Thank you Mr. Gore for you leadership and service. You are number one.

Hear, hear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjYYz2Jv2QY

Great video clip Susan, thank you.

Gore urges US, China to join efforts to save feverish planet

22 hours ago

OSLO (AFP) — Former US vice president Al Gore said humanity was "waging war" on the Earth and urged the United States and China to join the fight against global warming, as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize here Monday.

"Both countries should stop using the other's behaviour as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment," Gore said at a lavish ceremony in the Oslo city hall.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hb_p...

http://www.wkrn.com/nashville/news/al-go...

video

12/10/2007 7:00:00 AM
Former Vice Pres. Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri Awarded with

Nobel Peace Prize

Former Vice President Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are jointly awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. The two recipients, recognized for their efforts on climate change, speak at the Nobel ceremony in Oslo City Hall. 01:08
video
http://www.c-span.org/rss/video.asp?Medi...

thank you.

I love the photo gallery.

I found you.

I love this thread.

Thank you Linda so much.

Forget who I was and rest assured that I'm who I am now! TRUST me!

The trouble is, he advised Kerry not to disavow his vote for war back on 2004 and only disavowed his own vote after the polls shifted against being in Iraq.  

Edwards is thoroughly despicable.

Michelle Obama says America can't afford to wait for her husband to get more experience.

"Healthcare is the biggest cause of debt in this country. People are in debt because they got sick. College is too expensive. And for those who have gone, they came out with a mountain of debt. Graduates are passing up meaningful careers…teachers, social workers, journalists…because they don't pay much. Young people are walking away from our passions," she said.
 
Obama said the senator's multi-national upbringing, work ethic and sense of community is exactly what is missing at the White House.
 
"He operates with character and integrity. He understands global poverty, upfront. He will come to the [Oval] office with that kind of sensibility. If you're ready to be lead, the only choice is my husband," Obama said to rousing, standing applause before leaving to join her husband on the campaign trail for the weekend.

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=10102

Now Democrats are Trying to Disenfranchise Voters

Disgusting!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/11/16022/544/240/420792

Never Forgit.

Under attack at a recent debate from rival Hillary Clinton on health care, Barack Obama shot back:

“Well, let’s talk about health care right now because the fact of the matter is that I do provide universal health care. The only difference between Sen. Clinton’s health care plan and mine is that she thinks the problem for people without health care is that nobody has mandated — forced — them to get health care.”

Before jumping into this fray, it’s important to note that when it comes to health care, the two Democratic presidential candidates have a lot in common.

One of the few differences is that Clinton includes a universal mandate. That means that after everything else goes according to plan, individuals will be required by law to purchase insurance. Think of how people are required to buy auto insurance and you get an idea of what that might look like.

Obama’s plan includes a mandate to insure children, but it does not include a mandate for adults, as the Clinton and Edwards plans do. That likely means not as many people will be insured, said Kenneth Thorpe, professor of health policy and management at Emory University.

Thank you Phil and Susan.

linda b let us know the Forgit result as soon as you know

we had a bond issue today during the storm and the turnout was predictably low, I had to travel 22 miles out of my way to avoid an icy hill

Never Forget, Forgit was on my brain lol

Michelle Obama says America can't afford to wait for her husband to get more experience

I agree.

Edwards is thoroughly despicable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

attacks are flying here but none have sunk to that level

Edwards who came out first with a Universal plan smoked the others out.

Kucinich has been there for years.

Obama would be a good President. a little too inside the beltway out of the box for my tastes, but he could grow into the job

