Comfortable with Comey

The president is nominating James Comey, Deputy Attorney General in the Bush administration to head the FBI. Mr. Comey was at the center of the opposition to the warrantless wiretapping attempt of team Bush. Mr. Comey has integrity as he was one of the few in the prior Machiavellian administration who was willing to quit his job rather than take part in an end run around due process principle against warrantless wiretapping. Comey possessed strong ethical character and knew what he thought was legal and what was not. He was so opposed to what Gonzalez and Card were determined to do he won the race to Bush Attorney General Ashcroft's hospital bed to persuade him to oppose it. It prompted many others in that administration to threaten a mass exodus if Comey did not get there in time. This could have brought the Bush administration to its knees. 

Mr. Comey is an honest man so much so that Ashcroft raising his head from a hospital bed, on the edge of death, said no to Gonzales and Card in their Constitutional subversion attempt. He put Comey in charge.

The Obama nomination of Comey I speculate is reflective that the president in essence agrees with the Comian constitutional interpretation of due process. In practice we know, though, this administration has reinvigorated that for which the Bush administration advocated. However, to many of my liberal compatriots' chagrin on this issue, I trust this president. I trust him because he is a constitutional scholar, I trust him because I truly think he would not be leaping across the civil libertarian bow that seemingly, before his ascension to the presidency, went against his fundamental creed and I trust this president to do what he thinks is necessary to safeguard the nation.

Comfortable discussion of the intricacies of due process Constitutional issues is a healthy endeavor. It is a luxury when one sees up close and personal the annihilative risks to which the nation is exposed by those who want to bring it down. When faced with the life of the nation and the lives within it there are, I believe, times when the nuances of due process as it pertains to terrorist activities must entail granting the executive branch the immense power to suspend even those safeguards which have been the foundational bedrock of the republic.

I believe the recommendation of Mr. Comey to the apex of FBI power is symbolic that this president wants to return and adhere to the Comian constitutionally interpretive due process principle even if at times he has chosen, I believe, out of necessity to turn his back on it.

Truth

If you want to know why Ed Markey is a necessity to win the Senate on June 25, it is because he is a progressive's progressive but it, in my opinion and for me, is because of his views on climate.  Read the following.  It is superbly written (with the exception of my introduction ) !

I just learned a new word ("terracide" -- Latin terra means earth and cide or cida is the word for killer -- thank you high school grade 9-12 Ms. Vancavage for four glorious years of Latin --.  I digress.  

You are free to choose what you read and whom you believe.  At the very least I can provide opinions of others who are significantly more prescient than I, have better credentials and express their views much better. 

It is because of that I send Tomgram which I receive periodically.  What is written by Tom Englehardt is beautifully done and I urge you to consider his thoughts.

Subject: Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Biggest Criminal Enterprise in History

May 23, 2013 Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Biggest Criminal Enterprise in History [Note for TomDispatch Readers: TD will be taking the Memorial Day weekend off.  The next piece will be posted on Tuesday May 28th. Tom] Terracide and the Terrarists  Destroying the Planet for Record Profits  By Tom Engelhardt\ We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide. And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide. But we don’t have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night. A possibility might be “terracide” from the Latin word for earth. It has the right ring, given its similarity to the commonplace danger word of our era: terrorist. The truth is, whatever we call them, it’s time to talk bluntly about the terrarists of our world. Yes, I know, 9/11 was horrific. Almost 3,000 dead, massive towers down, apocalyptic scenes. And yes, when it comes to terror attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings weren’t pretty either. But in both cases, those who committed the acts paid for or will pay for their crimes. In the case of the terrarists -- and here I’m referring in particular to the men who run what may be the most profitable corporations on the planet, giant energy companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell -- you’re the one who’s going to pay, especially your children and grandchildren. You can take one thing for granted: not a single terrarist will ever go to jail, and yet they certainly knew what they were doing. It wasn’t that complicated. In recent years, the companies they run have been extracting fossil fuels from the Earth in ever more frenetic and ingenious ways. The burning of those fossil fuels, in turn, has put record amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Only this month, the CO2 level reached 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. A consensus of scientists has long concluded that the process was warming the world and that, if the average planetary temperature rose more than two degrees Celsius, all sorts of dangers could ensue, including seas rising high enough to inundate coastal cities, increasingly intense heat waves, droughts, floods, ever more extreme storm systems, and so on. How to Make Staggering Amounts of Money and Do In the Planet\ None of this was exactly a mystery. It’s in the scientific literature.  NASA scientist James Hansen first publicized the reality of global warming to Congress in 1988.  It took a while -- thanks in part to the terrarists -- but the news of what was happening increasingly made it into the mainstream.  Anybody could learn about it. Those who run the giant energy corporations knew perfectly well what was going on and could, of course, have read about it in the papers like the rest of us. And what did they do?  They put their money into funding think tanks, politicians, foundations, and activists intent on emphasizing “doubts” about the science (since it couldn’t actually be refuted); they and their allies energetically promoted what came to be known as climate denialism. Then they sent their agents and lobbyists and money into the political system to ensure that their plundering ways would not be interfered with. And in the meantime, they redoubled their efforts to get ever tougher and sometimes “dirtier” energy out of the ground in ever tougher and dirtier ways. Click here to read more of this dispatch.

