Fact-esque

What I'm Listening To

And their live show on All Songs Considered.    And the Decemberists live too. C'mon.  You know you care.

The Simpsons Were Sicko Before it Was Cool to be Sicko

An Administration that Must be Opposed

Congress may note have the votes to impeach the criminals who have plunged our country into  constitutional crisis but thanks to citizens like Thomas Nephew, Takoma Park, MD does:

On Monday evening the Takoma Park City Council unanimously approved -- and improved -- a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Sponsoring councilmember Reuben Snipper was joined by councilmembers Seamens, Barry, Williams, and Mayor Kathy Porter in the 5-0 vote. Councilmembers Austin-Lane and Clay were out of town.*

The original resolution was amended by Councilmember Seamens to also recommend that the county council and state legislature pass impeachment resolutions, and to urge Takoma Park residents to write Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Senator Ben Cardin, and Senator Barbara Mikulski asking them to support impeachment. 

But the votes aren't in Congress; according to the wise men who run D.C., impeachment isn't going to happen. So why bother?  Thomas explains:

I think the short answer to "why bother?" is summed up by the question: "what if we don't even bother?" Among the terrible precedents this administration has set are: the utter sin and crime of torture. A fraudulent case for war. Abrogation of habeas corpus. Warrantless surveillance in direct defiance of specific law. A king-like disregard and contempt for other laws properly passed and signed, and a refusal to enforce them. Each of these are grounds enough for impeachment, and new ones taunt us each day – Libby’s commutation – the US Attorneys scandal (both considered impeachable by James Madison) – executive orders threatening to dispossess Iraq war opponents – refusal to honor congressional subpoenas or enforce contempt citations. Together, they add up to a administration that must be opposed, whose very policy is to flout the Constitution, to make it a dead letter instead of a living guardian of our liberties and the rule of law.

An administration that must be opposed.  That doesn't mean waiting for Congress to act, for the corporate media to turn into something other than a tool of the kleptocracy, for the presidential candidates on either side to speak out against the rogue policies of this executive ...  It means that we all must oppose this administration every chance we get with letters to the editor, signs in our yards, in our windows, t-shirts on our backs, calls to our members of Congress, vigils on our street corners. 

I'm always on the Democrats because they are waiting for the perfect, cost-free time to act.  The best thing that one would be able to say about them is that they are cowards but they're much worse than that.  They're accomplices in the crisis really because they know that the perfect time to act will never come.   Dissent always carries a cost.   BushCo has been working behind the scenes to make that cost a heavy one for citizens and I think that that appeals to most of D.C. quite a bit.  They at the heels of power, better than anyone on the planet, support the idea of exchanging the freedom to dissent for a cushioned life.   That's a value they actually live.  But we shouldn't - not because we should be so brave or careless with our lives, but because there are more of us than them and that matters.  It matters to them when they are taking away our rights and silencing our naive belief in what is supposed to be great about this country.  It may still matter to us at the ballot box.  It still matters at the cash registers.  It still matters on the streets.   

So say something that they may attack you for.  Write a letter, call your members of Congress, start a vigil, get your town government to pass a resolution in support of impeachment.  Every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some peaceful action to oppose this administration.

UPDATE: Check out NTodd's 198 Sundays series for some good, non-violent ways to resist.

 

Linkosity

Dick Durbin wants to have citizens help write legislation.  I'm not sure if it's the gimmick it seems to be.  The first step is simply an online town hall on the topic of the country's national broadband strategy, which isn't exactly groundbreaking.  We'll see where Durbin goes from there.

Three good stories from the always excellent Warren Reports at TPM Cafe:

1. Puget Sound Grocery Workers produced a video looking at the pay gap between workers and grocery CEOs.  Educate, Agitate, Organize.

2. Lee Drutman, writing at TAP, sees an opportunity for progressives to be part of a shake-up in the business world.  Frankly, I don't see the connection to the Big Good that Drutman sees coming out of a coming shift away from quarterly reporting.

But the fact that the Aspen Principles were drafted with the help of unions and pension funds is a good sign. More progressive voices need to get into the conversation and think about ways to define long-term corporate value so it includes social and environmental concerns. A window is opening in the debate over what could and should go into a long-term measure. But progressives need to act quickly. It may not be open long.

