Another night where I just need to write to make myself better able to deal with the reality of what is happening to this country that I love. And if you’ve read many of my posts, you know that I’m not much of a fan of George W. Bush or the republican party as it is presently constituted. In fact, the more I watch what is going on as the days slowly dwindle away in the administration of President Bush giving way to the optimism of the Presidency of Barrack Obama the more I’m concerned about the next four years. I’ve watched with a quiet curiosity as Obama has put together a “team” which will be challenged as no other president has been challenged since the days of Franklin D Roosevelt. I’m going to reserve judgement on his choices, most people are very impressed with the majority of them, and I’m not even in the camp that is upset that Obama has reached out to Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration – I’ve read the book that made Warren a national figure “Purpose Driven Life,” and found it quite good – because someone has to let the so-called “Christian Right” understand that the conservative movement in this country is no more “Christian” than many of the issues they vehemently oppose. In fact, I’m convinced that once the Christian movement fully realizes what they’ve been the “base” to, the republican party will either have to make monumental changes or be a “thing of the past.”

My concern tonight is the nagging thought that Obama is going to do too much reaching and not enough extinguishing (for lack of a better word). I’m really worried that President Obama, in the interest of “unity,” is going to just “move on” and let bygones be bygones. In my opinion, if he chooses this path, IT WILL BE A HUGE MISTAKE. I’m reading lots of stuff, In fact the other day I was stuck in my car during a snow storm and decided to force myself to listen to some conservative talk radio, and I’m convinced that the conservative movement is all fired up and is gearing up the propaganda machine to start the attacks on Obama well before he becomes President (In fact, they’ve already started). I actually like the thought of unity, but not at the expense of standing up for the principles that have brought this nation to the role of “leader of the free world.” I believe that if Obama shows the “gumption” to emphasize that this is a nation ruled by laws and not “men” we will have taken a huge step forward. Unfortunately, in my opinion the reverse holds true as well. Should he choose to allow the “Bush Crime family” to walk away without consequence for their actions he will have just proved what the republicans always say, that the democrats have no spine – they are weak.

Let me give you some examples of the problems that I see growing if something isn’t done forcefully about them (and, believe me, there are plenty more than what I’m going to list here). Because it’s so important in my mind; there simply HAS to be accountability for the abuses in President Bush’s “warrantless wiretapping” program. I continue to be amazed that there isn’t more outrage about the fact the government has been and is spying on virtually all of it’s citizens. As with most of their abuses the Bush administration throws up the “National Security” excuse for a behemoth of felonies committed on the behalf of stopping terrorist attacks – even though they had the necessary authority to stop 9/11 and bungled everything when the opportunity was there. To me, the thought that every email I send, every phone call I make, and even every purchase I make online (and probably offline using a credit card) is being monitered by my government is more than a bit chilling. The fact that they don’t have a reason to worry about what I’m doing is not the point (although, when you think about it, the day could possibly be closer than we think, should this continue, where bloggers could be considered “enemy combatants” if their thoughts are not in concert with the “powers that be) – the point is that we seem to be willingly giving up one of the basic rights (the right to privacy) that men and women have been fighting and dying to protect for the past 200+ years.

Here’s what’s worse about the warrantless wiretapping program. The United States of America has spent billions of dollars creating huge facilities to gather, store, and analyze an unbelievable amount of data over the past 8 years (they were spending a lot prior to Bush II but he’s really raised the bar and there seems to be no limit on what he’s willing to dole out for the latest greatest technology). In the process we have become beholden to at least two companies from Israel(I believe a third is emerging) who specialize in gathering information from cell phones, hi speed internet cables, whatever methods people use to communicate from one to another. These companies, quite naturally, are in business to make a profit – and the satellites and internet cables they have figured out how to intrude on actually circle the globe many times over. Cell phones and the internet are not just common in America, even many third world countries are wired to the hilt – many of the countries where we are concerned about the human rights practices of their governments – like Viet Nam, China, Sudan, etc. These countries are buying the technology that is being developed by the Israeli complanies for the US government, but technology that the US government has no proprietory ownership of, and they are using this same technology to virtually halt any dissent in their nations. There is not only technology to gather virtually all the info, but now they have developed software to “sift” through this technology at alarmingly fast rates to descipher key words or phrases. So not only has this program of Bush’s allowed our government to intrude on its citizens, it is allowing foriegn nations to clamp down on dissenters who are seeking free societies. THE DAMAGE OF THIS PROGRAM IS SEVERE.

The people involved in this program have known all along that it is illegal, even to the point that when it was made public in 2005 the employees began training on how to lie in front of congress if they were called to testify about what they were doing. Bush and Cheney got a couple of their own lawyers to write bogus legal “opinions” to provide them “cover” but they knew right from the start what they were doing was illegal. They just didn’t want to go through the hassle, and possibility of denial, that would have been involved in getting the FISA law tweeked to give them more leeway in “fighting terrorism.” These two guys in particular just didn’t like the idea that the President of the United States was obligated to follow the laws that they had taken an oath to protect when they took their offices. This attitude, of course, carried over into other areas. The idea that the United States of America is now regarded internationally as a country that believes in torture, is torture to me – as a citizen. In my research into this problem I discovered that torture isn’t something altogether new for our government, it’s just been done in more discreet ways in the past.

For example, during the 70’s and 80’s our CIA facilitated several coups in South America and other places around the globe, orchestrating in governments that were willing to support our taking their national resources (such as copper in Chile, oil in Venezuela, etc.) in return for us helping them to stay in power and to thwart dissent through “disappearing” of dissidents and the secret prisons that have become so commonplace since 9/11 – no wonder our CIA is looked at around the world with such disdain (the reason the Iranians hate us is because in the 50’s our CIA put the Shah in power at the expense of a freely elected government with the result being a despot who was, in the minds of many, worse than Saddam Hussein). IT IS TIME FOR THE US TO LET THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOW THAT THIS STUFF IS GOING TO STOP!!! And the way to do this is for Barrack Obama to hold those in the Bush administration accountable who authorized “enhanced interrogations.” We know this includes Cheney and Rumsfeld via admissions on national TV, and there can be little doubt that this includes the President as well. The thought that a few sargeants and privates would take the fall for Abu Ghraib, for instance, is deplorable. Obama can take a huge step toward REALLY CHANGING the direction of this country if he stands up to these arrogant cowards! (Yes, cowards – neither Bush nor Cheney would ever have thought about going into combat, but they didn’t think twice about ruining the lives of millions of people in their quest for oil or whatever else was on their mind when they illegally invaded Iraq).