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Dirty Wars Trailer

http://dirtywars.org/trailer IN THEATERS JUNE 7 Just a few months ago Dirty Wars premiered at Sundance, won the Cinematography Award for U.S. Documentary, and then teamed up with IFC Films | Sundance Selects. We open June 7 in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. Then we play in theaters in many other cities nationwide, fromChicago to Boston, Nashville to Boise, Milwaukee to Tuscon. We're in Little Rock and Manhasset, Portland and Berkeley. Watch the trailer. (It's a sizzler.) Then find a theater near you. Also, our poster is out. NEW YORK CITY

SPECIAL EVENT Join Jeremy Scahill and Spencer Ackerman, two leading national security reporters, for what will surely be a lively conversation at a free public event on May 31 at The New School. Hosted by The Nation Institute.   TICKETS ON SALE NOW 40+ theaters have already booked Dirty Wars. Only the IFC Center in NYC has tickets on sale now. Members of the filmmaking team and special guests will be at the evening screenings opening weekend. FESTIVAL NEWS

After our start at Sundance, quickly followed by True/False, it's been great to be part of the creative energy of so many festivals. Awards are nice too. At the Boston Independent Film Festival, Dirty Wars won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. The film won the Golden Rock for Best Documentary at the Little Rock Film Festival and Jeremy Scahill won a special award for Courage in Filmmaking. We're also heading to Mountainfilm (May 24 + 25), Seattle International Film Festival (May 24 + 25, with Jeremy Scahill in person) and the Berkshire International Film Festival (June 1) before our theatrical release June 7. Coming up, we go global: SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL | Proud to be on opening night, June 5. SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST | We're part of the rockingest film fest on the planet. Director Rick Rowley will be at our two screenings, June 14 + 15. NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVAL | Dirty Wars was one of the first films announced. Rick Rowley and Jeremy Scahill, with Brent Renaud, co-founder of the Little Rock Film Festival. THE BOOK Jeremy Scahill's book Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield debuted at #5 on the May 12 New York Times bestseller list and has stayed in the top 20 since then. Read Steve Coll's analysis on drone wars and Dirty Wars in The New Yorker and watch Jeremy talk to Chris Hayes on MSNBC about his findings. Check out other reviews on our site. Jeremy was in London last week for the launch of the book in English worldwide. For a preliminary list of planned translations, including into Spanish, French, German, and Swedish, visit Roam Agency.

The Altar of the King

The Moore tornado is a horror on par with Hurricane Katrina and Sandy. These are devastating US weather catastrophes. The enormity of them makes one realize the power of nature and the profound effects of global warming, climate change and man's contribution to it by his over-use of filthy and polluting fossil fuels. These are the red state “conservatives” that elect the most intellectually deficient leaders who do not give a damn about most of them.  They do care about their next campaign contributions to line their own pockets with cash and benefits from the oil and gas corporatists whom they serve.

