with cooperation from the Iraqis, when George W. Bush ordered the UN inspectors out of the country, before they finished their work, so that he could launch a military invasion -- which was now unnecessary by the very criteria that he and Powell had set out publicly."

Tell me again, why do "progressives" love Obama and Powell? Because they aren't any better, that is why. Americans from almost every point on the political spectrum applaud their government's use of force. There are very few people who really believe that it is wrong for the American government to invade Iraq or any other country for that matter. Some think the war was "mismanaged" while others just disliked George W. Bush. Most progressives supported Bill Clinton's bombing of Bosnia and the deaths of thousands, I have to admit that I didn't think about it at the time. I was democrat, he was a democrat. I didn't question his decision and I supported him whenever he was attacked by republicans.

Were it not for the influence of wonderful people like my friends Glen Ford and Fr. Simon Harak I would probably be in the thrall of Obama too. It took thought and education for me to think differently from most other people.

So it isn't surprising that Powell is not seen as the no good lying murding dog that he is.

Trig is Palin's Grandson

Will this shoe drop before election day? The New York Times asked Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin for their medical records. Obama and Biden said yes, but McCain and Palin said no. McCain's reasons are obvious. If his melanoma has not recorred already it is likely to do so in the future. He released some records to the press but reporters were not allowed to make copies of them.

As for Palin, what reason could she possibly have not to turn over her records? If she does they will show that she has given birth to four kids, not five. Trig is her daughter Bristol's child. You heard it here first.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

“Colin Powell is the most powerful and damaging black to rise to influence in the world in my lifetime.”
Randall Robinson

Robinson spoke too quickly. In 2004 who knew that Barack Obama would be on the verge of being elected president. Powell now has competition for Robinson's condemnation.

Robinson was speaking of Colin Powell's dirty work in the Bush administration to overthrow Jean Bertrand Aristide, the elected president of Haiti. Powell lied to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who were forced to bumb rush the White House and get an audience with Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Bush. All three lied in their faces. They promised not to undermine Aristide but two days later they orchestrated a coup and a kidnapping against him.

Powell has a lot of blood on his hands. The year before he helped destroy Haiti, he led the charge for the U.S. to invade and occupy Iraq. Chris Floyd describes Powell's perfidy.

"In fact, it is not too much of a stretch to say that Colin Powell is more responsible for the mass murder spree in Iraq than any other person except George W. Bush, who gave the actual order for the hit. For it was Powell who "made the sale" for the Bush Faction's deceitful warmongering campaign, with his infamous February 2003 presentation to the UN, laying out the false evidence about Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction. After that farrago of artfully delivered lies, the American Establishment -- urged on by the fawning, bloodthirsty commentariat -- lined up solidly behind the war. After all, if Colin Powell -- so "reasonable," so "honorable," so "honest" and "bipartisan" -- stood foursquare behind the Bush case for war, then it must be ironclad."

Colin Powell is the ultimate careerist. If he had resigned from the Bush administration before lying like a cheap dirty rug at the U.N. he would be on the verge of the presidency now instead of Obama. But that isn't his thing. He is a courtier. He attempted to cover up the My Lai massacre and he and his boss Caspar Weinberger engineered the Iran Contra arms for hostages deals. Powell has been behind American government wrong doing for the past four decades.

It is little wonder that today Powell announced his endorsement of Obama. They are a perfect pair. One works behind the scenes, the other wants the top job.

The progressives who have fawned over Obama are still fawning tonight. A Powell endorsement ought to be the kiss of death, but liberals have silently colluded with Obama all year long. Why should they stop now? So what if the architect of death and destruction in Iraq has endorsed their beloved leader.? They just want to win. They want their guy to be at the top of the killing food chain. Any pretense of progressive politics is just that.

Cindy McCain

"The two often relax in separate places: Mr. McCain prefers the family’s ranch in the Arizona desert, while Mrs. McCain’s refuge is a high-rise condominium on the Pacific. "
New York Times

So the McCains are separated, not hard to do when you have eight homes. I don't really care, but the media have no problem picking and choosing whom they will scrutinize and whom they will not. The New York Times wrote a truly tawdry, unseemly article on Bill and Hillary Clinton last year, claiming that the public were interested in their private lives, a specious argument at best.

"Four other senators were implicated, and one Senate spouse: Mrs. McCain. She and her father had invested in a shopping center with Mr. Keating, and while Mr. McCain insisted that he had reimbursed Mr. Keating for vacations their families had taken together in the Bahamas, he said his wife, the family bookkeeper, could not find the receipts."