I’m not going to get into detail about the abuses that have occurred in the “financial sector” of our economy – but there has to be accountability there as well. These people have been robbing us blind for years and it hit the crescendo stage during the Bush administration. Many of the “thieves” in Bush’s “army” got their start under either Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan. And don’t kid yourself, most of these people are the ones best ready to “weather the storm” that lies ahead in the economic recession/depression that Obama is facing as he takes the “reins” of office. These guys didn’t go away during the eight years of Bill Clinton (in fact they have the money to pay for the attacks that will insure that our nation stays divided, because that’s how they make such huge amounts of money) and they won’t go away during the Obama administration if they are not ferretted out and held legally accountable for the corruption that has been rampant during the last 28 years. One thing that is really important here, there can be no favoritism for democrats over republicans, which is why this part of the accountability will be so difficult. There will be a lot of Washington’s “elite” going down if this is fully investigated. When you get an environment where it is OK for the CEO’s to be earning (I say earning a bit tongue in cheek) 4500 times what their workers are earning, you know things are way out of tilt. A quick look at the lobbying “industry” and how it is connected to the Senate and Representative “industry” and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize that there’s a lot of corruption “on both sides of the isle.” This need to be investigated if we are going to have the “Change we can believe in.” Without accountability for the past corruption and lawbreaking change will be an empty word.

Well, we’ve got a foot of snow at my house, it’s still falling, and it looks like my appointment at the doctor’s office two days from now is up in the air. I can say this, a good snow storm helps me to appreciate the beauty of “Mother Nature,” even though it’s got me stuck where I’m at. Actually, it’s kind of nice to be forced to just relax and do nothing for a while. Today, a neighbor happened by with his family for a bit of hot tea, cocoa, and cider. We had a very nice discussion. My friend is an engineer at Hewlett Packard and always blows me away at his ability to tear things apart and put them back together as if they suddenly became new again. As a school teacher, when I’m around him – and others with such talent who have done something with it – at first I marvel and then I think about how I can motivate the students I have with natural talent to develop it and strive to “make something of themselves.” Tonight, our converstation evolved into a discussion about the American “obsession” with “accountability” while at the same time looking downward on workers which has brought us to a place where many in our workforce (including my friend) are kind of walking on “pins and needles” in their jobs as upper management uses the threat of job loss to extract every bit of whatever they can get from their employees. The sense of community and loyalty that once was pervasive in companies like Hewlett Packard (They once took pride in having never “laid off” an employee) is a thing of the past. Anything and everything that corporations can “outsource” to save a few dollars at the expense of this sense of loyalty gets outsourced. I’m really getting tired of calling “customer service” and being routed through India. I’m saying this in the wake of the so-called “auto bailout” which is really a bridge loan that, in my mind, is Bush’s way of passing the problem onto Obama, still hoping for the demise of the United Auto Workers.

I’m OK with that. Now it is up to President Elect Obama to show some leadership (which is what I’m hopeful will be his strength) to ensure that the UAW succeeds, our domestic auto industry succeeds (I’m still baffled by the number of republicans that seem to think losing our domestic auto industry would be OK), and unions in general start to make a comeback in this country. While I’m pretty focused on the corruption of the corporations in America, the political parties in America, and of course the Bush administration – there can be no doubt that over the course of years the labor unions have had their share of corruption. Keep in mind that this has been largely abuses by the leadership of these unions – but the reality is that the union workers, the ones who fought for worker’s rights from the thirties up until this day, have been the backbone of this nation. They are the reason for so many workplace benefits that I believe many of us Americans just take for granted, that the time has come when we have to band together and re-commit to the value of collective bargaining and the reality that without it you end up with a system that is totally out of balance such as what we are experiencing today.

When it is not unusual for corporate CEO’s to be making multi-million dollar salaries and then issuing themselves huge bonuses – in today’s economic atmosphere despite tremendous corporate losses – and then doing everything they can to reduce jobs, something is terribly wrong. How did we get to the point where, en masse, we just seem to stand by and watch this happen? I’m sure there are less people working in America today than the day George W Bush took office almost 8 years ago. That is a damning and disgusting fact. And it appears that it is going to get worse before it gets better. We are still listening to too many people arguing that GM should be allowed to go bankrupt – to me more the victim of the financial meltdown (remember, most Americans have to go to the bank to be able to buy a new car) than their own lack of foresight as to how they should compete in the market we are now faced with. My friend who works at Hewlett Packard tells of how their company merged with Compaq and one of the “benefits” was the elimination of thousands of jobs. Additionally, thousands of other jobs were eliminated because, due to the advances in technology (for example face to face meetings over the internet), it is very easy to replace an American worker with one in Singapore who will work for less.

The CEO’s who are doing a good job of eliminating these jobs are being rewarded with huge bonuses. Last year the CEO at Hewlett Packard was compensated with a salary of $23 million. Well, that is less than the CEO of GM who received $28 million – so I suppose that gives him something to “shoot” for. And today I read where the CEO of Merrill Lynch (keep in mind that to avoid bankruptcy they were purchased in a “hastily arranged” takeover by Bank of America – after losing something close to $10 Billion) was compensated with $83 million – because he took over after most of the damage had been done, I suppose someone thought that it could have been worse. The point I’m trying to make is that until we change the mindset that has been programmed into the minds of the American people allowing for these abuses to happen, while thinking it’s OK for genuine workers who actually produce things to “go down,” we are in a world of hurt. The greed level in the US is unbelievable. My friend and I looked at his children and I referred to my grandchildren and grown children, and we agreed “We have to start speaking out about this.” Trickle down economics don’t work and the money has become “stuck” at the top of the “food chain.” Our children deserve the opportunity to have their work valued in a way that will support their future families.

OK, if for some strange chance that you’ve been reading any of my posts, you’ll know that one of my obsessions is that I’m very concerned that President Elect Obama, in concert with a spineless Democratic Congress, is going to let the Bush administration walk away “scott free” from a crime spree that lasted most of the eight years they were in office. Especially, when you learn that the warrantless wiretapping actually started pre 9/11, although in reading “The Shadow Factory” it’s not totally clear to me that this abuse was originally authorized by the President. However, it is clear that the incredible buildup of the NSA after 9/11 was directly authorized by Presdent Bush and directed by Dick Cheney and his right hand Lawyer David Addington, both of whom have been disgruntled about the FISA legislation since it’s inception in 1978. And the resulting “bugs” are going to be very difficult to get rid of. The crimes of this administration are many and they are excessive. Torture, war profiteering, forging documents to justify war, and lying us into a war are just the tip of the iceberg. The thought that the Democrats won’t pursue prosecution doesn’t surprise me, but I have to say that I will be devastated if Obama, for the sake of unity, pursues a course that lacks accountability for these crimes.

