October 2007

This is a serious question that must be investigated:

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

The surge in contributions came from a Who’s Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports.

The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr. Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio.

Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged last week as the most important supporter of immunity in devising a compromise plan with Senate Republicans and the Bush administration.

In the wake of Duke Cunningham, any activity like this must come under heavy scrutiny. I don't care what party the person belongs to. The people of this country are sick and tired of politicians putting personal wealth above the people. Does 11% approval rating right a bell?

The Democrats need to act vigilantly on this. If there is any question of wrong doing, then Rockefeller needs to be stripped from all of his committees pending an outcome of an investigation. No excuses can be acceptable on this poor behavior.

Dick Cheney should be considered the biggest threat to American security - period. The man wants nothing but war, and won't stop until he gets another one:

The United States and other nations will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday.

"Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions," Cheney said in a speech to the Washington Institute
for Near East Studies.

He said Iran's efforts to pursue technology that would allow it to build a nuclear weapon are obvious and that "the regime continues to practice delay and deceit in an obvious effort to buy time."

If Iran continues on its current course, Cheney said the U.S. and other nations are prepared to take action. The vice president made no specific reference to military action.

I really think his pace-maker is malfunctioning and shocking his brain instead.

Then we had Giuliani saying war with Iran wouldn't be that bad at the debate last night. Not that bad? Yeah I guess Iraq wasn't that bad either. I mean the dead soldiers are only a "small price to pay" according to John Boehner. I guess Giuliani is planning on it taking only a couple of months and I bet the oil will pay for it! Hey - why didn't they sell the Iraq war like that? Oh wait....

Like I have been saying, the Democrats need to simply say "If you want World War 3 then vote Republican". They do get their rocks off on war, look at how easily they beat the drums. Pretty bad for a bunch of pussies who don't have the guts to fight in a war.

Time for the RNC to find a new head:

Mel Martinez, the public face of the Republican National Committee as its general chairman, announced he was stepping down from his post on Friday after serving only 10 months.

"I believe that our future as a party and nation is bright and I have every intention of continuing to fight for our president, our party and our candidates," the Florida senator said in a statement.

His departure was abrupt and his job will not be filled. Martinez wasn't expected to step down until a Republican presidential nominee was selected. The earliest that could occur is February.

Martinez said he was relinquishing the job to spend more time focusing on his constituents and because the RNC had achieved the objective he set when he assumed the job in January.

What objective? Maybe that objective was to shun Latinos and African Americans. Yeah - mission accomplished there.

Or perhaps it was to totally obstruct the Senate. Yup - another big plus on their score card. The American people really like that too </sarcasm>

So who can we find to replace Martinez? I know! Karl Rove. Put turd blossom in charge of the shitty party.

Glenn Greenwald has all the disguising details. I think most important is this part:

Let's just describe very factually and dispassionately what has happened here. Congress -- led by Senators, such as Jay Rockefeller, who have received huge payments from the telecom industry, and by privatized intelligence pioneer Mike McConnell, former Chairman of the secretive intelligence industry association that has been demanding telecom amnesty -- is going to intervene directly in the pending lawsuits against AT&T and other telecoms and declare them the winners on the ground that they did nothing wrong. Because of their vast ties to the telecoms, neither Rockefeller nor McConnell could ever appropriately serve as an actual judge in those lawsuits.

The telecom companies have been losing their court battles over this, so the Senate is willing to hamper our judicial system by intervening. Is Rockefeller going forward with this to protect his checkbook? If that is the case then his ass needs rode out of Senate faster than Duke Cunningham and Tom Delay.

If this country wants any hope of surviving then it is time for our elected leaders to listen to the people and not the corporations. It is sad to watch these Republicans and Democrats destroy what was once the greatest country this planet has seen.