Remember the Keating scandal? It was yesteryear's financial crisis, with the taxpayers bailing out the savings and loan industry. McCain used his influence to help one crook in particular, Charles Keating. I had never read before that Cindy McCain and her family had a personal interest in this scandal, so the Times was correct in pointing it out.

Glenn Greenwald, who alternates between good investigative journalism and useless namby pamby liberalism, takes the Times to task for the story. I disagree strongly. Candidates for public office give up their privacy, and someone who has half-siblings yet describes herself as an only child ought to be called on her lie. The Times pointed out that the McCains lie about their private life when they claim to be a married couple and that his wife profited from the savings and loan thievery. Cindy McCain has also injected herself into the campaign, it was she who first posited that Alaska's proximity to Russia gave Sarah Palin foreign policy credentials.

Greenwald and his ilk are a huge problem. He did great reporting on Obama's FISA treachery, but then rejected the notion that progressives ought to withhold support from him because of it. We should just accept the loss of our constitutional rights, hold our noses, and vote for the "lesser" of two evils. Although if democratic presidential candidates think we have no fourth amendment rights, their evil isn't any less.

At any rate, I'm glad the times exposed the Cindy McCain fraud.

"Cindy McCain was new to Washington and not yet 30 when she arrived at a luncheon for Congressional spouses to discover a problem with her name tag.

It read “Carol McCain.” That was the well-liked wife John McCain had left to marry Cindy, to the disapproval of many in Washington."

Married woman don't like home wreckers. Thank goodness.

Wish I'd Said That

"To me, Obama's friendship with Ayers and Dohrn means that once he rubbed shoulders with amateur bombers, but now pines for the Real Fucking Deal. As president, Obama will have access to weapons that ancient radicals could only imagine while tripping. Better, he's free to use them, hell, expected to use them, and I have complete confidence that Obama will do just that. Instead of mailing cryptic messages to the media, he'll announce his murderous intentions on international television and all over the Web. So Obama palled around with people who blew up parts of empty buildings. If you desire to be the imperial manager, you gotta start somewhere."

Dennis Perrin

Is John McCain Sick?

John McCain never looked well. Lately he has looked very ill indeed. This two week old video from Crooks and Liars clearly shows that his left eye seemed to be drooping, which can be a symptom of stroke, among other conditions.

Counterpunch has received reports that McCain's melanoma has recurred, and that he may be receiving radiation treatments.

"An official in the National Institutes of Health, well known to our reader, has confided to her that in an informal conversation with a doctor in a California hospital the NIH official had learned that there had been a metastasis of McCain’s melanoma, and that this had come to light in a checkup in the past few weeks."

John McCain has not released his medical records to the press, but this is nothing new. In 2004 Bush skipped his August physical until after election day and when Reagan ran for re-election in 1984 he already knew that he had colon cancer but kept that fact from the public.

If the corporate media did their job, they would demand that presidential candidates release all medical records. Of course, many things would be different if they lived up to the title journalist, but I digress. McCain is sick, and it should have come to light sooner.

He is behind in every poll, and if reports of illness become more wide spread it is safe to say that he will lose. Of course, the thought of President Palin is taking a toll on his poll numbers too. If he should pass away in the near future, there ought to be a public outcry about the story that should have been. Oh wait, I'm sorry. No one cries out anymore. I forgot myself.

What's the Rush?

"The situation may get urgent, but it's not urgent right now. Right now it's a financial sector problem.''

That is what 150 economists say about the proposed $700 billion bailout/giveaway to Wall Street. They outlined their concerns in a letter to Congressional leaders and warned them not to be stampeded into doing further harm to the economy.

In this week's Black Agenda Report I expressed my fears that the give away is the first step in stealing from the national treasury. We will be told that social security, the only safety net Americans have, must be privatized or that spending on non-defense related programs has to go.

One of the signatories of the letter, David K. Levine of Washington University, had a more disturbing observation about recent market activity or rather inactivity. "I suspect that part of what we're seeing in the freezing up of lending markets is strategic behavior on the part of big financial players who stand to benefit from the bailout."

Hat tip goes to Arthur Silber, who as always makes the point that the ruling class are doing what they always do. They are ruling the rest of us. Just assume the position, like politicians tell you to do. Barack Obama says that ". . . issues like bankruptcy reform, which are very important to Democrats, is probably something that we shouldn't try to do in this piece of legislation." Of course not, that would mean answering to working people instead of the corporate masters who control both political parties.