Edwards is thoroughly despicable.

~~~~~~~~~~I sure hope Hillary's supporters start forwarding that around in an e-mail. lol

Sitka,

If you really want to learn about Obama's HealthCare Plan, here is a link.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

I don't know about you, but I think for myself, and don't base my decisions on some silly meter I see on the web.

Great diary Linda.  Beautiful photos.

People will continue to go into debt and bankruptcy due to health care expenses as long as we have a system where the insurance co's eat up so much of the health care dollar.

The only way out is a "not for profit" plan, and the only candidate offering to fight for that is Dennis Kucinich. The other candidates who are in the Senate have had a chance to bring up a similar bill to Dennis's if they really wanted to help people get the kind of care that they get. Instead of talking about it, why haven't they done something about it. Not like they don't have the opportunity. It's just campaign gobble de gook. They have had time since Harry Truman, Dems have had the Congress and the presidency, and still no decent plan, but they managed to cover themselves very well. Why doesn't one of the candidates take a day off of campaigning and introduce a comparable bill to Dennis' bill tomorrow? It could get them elected, but they won't. All those nice "bundled" donation that don't have to be called "Corporate" would be lost.

Dennis Kucinich isn't OWNED by anyone, that's why he can talk about a "not for profit" health care plan.

Obama's comments at the League of Conservation Voters' pro-Kerry rally last week -- made only hours before he delivered the convention speech that catapulted him onto the national stage and elicited comparisons to Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy -- brought enviros to their knees.

Obama on environment.

http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2004/08/04/griscom-obama/

Linda*in*SFNM
Mon, 12/10/07
11:54 am
___________________________________________________________________________

Agreed...............what a terrible missed opportunity the people of this country chose(and the SC) when they did not let Gore become President.....................is been the darkest 8 years I can remember.

Sitka wrote "Obama’s plan includes a mandate to insure children, but it does not include a mandate for adults, as the Clinton and Edwards plans do."

Compare it to candidate Dean's in 2004.

I got attack pieces against Edwards from both Obama and Clinton campaigns so my guess is a poll shows him leading.

Kerry came in first today in the Christmas card sweepstakes in my mailbox with a wonderful shot of he and his wife in an embrace. A good marriage is a great asset for a candidate. look at Al and Tipper

Phil wrote "Kerry came in first today in the Christmas card sweepstakes in my mailbox with a wonderful shot of he and his wife in an embrace."

Now there's an experienced candidate.

People here are unreal.

DFA is the organization that was founded by Howard Dean right?  Howard Dean was the anti-war candidate right?  How can you come here and defend candidates that voted for the Iraq War?  I do not care what their excuses are, I don't care if they are sorry or claim they were misinformed.  They made a bad judgement, they have innocent blood on their hands.  John Edwards did not even read the entire security report before voting, he put his trust in George Bush. 

Does no one remember Edwards and Kucinich screwing Howard over in the Iowa caucuses?  Does no one rememer when Howard tried to bring race into the issues that Edwards told him to go home, he didn't know anything about the South?  He wasn't so popular here then.

So Edwards is playing nice now, no negativity.  Well it is all over the blogs, his workers are stating he is the only male candidate that can win, make no mistake everyone knows what they are saying, he is the only  male candidate who can win because he is white. 

I'm not surprised you have all fallen in line once, you are about to do the same.  Progressive?  Lol.

I love this thread. Please recommend it. Thanks!http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23245...

Excellent blog Linda NM. Thanks. Apparently DFA doesn't give a sh*t about Gore or global warming.

s m wrote "Does no one remember Edwards and Kucinich screwing Howard over in the Iowa caucuses?  Does no one rememer when Howard tried to bring race into the issues that Edwards told him to go home, he didn't know anything about the South?  He wasn't so popular here then."

It's like anywhere: some do and others don't.

Common Cause commends the Senate and House sponsors of this bill, Sens. Russell Feingold (D-WI), Barack Obama (D-IL) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Reps. David Price (D-NC), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), and Christopher Shays (R-CT), Mike Castle (R-DE) and Todd Platts (R-PA). We urge passage of this important piece of legislation and restoration of the system by 2012, so we don't have the fundraising arms race that today defines our presidential campaigns.

The bill is the Presidential Funding Act 2007.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1205-12.htm

Cosponsoring the legislation in the Senate are Barack Obama (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Joe Biden (D-DE), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and John Kerry (D-MA). Other House cosponsors include Representatives Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mike Castle (R-DE), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), and Todd Platts (R-PA).

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48738496_bipartisan-group-introduces-presidential-public-financing-fix

