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AM Feed - May 31: New Treasury Chief was Bush "Pioneer"

Hot Topics

• President Bush has tapped Henry Paulson to succeed outgoing Treasury Secretary John Snow. Paulson has been the chairman and CEO of investment firm Goldman Sachs, where he earned $30 million in compensation in 2004. Paulson was a Bush “Pioneer” in 2004. Some controversy over the nomination has already developed: Last Thursday, May 25, President Bush falsely told the press that Snow was not leaving his position, but just yesterday White House Press Secretary Tony Snow confirmed that Paulson had accepted the job on May 21. Consumer confidence in the economy fell seven points in May. [link]
• Former Jack Abramoff associate Neil Volz offered testimony in the David Safavian trial yesterday about how he, Abramoff and others would identify “champions” in the government who wanted to help their causes, and then bombard them with favors to help grease the wheels. Before joining Abramoff’s team, Volz served as the chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH). “When I was on Capitol Hill, I was given tickets to sporting events, concerts, free food, free meals. In return, I gave preferential treatment to my lobbying buddies,” Volz said. [link]

Quote of the Day

“I think you could make a pretty strong case that things are worse off in the Middle East today than they were three years ago. By measurement of Iraq, by Iran, by the Palestinian-Israeli issue, what’s going on in Egypt.” – Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-IA), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committeee, on Meet the Press, 5/29.

Morning Snark

• Well, one thing’s for sure: President Bush sure hasn’t made a strong case that things are better off in the Middle East

1. I sent an e-mail to bush shortly after the invasion asking why he thought it would improve the situation in the middle east. I asked him if he hadn’t considered that bad as he was, Saddam Hussein was keeping other, more malignant forces at bay, i.e., the radical islamic factions that once unleashed, would fill the vacuum created by Hussein’s absence and be a worse enemy to the US than Saddam Hussein. I asked him why he didn’t heed other advice at the time which suggested there was no wmd in Iraq. I told him the war would make things worse for us and everyone else by his invasion. I rec’d a reply to my e-mail that GWB didn’t respond to e-mails, thank you. Why could I, a mere American citizen, have seen this coming and all the experts of our government have missed what was so blatant?
   — jen    May 31, 11:50    #
2. As a sidebar to the above, I bet if I was a Pioneer, I would have gotten an answer to my e-mail !!!!
   — jen    May 31, 12:00    #
3. Bush said publicly that he does not use email because he doesn’t want anybody to know what he is doing.
   