Michael Hudson points out that the only way for the give away plot to work is for another bubble to be created. It isn't possible to make money for Wall Street while also helping Americans facing foreclosure. "In order for the existing junk mortgages to be “made good,” real estate prices must be raised further above the ability to pay for this year’s five million homeowners in arrears and facing default."

That is really not very shocking. It is just the ruling class doing what they always do. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Ahmadinejad on Larry King

I used to sneer at Larry King. He is king of the puff piece interview, whether his subject is a presidential candidate or a celebrity promoting a tell all memoir.

You can imagine my surprise when I turned on the tube last Tuesday and saw King interviewing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the full hour of his program.

King wasn't much better than he usually is, but so what. Ahmadinejad was allowed to speak for himself and tell the American people what they ought to know but don't.

"Now for eight years, Saddam was supported against us. He bombarded Iranian cities and towns. He used chemical weapons against us. And in the meantime, the American government was giving support to Saddam. And then the U.S. government went and overthrew Saddam. Well, perhaps in the first instance, we might have been happy. But when we realized that the U.S. government is more interested in staying in Iraq and to dominate, through its presence in Iraq, the region, we -- I ask you, would you have been happy if you were in our shoes watching this?"

"The largest number of inspections in the history of the IAEA has been done with the country of Iran. We have offered the IAEA the largest number of documents in its history. No country in the world has cooperated with the agency as much as Iran has done. And that's verified. But I'd like to ask you, at the same, that there are countries who have nuclear weapons arsenals and are actually developing a new age nuclear warfare. Should they not be inspected, as well? Don't you think that their activities should be brought to an end, as well? Who exactly is the threat?"

"Perhaps as a journalist who has years of experience,(ouch!) you must be aware of what goes on in the Middle East, the extent of the calamity, in other words. For over 60 years, more than five million Palestinian have been displaced -- people who were forced out of their homes.And those who have stayed are being bombarded every day militarily. They are being killed in their homes at times. Women and children at times are besieged. And medicine, water and food does not always reach them sufficiently. Children lose their lives, as do women, as a result, at times. Sometimes women die giving birth. Palestinian figures are assassinated and it goes to such extent that it's actually announced beforehand.Three big wars started by the Zionist regime, the last of which was in 2006, when they attacked Lebanon.S o when will this calamity -- this catastrophe end?"

"I think that every government that comes to power in the United States must address two sort of agenda items. The first is that it must limit the circle of the interventions of the United States abroad because these interventions and interferences bring about heavy cost to the American people, both materially and both in terms of the level of dignity of a people. The dignity of the American people around the world has been hard when you -- other people, other nations do not have a good image of American people anymore. And materially, you can tell for yourself what it has done to the American economy. I heard this recently, that 700 billion dollars are to be infused to the financial institutions. Where is it being paid from? The pocket of American people."

We depend on stand up comedians like David Letterman and John Stewart to give us the news and now we depend on Larry King to give access to an important world leader when supposedly superior news people won't. Viva Larry!

The interview is on Youtube in six parts. Once again there is a problem posting Youtube on to blogger so I can only give the link.

Baby Mama Drama


Alaska governor Sarah Palin didn't deny the rumors that her infant son is actually her daughter's child. She did announce that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant now and will be getting married. Okey dokey.

I'm still unconvinced. Just look at this, the Sarah Palin's Pregnancy Decision Map. Maybe it just proves that she is dumb, but I like my scandal and I'm ging to stick with it.

I am also going to stick with saying that this is a relevant campaign issue. Governor Abstinence Only has a pregnant teenager. Every study has shown that abstinence only is a failure and there is no reason to dance around the issue. Also, Palin could have chosen to save her pregnant daughter this scrutiny, but like other narcissists, i.e. politicians, she chose to grab the spotlight.

I think more shoes are going to drop on Palin and it is too late for McCain to choose someone else. They must be nominated this week. He is stuck with her and if he wins, we will be too. We are just so screwed.

Palin Eight Months Pregnant?

If the story is true, Sarah Palin is eight months pregnant in this video. Can women about to deliver cross their legs and sit forward? Hmmm. Mommies please tell me. She also says nothing about being on the verge of having a new baby. The plot thickens.

Is Palin's Baby Her Daughter's?