Kudos to all of them. Now lets make it the law to take effect in 2012.

?

Mike...

darkest 8 years, without a doubt. Now everyone's fighting on how to change course,

 who's the best candidate, who can win, who can't win...

the entire problem lies with our hijacked public airways...imo...

but what do I know, I just talk to many of the dummies that eat what they serve.

A good toon before a cat nap for me...I hate ice storms!

Linda, this is a really excellent presentation. Mr. Gore is at least the Ben Franklin of our time. Unlike Bush and his beltway, toe tapping brethren, Al is a real inspiration to most all of us.


On a separate note, would a Presidential aspirants' spouses debate be at least as worthwhile as the other sh*t we are served?

Oh...kudos to Linda as well...great diary!

"People here are unreal."

well, i have to wonder what other absolutes are on that plate? i can understand not supporting a candidate because they voted for a stupid war. makes sense to me. but what else? what else should we permanently shun people for? and this contained in a statement questioning the "progressiveness" of others.

so, make your list, check it twice, really determine who's naughty or nice, vote for the one who's never made a mistake. (being in the holiday spirit, you can sing the above to "santa claus is coming to town.")

meanwhile, isn't it a stretch to question the diversity of motives of the people here with the line "I'm not surprised you have all fallen in line..."

If you really want to learn about Obama's HealthCare Plan, here is a link.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

Thank you. It agrees with what I posted earlier. 

I don't know about you, but I think for myself, and don't base my decisions on some silly meter I see on the web.

It's amusing, that's all. But if you're getting your info about Obama from his website, he may be thinking for you. 

You should look to outside sources in order to know more than mere propaganda. 

Michelle Obama is exactly right.....America CAN'T wait for Obama to get his experience.

Michelle Obama is exactly right.....America CAN'T wait for Obama to get his experience

Admitting that he is inexperienced -- but that we can't wait for him to learn --  seems like a bad argument for Obama to make.

Better to simply claim he already has all the experience he needs. 

I've tried to say much of what you just did, but have lacked your clarity. 

Hi Guys - this is Neil - Linda's "other"...
I wanted to throw in 2 more cents about Linda's Xcellent entry - I still think that Al Gore is the only entity that could truly drag our country out of the Bushian "Dark Ages" for Science, Freedom, Privacy, and...oh yeah what was that we used to have...?...Democracy...
Nicely done Linda - and Run Al Run (run how & where...I don't know anymore...).

Obama on environment.

http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2004/08/04/griscom-oba

Obama on environment.

Increasing the Clean Use of Illinois Coal

Senator Obama worked with Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) to secure $85 million for research into a process that will turn Illinois-basin coal into clean-burning fuel for cars and trucks (Fischer-Tropsch fuels). Coal fuel has powered all of South Africa's cars and trucks for the last 50 years. The research could help us one day satisfy our energy needs from Illinois' coal mines instead of Saudi Arabia's oil fields.

"The American coal community applauds the leadership of Senators Bunning and Obama. . . America's coal reserves . . . can be utilized to provide ultra-clean transportation fuels for our armed forces, airlines and anyone interested in spending less at the pump to fill-up their vehicle. . . . Americans must take steps now to make greater use of our most abundant and affordable domestic source of energy: coal. This legislation is a big step in that direction."

-Kraig R. Naasz , President and CEO, National Mining Association

New Jersey Nears Repeal of Death Penalty

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/nyregi...

Rae Reed Joan and Steve ...and hubby...:) Thank you....TO AL!!!
L'Chaim!

January 10, 2007

The coal industry praises Obama's reintroduction, with Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), of the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007 last week, which would provide incentives for research and plant construction. The industry says the technology, which converts coal into diesel engine fuel, would reduce America's dependence on foreign oil through a new, home-mined fuel that burns as cleanly as gasoline.

As cleanly as gasoline? 

41.

mprov
Tue, 12/11/07
8:27 pm



New Jersey Nears Repeal of Death Penalty


WOOHOOOO....go Jon Corzine!!!

Run Al Run (run how & where...I don't know anymore...).

He's probably the only person who get elected President of the World.

He's probably the only person who get elected President of the World.

PS...So it's understanable if he thinks being president of the US is beneath him.

U.S. Refuses `Any Wounded Soldier' Mail

By JAY REEVES

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of holiday cards and letters thanking wounded American troops for their sacrifice and wishing them well never reach their destination. They are returned to sender or thrown away unopened.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax scare, the Pentagon and the Postal Service have refused to deliver mail addressed simply to "Any Wounded Soldier" for fear terrorists or opponents of the war might send toxic substances or demoralizing messages.
Mail must be addressed to a specific member of the armed forces — a rule that pains some well-meaning Americans this Christmas season.