   I share this person’s bewilderment. If we as ordinary citizens know better, how can those who are supposed to be intelligent and well informed not understand?
   — Jyl Barber    May 31, 12:05    #
4. What makes anyone think that there will be a reversal of anything that has taken place in the Cheney/Bush administration with an election? With elections stolen by the US Supreme Court in 2000 and by corporate control of software in voting machines along with Secretary of States in charge of voting and clerks in various counties and cities in Florida/Ohio and other states in 2000 /2004, what makes you think 2006 and 2008 will be any better…assuming for the moment there will even be elections. More likely, if the elections cannot ensure a Republican majority in Congress, voting will be suspended and martial law declared because of a terrorist incident/war with Iran/Venezuela or other domestically created incident. Then Cheney and Bush can keep their positions as Dictator President and Dictator Vice President rather than turning them over to Bush’s brother or another puppet.
   — karen boerboom    May 31, 12:06    #
5. Yeah, Jen, I know what you mean – it is difficult to imagine a “government” (I put government in quotes as these people in power don’t actually govern) that’s less responsive to its paymasters, we, the American taxpayers. Of course, the obvious answer is that it was never about WMDs or links to Al-Qaeda, or imminent threat or democracy-promotion or any of the other concocted lies they posited as rationales for naked aggression against a people who have never harmed (or threaten to harm) the U.S. It’s all about OIL.
   I think there’s a big transitional period in the works right now as people see the corporate media as obeisant suck-ups to power who reject actually informing the public in favor of currying favor with gov’t. The political right understands the power of media to set the terms of political debate and we, on the left, are only recently coming to realize the power of media. The right has built a mighty Wurlitzer to drown out all dissent and opposing viewpoints while at the same time decrying there being a liberal bias in the media. Wealthy liberals still aren’t interested in funding a build-up of our own media infrastructure to counteract the right’s media onslaught. We, working-class liberals must fund it ourselves – supporting Air America, Pacifica Radio, progressive mags and newspapers and books and liberal websites. We must demand that the FCC reinstate “The Fairness Doctrine” for political debate on TV and radio broadcasts. We lost the Fairness Doctrine in 1986 and as a result we are bombarded by FOX NEWS and hateful, right-wing shock-jocks on AM radio that constantly stoke resentment against liberals without being challenged. We must support investigative journalists who are rapidly becoming an endangered species. And we absolutely must save the internet from the Big Telecoms who want to control the free flow of information by charging differing rates or blocking access.
   — John    May 31, 12:40    #
6. Karen, you are so right!!! The elections are being stolen, in part because of rigged e-voting machines. We still have not rectified this banana-republic style voting system so the Repugs are only feigning their concern for lousy approval ratings because the fix is in!
   — John    May 31, 12:45    #
7. Sadly my friends…Karen Boerboom has nailed it.
   Nothing will change, because these are desperate times, and these criminals realize that if an election happens and they do not retain control, they are all in deep trouble. Whatever massive obfuscation they create (ie. domestic terror attck, war, election rigging, etc.) these people are going nowhere and we are all soon to be “criminalized” for dissent.
   Hate to be pessimistic, but let’s not kid ourselves…There is nothing more dangerous than when you have a caged animal, or worse…one backed into a corner that senses it’s own demise…
   Anything was going to be done to prevent this needed to be done years ago, when many of the now disenfranchised were attacking the Dixie Chicks and rallying around these War Criminals.
   — Prescient One    May 31, 13:08    #
8. It’s good to see readers so willing to acknowledge these painful realities. Prescient One’s post is very, well, prescient, to say the least. I’d like to note that because the right controls the media and most of the flow of information, most Americans don’t realize how dire our voting predicament is – the establishment media is treating it as a non-story. If we lose the battle to maintain a free internet – we will be a full-fledged dictatorship.
   — John    May 31, 13:19    #
9. Liberals treat dogs like people while conservatives treat people like dogs!
   — Teekleman    May 31, 13:24    #
10. Teekleman, you always hit the nail on the head at precisely the moment!
    — jen    May 31, 13:28    #
11. I like Teekleman’s latest snark except his or her use of the outdated label ‘conservatives’. People on the political right don’t conserve anything except Rich white men’s privilege. They’ve attacked any social progress America has made from the relentless activism of liberals whether it was the abolition of slavery, women’s rights and empowerment, civil rights for African-Americans, environmental protections, the 8-hour workday, the abolition of child slavery, Social Security, consumer protection, labor unions…They’ve fought against all these things that real Americans love.
    — John    May 31, 13:35    #
12. John, time and time again, a strong majority of Americans polled have the so-called liberal stance on ALL issues with the exception of the death penalty. But the popularity of the death penalty is steadily dropping as the realization sets in that the U.S. system of justice isn’t perfect and innocent people do end up on death row. The innocence project have exonerated 168 innocent death row inmates so far and that’s likely just the tip of the iceberg. So the majority of Americans are liberals although claim to be conservative because the right has been so successful in making ‘liberal’ a dirty word. And yet, look at how far to the right our political landscape is and how right-wing the corporate-run media’s bias is – it doesn’t speak to me and I suspect nobody else that reads these postings on this forum.
    — Healing Bear    May 31, 13:53    #
13. You’re right, John, but don’t be too hard on Teekleman – i’m a fan of Teekleman’s snarks and don’t want to discourage. I am a conservationist by nature and upbringing and have long felt the conservative label was wrongly applied, labeling those who’s very opinions and actions completely belied and made mockery of the conservation (environmental) movement.
    — jen    May 31, 13:53    #
14. I love Teekleman too, Jen – I’ll try not to be too picky from now on…
    — John    May 31, 14:08    #
15. In addition to a brutish and totally corrupt government that is a handmaiden for corporations, this country faces a wave of religious fundamentalism, an American Taliban, if you will, that has declared war on women, progressives, greenies, science and rationality. The last time this country had a theocracy women were burned at the stake for being witches, for fuck’s sake!
    — Countess Sofia Belinskaya    May 31, 14:14    #
16. Thanks for that posting, Sofia. I know how I, for one, tend to focus on the corporate-fascism aspect of our sham democracy, but, yes, the religious whack-jobs have been released from the Pandora’s Box and we’ll get to experience the delights of their blossoming insanity and limitless hatred as well.
    — John    May 31, 14:20    #
17. I hear that Kmart is having a blue-light special on Burkas…
    — John    May 31, 14:23    #
18. Sofia is right on target about religious fundamentalism. It is on the march in our country and it mimics the Taliban. Religious intolerance is the cause of wars, overpopulation and all the other ills she describes. Very scary and we must be on guard to prevent it from overwhelming us.
    — jen    May 31, 19:12    #
19. At some point Americans are going to have to accept the reality that we no longer live in a free country and so what is necessary to take that back.
    