I don't think any improvement in the business world comes from open windows.  Better to crash down doors.

3. In light of the success of Sicko, Phil Tedesco offers a primer on debating Universal Single Payer Health Care with friends and family poisoned by the corporate media's water carrying for the insurance industry. I would add, remember to tell them the story of Deamonte Driver, the young man who lost his life to tooth decay and who, I hope, will leave more than a $250,000 bill in his wake.  Remember Deamonte's  name.  Tell his story.

The Contra Costa Times catches another example of BushCo's War on Science and the Planet:

Federal biologists will reconsider several decisions affecting endangered mice, flies and the Canada lynx after an internal review found they were improperly influenced by a former Bush administration political appointee.

Among the decisions that could be reversed is the determination last year to slash 90 percent of the proposed critical habitat for an imperiled frog in California. In the East Bay, 99 percent of the proposed critical habitat for California red-legged frogs was eliminated.

The announcement Friday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was the first public acknowledgment by the agency that Julie MacDonald, the former deputy assistant secretary of Interior, improperly weakened protections for imperiled fish and wildlife.

"It's a blemish, I believe, on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior," said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall.

It was also the latest evidence that Bush administration officials have routinely manipulated scientific information for political ends.

I need me some Grohl.  (use IE to view or the Universe will collapse on itself)

And oh, yeah, speaking of staying sane - NPR's All Songs Considered has a pretty cool list of live concerts you can listen to for that purpose.

Don't Walk Him, But Don't Give Him Anything to Hit

I just heard Cokie Roberts, serious journamalist, tell me that the Dems have to be careful:

The Democrats could do something things that could blow it.  The Congress could seem to be ineffectual or they could seem to be overreaching.  ...  (mentions Feingold's censure resolution and Reid's backing off of it) ... Things like that, um, if the Democrats seem to be just piling on a pres who's already at remarkably low approval ratings on a war that that public has turned their back on, if the Democrats pile on on that, that could be a problem.

Clever girl, our Cokie.  She hit the GOP trifecta:  She helpfully raised the Republican talking point of the "ineffectual Democratic Congress," she tied the efficacy of Congress to ending BushCo's Quagmire in Iraq without mentioning the Republican Quagmire in the Senate and then helpfully set up an impossible frame for the Democrats: They have to fix everything that BushCo has destroyed in the last six years except that they can't do it on their own or appear rude while doing so.  They have to get legislation passed by working politely with an obstructionist opposition party that was perfectly happy being a universal rubber stamp for Dear Leader and NOT PASSING A BUDGET THE LAST YEAR THEY WERE IN POWER.  They have to end a war of aggression without hurting the feelings of the maniac who started it.  They have to balance, weave, dodge and frolic and when they do, it still won't be enough to win accurate coverage in the corporate media. 

That's because the corporate meda despises not the Democratic party, which is nothing more than a marginally less cooperative lapdog of global corporate interests, but its base, which is comprised of the poor and middle class, who, with just the tiniest bit of encouragement, may wake up to fact that they are worth something as human beings.  They may realize that their children do not have to die from a cavity - that they do not need to lose their homes to pay medical bills - that they deserve universal single-payer health care and reform of the Barriers to Bankruptcy Bill and an energy policy that creates jobs and a healthy planet - that their boats have not risen with the latest economic tide - that they are losing the class war on every front - that there is power in numbers.

So Cokie Roberts and NPR and every other corporate minion keeps muddling the story just enough so that even people who think they are informed don't really understand the stakes of the game and strategies of the people playing it.  This is not the role of a free press in a democracy.  This is the role of a corporate press in a kleptocracy.

UPDATE: Atrios mentions the contempt with which the YouTube debate is being handled in the corporate media.   Quel suprise.  That the hideous element may get it into their heads that they have access to power and maybe even some power themselves is a dangerous thought indeed.

Very Easy Anti-Sonar Action - Deadline for Public Comments TODAY

This is post has some information you need to know about sonar in order to be informed but the requested action is very easy.   Just send an email to PR1.062306A@noaa.gov  saying that you oppose the use sonar throughout the world's oceans and the refusal of proposed rule number 062206A .  A few talking points are listed below.  PIck one.  Make sure you include the proposed rule ID number: I put it in the subject line as well.