I can think of NO senators who are prime examples of hypocrisy and malevolence than the know nothing hypocrite senators from Oklahoma, Inhofe and Coburn.  What runs through their ugly veins -- ice cubes and cold water?

This section of the country has the most destructive tornadoes. The town of Moore has experienced numbers of them over a decade and there were NO shelters that other communities have to protect them from the massive onslaught. They are available and can be purchased with help from FEMA -- you know FEMA the agency the Tea Baggers want to demolish? Let's see how many of them are calling for FEMA’s elimination now.

Senator Coburn of Oklahoma is a doctor who is supposed to do NO harm but voted AGAINST Hurricane Sandy relief for those people of NJ and NY who suffered so much. Now these senators want and desperately need federal help for Moore and surrounding communities. The sins of two senators will not be held against the people of Moore who have experienced this unthinkable tragedy. Senators including those from New York and New Jersey will not do to the people of Moore as these senatorial beasts did to them when they voted NO on Sandy relief.  Worse still, Coburn the Malevolent, wants to take away monies from OTHER important programs to pay for relief to the people of Moore.  It does NOT get more disgusting than that!

I urge the people of Oklahoma to realize senators like Inhofe and Coburn are NOT about them.  Most Republicans, dupe and use the middle and working classes they represent like pawns on a chess board who will be sacrificed on the altar of the corporate king!

These senators and all like them are despicable and should be thrown out in 2014.

Oklahoma NOT OK-How you can help!

Now is not the time for climate change hysteria.  Now is the time to help your fellow Americans.  Red or blue states, contrary to what some think, we ARE all in this together.  

I post a link which many probably have seen but in case you did not it is a link entitled "How to Help."  I link it here or below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/how-to-help-oklahoma_n_3308962.html

A Warmed Planet--the Death Knell Tolls for Thee

Science Rules.  It always has and always will.  Those who do not live by science will die because of it. There is NO doubt about the warming of our planet and man's contribution to it promoting the severe weather this planet and this country are now experiencing.  It is mind numbing. 

If those who think that 98% of scientists are wrong then take a seat next to the flat earthers and those who thought god mad at them for not sacrificing the right goat.  The religionists who promote ignorance like a car salesman promotes cars will perish.  It is as simple as that.  Evolution and survival of the fittest will prevail as it has for billions of years.  Those who believe in hocus pocus instead of the irrefutable laws of science will NOT survive. 

The CNN article here or below is yet another example of climate change.  Read it and weep  then sort out the latest who cares "scandal" and rest easy they will not matter because if it is too late to change a warmed planet then take a good look at New York City because soon it will be under water. The rest of us will go down with the ship.  The death knell is sounding.  Ask not for whom that bell tolls.  It tolls for thee!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/19/us/severe-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

My Loves

Recently, the Globe asked its readers why they loved Boston.  I contributed to its blog.

I not only love Boston I love Massachusetts.  The combination of its contributory history creating the Republic and its history in support of progressive causes, Massachusetts has won my heart.  From the Transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau to the nation's Federalist Founders its beginning combined brilliant political thought with a civil libertarian creed.  The humanitarian anti slavery movements and anti war free speech with its attendant bluest of blue Democratic political climate makes me so proud to be from Massachusetts.  I am an unabashed lover of the state.  

Boston is unique and diverse in its neighborhoods.  Its history encompasses the reflection of our nation.  Nothing is perfect and we had our racial eruptions but through it all Boston and Massachusetts remains the pinnacle of a freedom loving nation.  It has the best most prestigious universities and academics in the world with its sidecar of the best that medicine has to offer.  

Despite the horrendous Boston Marathon bombing I feel safe in the city and state I love.  I would not even think about living anywhere else!

YET STILL OTHER REASONS TO KEEP MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC BLUE.  ENCOURAGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO VOTE ED MARKEY TO THE US SENATE AND IF YOU CAN WORK FOR THAT AS WELL. 

A Bottomless Pit -- The Search for Republican Lies

If you did not watch Rachel Maddow last night May 17 you ought to today.  She exposed the so called "exclusive" ABC story about Benghazi that tried to tie the Obama/Clinton State Department to emails showing many revisions in so called "talking points" after the attack. 

