Obama not recognizing the rights of prisoners at Bagram AFB, and keeping those prisons open on ships, in foreign countries, etc is the very thing I wish Democratic groups and liberals would flak him to cut out. I think "change" should mean an end to Bush's crypto-fascism. A total repudiation. I understand Olbermann and Maddow have been harping on this. More power to them! All liberal talk show hosts should be doing the same, as should anyone else in the human rights community, especially those with access to the Major Media. Here is something I wrote a long time ago about "Bush's Siege Mentality" as an argument to be made at that time.

Check out this radio interview with John Stauber, co-author of "The Best War Ever," in which he discusses the astonishing propaganda campaign under the Bush administration that has misled 1 out of 2 Americans into believing that Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found in Iraq!

Back in March I asked if Reverend Moon is one of the investors in Neil Bush's educational software company, Ignite! For one thing, Neil had been touring with Rev. Moon late last year. Also, Moon has enjoyed a long relationship with the Bush family, having given the Bush parents up to $10 million. Now it turns out that a foundation tied to Moon is donating towards Neil's business.

(BusinessWeek) The stars haven't always aligned for Bush, but at times financial support has. A foundation linked to the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon has donated $1 million for a COWs [Ignite's "Curriculum on Wheels"] research project in Washington (D.C.)-area schools. In 2004 a Shanghai chip company agreed to give Bush stock then valued at $2 million for showing up at board meetings. (Bush says he received one-fifth of the shares.) In 1988 a Colorado savings and loan failed while he served on its board, making him a prominent symbol of the S&L scandal. Neil calls himself "the most politically damaged of the [Bush] brothers."

I seemed to remember Foley on cable TV during the Lewinsky scandal, ripping into Clinton. A quick Google search turned up an article confirming this. So another GOP hypocrite is exposed. As Brian E. Crowley writes:

During President Clinton’s scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky, Foley sharply criticized him for his sexual misconduct with the young adult.

“It’s vile,” Foley said in 1998. “It’s more sad than anything else — to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain.”

Over at Neil Young's website, there is a section titled, "Living with War Today." Included is a set of protest songs submitted by various artists around the world. The most popular song on the site at the moment is "Bring 'em on" by John Hughes. Here is a link to the audio, and also a link to the video slide show. Sample lyric:

Here comes the commander- in -chief
Here comes the commander- in -chief
All the way from Washington Deceit

We give "Toto Awards" to journalists who expose the man behind the curtain who really runs the White House, Dick Cheney. Today's Toto Award goes to Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect, for an editorial in the Boston Globe perfectly titled "The Cheney presidency." Kuttner describes how Cheney controls the White House operations, sometimes in concert with Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfeld. The question remains as to how much power sharing there is with Rove and Rumsfeld. Are they merely lieutenants, or are they in fact "co-presidents?" After all, Cheney was Rumsfeld's aide during the Ford years. Has the relationship been reversed, or not?

Stories like this never make for good bedtime reading...

WASHINGTON - A microchip company with powerful political connections is lobbying the Pentagon for the right to implant chips under the skins of the nearly 1.4 million U.S. military personnel. VeriChip Corp., which is based in Florida and planning to offer its stock to the public soon, has been one of the most aggressive marketers of radio frequency identification chips. Company officials have touted the chips as versatile, able to be used in a variety of situations such as helping track illegal immigrants or giving doctors immediate access to patient’s medical records.

And this is just the beginning of what we can expect from this Supreme Court. No doubt this ruling will encourage a more cavalier attitude from law enforcement in general. Hey, it's a-ok once you get the high five from the "High Five!" 

(AP) WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court made it easier Thursday for police to barge into homes and seize evidence without knocking or waiting, a sign of the court's new conservatism with Samuel Alito on board.

The court, on a 5-4 vote, said judges cannot throw out evidence collected by police who have search warrants but do not properly announce their arrival.

Don't forget that John Negroponte was Bush's ambassador to Iraq until he was appointed Intelligence Czar. It was Negroponte who covered up the existence of death squads in Honduras while he was Reagan's ambassador to that country.

(Al Jazeera)Iraq’s Interior Minister acknowledged the existence of death squads and other unauthorized armed groups that carry out sectarian killings in Iraq.

Unbelievable! And remember how the Republicans held investigations trying to blame Clinton for those missing hard drives at Los Alamos -- that eventually turned up behind a copy machine? Well, where does the buck stop on this one?

(LA Times) No more than 200 yards from the main gate of the sprawling U.S. base here, stolen computer drives containing classified military assessments of enemy targets, names of corrupt Afghan officials and descriptions of American defenses are on sale in the local bazaar.

A study finds that World Trade Center escapees are suffering from serious health problems. But it isn't just the escapees -- what about others in the New York area that were told by the EPA that the air was safe, that schools and businesses could be re-opened? And what about the thousands of Wall Street workers that were told to go back to work? The EPA was also negligent in cleaning up neighborhoods, such as in Brooklyn. So will there also be a study of the health of residents who were in the vicinity of the Trade Center collapse, and worked in the area a mere week later? Who in the Bush Administration told Christie Todd Whitman and the EPA to issue false statements to reassure New Yorkers about the fall-out? What will the class action suit reveal about this criminal breach of the public trust by Bush's EPA?

Study: 9/11 Escapees Have Health Problems

Just keep telling yourself, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. I trust George W. Bush and the NSA. I trust George W. Bush and the NSA. The solar system really revolves around the Earth...the solar system really revolves around the Earth..."

(Wired News) AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers' phone calls, and shunted its customers' internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the company.

Once upon a time, I never imagined that the "most powerful man in Washington," as he was often called, would resign in disgrace. Remember, it was DeLay who strong-armed the impeachment of Clinton, even after the GOP lost 5 seats. For over seven years I have invested my entire life in opposing the hegemony of the Right Wing. Back in 1999, the Right was poised to control all three branches of government, and I believed that once that happened, there would be no turning back. And then with a little help from Katherine Harris, Jeb's pals, DeLay's Gucci riot squad -- and the Felonious Five on the Supreme Court -- the Right did control all three branches.

In the wake of Tom DeLay's impending resignation, here's an interesting conversation with an expert on the Texas money machine...

Former State Dept. official George Keeney interviews Robert Bryce, author of "Cronies." Also, check out the other interviews, especially one of former NSA Director William Odom -- to hear his criticism of the Bush administration and the Iraq War.

Although he was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Robert Bryce makes his home in Texas. He's put a lot of work into following the Texas money network, which he probably understands as well as anyone who's not a big time insider. In addition to two books, which look at that network from different perspectives, including its impact on the world outside Texas, he's written widely on a number of issues. In this conversation we talk about his recent trip to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, about oil supply, about the Palestinians, American politics, and raising bees. This podcast runs about 45 minutes.

A Buzzflash editorial:

But Congressman Henry Waxman -- who along with John Conyers are the two official BuzzFlash "Bulldogs for Justice" in Congress -- discovered that the White House has gone beyond official statements that give them the right -- in their eyes -- to break the law.

Waxman disclosed, with nary a mention by the mainstream media, that Bush is now perfectly content to sign a Constitutionally invalid law -- and likely with knowing forethought. And not only was it just any wrong law, it was the Budget Reconciliation Act for the U.S. Government.