It appears that Obama is going to go along with the strict accountability for the auto industry regarding the “bridge loans” the government is providing in an attempt to preserve the main part of our industrial complex that has not been outsourced to third world countries. Hopefully, the end result of this won’t be that we are buying Chevrolet’s built in China and shipped back to the US for purchase. How can we expect this accountability while ignoring the other? Yes, restoring good jobs in this country is of paramount importance. At some point, we as a nation need to start looking out for each other and realizing the importance of keeping good union jobs in this country. I have no idea how the leaders, during the last two decades could rationalize the idea that we could have an economy built almost entirely on consumption. Of course, when you add in the abuses of the Wall Street fat cats, the CEO’s of the corporations who are left in this country, and the incompetence of our government under the “trickle down” economic theory, the present economic meltdown should not be a big surprise. And I realize that Obama’s main priorities need to be revitalizing the economy, dealing with a health system that itself has “cancer,” and completely redesigning our priorities to finally confront the global environmental crisis – the crisis that republicans would ignore until there was conclusive evidence that the planet was dying – I don’t think there is a last second bailout procedure for that problem. But Bush/Cheney et al MUST BE INVESTIGATED, if for no other reason the sake of posterity – I REALLY DON’T WANT THIS TO EVER HAPPEN AGAIN!

The truth is that Obama could be totally focused on those economic issues (and of course, don’t forget Iraq and Afganistan – they are going to take a lot of focus) and just appoint an independent counsel to investigate the previous administration letting the “cards fall where they may.” This could be done without a bunch of fanfare in the scaredy cat Democratic Congress (Patrick Fitzgerald would be OK with me – a good republican investigating republicans). The Democrats could continue to blame the senate republicans for everything that doesn’t go right which seems to be what they’re good at and we could just hope and pray that they could get enough republican support to pass Obama’s initial stimulus bills, but in the end, the “Bush Crime Family,” as many refer to them, would have to answer for their deeds, one way or the other. In my view this is the best way for us, as a nation, to tell the rest of the world that we “get it.” We need to send the message that torture is, again, unacceptable in the US along with invading soveriegn nations, and random massive wiretapping. Now, just to make sure that I’m clear, in this past three years of consuming books on how our government works, it is clear to me that our CIA has been overstepping it’s bounds for decades. They have facilitated many government coups causing “socialist” governments to succumb to tyrants in the name of cheap natural resources for our multi-national corporations who have bought off virtually every politician who’s been in Washington for any length of time. And I guess this is why many don’t want to prosecute Bush and company, because when we learn the “truth” about what our government has been doing, more heads may “roll.”

But, I’m convinced the time is right for this to finally happen. If we don’t face up to the actions of our government now, with Barrack Obama becoming our first African American President, I don’t know when we will. If he, and the Democratic party, don’t start showing some backbone and stop worrying about what the press is going to say, they won’t last more than four years in office. I think it’s great that Obama wants to “bring people together.” But the way to do this is not to look the other way in the face of obvious criminal actions by the Bush administration. For example – and a good one at that – the other day I watched with my own eyes as Vice President Dick Cheney, a man who has a lot of legal vulnerability – and in my opinion is beginning to get the reality of that – on national TV admitted to authorizing torture of the degree that we had Japanese tried and executed before the Hague after WW II. Waterboarding, along with several other of their “enhanced” interrogation techniques is clearly a war crime. Whether or not some other country is going to attempt to hold these guys accountable, I think Cheney’s “admission” in a strange way tells us that he’s a bit worried (so far, our pitiful response is putting a few “privates” in the brig with the assumption being that we, the public, will buy the idea that this torture was their idea – unbelievable!).

At first, I thought “What an arrogant SOB” to just say all this on TV, kind of daring someone to prosecute him (Cheney). But, after a couple of days to digest this I’ve come to a very different conclusion. If Cheney authorized this and participated in meetings in the White House where it was discussed, which is what he clearly said, then the assumption has to be that Bush was there, as was Rice, Rove, Addington, Libby, Rumsfeld, and others. The key is that we now know that Bush was there – although that was already clear to me (and it was no secret that Rumsfeld authorized it as well). But Cheney is pushing the issue. Now, why would he do this? Well, I believe it falls under the old theory we followed when I was in the sawmill called CYA. Cover your ass! I believe Cheney is trying to force Bush to issue pardons for everyone who was present at those meetings, including himself of course. Now, I’m not sure whether or not you can pardon someone prior to them being convicted of a crime, or even accused – it seems to me that you would need to be convicted first. But at the bare minimum, it seems to me that if you pardon someone, that means a crime has been committed. Doesn’t that put Bush in a difficult spot? Won’t a blanket pardon for torture be an admission by Bush that he authorized torture? I’m glad Cheney is finally speaking honestly about what was done. I believe that Obama should accomodate him with the opportunity to talk about everything that happened during these eight years, including the outing of a CIA agent. Bush is busy trying to define his legacy and I think Cheney being investigated could go along way in doing that. In fact the way things are going, when this is all over I’m not sure Bush and Cheney will still be such good friends!

Just in case someone might be reading this, I’ll make this short, the first thing I checked when I got up today was the state of the proposed bridge loan for GM and Chrysler (as I’ve done to start every day for several weeks now). Henry Paulson and George Bush have finally decided to do the right thing, making most republicans in the “trenches” very unhappy, at least on the surface. Just a caution here. Originally, they were talking about something in the neighborhood of $14 Billion dollars as a package to keep both companies afloat until President Elect Obama takes over. That was the amount blocked in the Senate vote a week or two ago. Now they are offering the companies $17.4 Billion. Wow, they’ve thrown in an extra $4 Billion dollars! Cause for celebration, right? Uh, wait a minute, don’t forget these guys don’t skip a beat.

Now think about this clearly. They’ve offered $17.4 Billion, but there’s only about $14 Billion left of the original amount allocated by Congress before they go back for the authority to spend the second $350 Billion of the original “TARP” “bailout” money. Ah, ha, now I get it. It’s not that they want to save the auto companies, they want to get their hands on that second $350 Billion. Here’s how it works. Paulson, today December 19th, makes a request for authority to use the second allotment of funds. Congress, which is in recess until January 2nd, when it has to swear everybody in, has 15 days to reject Paulson’s request – both houses have to reject his request it or he gets the money. Now, fifteen days from now will be, let’s see, hmmmmmm by golly January 2nd! Can you imagine our congress having it together enough to block that request on the day they are due back in Washington? I mean, let’s face it, with all the democratic pickups they still don’t have the 60 votes in the Senate to stop debate.