"Are we going to forget our soldiers because we are running in fear?" Fena D'Ottavio asked. The suburban Chicago woman was using her blog to encourage friends to send mail to unspecified soldiers until she learned of the ban, which she called a sad commentary on society.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5heiwM...

How sad

Sorry for passing on the right there :)

Annilow hope you're having a great time in Prague - I'm so jealous!!

Let me know if they have those sliced bread dumplings, some scivkova, perhaps a deep fried breaded pork tenderloin and some delish liver dumpling soup! Nice kolacky, maybe poppyseed, for dessert. And some Pilsner to wash it all down.

I hear it's a beauty of a city. It's on my list - the "can I finally stop working now?" list.

The so-called scientific consensus that global warming is man-made has been shattered with the release of a major new study backed by three universities which concludes that climate change over the past thirty years is explained by natural factors and that attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are irrelevant.

Climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia report that temperature fluctuations over the past three decades are not consistent with greenhouse model predictions and more closely correlate with solar activity.

The report dismisses attempts to reverse global warming by reducing carbon emissions as ineffective and pointless.

Authored by Prof. David H. Douglass (Univ. of Rochester), Prof. John R. Christy (Univ. of Alabama), Benjamin D. Pearson (graduate student), and Prof. S. Fred Singer (Univ. of Virginia), the study appears in this month’s International Journal of Climatology of the Royal Meteorological Society. gore is  CFR

Jessica Lee
The Indypendent
December 10, 2007

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama says that he will support the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (S. 1959). According to the automatic email responses constituents are receiving from his office, Obama appears to be straddling the fence between preserving civil liberties and being tough on terrorism.

“The American people understand that new threats require flexible responses to keep them safe. They also insist that our responses to threats respect the constitution and do not violate the basic tenets of our democracy,” Obama’s email said. Several people who have written to Obama have posted his response on various blogs, including “Justin” who’s personal blog was picked up on diggs.com.  OBAMA IS A TRATIOR TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! NOW OBAMA FANS WHAT YOU GOT  TO  SAY NOW?

Neil again - couldn't stay quiet - Hey Sitka - "He's probably the only person who get elected President of the World." so very well put...and when I think of what that might mean literally ...it would/could happen without threats, bombs, lies, hate...and all of those other BuchChaney choice tools of diplomacy... just old fashioned leadership and respect for others and the planet itself (yes, I think the planet might have a "self"... and that "self" is seriously pissed off...). Whatever the case... I appreciate your comment.

Obama Supports Homegrown Terrorism Bill

Jessica Lee
The Indypendent
December 10, 2007

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama says that he will support the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (S. 1959). According to the automatic email responses constituents are receiving from his office, Obama appears to be straddling the fence between preserving civil liberties and being tough on terrorism.

“The American people understand that new threats require flexible responses to keep them safe. They also insist that our responses to threats respect the constitution and do not violate the basic tenets of our democracy,” Obama’s email said. Several people who have written to Obama have posted his response on various blogs, including “Justin” who’s personal blog was picked up on diggs.com.  OBAMA IS A TRATIOR TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! NOW OBAMA FANS WHAT YOU GOT  TO  SAY NOW?

Obama Supports Homegrown Terrorism Bill

Jessica Lee
The Indypendent
December 10, 2007

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama says that he will support the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (S. 1959). According to the automatic email responses constituents are receiving from his office, Obama appears to be straddling the fence between preserving civil liberties and being tough on terrorism.

“The American people understand that new threats require flexible responses to keep them safe. They also insist that our responses to threats respect the constitution and do not violate the basic tenets of our democracy,” Obama’s email said. Several people who have written to Obama have posted his response on various blogs, including “Justin” who’s personal blog was picked up on diggs.com.  OBAMA IS A TRATIOR TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! NOW OBAMA FANS WHAT YOU GOT  TO  SAY NOW?

Hello, Neil.  :-)

Al, you have to run.  Period.  Your country/world/universe/solar system/ big bang theory needs you to run.

Then surround yourself with good people who do most the work while you continue to work on global warming.  Come on, Al.   

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
UK Telegraph
December 12, 2007

Morgan Stanley has issued a full recession alert for the US economy, warning of a sharp slowdown in business investment and a “perfect storm” for consumers as the housing slump spreads.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will be hoping he can keep the US economy from recession

In a report “Recession Coming” released today, the bank’s US team said the credit crunch had started to inflict serious damage on US companies.

