The Mirror of 9-11

Do you realize that 9-11 memorializes not only the date of the hijacked aircrafts' collision with the towers of the WTC and a harrowing reversal on American foriegn policy and human rights, but it's also the date at wheich we all fell into George W. Bush's looking glass?

From January of 2001 until September, ABC -- Anything But Clinton -- had been the watchword in the Bush White House. If Clinton had taken an interest in supporting and of his Public Trust responsiblities, it was the conviction of the Bushies to contravene those efforts, from the threat of foreign terrorist (Obama) to FEMA and the appointment of responsible officers to the agency (Katrina) or the dispensation of contracts to drill on Federal land (MMS), the Bushies have lead the charge in the EXACT oppisite directions that the Clintons went during their administration.

If Left was wrong and Right were correct, then the 'enhanced' political freedoms that we enjoyed before the TRasportation Security Agency forced us to take off our shoes before boarding planes and disavowed us of our nail-clippers, if freedom from unwarranted searches and the rest of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution were too much for you, then you can sleep comfortably with the idea that we've lived in the/a world that George W. neither understood or acknoledged before it became the cornerstone of Constitution-shredding Republic on September 12, 2001.

Since 9/11/2001, we've lived in the mirror universe of the 56 years that preceded Bush 43's tenure (yes, that's a Trek reference). Teddy Roosevelt's concern for the Interior and Richard Nixon's EPA suddenly became politicized hotbed, just as NASA and Justice saw their missions adjusted to serve goals other than those they were established to uphold. 'We the People' is an oxymoron after 7 years of top-down bullying, harrassment and non-FISA snooping.

How is it that hope, rule of law and a billion-dallar surplus have been transformed into widespread political tumult and a 3 trillion dollar deficit and widespread American unemployment?

Just something to think about, a month or so that afternoon in August of 2001 in Craford, when Bush, Cheney and Rice chose to circular-file all of those memos aBin Laden's determiniation to stage a spectaular event in the skies over New York City.

Alaska senator charged over gifts

: Mr . Stevens was already facing a tough re-election battle in November

BBC: Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been charged with making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure form.

The Republican lawmaker has been under investigation for his involvement with Veco, an oil company whose executives have confessed to bribing officials.

In Mr Stevens's indictment, officials alleged that he failed to disclose $250,000 worth of work done on his house free of charge by Veco employees.

Mr Stevens, 84, is the longest-serving Republican in the US Senate.

He has not immediately responded to the indictment.

What Bush and Batman Have in Common (not)

What a way to ruin interest in a movie!
Fox must not be the production studio...

WSJ: A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past. [More...]

A Church Commission in 2009?

SALON.COM:The last several years have brought a parade of dark revelations about the George W. Bush administration, from the manipulation of intelligence to torture to extrajudicial spying inside the United States. But there are growing indications that these known abuses of power may only be the tip of the iceberg. Now, in the twilight of the Bush presidency, a movement is stirring in Washington for a sweeping new inquiry into White House malfeasance that would be modeled after the famous Church Committee congressional investigation of the 1970s.

While reporting on domestic surveillance under Bush, Salon obtained a detailed memo proposing such an inquiry, and spoke with several sources involved in recent discussions around it on Capitol Hill. The memo was written by a former senior member of the original Church Committee; the discussions have included aides to top House Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, and until now have not been disclosed publicly. [More...]

Barclays Warns that Fed's Credibility May Crumble

Telegraph.co.uk: US central bank accused of unleashing an inflation shock that will rock financial markets, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall 'below zero'.

'We're in a nasty environment,' said Tim Bond, the bank's chief equity strategist. 'There is an inflation shock underway. This is going to be very negative for financial assets. We are going into tortoise mood and are retreating into our shell. Investors will do well if they can preserve their wealth.'

Barclays Capital said in its closely-watched Global Outlook that US headline inflation would hit 5.5% by August and the Fed will have to raise interest rates six times by the end of next year to prevent a wage-spiral. If it hesitates, the bond markets will take matters into their own hands. 'This is the first test for central banks in 30 years and they have fluffed it. They have zero credibility, and the Fed is negative if that's possible. It has lost all credibility,' said Mr Bond." (via) [More]

The Penetration of Peak Oil

James Howard Kunstler - 06/23/08: "The difference between what's available and what's demanded is being felt by poor countries and poor people in richer countries. Third world nations lacking their own oil are simply dropping out of the bidding, and the lower classes in the US are having to choose between buying gasoline and velveeta."

Eugene Robinson 06.24.08 - Race in the Sunlight

WP:Since Obama has given his opponents little ammunition, they have focused on those who are close to him, beginning with his former pastor. Now some critics have turned to Obama's "feisty" wife, whose image as a tall, strong, confident black woman can perhaps be made to seem threatening to some people.

[...]

The Obama campaign made another move on this front last week when it began running a new television ad in a number of battleground states, including some, such as Georgia and North Carolina, that Republicans have long considered safe. In the ad, which is more about the candidate's character than his policies, Obama speaks of his personal history and delivers a paean to traditional American values -- while the viewer sees old family photos of his mother, who was white, and her parents, who helped raise him. [More...]