"But I can't help being a little bit fascinated by the speculation that Governor Palin's "surprise pregnancy" was actually a ploy to cover the pregnancy of her 17-year-old daugher, Bristol. Most of the speculation seems to rest on the fact that while Governor Palin never seemed to show any signs of being pregnant until she dropped her surprise announcement - followed almost immediately by an 'early' delivery following an eight-hour flight from Texas. On the other hand, her daughter Bristol was apparently away from school for months with 'mono.' "
Talking Points Memo

I didn't write in the month of August and now that Labor Day approaches I am finding myself very far behind indeed. I haven't written much about John McCain's choice of little known Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. I'm not sure what to think about whether or not she helps him. She can help by giving an out to the racists who won't admit that they still have "questions" about Obama because he is black. They can now claim righteousness by voting for a woman. On the other hand, the pro-Hillary white women who were drawn to her by feminist aspiration will be insulted. Why would they vote for an anti-abortion creationist who doesn't believe global warming is a problem?

All of these questions are now dwarfed by a now viral internet rumor. The governor has a four month old baby with Downs syndrome. She said that she and her husband new the baby had that disability but that they brought the pregnancy to term because of their pro-life beliefs.
I thought it kind of odd that someone with four kids ranging in age from 19 to 7 would have a new child, but we all know an "oops" baby or two.

According to this fast moving rumor, the baby isn't hers at all. The baby belongs to her daughter, Bristol, who is now 17. Consider the facts. The governor didn't announce being pregnant until she was seven months along, stunning the public and her own staff. At the same time, her daughter missed several months of school. The governor says because of mononucleosis.

The most mysterious part of the story, is the birth itself. The governor was in Texas where she says her water broke. Did she go to a hospital there? No, she got on a plane for the eight hour ride back to Alaska.

Will the corporate media take on this story or will they leave it to the National Enquirer? It shouldn't be too hard to get the facts. There has to be a birth certificate. There has to be a physician listed as delivering the baby.

If true, the story is worth covering because it reveals the rank hypocrisy of the Republicans and the Christian right. It would be hard to publicly acknowledge a teenager's pregnancy, but that is what pro-family types ought to do. She would have been better off saying that the baby would be welcomed into the family instead of creating a bizarre tale.

One thing is certain. McCain was desperate and didn't vet Palin. He only met with her once. And why would she say yes with this enormous skeleton in her closet? I guess for the same reason that John Edwards campaigned for president while simultaneously praying that the Riuelle Hunter shoe wouldn't drop. Politicians are very sick people.

"Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews"

"We have two Israeli cabinet ministers, one deals with war [Defense Minister David Kezerashvili], and the other with negotiations [State Minister for Territorial Integration Temur Yakobashvili], and that is the Israeli involvement here: Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews."

If you say so Mikhail Saakashvili. I guess it is OK to blame Israel in this instance without being accused of anti-Semitism. Well, I can dream anyway.

The president of Georgia told the world what critics of Israel already know. Israel is America's evil minion, at the bottom of nearly every instance of Uncle Sam's aggression. Israeli defense contractors are Colombia's number one arms supplier and work hand in hand to destabilize Hugo Chavez in neighboring Venezuela. They are now directly involved in America's effort to use Georgia to start a shooting war against Russia.

Check out Black Agenda Report on Wednesday. My first post-vacation column will be about the Bush team's effort to blow us all to kingdom come before January.

Sen. Biden Brags: My State was a Slave State

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.... I mean, that's a storybook, man." Remember that quote? The headlines ought to read, "Racist senator chosen as Obama's running mate."

Sorry I'm not writing much now, I planned to take all of August off from writing but the world intrudes. Biden is just God awful, a war mongering gaffe prone, loose cannon who chooses to claim slavery among his political bona fides.

Black people are in for the worst butt whooping since Jim Crow, but this week most will celebrate themselves silly as Obama hang glides into Mile High stadium with the horrible Biden by his side.

I'll have more to say later this week.

Joe Biden is a Northeast Liberal or a Liar

While eulogizing Strom Thurmond in 2003 Biden referred to himself as a "northeast liberal." In a 1996 Fox news interview he said, "My state is anything from [sic] a northeast liberal state," and bragged that Delaware was a slave state.

Way to go Obama.

BARACK OBAMA -- White Power in Black Face (Part 1)

Obama smacked down! Yippee!

