The suspicious, disturbing death of election rigger Michael Connell
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
December 20, 2008
Michael Connell, the crucial techno- lynch pin in the theft of the 2004 election, and much more, is dead at the age of 45. His unnatural, suspicious death raises serious questions about the corruption of the American electoral process that now may never be answered.
Connell died Friday, December 19 when his Piper Saratoga plane crashed near his northern Ohio home. He was flying himself home from the College Park, Maryland airport. An accomplished pilot, flying in unremarkable weather, his death cuts off a critical path to much of what may never be known about how the 2004 election was shifted from John Kerry to George W. Bush in the wee hours of November 2. His plane crashed between two houses in an upscale neighborhood, one vacant, just 2.5 miles from the Akron-Canton airport.
A long-time, outspokenly loyal associate of the Bush family, Connell created the Bush-Cheney website for their 2000 presidential campaign. Connell may have played a role in various computer malfunctions that helped the GOP claim the presidency in 2000. As a chief IT consultant and operative for Karl Rove, Connell was a devout Catholic and the father of four children. In various interviews and a deposition Connell cited his belief that abortion is murder as a primary motivating factor in his work for the Republican Party. (more…)
My worst fears about the forthcoming Obama Presidency seem to be coming true. Readers will recall my skepticism during the primaries vis a vis Obama’s rhetoric about the middle east and his willingness to use “bomb” diplomacy in places like Pakistan and Afghanistsan. I really really hoped that he was going to be a different kind of democrat, that his early anti-war stance was really about “change”, that we were not re-electing the Democratic Leadership Council [DLC]. Reading the article reprinted from the weblog Alternet that is posted below made me very depressed. Is there really a new direction in national politics or is this really just more of the same?
This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House
By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet
Posted on November 20, 2008, Printed on November 20, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/107666/
U.S. policy is not about one individual, and no matter how much faith people place in President-elect Barack Obama, the policies he enacts will be fruit of a tree with many roots. Among them: his personal politics and views, the disastrous realities his administration will inherit, and, of course, unpredictable future crises. But the best immediate indicator of what an Obama administration might look like can be found in the people he surrounds himself with and who he appoints to his Cabinet. And, frankly, when it comes to foreign policy, it is not looking good. (more…)
Impeach Bush now?
Congressional proceedings would help prevent another mistaken war
BY RAY McGOVERN • Detroit Free Press
United States Rep. John Conyers, the Detroit Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has a rendezvous with destiny. He is uniquely placed to thrust a rod through the wheels of a White House juggernaut to war with Iran by commencing impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush.
A move to impeach would bolster the resistance to Bush among our senior military leaders who know that attacking Iran at this time would be the strategic equivalent of the marches into Russia by Napoleon and Hitler.
Since Conyers took the helm of Judiciary in January 2007, the train of abuses and usurpations by the Bush administration has gotten even longer. But oddly, Conyers has lost his earlier appetite for impeachment and begun offering all manner of transparent excuses not to proceed. On July 23, 2007, for example, Conyers told Cindy Sheehan, the Rev. Lennox Yearwood and me that he would need 218 votes in the House, and vociferously claimed the votes were not there.
Well, they are now. Last week, 251 members of the House voted to refer to Conyers’ committee the 35 Articles of Impeachment offered by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. Conyers should take them up. (more…)
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
By Meg White
“This isn’t just about impeachment. It’s about reorienting our politics to a position which respects morality. Our moral compass needs to be reset here.”
-Rep. Dennis Kucinich
In an exclusive interview with BuzzFlash Friday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) discussed the 35 articles of impeachment he introduced against President George W. Bush earlier this week. Though the word on the Hill is that the call for impeachment will not go anywhere, the Ohio representative is undeterred.
“This is a very grave matter that cannot be and will not be swept under the rug by some kind of a legislative trap,” he said.
Representatives Robert Wexler (D-FL), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) have signed on to the resolution, and Kucinich expects more co-sponsors in the coming days and weeks.
“There will be more. I’m quite confident of that, and as members start to read the document it’ll keep growing,” he said.
The proposal is now in the Judiciary Committee, where many expect it to stay at least until after the November elections. (more…)
CLEVELAND – Dennis Kucinich, the liberal Ohio politician who has made two failed White House campaigns, won the Democratic primary in his battle to keep his seat.
Although the presidential primary commanded most of the nation’s attention, Kucinich’s race was the best known congressional contest on ballots in Ohio and Texas. (more…)
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Fri, 02/29/2008 – 3:33pm.