So there you have it. The price “We the People” will pay for the republicans passing on the opportunity to break the United Auto Workers will be George Bush and Henry Paulson getting their grubbly little fingers on another $350 Billion taxpayer dollars. I don’t know about you, but I think Henry wouldn’t have a bit of trouble getting most of that money “into circulation” in the 18 days he would have left in office. And do you think, with all the arrogance these guys have shown, that they won’t be doling as much of this “dough” out to their buddies as they can? I hope I’m wrong, I really do – so far they haven’t put a penny where it’s needed most, and that is to help out the homeowners who are losing their homes in this country by the millions. The one thing I was really counting on was the second half of the so-called “bailout” money would be spent by the Obama “team” to help those Americans who are losing their homes, but could stay there with modified loans. Do you think Bush is just wanting to speed up this process? Let me finish by asking this question; Would you trust George and Henry with another $350 Billion?

OK, a few days have passed and it looks like even Paulson didn’t have the guts to try to get the additional $350 Billion, although I’ll believe this when I see it. I still have hope that this money will be used to help my friends (and I’m sure yours) who are hard working responsible people and have got caught in this squeeze.

It’s very late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and I really should be getting to bed, but I just read another NY Times piece about how President Bush is considering an “orderly” bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler. I’m going to try to make this short, and if you read it I encourage you to get on the phone and call the White House and encourage them to just loan GM and Chrysler the money. I couldn’t believe it when Bush was quoted as saying “I don’t want to put good money after bad.” Well, in the first place do they even have any “good” money. Let’s face it, the $700 billion came freshly off the printing press. I don’t believe our government has any “good” money left. Bush has squandered it all – which is the first reason I find that statement incredulous. The second reason is they just completed giving over $300 billion to the financial “sector” on Wall Street, which is basically their “lunch buddies.” How can they not call that sending “good money after bad.” Well, I guess using my premise that none of the money is good would answer that question. But, isn’t that the height of hypocracy???

Of course, that shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been following politics in the last 8 years. These guys are unbelievable. The republicans are drooling at the thought of destroying the United Auto Workers – they just can’t help themselves. I’m not sure if they don’t understand the consequences of doing this, or if they do and just don’t care. Their icon, Ronald Reagan, was all about destroying unions and I’m sure it’s been a point of frustration that they’ve been unable to get rid of the UAW for all these years. Keep in mind these republicans are the ones who have been trying to undo the “New Deal” for over 40 years, and they think the minimum wage should still be $1.25 and hour – in fact they probably think there shouldn’t be a minimum wage. I have listened to all the propaganda about how much the auto workers make that I can stand. The Limbaugh types keep harping that they make $70 per hour, which I actually wish they did, but of course they make something like $28 per hour. It’s the people who are ripping us off for these huge executive bonuses, who don’t want to pay any taxes, who think that $28 per hour is too much. And, of course, the fact the auto workers have health insurance is another bone to pick for the republicans. They call themselves the party of “family values” and I interpret that as their values are to destroy as many families as they can.

I teach in a low income area and see the results of families where the parents (who are working) have two jobs and rarely see their kids. It translates into students who have no suprevision at home, who by the sixth grade are giving up on school becuase they believe they are destined to follow in their parent’s footsteps, and who know more about things like drugs and R-rated movies than I do (and these kids are 11 years old – it’s startling). Republicans want their minimum wage jobs to be for less money than they are, and they don’t want even the kids to have decent health care. It’s very difficult to witness this stuff “right up front,” but as a teacher, it is inevitable. If the republicans succeed in destroying the UAW in Bush’s last month in office, I hope they cease to be a viable party in this nation. People need to speak out about this and demand the media get off their butts and start covering the news fairly. I say this because it’s so unbelievable to me that they can’t provide a bridge loan – without all these conditions that the republicans want to throw on – after just giving away over $300 billion to banks that are using the money for bonuses and dividends. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

And make no mistake about this – if our auto industry goes into bankruptcy, “orderly” or not, the likely “rescuers” will be foreign entities. Whether it will be Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan, or another auto maker, or just Chinese entities with a wealth of dollars, I believe the mainstay of what’s left of our industrial base will be owned by “outsiders.” The thought of this is both frightening and disgusting to me. Talk about a blow to our national security. How can the people of this nation turn their backs on the history of GM and Ford. These companies are the backbone of the industrial revolution that turned this nation into the most powerful country on the planet. I heard on the radio today that if the actual wage of an average auto worker is $30 per hour, that would mean their annual pay would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $60,000 – which I’m sure that most republicans would find that excessive (unless it was what they had to live off of). Well, one of the GM executives earned $28 million last year, which is the equivalent of about 4500 blue collar salaries. NOW YOU TELL ME WHERE THE PROBLEM IS.

Of course there’s a lot of fat to be trimmed from these companies, but the trimming needs to start at the top. And the companies need to be boosted along so that the trimming is possible. They need to get the same “guarantee” that Wall Street got – we’re going to keep them going. In my view, THEY ARE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TO OUR NATIONAL ECONOMY THAN WALL STREET!!! The problem with letting Wall Street banks fail is that the “trimming” would come from Henry Paulson’s portfolio along with many other of the republicans who want to see the UAW dead. Make no mistake about this, seeing the United Auto Worker’s Union dead is their goal. When you buy an IBM Thinkpad, it is now called Lenovo and the company is Chinese – I never thought I would see the day that a Chinese company would be allowed to own a significant portion of IBM (I guess that was who was making the computers anyway) – but the thought of a Chinese company owning GM makes me shutter. I truly hope that these companies can figure out a way to make it until February and give Obama a chance to throw them a lifeline. Our President is determined to demonstrate his incompetence as a leader and his disdain for our government right up till his last day in office. Bush is like a possum in the headlights, just staring blindly as this huge disastor is about to roll over him.

It’s 33 days to go, and I’m not sure I’m going to make it. Yesterday, I listened in shock as George W. Bush said his biggest achievement as President was “Keeping America Safe.” I guess if you accept the republican premise that everything that happens during a republican presidency is the fault of Bill Clinton or some other democrat (soon to be Barrack Obama) you can write of 9/11 as somebody else’s fault. Of course, when you look at the evidence closely, the Bush administration was overwhelmingly “sleeping at the wheel” prior to 9/11 and there are even those who suggest they wanted something like that to happen so they could invade Iraq. The reality, to me, is that even to suggest that we are safer is further evidence of how delusional this man really is. I harken back to the advice I got several years ago as a teacher when stuggling with the issue of students lying – a psychologist told me, and as I’ve observed people since I believe he was right on, that once someone who is constantly lying reaches about 14 it becomes part of their character. And the worse part is, they start believing their own lies – I’m convinced that George W Bush believes his own lies – even in the face of millions of Americans just shaking their collective heads as he says them.