Problem?  The White House never sent those emails to ABC but ALL the major news sources took them from ABC and reported them as truth.  Those emails ABC received were FALSE constructed by Congressional Republican staff and given to ABC News to ratchet up the issue.   Like fish to bate ABC bought it and ran with an "exclusive."  They did NOT have the emails because the REAL White House emails were NOT the ones sent to ABC as Republican fabricated ones. It is fantastic reporting by Rachel. " I link "Media Not Unscathed by Media Scandal Frenzy" http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/#51923619 or here.  She explains it much better than I could.  I urge you to click on it and pass this or it around to all you know.

The one thing we do KNOW about Republicans is THEY LIE and they LIE ALL the time because they know a disinterested and uninformed American electorate will believe what they say.  Rachel had the proof of their lies to ABC about Benghazi.

My suspicious thoughts about the IRS so called "scandal":  In view of Benghazi my cerebral wheels turn. Douglas Shulman was the head of the IRS before Miller.  He was put in by Bush.  Since Republicans lie SO much and since they surely did re: Benghazi, how about looking into Republican ties to the IRS "scandal."  Why do I think it may not be beneath the immoral unethical Republicans to have begun the Tea Bag search instructing underlings to do it then hanging that search on the administration?   Because they have fabricated before.  I am not saying Shulman who was put in by Bush did that or that my suspicions are even true but I would like Republicans at the IRS to be investigated.  Further and maybe the fuel for all of this is it could help Republicans sink Obamacare which is, after all, administered by the now tainted IRS.

If they can fabricate emails that led to inflating and lying about Benghazi trying to hang it on the administration then SURELY they could have instructed this mess as well.  I am not saying they did without proof but I am saying it is rational thought about Republicans so investigate it.  Look and hard at Republicans who may have wanted to entrap ultimately the WH which would lead to if not impeachment then a vote ultimately by the Congress if God forbid more Republicans get there in 2014, against Obamacare.   I would put NOTHING past the mendacious Republicans.   We know what their nefarious proclivities and will stop at nothing to do them.

Make sure the IRS investigation looks at Shulman and other Republicans as to who instructed the beginning of the Tea Bag Party search to get to the bottom of this seemingly bottomless pit! 

YET ANOTHER REASON WHY ED MARKEY IS A MUST FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS US SENATE.  THOSE OF YOU IN MASS. VOTE MARKEY ON JUNE 25 AND TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO DO SO AS WELL!

THANK YOU Rachel Maddow, what you should know about the AP issue

This AP story I KNEW had legs and Richard Engel along with Rachel Maddow revealed why the president was SO determined to find the AP leak and still is posted below or here I urge you to go to Rachel Maddow and learn the details as it is too late for me to compose an opus maximus.  Suffice it to say our president KNOWS what he is doing and my questioning his prudence in doing what he did regarding the AP evaporates with the knowledge of why he did it.  Richard Engel on Rachel's show explains the entire issue.  I dashed off a quick kudo to her for finally telling the whole story behind the AP apoplectic stroke.  The snooping press need to know the difference between what should be public knowledge and what in fact harms the country and us in it.  Here is what I said to her.

Rachel, that story with Richard Engel was WONDERFUL.  What a great explanation that was.  That is EXACTLY why I have been so adamant in my support of the president.  He KNEW what he was doing and what Richard said was VITAL to be kept secret.  Getting some top secret knowledge into the hands of the press can be DANGEROUS and this time we were lucky.This president KNOWS the dangers and sees it every day.  I am CONVINCED this civil libertarian attorney is doing what he is doing because the stakes are SO high.  

Getting an informant in Al Qaeda itself is a MONUMENTAL thing.  To me it shows just how competent the president is!  AP was digging for that story with the names in it.

We are playing a high stakes game.  Lives are at stake as are true WMD's getting into the wrong hands.  Sure let's wax effusive about our civil liberties at a time when it does not matter, when no one can be hurt or killed or a nation cannot be severely damaged.  So they have a cell phone number or a wife's number who cares?  