Obama Sucks Up, to Rumsfeld

I posted this back on July 8th, thought you might like to see for yourself. Obama was a world class suck up from day one. Of course, he sucked up to the right people, the rich and powerful ones and he did it well. If he becomes president that will be the reason why.

Cheney Planned to Disguise Navy Seals as Iranians and Shoot Them

Damn!

Obama Will Let Bush Crimes "Remain Buried For All Time"

A Message from Diop Olugbala

What About the Black Community, Obama? On Friday, August 1st I led a contingent of the Uhuru Movement into Barack Obama’s town hall meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida to raise the question, “what about the black community, Obama?” Without the benefit of a big media budget, our organization attempted to bring the serious issues experienced by African working class people across this country into the national political debate.

These issues include the targeting of African and Latino communities with predatory “sub-prime” mortgages – a scheme that has made millions for people like Obama’s chief financial advisor Penny Pritzker, while stripping black families of billions of dollars, the greatest loss of wealth our community has suffered since being brought in chains to this country. We also challenged Obama to take a stand against the police shootings of unarmed African people, and explain why he has publicly defended the judge’s acquittal of the NYC police who murdered Sean Bell.

He has said that he cannot speak out on behalf of those who have been historically oppressed for fear of offending other people. Yet in Miami, he promised the Jewish community, which considers itself a historically oppressed community, that he supports turning all of Jerusalem over to Israeli control, despite the internationally enforced sharing of that city with the Palestinians. When Obama speaks to black audiences, he attacks us, attributing our community’s poverty, not to systemic oppression, but to bad culture and lack of work ethic.

Barack Obama has criticized African fathers for abandoning our children, although a recent study showed that black fathers stay more involved with their children after a split from the mother than white fathers. And Obama says nothing of the unjust imprisonment of 1 in 9 black men of child-bearing age, the overwhelming majority of whom are locked up on minor drug or other non-violent economic violations stemming from conditions of desperate poverty. He has failed to achieve any meaningful program of economic development for the African community. In speaking to a group of black legislators, Obama said “a good economic development plan for our community would be if we make sure folks weren’t throwing their garbage out of their cars.”

Barack Obama wants to increase military spending and praised Clinton for abolishing AFDC and welfare. He has reversed his position opposing the death penalty and speaks out against reparations. He wants to escalate the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and has threatened Venezuela and Iran with military aggression. He has upheld the FISA, supporting wire-tapping and government spying on citizens. He receives unprecedented financial backing from Wall Street. His close advisors and potential cabinet members include war criminal Richard Clarke, Tri-lateral commission founder Zbigniev Brzezinski, Madeleine ‘it’s worth the price of 1 million dead Iraqi children’ Albright, and Free Trade advocates Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee.

Some argue that we must support Obama or else we are supporting McCain. We in the Uhuru Movement don’t believe our community should restrict our political options to a choice between one white ruling class party or another. In fact, the black community’s most recent experiences in the U.S. electoral arena have resulted not only in the Republican Party’s theft of our votes, but prior to that we suffered some of the worst attacks on our community at the hands of the Democratic Party administration of William Jefferson Clinton, who put 100,000 more police on our streets to murder our people, privatized the prisons to exploit our unpaid labor, and discontinued the public subsidies for impoverished children and families that had been won by African people as a concession to our movement of the 1960s.

African people’s experiences with these last several elections and the desperate conditions facing our community have created a willingness by our people to seek independent political alternatives. In response to this crisis, the white rulers put forward Barack Obama – a pied piper taking African people back into clutches of the Democratic Party. If anyone looks seriously at the positions, programs and advisors of Barack Obama, they will see that he does not stand for any kind of real change, but for the defense of the same old status quo, with a new face. America is in an economic crisis and the white ruling class hopes to save itself by deepening the exploitation of African people in the U.S. and on the continent of Africa, where the world’s biggest reserves of oil and precious minerals lie. How better to do it than with an African face at the head of state?

Our success as a people requires that we achieve our own independent political agenda. African people’s votes should be contingent on the willingness of a candidate to support and fight for that agenda. The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement has invited Barack Obama, John McCain and Cynthia McKinney to attend our annual convention on September 27-28 in St. Petersburg, Florida to clarify their position on the question, “what about the black community?’ Based on their response, we will consider endorsement of a U.S. presidential candidate.

Diop Olugbala is the International Organizer for the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement

www.inpdum.org

Diop Olugbala and the International Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement

"What about the black community?" That simple question from a Florida protester gave the sainted one a case of the jitters. It is high time he had some.