“Slipping sales and tightening credit are pushing companies into liquidation mode, especially in motor vehicles,” it said.

“Three-month dollar Libor spreads have jumped by 60 to 80 basis points over the last month. High yield spreads have widened even more significantly. The absolute cost of borrowing is higher than in June.”

“As delinquencies and defaults soar, lenders are tightening credit for commercial, credit card and auto lending, as well as for all mortgage borrowers,” said the report, written by the bank’s chief US economist Dick Berner. He said the foreclosure rate on residential mortgages had reached a 19-year high of 5.59pc in the third quarter while the glut of unsold properties would lead to a 40pc crash in housing construction.
advertisement TEAR IT ALL DOWN COME IN BUY IT FOR PENNY ON THRE DOLLAR ITS ALL FALLIN INTO PLAN   WAIT IT GOING TO GET WORST.

mprov

Jazzy tune. It's got a jolly beat.

Diversity, there sure is plenty of that to go around here.

Frankly I don't think any of the candidates are perfect. But hopefully don't think themselves to be perfect either. If they did that would be a HUGE mistake. To seek perfection is a limitation and very boring.

---

s m

Yes. I remember all those things you've cited. That was a different race. Those things were all about the different candidate's political debate stratgies at the time. And yes, they ALL made A LOT of mistakes. It's what was done after that race was over and who was in support of Gov. Dean for DNC Chairmanship that matters now to me.

Michael Nenonen
Global Research
December 3, 2007

Reading Naomi Wolf’s The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007), I realized the hour is later than I thought.

Many of us have watched the Bush regime’s actions with a growing feeling of horror intertwined with a sense that somehow we’ve seen all of this before, but we aren’t sure where. We’re confused because what we’re seeing conflicts with unexamined and deeply held assumptions we have about American freedom. Wolf’s short but meticulously documented book shows that what is happening in America has indeed happened many times before, not in the United States, but rather in places like Chile, Italy, Russia, and Germany. In each case, people couldn’t understand why they didn’t recognize where they were heading before they passed the point of no return.

It’s shifting fast

Wolf argues that the United States is undergoing a “fascist shift” from an authoritarian but still relatively open society to a totalitarian society. The techniques for forcing this shift have evolved over the last century and are now studied by aspiring tyrants the world over. These methods are even part of the formal curriculum in places like the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, previously known as the School of the Americas, in Fort Benning, Georgia, where thousands of Latin Americans have been trained by the United States government in the most savage techniques of insurgency and counterinsurgency. Fascists use ten basic strategies to shut down open societies. They invoke an external and internal threat in order to convince the population to grant their rulers extraordinary powers. They establish secret prisons that practice torture, prisons that are initially few in number and only incarcerate social pariahs, but that quickly multiply and soon imprison “opposition leaders, outspoken clergy, union leaders, well-known performers, publishers, and journalists.” They develop a paramilitary force that operates without legal restraint. They set up a system of intense domestic surveillance that gathers information for the purposes of intimidating and blackmailing citizens. They infiltrate, monitor, and disorganize citizens’ groups. They arbitrarily detain and release citizens, especially at borders. They target key individuals like civil servants, academics, and artists in order to ensure their complicity or silence. They take control of the press. They publicly equate dissent with treason. Finally, they suspend the rule of law. All of these strategies are being employed in America today.

Consider the evidence

The Bush administration and its supporters have consistently portrayed the security threat posed by international terrorists as a threat to the very survival of Western civilization in order to justify permanent war and to keep the American public in a state of panic and paranoia.

The prisons at Guantanamo and God-knows how many CIA “Black Sites” torture their inmates, even though human rights organizations have demonstrated that the majority of at least Guantanamo’s inmates are innocent victims of mass arrests. The inmates are designated as “enemy combatants” who have no rights under international or American law. And there is nothing stopping American presidents from filling these prisons with American citizens. In an April 24 2007 article for the Huffington Post, Wolf writes that thanks to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, “the president has the power to call any US citizen an ‘enemy combatant’. He has the power to define what ‘enemy combatant’ means. The president can also delegate to anyone he chooses in the executive branch the right to define ‘enemy combatant’ any way he or she wants and then seize Americans accordingly. Even if you or I are American citizens, even if we turn out to be completely innocent of what he has accused us of doing, he has the power to have us seized as we are changing planes at Newark tomorrow, or have us taken with a knock on the door; ship you or me to a navy brig; and keep you or me in isolation, possibly for months, while awaiting trial.” She points out that while currently Americans in such situations will be spared any torture except psychosis-inducing isolation and can look forward to eventual trials, these rights typically evaporate in the final stages of a fascist shift.