The Republicans are UNCONSCIONABLE and will use anything even IF they were in power they would do exactly the same thing.  So glad you told the president's side. I KNEW there was one.  I urge all of those I know to link onto the site and hear his explanation.  It's a good one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#51912405

Digging for Dirt--A Note to NBC News

Pardon the lack of creativity.  Sometimes time forces one to simply flood one's brain and expel the red hot anger from unjust events.  After listening to the repelling NBC Chuck Todd light his match, I want to pull out my hair so instead of going bald I write a stream of conscious! 

It is hard to fathom how skewed especially Chuck Todd's reporting is.  Actually most of NBC News simply wants to ratchet up the controversies as much as they can. They want to make an already powder keg on the right public create discord so why?  Your RATINGS will go up.  No controversy no ratings.  

Benghazi -- It is crystal clear that there is NOTHING in Benghazi that touches the White House, it was a dispute concerning State and the CIA but sure NBC News why don't you just fuel the anger already on the irrational, crank right wingnut base to CREATE a Fox News fuel that will beat it to a pulp.  And then you will have more to report.

IRS -- again NOT touching the WH.  Watch Larry O'Donnell last night for the answers to THAT story.  WH not only attempted to stop the bleeding but did.  Will  that stop the rancid right from beating the president up?  NO of course not.  So why don't you exploit that a little more too until the country cannot take it and the president's enemies work their dastardly magic.  Without YOU this goes no where.

AP "scandal"  -- Do you want to live?  Then the president has a right to stop those who would attack us by any means necessary and freedom of the press comes second.  This is NOT about digging for oil this is about digging for dirt! And on the president's end it is about saving our lives.

Cut this man some slack.  Who deserves a break more than he?  My heart breaks for him having to endure such insulting angry mantras from the right, the all-about-a-buck press and even a few on the left who do not realize the right is out to crush them too.  Shame on you NBC for the incendiary device YOU are.

Mr. President, I LOVE you and appreciate you.  I say forgive them Father for they know NOT what they do.  And I am a white Jewish woman who says that!

NO PLACE TO GO

NBC News never ceases to amaze me by its corporatist agenda.  The Today Show interviewed one "scientist" who said he does not care if C02 pollution reaches 500 ppm.  He says it will not matter. It is now 400 ppm the highest ever recorded since 3 MILLION years ago in the Pliocene Epoch.   Yes, so called scientists, mouthpieces for big oil like big tobacco before them, yet again dismiss the inevitable truth science denying know nothings and corporate cronies refuse to acknowledge.   

 

NBC offered a scientist on the truth side about 20 seconds to give a rather feeble argument.  The correct view is NOT feeble it is truth and takes time to explain so explain it, NBC News!

 

Does NBC News REALIZE what is taking place while ONE scientist claims climate warming is no big deal?  Are we looking at the same news as climate change realists who KNOW the truth?  There is a disaster-a-week in all seasons costing billions and soon to be trillions in clean-up and rescue.  We have all been witness to floods, fires, strong hurricanes, tsunamis, blizzards in April, tornadoes in places where few existed, blistering heat, drought and more like the disappearance of glaciers and the extinction of plant and animal species.  If you do not care about the polar bears in the arctic or the seals in Antarctica do you care about your own lives, your own jobs, your own children and your own country?  Envision glacial melt and a New York City completely submerged under water.

 

INTERVIEW GOOD SCIENTISTS ON NBC NEWS WHO CAN ARGUE FOR THE TRUTH!  IS GRAVITY TRUE, IS DNA TRUE, DO BAD HUMORS CAUSE DISEASE OR DO BACTERIA AND VIRUSES CAUSE DISEASE?  THE MASSIVE BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS SINCE THE INDUSTRIAL AGE HAS CAUSED THE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS WE NOW EXPERIENCE BECAUSE THEY HAVE WARMED THE PLANET TRAPPING C02. IT CANNOT ESCAPE THE EARTH AND IT IS UNMISTAKABLE.  IT IS FACT. ITS CONSEQUENCE ARE APPARENT. 

 

Soon it will be too late if we do not act.  No more hearings and no more fossil fuel paid scientists saying climate change does not matter.  Saving the planet requires action now!