Never heard of Olugbala or his group, but they gave Obama the only true smack down he has gotten this year. All hail Olugbala and the Uhuru Movement! I have never seen Obama stutter and stammer the way he did when confronted by protest. Be still my heart. I'm going to post the You Tube videos, hopefully. I have been having problems with that lately.

Olugbala's words are simple, but speak volumes about Obama and his decision to ignore black people because he knows that he can.

"So my question is, in the face of the numerous attacks that are made against the African community or the black community by the same U.S. government that you aspire to lead, we are talking about attacks like the subprime mortgage that you spoke of that wasn't just a general or ambiguous kind of phenomenon but a phenomenon that targeted the African community and Latino Community.

Attacks like the killing of Sean Bell by the New York police department and Jevon Dawson right here in St. Petersburg by the St. Pete police and the Jena Six and Hurricane Katrina. The list goes on.

In the face of all these attacks that are clearly being made on the African community why is it that you have not had the ability to not one time, speak to the interest and even speak on behalf of the oppressed and exploited African community or the black community in this country?"

Opus

Naughty, naughty CEO.

More Conservative Than Thou

How true. Cartoon is courtesy of Minuteman Media. Hat tip to Norman Finkelstein.

Dream On

"He is much better than others because he is black and black people were tyrannized in America. I think he will feel our suffering."
Overly Optimistic Iraqi

Wish I'd Said That, but Michael Hudson Said It First

The last issue of Black Agenda Report featured a KPFA interview with Dr. Michael Hudson on the subject of the fictitious economy. If you want to understand junk bonds, endangered pension funds, Chicago School corrupt politics, why Democrats are as bad as Republicans or how CEOs pay themselves, you must listen to this eye opening interview. Hudson drops quite a few incredible quotes. He is an economics professor and a former advisor to former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. It figures. Smart birds of a feather do flock together. Here are some of the Hudson statements that made me sit up and take notice and created a series of " a ha" moments.

"Classical economics defined a free market as one that is free of overhead charges, free of unnecessary charges of production, free of watered stock. Today a free market means that predators are free to extort any price from the public, they are free to deregulate, free to lie to consumers, free to exploit, free to load any company they want down with debt, and basically lead (us) to a world of debt peonage... So the whole concept of freedom has been turned upside down by the Chicago school and by the Bush administration."

"Because hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to mislead people and to endow business schools and universities to stop teaching the history of economic thought, to stop teaching the classical economists, and essentially to brainwash students, so that those with a sense of realism simply drop out of the field of economics and go into some other field."

"Now the companies were in such financial stress, having to pay the bondholders so much money that they were facing bankruptcy. So they went to their workers, as General Motors did a year ago, and as one company after another has gone to their labor force and said, 'Look, we're gonna go bankrupt, and if we go bankrupt that's gonna wipe out your entire pension fund,' because the law says you're at the end of the line, as far as collecting from us. The basic rule in America is that the rich get paid first and normal people get paid last... the richer you are, you're at the head of the line, the poorer you are you're at the back of the line. We owe so much money to our bondholders and bankers who lent us the money that there's not enough money to pay them and to to pay you workers.

The labor unions said wait a minute, we agreed to lower our current wages (in years past) so you could pay these pensions later. The bosses replied 'Well, we don't care about that, the law is on our side, we've bought the congress, we've bought the courts, our lobbyists give congressmen and the lawmakers a lot more money than yours do, so you lose.' "

"Foreign countries essential will have to isolate the United States and go their own way. There is no sign of that happening yet. When countries do go their own way, such Iran, Iraq and Venezuela, the United States threatens to go to war with them."

"There is a naive view that somehow everything will be different if the Democrats get back into power. The last time the Democrats were in power they were to the right of the Republicans. Clinton basically was a right wing Republican and did more antilabor, prowealth policies than essentially the Republicans could have done.That is basically what the Democratic party is for. The Republicans are viewed as the anti labor party, so if you are going to double cross labor, if you are going to really hurt the economy it has to be a Democratic that does it, not a Republican. And so it looks to me like Wall Street is all for the Democrats coming in, hoping that Oboma will turn out to be another Clinton. . ."

"The crisis we're going into may be so severe that people will be willing to back new politicians. It may be that the Democratic party will finally be split and most of the Democratic politicians will join the Republicans where they belong and a new party will essentially come out. I don't see much of a recovery until that occurs because the two parties are so similar right now." (We can hope).