They’re called “mercenaries”

Military contractors are the regime’s paramilitary force. Blackwater’s mercenaries, many of whom were trained by Latin America’s most horrific police states, have operated in Iraq outside of Iraqi, American, and military law, and have murdered uncounted innocent Iraqis with impunity. Domestically, Blackwater was contracted to provide hundreds of armed security guards in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and there’s evidence that they fired on civilians. Blackwater’s business plan calls for their use in future disasters and emergencies throughout the United States, and it’s supported by some of the biggest powerbrokers in America.

American intelligence agencies are now bypassing court orders to wiretap citizens’ telephones, spy on their e-mails, and monitor their financial transactions, and the USA Patriot Act forces corporations, booksellers, librarians, and doctors to turn over previously confidential information about Americans to the state.

Thousands of human rights, environmental, anti-war, and other citizens’ groups have been infiltrated by government agents, many of whom have clearly acted as agent provocateurs in order to undermine the groups’ solidarity and to legitimize police actions against them.

Political opponents listed

America’s Transportation Security Administration maintains a terrorist watch list of tens of thousands of Americans who are now subjected to security searches and arbitrary detention at airports. The list includes people like Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and respected constitutional scholar Walter F Murphy.

US Attorneys, CIA agents, military lawyers, and other civil servants who’ve disagreed with the Bush administration have been threatened and fired. David Horowitz and his colleagues have mounted a well-funded nation-wide intimidation campaign that has university students spying on their professors and that has successfully coerced regents at State Universities to discipline or fire left-leaning professors like Ward Churchill. The regime’s supporters have organized campaigns to damage the careers of artists like the Dixie Chicks for criticism of the president and his policies.

The administration has Fox News in its pocket, it has paid journalists for positive coverage, it has disseminated misinformation through the media, and it’s ferociously attacking critical journalists. Arrests of US journalists are at an all-time high. The Bush administration’s outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame was done in retaliation against her husband, Joseph Wilson, whose New York Times op-ed piece exposed lies that the Bush administration used to lead the nation to war. Worse than this, independent journalists appear to be marked for death by American forces in Iraq. In her Huffington Post article, Wolf writes, “The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented multiple accounts of the US military in Iraq firing upon or threatening to fire upon unembedded (meaning independent) reporters and camera operators from organisations ranging from al-Jazeera to the BBC. . . . In some cases reporters have been wounded or killed, including ITN’s Terry Lloyd in 2003. Both CBS and the Associated Press in Iraq had staff members seized by the US military and taken to violent prisons; the news organisations were unable to see the evidence against their staffers.” The goal of these tactics, as she writes in The End of America, is to create “a new reality in which the truth can no longer be ascertained and no longer counts.”

Dissent = treason

In recent years, prominent Republicans like Ann Coulter, Melanie Morgan, and William Kristol have accused liberal journalists of treason and espionage for publishing leaked material damaging to the administration, and in February 2007, Republican Congressman Don Young said “Congressmen who wilfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are sabateurs, and should be hanged.” This would be amusing, were it not for the Bush administration’s revival of the draconian 1917 Espionage Act after half a century’s slumber.

And finally, the Bush administration shows contempt for the law. In The End of America, Wolf writes that Bush has used more signing statements than any previous president, and by doing so has relegated “Congress to an advisory role. This abuse lets the President choose what laws he wishes to enforce or not, overruling Congress and the people. So Americans are living under laws their representatives never passed. Signing statements put the president above the law.” He has also gutted the Posse Comitatus Act, which was created to prevent the president from maintaining a standing army for use against American citizens. Wolf writes that the 2007 Defence Authorization Bill lets the president “expand his power to declare martial law and take charge of the National Guard troops without the permission of the governor when ‘public order’ has been lost; he can send these troops out into our streets at his direction—overriding local law enforcement authorities—during a national disaster, epidemic, serious public health emergency, terrorist attack, or ‘other condition.’” On its own, this is an incredible expansion of presidential power, but when combined with the use of military contractors like Blackwater it gives the president almost dictatorial authority.