 

Mankind has been in the dark for most of his existence by superstition, religion and myth.   Finally, science shines a light on the TRUTH and NBC News puts up one crackpot scientist probably being paid by the fossil fuel industry saying what that industry wants to hear but what 98% of scientists do NOT believe.  Fossil fuels cause global climate change and it is a big deal.  Either we or the next generation will pay a HUGE price. Strange because I have heard those oil giants, corporatist news CEO's and their stockholders have children as well.  For them there WILL BE NO PLACE TO GO TOO!

 

 WHY WE NEED TO ELECT A STRONG CLIMATE SCIENCE SUPPORTER, ED MARKEY AND ALL DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE!

 

Off the cuff remarks--IRS Tea Bagger BALONEY!

Republicans have made it difficult for President Obama to get his second-term Cabinet in place and stymied his agenda at every turn.

The dispute over his EPA nominee stems from more than 1,000 written questions Republican senators asked her after her confirmation hearing. It is a new record for the number of written questions asked of a nominee. 

An administration official said she answered every one.

Tea Baggies are nothing BUT political as there is no social welfare attached to them AT ALL.  They are anything BUT a social welfare organization.  Therefore, it was correct that the IRS target them.  They should have DENIED them a tax exempt status but instead they denied NONE of them.

This is simply yet another in a long line of actions done by RepuGlicans to make the president's life and the American people's lives impossible.  If they could NOT win an election fairly they are committed of course to gum up the works and hurt the American people.  These excuses for humanity are SLIME and they deserve EVERY IRS question they get.  White is the ONLY color Tea Baggies care about.  Social welfare organization my posterior. Give me a break.  They are know nothing political hacks. 

WHY WITHOUT QUESTION ED MARKEY MUST BE ELECTED TO THE US SENATE.  VOTE JUNE 25, 2013 AND SUPPORT ALL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES ACROSS THE NATION.

Man's Best Self

I recently blogged on The Guardian web page in response to an article by James Ball entitled "US government attempts to stifle 3D-printer gun designs will ultimately fail ..." I link the article here or at the hyperlink below. I addressed it in part:

 

Unfortunately, I agree with the author and add that the etiology of our nation's Wild West mentality most especially on the extreme right with media mouthpieces like Limbaugh and Beck to egg them on make violence in this nation natural.  It is compounded by an empire's perpetual war and a racism that has, historically, since the country's inception, continuously violated a minority.  The unyielding and constant present-day violence that is perpetrated because of this part of our nation's cruel animus is NOT surprising. 

 

Racist nativists and so called “white supremacists” who said "Irish need not apply," "Jews and dogs not allowed," and a culture that separated drinking fountains by skin color relegating African Americans to an inferior status are historically embedded in our nation's DNA. The savagery that accompanies the right's irrational, mendacious, mean-spirited, raving lunatic rants of hate makes the violence of our gun culture inescapable.

 

Stopping this Neanderthal mentality that exists not exclusively but most decidedly on the political right is imperative.  We, though, must be resigned to the fact that it will take a very long time for systemic progressive humanitarian change to take root.

 

Despite our entrenched racist opposition we as progressives must continue the arduous task to lift man to his best self not regress him to his worst.

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/10/3d-printing-gun-blueprint-state-department-ban?commentpage=1

 

HELP FAST

I love the basic tenets of Christ's message even though I surely am agnostic.  Those who PROFESS to be Christians fall FAR short of what I think he tried to say.  Politicians are the worst of the worst because they are NOT about love and kindness they are about power and maintaining their office at all costs.  This is true for Dems often as it is true for the worst Republican rightwinger teaching hate that will create discord and war for his own purposes.  Alas, too, most of us fall short and will not or cannot do what is  demanded of us but we can try.

The prophets of all the major faiths had goodness to teach and the leaders of those faiths now often sound SO good but do not practice what they preach.  I went to a Jewish Bar Mitzvah recently after the Newtown massacre and the rabbi of a conservative temple talked about the story of Joseph's exile -- the point of the story being when enemies got closer to the human being they distrusted and hated the hatred of him melts away.  The prophets would have ALL of us see the other guy as a person, yes, a human being.  It seems so simple but given man's violence to his fellow man it obviously is not.

