Bush's Fifty Billion

Okay, so we all know Congress is going to cave in to Bush's new demand for $50 billion to spend in Iraq because, Heaven knows, they don't want to be accused of not "supporting the troops." My question to Congress is this: How much of this $50 billion will go to the troops and how much will go to Halliburton, Bechtel, Parsons, KBR, and the rest of the bloodsuckers getting rich on the blood of the troops? In fact, how much of the other $475 billion has been spent on the troops? I won't hold my breath waiting for your truthful answer.

I've sent this entry to Ron Lewis, Jim Bunning, and Mitch McConnell. Do you think you could blow enough smoke to avoid this question after reading the Rolling Stone article in my last post? I'll bet the all three do.

Why Republicans and Military Brass Like War on Iraq

Leave it to Rolling Stone to demonstrate who is winning in Iraq. This is why the lobbying system in Washington, D. C. may be a worse problem than anything politicians of either label talk about.

Let's Attack Iran!!

After the President's saber-rattling speech about Iran this week, I heard Joe Scarborough (the former Republican Representative from FL who quit when a female assistant was found dead in his office) and Pat Buchanan talking about how pleased "the American People" would be with an attack on Iran.

As a Jackleg operating an obscure Thinktank in rural Kentucky, I do not presume to speak for "the American People," but I can say that I think Joe and Pat must think we, "the American People," either have short memories or are feeble-minded, or both.

I remember that our own CIA, under the leadership of the Dulles brothers, deposed a leader in Iran to install Shah Reva Pahlavi as our man in Teheran. He did not play very nicely with his fellow Iranians, but got very rich along with his British and American friends. When he was deposed by the Muslim radicals in 1979, many Iranians remained friends of "the American People" in spite of the problems between their government and ours. Not speaking for "the American People,' I would still assert that we could win more friends and influence the kind of government Iranians have in the future by being more moderate in our relations with Iranians and the present Iranian government.

Who Would Replace Our Dictator in Pakistan

Every time anyone criticizes the dictator in Pakistan, some Republican steps to a microphone and warns that we need to be nice to Musharraf because if he loses power, he will be replaced by a militant Muslim regime. No Democrat or news reader or TV talking head ever disputes the claim, so I have just been assuming that Pervez Musharraf was all that stood between the world and another militant Muslim regime.

Imagine my surprise when I happen to hear a talking head on BBC acting as though the person most likely to replace our buddy Pervez is a woman, a liberal, a populist--Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf, Pakistan's fourth military dictator, came to power in a coup that ousted Nawaz Sharif. Sharif had previously ousted the elected premier, Benazir Bhutto, the only woman to ever lead a modern Muslim country. Bhutto was twice elected as premier of Pakistan and twice deposed.

Is it possible that our Republican . . . and Democratic politicians fear a populist more than they fear a Communist or a militant Muslim?

Why the Daily Show Calls It MESS-opotamia

This article, not in a left-wing blog, but Forbes Magazine should spark outrage among all the media, all presidential candidates, and all the rest of us. You could write a whole article with any of the following headlines:

Iraq: Re-Making It In Our Own Image

How To Multiply the Value of Halliburton Stock in Dick Cheney's Blind Trust

Getting Rich Selling Guns, Bullets, and Explosives to Kill Our Soldiers

How the Bush Administration Conserves Our Most Valuable Resource: The TRUTH (Sorry, Mark Twain)

More Proof of the Danger (to honest Americans) of the Military-Industrial Complex

If This is Saving Iraq, What Are We Saving them For? From? ?

If You Can't Take Evidence of Crime to the FBI, Is This a Democracy?

Why Does the (Bush Administration, Republican Party, Pentagon) Hate Whistleblowers?

Torricelli, an Example of Why Congress is So Unpopular

So, let's see. Robert Torricelli had some campaign contributions left over and used it to make a little money for himself. This story highlights two reasons why Congress is so unsavory. First, there is the problem of leaving Congress and immediately becoming a highly paid lobbyist to try and influence the deliberations of your old colleagues. Second is the need for much closer regulation of campaign contributions.