FROM: Russell Wray of Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST)
MESSAGE: LFA Sonar Action Alert!

LFA Sonar may soon be deployed worldwide!  Public outcry is needed now, as the only way to stop it may again be through a lawsuit....and the courts need to see the public concern and outrage at this madness. On Monday, July 9th, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released their Proposed Rule allowing for Navy use, over the next five years, of its Low Frequency Active (LFA) Sonar throughout most of the planetís oceans. This will bring harm, on a massive scale, to the life within these oceans, as the LFA sound can travel at levels that are harmful to the marine environment for thousands of miles.

Currently, due to a court injunction, the Navy has been restricted since 2003 in its use of LFA Sonar to an area in the northwest Pacific. That injunction will expire with this proposed Rule, along with a number of mitigation measures required of the Navy. It will also allow for a doubling of the number of ships blasting this sonar. This Proposed Rule is the final step in the process before worldwide LFA Sonar deployment. Public Outcry is needed now! 

Outrageously, NMFS is allowing the public only 15 days to comment on the Proposed Rule. In its attempt to justify this unreasonably short comment period which is almost without precedent, it cites “national security” reasons. There are efforts being made to have the comment period extended, but it is may well not be allowed.  The deadline for public comment is July 24, 2007. 

Please write or e-mail NMFS to oppose the Proposed Rule. Your comments need not be long or technical...Just a brief message saying NO! To the deaths, injuries, and disruption that LFA Sonar will bring to countless ocean inhabitants, including endangered species.

Tell NMFS to do its job and deny the permit!

The NMFS Proposed Rule for LFA Sonar can be found here:  http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/permits/lfa_proposedrule0707.pdf

Please include the Proposed Rule ID Number 062206A with your comments.

The e-mail address for comments is:    PR1.062306A@noaa.gov 

A Few Points to Keep in Mind:

Because low frequency sound can travel thousands of miles underwater, the incredibly loud LFA Sonar noise will disrupt, injure, and kill marine mammals and other marine life over vast ocean areas.

The Navy ís Environmental Impact Statements for LFA Sonar repeatedly make assumptions and come to conclusions which are not supported by scientific fact. They have also ignored , or refused to adequately address information which contradict their claims about LFA Sonar.

It is well documented that mid-frequency sonars have been responsible for or implicated in numerous mass-strandings and deaths of marine mammals globally. Deployment of LFA Sonar will likely bring similar results, but on a larger scale.

There is growing evidence that naval sonars and other sources of intense underwater noise are harming fish, and therefore threaten fisheries.

The Navy’s mitigation methods are entirely insufficient for protecting marine life.

A growing number of governmental and scientific bodies have expressed concern over the environmental impacts of naval active sonars and other sources of intense underwater noise. Some of these are the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, the United Nations Law of the Sea deliberations, the European Union Parliament, and the IUCN-World Conservation Union.

By deploying LFA Sonar, the Navy will further damage our planet’s already damaged oceans. This does not benefit our nation, nor any other nation’s national security.

NMFS is the federal agency responsible for protecting marine species. Their policy decisions are supposed to be science based. They should do their job and deny the permit!

Thank You for Writing!

Deconstruction

 

And Call the House While You're At It

From the Coalition on Human Needs:

TODAY THE U.S. HOUSE WILL VOTE ON FUNDING FOR CRITICAL HUMAN NEEDS PROGRAMS. 
If there is strong bipartisan support for the bill, we can block the President's threat to veto it.

Please call your U.S. Representative TODAY to tell them to vote for the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.   Don't delay - pick up the phone now; we're close, if you help!

CALL TOLL-FREE: 800-965-4701
Thursday, July 19 - say yes to human needs funding, and no to cuts!

The vote is likely to be late Thursday. There are modest gains in the bill for energy aid, K-12 education (including special ed), Pell Grants, community health centers, AIDS treatment, child care, and other services.  If there aren't enough votes to thwart a veto, instead of gains, there will once more be cuts in these vital services.

That's why your call is so important.

A simple message: call 800-965-4701 - ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative.

Tell the staffer who answers: "Hello, I'm _______, a constituent of Representative ______. Please tell him/her to vote FOR the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. It rejects cuts proposed by the President and instead makes modest gains in education, home energy aid, employment programs, and public health. A vote for this bill is in our district's interest."