We live in impossible times maybe worse than any before because of our sophisticated technology, weapons to kill one another and destroy the planet.  Surely, Yahweh, Allah, Mohammad, Buddha and Jesus did NOT wish this to be so.  If there is a God we need help from him to do better, be kinder, be gentler to our own species, indeed, to all with whom we share our gorgeous planet and to the planet itself.  It is a gift only we, as homo sapiens, can singularly appreciate but we need help to do so and we need it fast.  

Short of divine intervention I have used Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, said by Cassius as my inspiration: "The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, But in ourselves ... ."  We can make the peace we so desperately desire and so longingly deserve!

And Then There Was One Imperial Gigantism and the Decline of Planet Earth By Tom Engelhardt

Fabulous article.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175696/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_last_empire/?utm_source=TomDispatch&utm_campaign=7e2493ea71-TD_Engelhardt5_7_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1e41682ade-7e2493ea71-308864622

In Our Name

The mainstream media is simply an echo of US intelligence sources which cannot and should not be trusted to take a nation to war.  Independent news free of corporate influence is a source upon which one can rely.

The policy of immersion in yet another killing machine should NOT be written by those who serve to gain from it by participating in it but should be written by and seen through an independent lens since we want truth and not a fictionalized account like strolling down the memory lane of WMD in Iraq – there were none remember!?

If one really does want to know about Syria, rebels or any other party in the theater of the Syrian civil wars killing thousands, then one should not get one’s news from those who have a vested interest in the telling of it.

I urge you to visit the site below – “Democracy Now”— which is one of the best independent news sources of our time.  It gives one an unvarnished look at reality the truth of which will have consequences for us all.  

The first segment discusses the use (or not) of chemical weapons by Syria and the alleged red line in the sand the president has drawn.  Has Syria used chemical weapons on the rebels, have the rebels or other participants used them and what is the truth?    CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, certainly untrustworthy Fox and yes, even MSNBC are not good enough news sources for these life and death events.  Even my former love PBS now has Koch Brother poison running through its veins.  They are all corporately owned, sponsored and cannot be trusted to spend enough time with the truthful analysis of serious global policy decisions affecting millions.

The game of war is a dangerous one.  It SHOULD be a requirement of citizenship to read or view independent news before such grave decisions cost our nation in lives and treasure. Your life, your children's lives and their children's lives are at stake.  I post "Democracy Now" here or below for your viewing.  

In war, Howard Zinn, in one of his last lectures, said we must when a nation state wants to take its people to war ask two important questions: Who stands to gain from the war and what do they gain.  We ought to get war policy right before we bomb yet another Middle East country, collaterally kill more innocents this time because of Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons no one can wholly confirm or deny.  It's YOUR life, it's YOUR money and it's killing done is OUR name!

http://www.democracynow.org/

Gun rights group hopes to arm Chicago, other major U.S. cities

adam lanza goes to get his free gun says he's a law abiding citizen.  What could possibly go wrong?


http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/05/18072282-gun-rights-group-hopes-to-arm-chicago-other-major-us-cities?lite

Keynesian Keys to the Kingdom

I suggest reading the article below or here by Prof. Juan Cole in his publication "Informed Comment."  It is in response to Nialls Fergussion an elitist conservative Harvard professor of economics.  You can YouTube Fergusson's name and hear his lectures which are conservative anti Keynesian and anti-liberalism.  Fergusson is brilliant, eloquent, and WRONG!  No one shows why better than Prof. Cole.

http://www.juancole.com/2013/05/conservative-fergusons-muslims.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29

ED MARKEY MORE THAN EVER--Gomez wolf in Scott Brown's clothing!!

 

Here’s some information on Gomez someone sent me we need to be aware of from a recent interview with Mara Dolan on WCAP – a locally owned talk radio station from Lowell, MA

 

Please share! why IT must BE ED MARKEY MORE THAN EVER!  pass this on to your friends in mass.

DCC MUST step up to the plate!  NO MORE SCOTT BROWNS!!!!!!!!

forgive my bad typing! READ BELOW

 

Subject: Mara Dolan: Gabriel Gomez: A "New Kind of Republican?" Not Exactly. Not at All

 

Gabriel Gomez: A 'New Kind of Republican?' Not Exactly. Not At All.