I've read all my favorite blogs, DailyKos, Crooks and Liars, Talking Points Memo, and TomPaine.com this morning looking for a mention of former Democratic New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli and current lobbyist and his use of campaign contributions to get favors for his friends or himself. I found nothing. No doubt the right wing blogs are all over it. Is this only a problem when a member of the other party does it?

Which candidate for President will propose legislation that will prevent former members of Congress becoming lobbyists? Or former generals? Or former federal bureaucrats? Is this what John Edwards was talking about when he talked about politicians, both Democrat and Republican, being too cozy with big business?

Time to Ditch Mitch

How about an honest man in the Senate, an Iraq War veteran. Check him out!

Let's Win in Iraq

I listened to President Bush’s speech to the VFW today and he compared the occupation of Iraq to the occupation of Japan. I didn’t quite get the comparison to Japan, since we had 0 servicemen killed by Japanese during that occupation compared to 3722 in Iraq. He compared the prospect of leaving Iraq to leaving Vietnam. It’s curious that he is so passionate now about Vietnam, since he, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly neglected to go win that one for us.

Nevertheless, his eloquence convinced me that we should stay in Iraq—under the following conditions:
1. Increase the occupying force to 350,000, the number we had in Japan in 1946.
2. Reinstitute the draft so that our soldiers only have to serve one tour there as they did in Vietnam.
3. Repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy and stop deficit funding this war.
4. Get Halliburton and Blackwater out of the war zone and stop all other war profiteers.
5. Ration gasoline and put a 50% surtax on all Persian Gulf oil.
6. Announce sanctions on all companies doing business in countries who are selling arms to Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

If we’re going to fight this war, let’s get serious!

Why Buy American?

The headlines recently are highlighting problems with contaminated products from China and Mattel, Fisher-Price, and Wal-Mart are wasting no time blaming the Chinese manufacturers that are their partners. But why are their producers in China instead of right here in the USA? The simple answer is profits? But why is it more profitable to have a product manufactured in China and shipped to market, mostly here in the USA, but also in Europe?

Low wages are part of the reason that production costs are much lower in China, but there is one other important reason—regulation. Production in the USA is regulated by government for the purpose of protecting both the environment and the consumer. American companies who have off-shored their production have done so in search of both low wages and no regulation. Now, the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost. Could we be naïve enough to hope that the manufacture of some of these products will also come home? We can if we begin to choose products that are made in the USA and become very overt about letting Wal-Mart, Mattel, and Fisher-Price know we are doing so. By buying American, we reduce the fuel cost of getting the product to market, reduce global warming, increase product safety, reduce our trade deficit, and increase employment for Americans.

There may be no need to punish Wal-Mart, Mattel and their ilk for outsourcing, but shouldn’t we reward American companies for keeping production at home?

Some companies that market American-made toys:
FatBrain, Channel Craft,American Plastic Toys, Inc.

Utah Mine Accident?

A point of view on the Utah mine tragedies not heard on CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, and certainly not on Faux Noise.

I Agree With This Guy

Charley Reese has written a wise and kind tribute to Wendell Berry, the Kentuckian I most admire today and am easily able to respect, even when I disagree with him. I recommend him to you. Only a man of great wisdom, humility, faith, and serenity could have written this.

Pension Funds and Corporate Bailouts

What if one of the candidates came up with a plan to require companies to fully fund their retirement plans and offered a matching plan of federal funding for companies who did so for a period of time. Would this help some of our auto manufacturers and legacy airlines who are having trouble competing with Toyota and JetBlue, who are not burdened with expensive health and retirement plans? Wouldn't this use of Federal money be better than traditional welfare and corporate welfare? Might it someday take some of the pressure of Social Security?