When you get past the 9/11 tragedy and all the evidence that it should never have happened (read “The Shadow Factory”) you can turn your eyes toward Iraq. I can’t imagine how anyone can say that the Iraq war has made us safer. It is true that things are getting safer, at least temporarily, in Iraq (although I believe it could “explode” at anytime because the Shia still hate the Sunni), but the reality is that the “war” never should have been in Iraq. The people who have made us “unsafe” are in Pakistan and Afganistan and they, al Qaeda, are probably stronger than ever. In fact, one of Osama bin Laden’s goals was to get the U.S. bogged down in an “unwinnable” war in the Middle East (well, actually, they want us completely out of the Middle East, but knowing that aint going to happen this is the next best thing for them) so Iraq has served them well. It has depleted the resources of the US, it has turned the rest of the world, not only Arab countries against the US, and it has weakened our military so that if there was a real threat to our national security we would be in a tough spot trying to respond to it. Additionally, our involvement in Iraq has been a recruiting “boon” to al Qaeda and they are supposedly in better shape for another attack than they were at the time of 9/11. I don’t call that safer!

I guess Bush doesn’t factor in the economy when he talks about keeping us safe. Based on his performance in managing the economy this shouldn’t be too surprising. However, in my mind the fact that we are possibly going into the most severe economic downturn ever – including the thirties – it’s hard for me to say that keeps us safe. And today, Bush is quoted as saying a bankruptcy with a “gentle” landing might be good for GM. The guy, and his republican buddies, just can’t avoid the opportunity to possibly destroy one of the largest unions in the nation – this has nothing to do with keeping us safe. Keep in mind that during WW II GM played a huge role in building the things we needed for that war. WE NEED SOME KIND OF INDUSTRIAL BASE – AND IT NEEDS TO BE AMERICAN!!! I believe they are figuring out that this “crunch” is going to be huge no matter what they do, so they might as well try to get rid of the United Auto Workers in the process.

Let me summarize, 9/11 happened on George W Bush’s watch and there were plenty of opportunities to stop it. The NSA knew the whereabouts of the two original “plants” who facilitated the whole thing and due to the “bickering” among the different agencies once Bush/Cheney took office these guys were allowed to roam free for almost a year making call afte call on cell phones that the NSA should have been monitering (of course now they’re monitering your calls and mine to make up for their blunder). Our government has been torturing people, even Vice President Cheney admitting on national TV that he authorized it, which doesn’t keep us or our troops safer. Our economy is in the tank, which makes us all unsafer. And, worst of all, our military has been stretched to the breaking point in an illegal occupation of another nation, which really makes us unsafe. The truth is that any attack will most likely come after Bush is out of office, but make no mistake about it – George W Bush is the person who has made this country UNSAFE!

I’ve had about all of Chris Matthews that I can stand. I am a regular viewer of Keith Olberman on MSNBC because he was the most courageous of the “news” broadcasters during the last couple of years as “We the People” have been exercising our right to “throw the bums out” meaning, in this case, the republicans who nearly pulled off the impossible by controlling all facets of our government. Their plan for a permanent republican majority was stopped because, I’m sure in their minds at this time, they chose the wrong Bush to “close the deal” they had been working on for about the last 25+ years or so before GW Bush took the oath of office on January 20th 2001. Our framers, when originally writing the constitution that has been the longest lasting self-rule document in the world’s history, tried to make it virtually impossible for one group to control the entire government. Their plan of “checks and balances” was remarkably brilliant, especially when you consider the time in which it was devised, and it was put in place to protect Americans from the possibility of tyranny by the majority.

The United States of America is not, and was never intended to be, a pure democracy – despite the rhetoric of most of our national leaders on “both sides of the isle.” We have what is called a representative democracy and there were many “checks” put in place to insure that all Americans have a voice in our representative government. The three branches of government and how they are inter-related, the bill of rights, the constitution itself, and even things like the electoral college were all intended to prevent one group from being able to impose its will on the “minority.” In fact, (as another of my long list of “sidenotes” if you’ve read many of my posts) I have listened to many of the people who have been in agreement with me in the last election berate the electoral college as something whose time has come and gone. I couldn’t disagree with them more – even though I rarely these days agree with the people in Montana or Idaho or other small states – it would be a direct violation of the intent of the framers to reduce the influence of these areas by electing a president via just the popular vote. While, in most cases (2000 being the significant exception) the popular vote and the electoral college agree. Disbanding the electoral college would, in my view, make it highly unlikely for places like Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, etc. from being more than a passive part of any election. This is just one of the many “checks” the framers put in place to prevent what the republicans almost pulled off.

Had GW Bush not been so incompetent, I believe the republicans would have succeeded. They just needed one more term in the White House to get at least a one or two generation “grip” on the Supreme Court. They had a grip on the congress and that was lost as the backlash against the incompetence and the corruption of the Bush administration slowly managed to creep outside the perview of the so-called “mainstream media” that the republicans so affably refer to as the liberal press (despite the reality that it is owned and operated by about 5 devout republican leaning corporations). This grip on the information that has become no more than a propaganda “machine” pushing their lies out as “truth” is still a major stumbling block to restoring this nation to what it was before what I call the “Assault on America” (they originally referred to it as the “Contract for America”). Bush screwed up so badly that even the pundits like Matthews couldn’t continue to defend him and a flood of books and internet blogs hit the scene starting toward the end of Bush’s first term that brought enough “light” to the public that they finally repudiated these barbaric policies that no right minded American, no matter what their political persuasion, would support if they knew the truth.

The problem is that with people like Matthews in positions to be influencing millions of people every day, the battle rages on. I’m saying all this to frame what I saw tonight, which if you’ve been reading any of my past posts you’ll know that I have been lobbying for President elect Obama to push for prosecution of crimes committed by George Bush, Dick Cheney, and anyone else involved in their administration (in fact, anyone in government who violates the law should be held accountable, if for no more practical a reason than our leaders take an oath to defend the constitution, and if there is no accountability for them – well, what do you expect the ramifications to be as the knowledge of this “trickles” down?). I have been pointing out that the republicans have created this huge mess and they are planning to blame all our troubles in the next few years on Obama and the democrats ALREADY and they would love nothing better than to get back into power with all these abuses “in tact.” Just reversing some of GW Bush’s decisions does not send the proper message. They need to answer for their actions in a court of law. Both George Bush and Dick Cheney have admitted to committing felonies on camera, on national TV.

Matthews, in my view, is the epitome of someone who will say whatever he needs to say to keep his audience. His program is named “Hardball” as if he is really a tough questioner. But when you get under all the exterior “show” he doesn’t stand for much. And he seems to me to be about the easiest of the pundits that I have occasion to watch to be manipulated by the different politicians – keep in mind out of general principles I refuse to watch FOX “News.” I once discontinued my Dish TV service for about a year and to try to keep me as a customer they kept a few channels live, one being FOX “News” – and I watched it for about 2 or 3 months before I just couln’t stomach it anymore. I figured out that most of the “reporters” on that station were part of the republican caucus. It was actually one of the things that started me reading all the books I’ve read in the past three years to find out what is really going on with our government. When a so-called “News” outlet is “connected at the hip” with a political party – that is alarming. This is a threat to our democracy as defined by the framers.