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism
by Ha-Joon Chang
Reviewed by Thom Hartmann
The fundamental myth of the Milton/Thomas Friedman neoliberal cons is that in a “flat world” everybody is not only able to compete with everybody else freely, but should be required to. It sounds nice. America trades with – and competes with trade with and for – the European Union. France against Germany. England against Australia.
But wait a minute. In such a “free” trade competition, who will win when the match-up is Canada versus the Solomon Islands? Germany versus Bulgaria? Zimbabwe versus Italy?
There are two glaringly obvious flaws in the so-called “free trade” theories expounded by neoliberal philosophers like Friedrich Von Hayek and Milton Friedman, and promoted relentlessly in the popular press by (very wealthy) hucksters like Thomas Friedman. (more…)
David Esrati for Congress OH-3
Here’s my endorsement in the race to beat Mike Turner in the fall, and it’s NOT the Democratic Party’s choice of Jane whatshername. There is good reason for that. Ms Jane appears to be mostly fluff with very little substance. Her “website” is basically an online billboard with no substantive information about her positions on anything. She got her butt whupped by Turner in ’04, 63% to 37%. And, despite her proclamations, she was NOT unanimously endorsed by the Montgomery Count Dem’s…I know, I was there for the vote.
Compare this with David Esrati, who for the last three years has been posting his thoughts about “change” and how to achieve it for the 3rd District at Esrati.com. On subjects ranging from the recent interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Board to giving computer laptops to students in Dayton Public Schools as a way to enhance the educational process, Esrati has articulated a vision that one can look at, ponder and discuss. Where has Jane been for the last 4 years? There’s no evidence of her presence on the local political scene, whereas David Esrati has been in the thick of it the whole time.
We need a voice in the Democratic Congress that is not beholden to the same old power elites that have controlled the levers of power for far too long, both here in the Miami Valley and in Washington. A boldness of vision and a dedication to Real Reform are hallmarks of David Esrati’s campaign for Congress. Honest to a fault!
Visit Esrati.com for more information. Check out his videos on Youtube. Support real change. Support David Esrati for Congress!
Ralph Nader Flirts with Presidential Bid. Give it up, Ralph…after what you did last time around [including accepting PAC money from REPUBLICANS] who do you think is going to vote for you? When I ponder who it is we need as our next President I try to imagine someone in the office who actually has the ability to LEAD. Nader’s “following” is so minuscule as to be next to non existent. Yes, he had a progressive role at one time, but, despite his rhetoric, Ralphie’s time has PASSED!
Mukasey Won’t Comment on Waterboarding
By LARA JAKES JORDAN/Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday he will refuse to publicly say whether the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding is illegal, digging in against critics who want the Bush administration to define it as torture.
Did we say TOLD YOU SO?? Despite harsh questioning by Senators Leahy, Kennedy and Specter, the nations top Law Enforcement official refused [again] to condemn the torture technique of waterboarding as, of all things, torture.
“Given that waterboarding is not part of the current program and may never be added to the current program, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment on the technique’s legality,” he said.
The reasoning behind this deliberate dance of deceit? If the AG formally recognizes waterboarding as torture it puts his bosses, Mssr Bush and Cheney, in deep doo doo, mainly because they and their minions are ultimately responsible and could therefor conceivably be charged with War Crimes under the Geneva Conventions. Gasp! Shades of Alberto Gonzalez!
January 23, 2008, 12:57 pm
New York Times Politics Blog By
David M. HerszenhornRepresentative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio may get excluded from Democratic presidential debates, as he has been recently, but no one can deny him the floor in the House.
And today Mr. Kucinich took to the floor to fire off his latest salvo at the Bush administration: his plans to introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Bush on Jan. 28 — the day of Mr. Bush’s State of the Union speech.
Accusing the administration of lying about the need for the war in Iraq, Mr. Kucinich said he did not need to hear the president’s
assessment. “We know the State of the Union,” he declared. “It’s a lie.”
He also fired a volley at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California
who has maintained that impeaching Mr. Bush is not on the table for Congressional Democrats. “If impeachment is off the table,” Mr. Kucinich said, “truth is off the table. If truth is off the table
then this body is living a lie.”
Mr. Kucinich introduced Articles of Impeachment against Vice
President Dick Cheney last April and in November, with the surprise help of Republicans seeking to embarrass the Democrats, he nearly succeeded in securing an hour of debate on the House floor. House Democratic leaders blocked that, however, by referring the impeachment effort back to the Judiciary Committee.
Anti-Bush groups have been urging Mr. Kucinich to undertake an
effort to impeach the president.
The Onion, a favorite “fake news” site of mine, has published a new voter poll…
For a majority of likely voters, meaningless bullshit will be the most important factor in deciding who they will vote for in 2008.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/poll_bullshit_is_most_important
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