"[depression] Certainly inevitable for the U.S., not inevitable world wide. All the other countries have to do is cut themselves lose from the dollar. In this country America has no way of paying for its trade deficit and no way of paying for its military spending abroad. So if something has to give America would prefer to impose a very deep depression than give up one penny of military spending. So I expect a very sharp increase in unemployment, people are talking that real prices have another 30% to fall at least and that is only as far as the eye can see, and large scale foreclosures, bankruptcies while military spending will increase."

I could go on and on. Just listen to the entire interview. Hudson answers questions you haven't even asked yet.

Obama, Racism and the New Yorker

How do I feel about the New Yorker cartoon depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as machine gun toting followers of bin Laden who wear big afros and burn flags and use fist bumping terror signals? I have just a few words of advice for the New Yorker. Leave satire to the Onion, they do it better.

I get that it was supposed to be a parody of the email smear campaigns and the Fox News endless lies spread by the racist, right wing dead enders. Yet if the intent was to parody those people, the cartoon should have depicted them and their delusional hate. It should not have depicted the Obamas at all.

America is a nation full of very stupid people who don't have the capability to think seriously about anything, much less understand satire. Add endemic racism to the mix, and snarkier than thou satire ends up being nothing but stereotyping a still despised group of people.

But it must be pointed out that defending Barack Obama from racist attacks is not so simple. Part of Obama's appeal to many white people is his own denunciation of black demands for justice, or even the memory of past injustice. Ask Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama denounced him and officially left his church because Wright had the gall to state the truth of America's history of white supremacy, wars of empire and glorification of manifest destiny and the mass murder that goes along with it. My friend and fellow blogger Arthur Silber hit the nail on the head when he dissected the Wright episode and racism directed at Obama.

"This places Obama's would-be defenders in an unusual predicament: they want to defend Obama on an issue about which Obama refuses to defend himself. Obama has told us there is nothing of any significance he needs to defend himself against. In this way, Obama has removed the weapon from his defenders' hands. He has told them -- as he has told Wright -- to shut up and keep quiet about it. Obama doesn't want Wright to discuss it, and he doesn't want you to discuss it.

This is a monumental problem. Because Obama seeks the highest elective office in a society which is based on and still revolves around the myth of American exceptionalism in numerous and often complex ways, it is probably the case that he has to deny the truth. That does not change what the truth is. If you choose to defend him against viciously discriminatory attacks, and if you go so far as to suggest that those attacks are systemic and widespread, you call into question certain of the critical premises underlying Obama's campaign (that he is the "post-racial" candidate and similar claims).

He doesn't want you to defend him too strenuously on this issue, if at all."

Obama still continues his campaign of denouncing all black people and making us the fall guys and girls for all of the country's ills. At the NAACP convention yesterday he had this to say.

"So yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Washington. And yes we have to demand more responsibility from Wall Street. But we also have to demand more from ourselves. Now, I know some say I've been too tough on folks about this responsibility stuff. But I'm not going to stop talking about it." (Aren't we lucky.)

"It starts with teaching our daughters to never allow images on television to tell them what they are worth; and teaching our sons to treat women with respect, and to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; that what makes them men is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."

Good advice to be sure, but does any of it ever apply to white people? Are white girls victimized by negative media imagery? Do all white boys respect women? Are all white men good fathers? Will white people ever get the responsibility speech? No, they won't. There is no political advantage in pointing out white people's flaws, so they are safe from Obama's finger pointing. The New Yorker spread negative stereotypes about the Obamas and about all black people, but Barack Obama has made a career out of doing the very same thing.

So don't cry for him too much. His campaign is a thing of marketing beauty and will overcome any and all attacks. He will be president and black people will have more denunciation to look forward to.

Democrats Help Bush Break the Law

"What is most striking is that when the Congress was controlled by the GOP -- when the Senate was run by Bill Frist and the House by Denny Hastert -- the Bush administration attempted to have a bill passed very similar to the one that just passed today. But they were unable to do so. The administration had to wait until Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over Congress before being able to put a corrupt end to the scandal that began when, in December of 2005, the New York Times revealed that the President had been breaking the law for years by spying on Americans without the warrants required by law."
Glenn Greenwald

Iran Tests Missiles

Good! Just to be clear, I don't want any nation to launch missiles on any other nations. I do think it is good for Iran to remind the U.S. of one important thing. Opening a can of whupass insures that an ass whuppin' will emerge.