However, I’m almost thinking that Matthews is worse. Let me tell you why. One of my big concerns has been that when all the “stuff” dies down about the Bush administration, if there is no accountability, they have another Bush in the “wings.” Well, tonight the propaganda started and Matthews was right there pushing it. I thought it would take a couple years before they had the nerve to do this, but Jeb Bush was the “man” on Matthews show this evening. The plan is for him to be the next senator from Florida and then president in 2012 or 2016 depending on the success of Barrack Obama. My stomach sank as I was listening to Matthews extole the virtues of the man who was directly responsible for his brother stealing the 2000 election and therefore the last 8 years of virtual destruction of our government and its reputation around the world. HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING??? I can tell you, I’ve had enough Bushes for my lifetime and hopefully the lifetimes of my children. I can see it now, Bush/Palin in 2012. Ughhhh!!!! How someone like Chris Matthews could do this at this time just goes to show that these people have absolutely no scruples. The last thing this country needs right now is even the thought of another Bush as president!

I’m just a sixth grade school teacher (I’m pointing this out just in case someone happens onto this site – believe me, I already know this :o) who has had the misfortune to start reading books about The Iraq war, the Bush administration, and our government in general. Now, it’s true that I originally was a political science major in college and have been following politics to some degree over the past 45 years or so, but not with the same intensity that was generated from my desire to understand the full effects of the Bush government (or lack thereof) on my granddaughter and soon to be grandson or granddaughter #2. They are the ones who will feel the full effect of what has been done over the past 8 years (actually, I believe the republican assault on our system of government started with Richard Millhouse Nixon – I don’t think anyone with Millhouse as part of their name in any way should ever be eligible to run for public office again!). Today, I am feeling the need to express my thoughts about the financial crisis of 2008 and where it is headed.

In regard to this crisis and Bush’s culpibility, I could probably sum up my thoughts by saying I saw the guy in Iraq throwing his shoes at Bush, which if you didn’t know this – throwing a shoe at someone in Iraq is the supreme insult, and my first thought was that I wished one of the shoes would have hit the target. Bush actually showed he still has some reflexes as he dodged the shoes. As a side note: (if you’ve read many of my posts you know that I’m not good at avoiding sidenotes) in many parts of the Arab world (and probably our “world” too) the guy is being hailed as a courageous hero. The “official” word from the Iraqi leadership is that Arabs don’t treat foreign dignitaries with disrespect. When I read that I just about gagged – I don’t have time for this sidenote here, but if you want to know how they really treat people they don’t like, read the book “Moqtada as Sadr” by I can’t remember who right now.

I’m just trying to frame what I really want to talk about today – the recession/possible depression. This thing is BAD. I don’t think the average person on the street understands how bad it is – because the “full force” has not hit yet and what I see “looming” is HUGE! Keep in mind the way our media has been working for the past 30 years or so. The republicans have been secretly gaining control of the different aspects of the so-called “mainstream media” now since the early eighties when Reagan gained the White House. It has gotten to the point where about five corporations control a vast majority of the information that is relayed to the public. The only saving grace for those of us who want to know what is REALLY going on out there is the internet. When the “BIG BOYS” clamp down on the freedom of information on the internet, that will be the time to really start to worry about what lies ahead. And as I just wrote the word “lies” in the context of what is going to happen in the future, it reminded me of the importance of the other meaning of the word – because that is what Murdoch, GE, and their surrogates like Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, and so many others specialize in – lies.

The fact that it finally came out in the last couple of weeks that we’ve been in a recession since late in 2007 shouldn’t be such a surprise to those of us who have been watching carefully. In fact, I’ve been warning the young teachers in my school not to borrow money, to save money, and be prepared for a devestating economic “crunch” since mid 2007. I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, I’m just trying to point out that it didn’t take an expert to figure out the economy was upside down. It’s just that a vast majority of Americans are too busy trying to get by to even take a moment to figure this out, and most of the ones I talk to aren’t interested. I often hear “I don’t want to talk about politics.” The fact that the government “discovered” we’re in a recession over a year after it started shouldn’t be too surprising either, but it’s an indictment on our nation as it is presently functioning.

The Bush administration has been throwing money at the problem since early in 2008. My thoughts regarding the different stimulus packages, from the money they gave each of the taxpayers to the incredible amounts of money they’ve been throwing at Wall Street; that should have been “red flags” to anyone paying attention. They didn’t want to use the “R” word prior to the election just in case the public was stupid enough to fail to notice everything around them standing on shaky ground. The big problem, as I see it, is that the greed of the politicians in power, and the corporations that put them there, did (does) not allow for any kind of serious attempt to actually address an economy that is failing. They were hoping that they could win another election and, I suppose, thinking that there was a bottomless pit of money for them to get their hands on. Unfortunately, the government is supposed to intervene and actually manage the economy, not facilitate their friends stealing from it – and by the time Bush is out of office the damage will be so great that it’s going to take years to recover from this. The big question I have is “Where is the bottom?”

There is an old saying that goes something like this: “When my neighbor is out of work, it’s a recession. When I’m out of work it’s a depression.” Well, a lot of people in this country, based on that saying, are feeling like we’re in a depression – and I believe you can count on this – a lot more are going to be in that category soon. Barrack Obama, in my opinion, has the right philosophical approach when he says that the solution is a “bottom up” approach to creating jobs. Essentially, the people at the bottom of the “food chain” need to have an opportunity to get financially healthy again. In a true solid economy the theory should be “trickle up” instead of the “trickle down” theory of “supply side” economics initiated under Ronald Reagan and correctly labeled as “voodoo economics” by the first President Bush during the campaign that ended up putting both he and Reagan in the White House. Unfortunately, with the exception of the eight years of Bill Clinton, we have had to endure “trickle down” economics for the past 28 years. The “bills” are finally coming due!

The rich people didn’t “trickle down” the trillions of dollars they gleaned from our economy in the form of tax reductions that have pushed our national debt over 10 trillion dollars. Early on in Bush 2’s first term, Dick Cheney, who somehow was put in charge of the economic policy of Bush’s administration, was quoted as saying “Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” Well, of course they don’t matter to people like him who are amassing fortunes in the hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. The problem with all this is that “We the People” are about to pay maybe the largest price in the history of our nation for their excesses. This recession/depression is a national disaster unfolding right before our eyes – and a severe threat to our national security, which these republicans are supposedly very concerned about. Obama is showing signs of retreat in regard to taxing the “rich” in this country, but if he does he, in my opinion, is making a huge mistake.