Gabriel Gomez has been running on biography, and not on the issues.

To the extent that he has discussed them, it has largely been to vaguely assert that he's different. He says he’s a “new kind of Republican," and wrote to Gov. Deval Patrick that he “stands with the President” on guns and immigration.

When I recently interviewed Gabriel Gomez on my radio show on WCAP, I knew all that. I'd read his letter to Gov. Patrick asking to be appointed interim senator. I had also recently interviewed Republican Dan Winslow, so I was very interested in the contrast.

The man I interviewed was not at all what I expected. When I asked him about guns, he told me he was "common sense on guns." But apparently that doesn't mean he really stands with the President on guns. He told me that while he supports closing the gun show loophole on background checks, he opposes a federal assault weapons ban, and opposes restrictions on high capacity magazines.

When I pointed out that Suspect No. 1 was stopped because he had to reload, and could have killed more police officers, escaped with his brother and detonated another bomb had he not stopped to reload, Gabriel Gomez was unmoved. I wish I had also pointed out that the Newtown killer would have killed another classroom full of children had he not had to stop and reload.

Rather than the moderate I expected on economic issues, he stands with Mitt Romney. When I said that voters may assume that his private equity investment background would make him another Romney, and asked him to distinguish his economic policies from his, he couldn't do it. He said he wants to create jobs. His answer on how he would create jobs? Deregulation.

I did not ask him about reproductive rights. But I hear him now saying that while he is personally pro-life, he does not favor overturning Roe v. Wade and he would not vote against a Supreme Court nominee who was pro-choice. That position flabbergasts me. If you believe that life begins at conception, how can you not favor overturning Roe v. Wade? If you believe that abortion is tantamount to infanticide, how could you possibly vote in favor of a Supreme Court nominee who would not overturn Roe v. Wade?   [DO NOT BELIEVE HIM HE WILL FALL IN LINE WITH REPUBLICANS!]

A key part of the biography on which Gabriel Gomez is running is his being a first generation American, who speaks English as a second language.

But when I pointed out that his father was a Stanford grad with a good job, and that he enjoyed a nice middle class life with all the opportunity that affords, he didn't know how to respond. I pointed out that even in America today the children of Stanford grads with good jobs have a wealth of opportunity that most children do not. He simply said that he wants everyone to have opportunity. Is that a bold stance for him? Has he been hanging out with people who don't want everyone to have opportunity?

To equate his story with the more common story of the lives of most first generation Latino Americans might not bother me so much if I hadn't spent the last 10 years of my life working as a public defender in Lawrence, and representing a lot of first generation Latino Americans. I heard nothing in what Gabriel Gomez said to suggest that he will do anything to make their lives better, except to make sure they can get their hands on a gun when they want one.

I've also interviewed Scott Brown, and while I didn't agree with him either I found him to be congenial, and a good sport. I asked him questions he liked and questions he didn't like. All of his answers were straight-forward. He didn't say he agreed with the President one day, and disagreed with him the next.

Gabriel Gomez can't run on bio and athleticism and succeed the way Scott Brown did. Scott Brown really was disadvantaged. He grew up hungry, neglected and abused. Those experiences should have made him a powerful advocate for the underprivileged, but while he didn't vote the way he should have on issues like Pell grants, summer jobs for teens, and unemployment benefits, at least you had the feeling he was casting those votes because of party pressure and that he was doing what he could.

Gabriel Gomez can't win on the issues either. We should expect Newtown families to confront him on guns, and the truth about his economic policies to come out. I'm already seeing him referred to as a "one-percenter," which he is.

For the record, the Democrats aren't scared. We're doing what needs to be done and letting people know who Gabriel Gomez really is: Mitt Romney dressed up like Scott Brown. There isn't an issue that Ed Markey doesn't beat him on, and contrary to what many believe "likability" turns out not to matter much in elections.

Mara Dolan is the host of “Twilight Talk” on WCAP and the Co-Chair of the Policy Committee of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee. Please send comments to MDolan@MaraDolan.com, and follow on Twitter @MaraDolan