Wolf shows that fascist shifts don’t happen overnight, but rather over a course of years during which the fascists’ plans unfold at an accelerating pace. Germany in 1933 was further along this path than it was in 1931, and Germany in 1935 was farther along than it was in 1933. Similarly, America in 2007 is farther along the path than it was in 2005, or will be in 2009, provided that a massive pro-democracy movement, complete with impeachment proceedings, doesn’t reverse the shift while there’s still time. A simple Democratic victory in the 2008 presidential election won’t do the job unless the institutional and legal environment created by the Bush administration is thoroughly dismantled. Regardless of whether the next president is a Republican or a Democrat, he or she will inherit a legacy of centralized power that a democracy simply can’t tolerate.

Left behind

Unfortunately, during the shift opposition politicians and activists still tend to perceive the world through a democratic frame of reference, and this prevents them from seeing that their opponents are no longer operating within this frame. As the opposition is tying its boxing gloves, the fascists are breaking out the machetes.

Wolf’s work has its problems. She doesn’t acknowledge that Black and Indigenous Americans have long lived under quasi-fascist rule, she doesn’t examine the role that previous administrations have played in setting the stage for the Bush regime, and she doesn’t acknowledge the roles played by corporatism, widespread social dislocation and the radical Christian right in the rise of a fascist American zeitgeist. Despite this, The End of America needs to be read by as many people as possible.

Wolf writes about America, but Canadians don’t have any cause for comfort. Canadian and American military forces are already deeply enmeshed. Thanks to NAFTA, we’re tied at the hip to the American economy, while the Security and Prosperity Partnership is integrating our countries’ security forces and harmonizing our no-fly lists. The Harper government is eager to kowtow to the Americans, even to the point of refusing to advocate for Canadian citizens on American death rows. The powerful think tanks and lobbying groups that influence our provincial and federal governments, such as the Fraser Institute and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, either can’t see the shift for what it is or they don’t care. More than all of this, however, is the simple reality that once the shift is complete, the American government will act even more irrationally and belligerently than before. Canada has resources like oil and water the United States is going to need, and the Canadian border is less defensible than the French border was in 1940.

Americans and Canadians have to fight back more fiercely than ever before, to organize and lobby and fill the streets with mass protests, to raise awareness and forge alliances with anyone opposed to totalitarianism regardless of whether they’re liberals, socialists, or conservatives. We have to take all the steps that have rescued dying democracies in the past, and to take them immediately, in the desperate hope that it isn’t already too late.

“Over the past week, several campaigns, candidates and political reporters have stated that college students who moved to Iowa to attend school should not vote in the Iowa caucuses.

I've said before that the Iowa caucus is all about suppressing turnout.

67.

Sitka


That was nasty. This thread has been dedicated to wonderful human being. A great American. And a very good Democrat. Who has spent this liftime in the service of this humanity. Please apologize.

71.

hopefully don't s/b hopefully they don't

---

Sitka,

Please admit you're mistake and let us move on.

And yes, they ALL made A LOT of mistakes.

A slight modification of the, "They all do it," defense.

It's what was done after that race was over and who was in support of Gov. Dean for DNC Chairmanship that matters now to me.

Judging by the latest poll which shows Edwards at 11% nationally, the vast majority think his entire record matters -- his attempt to bury it is failing.

But then, it's just another poll which shows the same as all the others. 

Please admit you're mistake and let us move on.

That would be lying on my part. 

You should at least cite what you mean. I have no idea what you're talking about. 

10:00

nice maintenance HQ

Sitka,

I did. My comments were to s m's post up the thread. Sometime is good idea to back and reflect upon tone here.

My 70 shoulda bin afta'

Sitka
Tue, 12/11/07
10:42 pm

Sometime is good idea to back and reflect upon tone here.

You should quote whatever it is you're talking about. If it's lost upthread someplace, you should do it again.

But I know I've said nothing nasty. As for tone...... 

The tone of the truth is always music to my ears.  

Mr. Gore left the political arena long time ago. And he made it clear yesterday why he did so.

And you should applogizes.

Let us move on.

Mr. Gore left the political arena long time ago. And he made it clear yesterday why he did so.

He didn't say he wouldn't run for president, and in fact said it was the only public office he would consider.

And you should applogizes.

I'm thinking you should apologize for accusing me of something without even saying what it is or quoting me.

Let us move on.

You started this. If you won't even say what it's about, go ahead and drop it, please. 

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25509

That's it, night.

68.

I wish they could fix the blog count. Going back up a long thread is becoming tedious. Any techies here got any suggestions?

Sitka,

From what I can tell, Susan thinks you dissed Al and that you may be insinuating that he thinks running for president is beneath him.

I understood what you wrote to be - if he's good enough to be President of the World, then it might be beneath him to "only" be President of the United States.