I realize that President Obama is going to have to live with some massive deficits for at least the first few years of his administration. But he needs to send a clear message to those who “have” that this is a national crisis, and them paying more in taxes is critical to generating the funds necessary to get us out of the mess created by “trickle down” economics. They will continue to be filthy rich, but they also stand to lose if we don’t get this “ship” turned around as soon as possible. I believe most Americans who have large estates will be willing to pay more in taxes to protect this nation’s position in the world. A recession of this magnitude could be, in a way, looked at as the mushroom cloud everyone was worried about when Bush was lying us into the Iraq war. If you can picture in your mind the ripple effects of each entity going “under” maybe you can see that the worst is still in front of us – I believe it will be at least two years before things actually start to turn around.

To me, the $700 billion bailout will be like throwing “good money after bad” (although I hesitate to call it good money, because I have no idea where they got it – I’m assuming a printing press somewhere) unless Obama steps in and redirects the remaining unused portion of the money in a direction that will actually stimulate the parts of the economy in stress. I work in a small school district (compared to some of the districts in big cities across this nation) and when I see talk of eliminating 148 teachers just in our district next year (that’s almost 15%) it helps me to see the gravity of the problem. And this shows how the effects of a crisis like this “mushrooms.” The 148 teachers will come from the “bottom” meaning the newest ones into the profession (for those of you who don’t support unions – you are now in even more precarious positions in your own job because businesses will not have to honor long term commitments) and probably many will find other endeavors before they can regain their positions. AND WE NEED MORE TEACHERS and these are good teachers! More importantly, without these teachers, the students are the ones who will suffer because the size of classes will go way up.

If you are not familiar with teaching, research supports the claim that the ideal class size is 18 students. As the amount goes upward the achievement goes downward because the teacher has less ability to work one-on-one with the students. AND OUR STUDENTS ARE OUR FUTURE! So while we’re throwing away money at Wall Street banks (by my calculation the $700 Billion would have been sufficient to balance almost all the state budgets in the country) public services will be slashed across the nation. Because I’m a teacher I’m trying to point out that the cut in services to our students (they will still be there no matter what the economy does) will be felt for years in the reduced performance of schools (of course the government will demand that achievement continue to grow even if we have 35 students in the classroom – that’s ridiculous!). But you can carry this over into just about any situation you want.

Health care; less people working, less people with insurance, less money for health care; the same or more demand for the services. Even someone who doesn’t spend much time thinking about these things can figure this one out. How about law enforcement; This is a good one. Let’s see; less money for “cops” means less “cops;” Less money for schools and services for kids, means more juvenile crime; Less money for jobs, means more unemployment and more crimes; Less money for prisons and more crimes means overcrowding which leads to the courts saying “release prisoners” which leads to even more crime. I could go on and on here. My point is that keeping Goldman Sachs in the black, while good for Henry Paulsen’s personal fortune, isn’t going to do much for students in my classroom whose parents already can’t afford to buy them a coat for the cold winter weather. This idea that we take care of the rich and somehow they will find it in their hearts to take care of the poor has finally come home to roost. There are thirty five days left for Bush to be inhabiting the White House, and he will probably continue to pore gas on the fire, so to speak, right up to the last day. My hope is that Obama hits the ground “running” and makes wise choices (if he doesn’t we are really in a fix)to counteract the “Bush doctrine” and that there is some accountability for those who have caused this. I’m OK with them wanting accountability for me in my classroom. I should be accountable. I also want accountability for my government. Unfortunately, the damage done by a government which succumbs to greed and corruption is far more devastating than my students not passing the state’s tests. The purpose of accountability is to prevent something like this from happening again. As far as punishment goes, I’m open to suggestions. While I believe Bush and many of his friends deserve “time” for their deeds, maybe there’s another way to get the point across that this can’t happen again. I’d like to see a poll of how many Americans would like to throw their shoes at President Bush!

OK, it’s clear now that I will probably not be able to stop writing about the Bush administration until long after they are out of office. The damage they have caused is unbelievable. And it’s like George is just passing time as we close in on the day so many of us have been anxious for since 2000, preparing to move to his new all-white neighborhood (is anyone surprised, really?) as if there’s nothing left to do but prepare the history books for the “true” story of why our country is falling apart at the seems. I think his determination to rewrite history is motivating my determination to make sure that he is unable to manipulate what he has done – and hopefully pay more of a price for his actions than to spend his remaining years with a bunch of rich white folk complaining about high government taxes. This guy, and his close associates, have chosen to break numerous laws ON PURPOSE! They didn’t just screw up a couple times and then say they were sorry, they purposefully broke laws with the intention of increasing the power of the presidency to something that resembles a monarchy (I even believe they felt Jeb was next in line – and don’t be surprised if he re-emerges in the not too distant future if GW gets away with what he’s done). The end result, considering the enormous power that has been given to the corporate heads in this country was a nation on the verge of a fascist government when the wheels finally started to fall off.

But don’t kid yourself, the wheels aren’t off all the way yet. Maybe this ridiculous display of union bashing the republicans are displaying as they attempt to destroy the United Auto Workers will have a lasting effect that will preclude ordinary Americans from voting republican for generations to come – I couldn’t be happier if that is the case. Hopefully, another group of people will emerge as the competing party to the democrats, maybe the Green party or something like that – so that there is a genuine debate as to how we “pull” ourselves out of the mess that the Bush administration (and the republican party of the last 30+ years) has created for us. Even a lot of the people I know who backed Bush are starting to realize what a baffoon he is – normally, they vote for republicans because of the abortion issue – but even they are beginning to see that “We the People” have been robbed blind by these criminals. They’ve profited off of a war (that in itself is sickening – when the whole truth about the fraud associated with Iraq comes out – people are going to be really angry – our young men and women dying while Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their cronies are getting filthy rich on “no-bid” contracts to provide false services in an illegal occupation, ugh!!!), they’ve filtered trillions of tax revenue to the top 1% over the last 8 years while the treasury has gone essentially into bankruptcy, and to top it off – while the economy is tanking they figured out a way to give $350 billion to their buddies “to save the economy!” This is all shockingly unbelievable to me – and it’s finally getting the attention it deserves. But there’s more!

Possibly more important than the thievery, is the assault on the constitution. This is the part that I’m really going to be upset about if Bush, Cheney, Addington (Cheney’s lawyer), Gonzales, Rove, Libby, et al are allowed to walk after thumbing their collective noses at the constitution they swore to uphold when they took office in January of 2001. It has become clear to me that they had no intention of following this constitution the day they swore to do so! And the major culprits here were Cheney and Addington, although Bush was the “boss” or “decider” as he referred to himself. I’m just finishing a book called “The Shadow Factory” by James Bamford that gives the history of the NSA (National Security Administration) all the way back to WW I and leading up to the warrantless wiretapping program authorized by GW Bush and championed by Cheney and Addington, that become public knowledge in 2005 – and it’s still going on today. Every adult who votes in this country should read this book. Maybe you don’t believe in the value of the constitution, but just to make my personal biases clear, I have a sticker on my car that says, “I am a constitution voter.” After hearing of this program I donated money to the ALCU for the first time in my life. This should be a HUGE RED FLAG to all of us!