Obama Hearts Rumsfeld and Bush

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in the mainstream. Who said that? Was it Karl Rove? Perhaps it was Dick Cheney. No, it was Barack Obama. He didn't turn into Mr. Two-faced Democrat in Name Only overnight. He has obviously been planning a presidential run for a long time and never passed up a chance to suck up to the powerful people who could get him into the White House.

Way back in 2001 when Bush was announcing his cabinet choices, state senator Obama said that Rumsfeld and the rest of the Bush gang were just A-OK with him. Read it here and listen to the Rumsfeld statement here.

" 'The proof in the pudding is looking at the treatment of the other Bush nominees,' Obama said. 'I mean for the most part, I for example do not agree with a missile defense system, but I dont think that soon-to-be-Secretary Rumsfeld is in any way out of the mainstream of American political life. And I would argue that the same would be true for the vast majority of the Bush nominees, and I give him credit for that.'

'So I don’t want to be pegged as being far left simply because I find certain aspects in John Ashcroft’s record to be divisive or offensive,' Obama continued. 'I think it’s legitimate for me to raise that. As I said before, if he brought before us a nominee who didn’t agree with me on affirmative action and yet said that, you know, I do think that and showed a history for showing regard and concern for racial justice, if he came before us and said I oppose a woman’s right to choose, or I oppose abortion, I find it religiously offensive, and yet I do respect, for example, the notion that we shouldn’t be solving these things with violence, historically, if that had been what was said, then I don’t think I would object. And I think that’s a fair position to take.' "

What on earth is he saying? I have yet to see an opponent of affirmative action have a "concern for racial justice." What is the bar for this concern? Is it not being overtly racist? Is it being pleasant to black people? What is Obama's standard for these good hearted people who can oppose justice but still get his support? Supporting affirmative action does further justice, and justice comes only with a struggle and a willingness on the part of a president to join in those fights. Oh wait, I forgot. Obama will put an end to partisan bickering. Damn. I guess we're just screwed.

His comment on abortion opponents is similarly troubling. Apparently he won't fight for abortion rights as long as religious belief is the reason for opposition and those opponents don't burn down clinics. We can say good-bye to abortion rights in an Obama administration.

Progressives who don't pay attention to what Obama says are responsible for this mess we now find ourselves in. From FISA to Iraq to Moveon to Wesley Clark, Obama has thumbed his nose at people who supported his campaign. Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill said it best, progressives should have been players and not cheerleaders during the nomination battle. They weren't. They had no guts for a fight and now we are stuck with Senator Testy who gets hot under the collar when anyone dares to ask him what it means to "refine" his Iraq policy.

If your little political heart is now broken, don't complain. You just weren't paying attention. As Obama would say, "So long suckers."

Obama Is Worse Than I Thought

I will go into more detail later, but here is a letter I wrote to Salon in response to Glenn Greenwald's latest on Obama and FISA.

Greenwald is half right and half wrong

Glenn is doing great work, truly righteous work about Obama's FISA flip flop. But he is wrong about Obama's chances for victory. Obama is the corporate favorite and there is near universal revulsion against the Republicans and the obviously psycho McCain. The combination of Republican unpopularity and Obama's creepy appeal will propel him to victory and he will be as bad as Bush if not worse.

His campaign shows how he will govern. He has unnecessarily tossed Wesley Clark and Moveon under the back wheels of a Greyhound. The Moveon Petraeus story was so last year. His disparagement of the group that cooked their own books to endorse him was gratuitously mean spirited.

Glenn must start focusing on the nightmare of an Obama presidency and stop saying that we can't compare him to Bush and McCain. We can. He didn't just say he would keep the faith based initiative, he said he would expand it.

How does Obama differ with the Republicans? He won't end the Iraq occupation, he is willing to kill thousands of Iranians, and he will maintain illegal, warrantless surveillance.

It is only July. What will Obama say in October? I can barely stand to think about it.

Wish I'd Said That

"It’s obvious by now that Barack Obama is treating black Americans like one treats a demented uncle, brought out from his room to be ridiculed and scolded before company from time to time, the old Clinton Sistah Souljah strategy borrowed from Clinton’s first presidential campaign when he traveled the country criticizing the personal morality of blacks and wooing white voters by objecting to what he considered anti -white lyrics sung by rapper Sistah Souljah."

Ishmael Reed, former Obama supporter