Why your call matters.

The President has threatened to veto funding that exceeds his proposals - and his proposals sharply reduce job training, home heating and cooling aid, mental health care, nutrition for the elderly, rural health and other community services, while letting inflation shrink early childhood education and afterschool care, and many vital public health and education programs. After a final bill is worked out between the House and Senate, it will take a two-thirds vote in each body to reject a presidential veto. A strong vote in the House now might discourage a veto from being made; if not, it will help gain the votes needed to override it.

Please forward this message to everyone you know, and thanks!

Do This Today and Every Day Until S.1634 is Passed

via Dover Bitch:

At 9:30 ET this morning, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to discuss a bill that would federalize immigration for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). It should be available via webcast.

Why is this hearing important? After all, it's not on the evening news. It's not even scheduled to be broadcast live on C-SPAN.

The truth is, this hearing is only important to people who believe that America shouldn't be a place like this:

Using its immigration authority, the Commonwealth has created an economy that relies upon the wholesale importation of low-paid, short-term indentured workers. Foreign workers pay up to $7,000 to employers or middlemen for the right to a job in the CNMI. When they finally reach the Commonwealth, they are assigned to tedious, low paying work for long hours with little or no time off. At night they are locked in prison-like barracks. If they complain, they are subject to immediate deportation at the whim of their employer. Some arrive in the islands only to find that they were victims of an employment scam. There are no jobs waiting for them, and no way to work off their bondage debt.

Read the whole post because if you do, you won't be able resist calling the Senators on the committee to encourage them to support S.1634.  Dover Bitch links to the committee but doesn't provide contact information so I'll help out and post that here. 

Please take the ten minutes it will require to do this.   There are rape and slavery victims out there counting on Americans to step up to demand justice.  Calling some Senators to remind them that the US doesn't allow slavery and sanction rape and forced abortion is the very least we can do. 

Tell your friends.  If you blog, blog about this.

Contact info: (the spacing is crazy but I don't have time to fix it)

Bingaman

DC phone 202-224-5521

DC fax 202-224-2852

Akaka

DC Phone: 202-224-6361

DC Fax: 202-224-2126

Dorgan

DC Phone: 202-224-2551
DC Fax: 202-224-1193

Wyden

DC Phone: 202-224-5244
DC Fax: 202-228-2717

Johnson

DC Phone: 202-224-5842

DC Fax: 202-228-5765

Landrieu

DC Phone: 202-224-5824

DC Fax: 202-224-9735

Cantwell

DC Phone: 202-224-3441

DC Fax: 202-228-0514

Salazar

DC Phone: 202-224-5852

DC Fax: 202-228-5036

Menendez

DC Phone: 202-224-4744

DC Fax: 202-228-2197

Lincoln

DC Phone: 202-224-4843

DC Fax: 202-228-1371

Sanders

DC Phone: 202-224-5141

DC Fax: 202-228-0776

Tester

DC Phone: 202-224-2644

DC Fax: 202-224-8594

Domenici

DC Phone: 202-224-6621

DC Fax: 202-228-3261

Craig

DC Phone: 202-224-2752
DC Fax: 202-228-1067

Murkowski
DC Phone: 202-224-6665
DC Fax: 202-224-5301

Burr
DC Phone: 202-224-3154
DC Fax: 202-228-2981

DeMint
DC Phone: 202-224-6121
DC Fax: 202-228-5143

Corker
DC Phone: 202-224-3344
DC Fax: 202-228-0566

Sessions
DC Phone: 202-224-4124
DC Fax: 202-224-3149

Bunning
DC Phone: 202-224-4343
DC Fax: 202-228-1373

Smith
DC Phone: 202-224-3753
DC Fax: 202-228-3997

Martinez

DC Phone: 202-224-3041

DC Fax: 202-228-5171

Barrasso

DC Phone: 202-224-6441

DC Fax: 202-224-1724

Wow

Reid won't allow a vote on the entire Defense Authorization Bill until the GOP stop filibustering the amendments related to Iraq.  Again, wow.  Given the spin that this will get in the corporate media - there's spending in that bill that helps veterans and troops in the field - this is incredibly ballsy behavior.   I have to say that I'm impressed.  I hope the Dems have the media and PR strategy ready to back this up.