    Freedom has never once been given, it is always taken.
    — Jerry    Jun 1, 05:38    #
20. So since we all know the voting machines our alledged “government” is providing for the elections are as corrupt as that government itself, what now?
    How do we go about getting fair elections? We the people can not make these guys do anything they don’t want to do.
    
    I live in Florida. What do you think we can do here to get J.E.B. to provide an honest voting system? Even without Katherine Harris cheating for them, they still control the software don’t they?
    
    As far as I can see, we have no options or way to have true fair elections in this wonderful Amerikan democracy anymore.
    
    We the people have let them take it away from us.
    — MO    Jun 1, 09:56    #
21. MO and Jerry – this country was founded by a violent revolution, but Gandhi showed the world that massive civil disobedience could kick the British out of India without firing a shot. Another example was the tax revolt of Roman citizens who simply stopped paying taxes to a government that was out of control. You had Caligula running around declaring war on the ocean, appointing his horse to the Senate, and screwing his sister. Dear Leader is every bit as loony as Caligula or Nero. Why finance this insanity with our tax money?
    — Countess Sofia Belinskaya    Jun 1, 10:48    #
22. Countess, I’m sorry but I don’t think the american people are as brave as those folks you mentioned. We are lazy and would probably accept slavery if they would give us beer, TV and the internet.
    We will not do anything for future generations because we are just simply too selfish – victims of high self-esteem.
    — MO    Jun 1, 11:55    #
23. From the looks of all of the above, it seems we are fast approaching becoming a feudal state, and losing our democracy to the radical right wing fanatics controlling the Republican party, the supreme court, the executive branch, and the legislative branch – i.e.: the government in its entirety. As Daniel Shore said in 2000, the Bush Empire (my terminology) came into existence by means of “a judicial coup d’etat.” I am concerned that this is bigger than the U.S. – largely because of U.S. policies which have encouraged and subsidized global conglomerates to become so wealthy that they control whole states and the process of ‘globalization.’ I wonder how we resist it?
    — Joe    Jun 1, 11:59    #
24. apologies if you have already seen this, but:
    
    http://www.alternet.org/
    
    Updated: An officer says no to ‘war crimes’
    
    This is a June 2006 story about a young Lt. (age 28) from Hawaii who is unwilling to participate in the illegal war in Iraq. He is not a pacifist—would be willing to be deployed to Afghanistan.
    
    Just my opinion, but I think this is so important. Please check it out and see what you think.
    
    If the link doesn’t work try googling Lt. Ehren Watada.
    — Barb    Jun 23, 16:21    #
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