Tag Archive for 'US'

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30
Nov
2007

Stolen Elections – Only on PBS

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .
original article

I just watched a really interesting segment of Now on PBS. It was about problems with voting in the United States and how the Department of Justice is no longer interested in enforcing laws that guarantee every eligible voter gets to vote.

Instead it seems the Department of Justice has been co opted by the neo-conservative arm of the Republican Party to work on making sure non-Republican voters can not vote. As a result the arm of the DOJ that is supposed to protect Americans’ right to vote has seen half of its career lawyers leave during the Bush Administration years. During the past five years the DOJ hasn’t brought on a single lawsuit in favor of voters whose right to vote have been illegally denied. It’s the first time in history that’s happened.

The Republican Party is actively engaging in several different practices that aim to remove seemingly “unrepublican” voters from the voter registries across the country but specifically in battleground states. What kind of a democratic institution would do that? China does that. Russia does that. Saddam Hussein did that.

What’s even more sad than catching the Republicans with their pants down giving it to the American public while they’re on their knees is that nobody but the PBS is covering it. Not a single mainstream media outlet is reporting on the issue other than in passing. Here you have the ruling party actively, and almost certainly illegally, preventing eligible voters from voting, for years, and people don’t even know, because nobody is talking about it.

What the hell.

-TPP


06
Oct
2007

War on Piracy is effective?

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .
original article

Chris Israel, the Copyright Czar of the Bush Administration is hailing the guilty verdict of a music pirate as a major victory in the fight against piracy.

Surely he’s referring to a conviction of a ringleader of a major international piracy ring that prints CDs in China and hauls them over the Pacific to the United States to make millions of dollars in profit? Naah, Mr. Israel is referring to a guilty verdict and $222K fine of Jammie Thomas, a single mom with two kids. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs on p2p network Kazaa.

That’s kinda like celebrating busting a teenager with one roll of pot in his mouth as a major victory in the war on drugs, and then fining him $100K for it.

-TPP


03
Oct
2007

George Bush doesn’t care about children

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , .
original article

It’s one thing to play the idelogical chess game while jousting for power in Washington, but to do that with the lifes of children is a whole another thing.

George Bush has vetoed a bill that would’ve expanded healthcare coverage on children predominanently from poor families. You know, maybe Kanye West was onto something after all with his juvenile commentary on live TV.

George Bush’es neo-con bullshit, however, has attracted the ire from several Governors of US States. They are sueing him because of it. It seems as if simply refusing the sign bills supported by both parties is not enough, he’s also introduced several new restrictions that disallow the states to come up with their own plans to expand healthcare options of children.

I continue to wonder why poor people in this country continue to support George Bush and the ideology of the Republicans when, again, it’s hitting the poorest people in the country the hardest.

-TPP


07
Sep
2007

My Fellow American

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , .

That’s how a letter addressed to me sent by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Joseph Daniels, President and CEO of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum,
begins. The letter then goes on to ask, in 4 pages, if I would donate some money towards running the museum.

Well, gee, I don’t know. Maybe, if you wouldn’t have pissed me off by assuming I’m an American.

Quite frankly addressing the letter to “My Fellow Americans” insults me. It’s as if 9/11 was somehow an entirely American event. Yes, it may have happened within US soil, and yes, most of the people who died and got injured were American. However, people of many nationalities and ethnic backgrounds died, got injured and participated in the rescue and cleanup operations. Yet more were somehow affected, me included. I worked on the 38th floor of the World Trade Center.

-TPP


06
Aug
2007

Yet another anti-video game law ruled unconstitutional, this time in California

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .
original article

GamePolitics.com reports that a federal district court judge in California has ruled a 2005 anti-video game law unconstitutional.

The bill, which was signed as law by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was championed by a long-time video gaming critic Leland Yee, currently a California State Senator.

Let’s see who’s paying the legal fees, a millionaire Governor or the California State tax payers.

-TPP


17
Jul
2007

Tony Avella continues his campaign against Asians

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , .
original article

AM New York, a free ad supported newspaper handed out to commuters during morning rush hour in New York City, has an article about the backlash against the Asian community in Queens, New York.

Tony Avella is leading the local white homeowners against expansive construction by the increasing Chinese and Korean population in the neighborhood. He’s, of course, framing the conversation as having nothing to do with race, but everything to do with McMansions.

It is, however, very revealing how every single one of the protests target an Asian homeowner.

Tony Avella is widely speculated to be a future mayoral candidate for the Mayor of New York City. What a great ticket to run for a Mayor, Tony. Don’t count on getting any minority votes.

-TPP


11
Jul
2007

In Soviet US the Party knows better than the doctors

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , .
original article

The Washington Post is writing about political pressure put on former Bush administration Surgeon General.

Richard H. Carmona, who served as the Surgeon General from 2002 to 2006, testified today at a House committee hearing that political appointees in the administration routinely scrubbed his speeches and reports for “politically sensitive” topics.

That kinda sounds like how the political officers operated in Soviet Union.

-TPP


10
Jul
2007

See no evil, hear no evil

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , .
original article

The Washington Post writes about yet another incident where Alberto Gonzales claims to have had no knowledge of any illegal conduct by an agency under his jurisdiction, in this case the FBI and its violations of law when requesting information about individuals from third parties.

It is amazing how Alberto Gonzales doesn’t remember anything and doesn’t know anything about anything that goes on in this country. One could ask what it is that he actually does other than turn the other way?

-TPP


03
Jul
2007

Apparently playing a District Attorney doesn’t make one respect the rule of law

Published in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

I am very happy for Scooter Libby. I know that this is a great relief to him, his wife and children. While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the President’s decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life.

Those are the words of Fred Thompson, a would-be presidential candidate for the Republican Party, and an actor who plays a New York City District Attorney in TV series Law and Order. Apparently his role as the guardian of the rule of law in the TV series doesn’t extend to his real life.

There are plenty of “good Americans” sentenced to prison terms each and every day in this country. Most of them don’t have personal friends in the White House, so they actually end up serving their sentences.

-TPP


27
Jun
2007

Dick Cheney, President of the Pave The Earth Society

Published in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .
original article

The Washington Post has an interesting article about Dick Cheney’s work to systematically destroy the environment in favor of giving handouts to businesses affected by environmental regulations.

His track record is abysmal, though. The article has two examples where his meddling into environmental policy came at pretty high costs, and ultimately was not successful, quite the opposite actually.

Klamath River is one of the habitats of endangered fish. It’s also a source of irrigation water for local farmers, who have been suffering from lack of water ever since the rain levels dropped and the Endangered Species Act prohibited taking adequate amounts of water from the Klamath River. Dick Cheney maneuvered around the Endangered Species Act and made sure the farmers got their water. The fish died, and a federal court ruled against Dick Cheney’s new “environmental policy” a few years later and prohibited the Federal Government from diverting water from the Klamath River. Meanwhile the fishermen in the area had their livelihood completely decimated and US Congress authorized $60M in disaster aid to keep the fishing industry from completely disappearing. What an astounding victory for Dick Cheney!

The other example the article states is the relaxing of air pollution regulations by the Environment Protection Agency. It turns out Dick Cheney ram the new “pro-business” regulations down the throat of EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman. She refused to sign the new air pollution regulations because she knew they weren’t scientifically sound. She resigned. The new regulations went into affect only to be overturned by federal appeals court. The federal appeals court judges stated in their decision to struck down the new regulations that:

…administration had redefined the law in a way that could be valid “only in a Humpty-Dumpty world.”

Humpty-Dumpty sounds about right.

-TPP