But when I first read it, I thought you might get jumped on, but if Linda didn't say anything by now, you know you were understood by her as well.

I agree, though, that it's helpful to quote what one is praising or crabbing about so no further misunderstanding ensues.

 Edwards is thoroughly despicable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitka
Tue, 12/11/07
10:51 pm

But I know I've said nothing nasty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hate to see what you would say if you got nasty.

Happy Holidays

I am going to a Dodd house party Sunday night and I'm going to pull up the front page that Monica put together for him to look at, but I sure as heck wouldn't bring him to the comment section and have him try to figure out who said what to whom.

Al Gore is nothing but political in his effort to have a global paradigm shift on the use of hydrocarbons; and has made "act locally" the global stage. He is putting everything he has into it. New politics. I think it might work nationally with him but that would slow things down. I have faith in the next generation to pull us along, because they are much more interconnected, and they don't hold years old grudges.

The essence of Howard Dean's Presidential run was a similar attack on the way business is being done in Washington by asking people to take control of the effort. You have the power.

Gore thinks the same way only globally.

We do have to all be in this together for it to work.

I'm glad at least one of the Presidential candidates picked up that message.

68.

He's probably the only person who [could] get elected President of the World.

PS...So it's understanable if he thinks being president of the US is beneath him.

If praising Gore as the formost world citizen and making a joke about how diminished the presidency has become is nasty and needs apologizing for, then I must be in the twilight zone. Or someone else is, perhaps.

can you believe with a tanking dollar that Wall Street thought the Fed should have cut another quarter %? They need about a 2% rise to right that ship

a Dow at 20,000 won't mean much with a dollar worth $.25

Politicians who shift with the polls are despicable. 

Just calling Edwards like I and about 89% of everyone else see him. 

yesterday's latimes had a revealing article about hillary's use of the earmark to rope in big donors.  my sense is that her pay to play tactics will reap $$$$$$ for the pharmaceuticals, who will not have a percentage of their profits garnished as will everyday americans.  her mandatory health care plan is a vise--and someone should call her on it.

***************

okay, more holiday wishes.......

*ol' pottyface lieberman:  a nice plot of land in gaza

*dana perino:  a doris kearns goodwin instructional doll for dummies

*journalists and historians:  common sense and backbone to push the passage of the Presidential Records Act before presidential records are closeted in perpetuity

*barney at the white house:  a hot date with miss piggy

yikes Reed that tropical depression is going to link up with this ice storm over New England Sunday night and Monday

I'll be thinking of you. I had about six hours of snow removal today because I was slipping around half the time.

her mandatory health care plan is a vise--and someone should call her on it.

The GOP nominee certainly will. How many times will we have to hear the word "mandatory" before our heads explode?

new thread

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23247...

Edwards will be another field day for the GOP "Son of I was for it before I was against it."

Phil, but as Mr. Gore noted in his speech, he sighted that we may have only 7 years to act, according to US Navy Research.

......and


Today, The Data Center in Boulder has just said, the amount of melt we had this summer was so unexpectedly severe, that either we have reached the tipping point, or we may have as little as 5 years.

We must really act BOLDLY, QUICKLY, or the next generation won't have much of a chance.

..........I added the video links up above. The full ceremony, or just Mr. Gore's speech.

101.

Phil Specht
Tue, 12/11/07
11:24 pm

Reply to this


yikes Reed that tropical depression is going to link up with this ice storm over New England Sunday night and Monday

___________________

Yikes indeed. Has anyone else noticed (besides I know Mike) that the tropical storms are not hitting New England and skipping the (what used to be known as)southern states. Our weather map is definitely changing.

104, s/b NOW hitting New England and skipping the southern states.

The only personages who would ever think that the Office of the President of the Unites States of America is beneath them would be George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. Bush thinks that he has been divinely ordained to be the ruler of the world. He is a delusional mad man. Richard Cheney has no respect for humanity what so ever. The Bush Administration has treated the US Constitution like a piece of toilet paper. To imply that the Office of the President of the United States of America is unfit for anyone's service is an insult to our Democracy.

Why do I feel like I'm talking to Don Quixote tilting at a windmill? 

Or expect Rod Serling to appear? 

Right on! He deserves nothing but the best! His speech in Norway was among the best of his career. I have featured him on my expert blog many times, including today, and will do so several more times before the end of the month. Read more at

 http://www.keyboard-culture-global-warming.com

Additionally, Mr. Gore will be a featured anchor expert on that same site by the end of the month. If only such great things happened to me as I flew half-way around the world! I'm headed to Australia in February so perhaps that will qualify.