For those of you (here I go fantasizing that people actually read this :o) old enough to remember Richard Nixon, the first president in my lifetime with the philosophy that “If the president does it, it must be legal,” you know why the FISA court and supporting legislation came into existence. Simply put, it would be hard to have a real democracy if the party in power was able to listen in to the phone conversations and/or read the mail of those who oppose them. And, of course, then there’s the question of the right to privacy of our citizens that is guaranteed by the fourth amendment to the constitution. As Bush himself said early in his presidency (but after he had authorized this intrusive program) “The government can’t listen to your phone calls without a warrant” or something similar to that. I mean, when you find out the truth, I guess it’s just one more blatant pathalogical lie from this man – but you know that after the republicans spent years and hundreds of millions to impeach Clinton for lying about sex (I’m not defending Clinton here) – wouldn’t you expect a bit more. I mean the guy is violating the constitution, he’s committing probably millions of felonies, he knows exactly what he’s doing and he tells us that the government needs a warrant to listen to our phone calls which he’s in essence listening to without a warrant as he speaks. YES, THEY DO TAKE US FOR IDIOTS!

Not only has the government been listening in to phone calls without warrants, but they’ve been intercepting emails by the billions without warrants for years. In fact, as I read this book, there is evidence that Michael Hayden, the head of the NSA at the time began doing this prior to 9/11. The Bush administration has OKed a program that “data mined” phone conversations inside and outside the USA by the millions upon millions. They made agreements with Verizon and AT&T to collect this data and they had a budget of $60 Billion per year to run this program. And the sad truth is that they had a program in place prior to 9/11 that should have stopped the terrorist attacks and should have done so without an illegal warrantless wiretapping program. I mean they actually had phone records of the original two “plants” in the US by bin Laden, and due to regulatory bickering failed to follow through as these two terrorists made phone call after phone call that could have been legally monitored which would have uncovered the plot in plenty of time to stop it. Back to Nixon: Cheney and Addington were part of the Nixon and Ford administrations when FISA was enacted into law following the Watergate scandal which led to Richard Nixon’s resignation. They openly resented FISA from the first day it was enacted. It was during this era that the republican “dirty tricks” schemes were perfected and out of this era came Lee Atwater who was the mentor of Karl Rove (need I say more). Both Cheney and Addington carried a long standing grudge that FISA was one of the many intrusions on executive power that needed to be reversed when they finally were in a position to do something about this once GW Bush chose Cheney (actually Cheney chose himself) as Vice President. Their way of dealing with this was to just ignore the law. Addington at one time was quoted as saying our job is to “push, push, push” the limits of the law until somebody stops us. Well, as we all know there isn’t much of a democratic party in place with the gumption to stop them. This program is continuing today and will continue up until January 20th and that is where I’m a bit nervous.

I’ve heard President Elect Obama (in the interest of full disclosure – I sent him money several times during the campaign) say that one of the first things he’s going to do when he takes office is close down GITMO – Bush’s torture center in Guantanimo Cuba – but I haven’t heard much about FISA. Many of us who supported him were stunned when he voted to give retro-active immunity to Verizon and AT&T during the campaign. This almost led me to pull my support for him. In fact, I wrote a very long and direct letter to the campaign expressing my dismay at his decision to support that bill. I got a reply that assured me he would lead a charge to change the bill once in office and the NSA would be operating within the constituional and legal guidelines as set forth in the FISA provisions. However, I haven’t heard much since and I’m worried that he is going to be scared into trying to continue this intrusion on the privacy of virtually all Americans. I believe that, not only does the FISA law need to be followed, but those in the Bush administration who violated it need to be prosecuted. Keep in mind that the congress, when they passed this law – made each violation a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine – FOR EACH VIOLATION!! Bush and company have violated this law millions of times! And the telecoms got away with it because no one in congress except a few were willing to hold the executives of these companies accountable for turning over our “data” knowing it was illegal – this was no secret to them.

What makes all this worse is that the “data interception” business has flourished since (remember America alone is spending $60 Billion per year to listen into it’s citizens conversations) Bush authorized this program. They have created big data interception companies who have big data interception conventions where all the geeks who know how to tap into the internet and the phone lines show off their wares and fight for these huge government contracts. Now, other countries around the world are using these contractors and the contractors have no regard who they sell their technology to – they’re making a boatload of money. Dictatorships like in Viet Nam, China, and countries like this are using the technology developed because our market pays so well to virtually stymie all dissent in their countries. The fallout from the Bush administration’s decision to do this will be felt for probably generations – all around the world. Another BAD consequence of this program is that the two companies that have provided the technology to the NSA (via Verizon and AT&T) are from Israel and this has allowed the possibility (actually, I believe I should say the probability) for Israeli “spying” on us and our government. I mean the ramifications of all of this are beyond HUGE! And the technology has been installed into virtually every network in the world and it will be, it seems to me, much more difficult to get it out than it was to put it in.

If Obama and the new congress refuse to prosecute Bush and company for this egregious violation of mine and yours (again, just in case you might be reading this) 4th amendment rights, who knows where government intrusion will go next. As I’ve said before in previous posts, the republicans will regroup and they plan to be back – just try to picture their next “leader.” I know it’s hard to imagine, but here’s a few possibilities: as mentioned earlier – another Bush, Jeb – how about Sarah Palin, I’m sure she will really be focused on preventing the republican thugs who will still be running around if not stopped NOW from stealing our constitutional rights, or how about a resurgent Newt Gingrich – if that doesn’t get your hair to stand on end, I don’t know what will. I mean, can you see what I mean about how important it is that these people get a strong message, FINALLY! I honestly thought that no one who would enter the office of the President would ever be so brazen as to do something like this – but seeing is believing. So, if you’re reading this and you “get” what I’m saying – write a letter to Obama to encourage accountability for those who have done this. I believe that is the only way there is even a chance that the damage can be undone. KEEP IN MIND, THE LISTENING DEVICES ARE INSTALLED JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE! After 9/11 I was sure of just one thing – and that was if we succumbed to fear and started to give up the rights that have stood the test of time since the inception of our constitution, that would be the only way the terrorists could “win.” And even if Obama succeeds in capturing bin Laden, the destruction of the 4th amendment will be far worse than the destruction of the Twin Towers!

Well, if you read my last post (and believe me I understand the odds against that – I “get” that I’m writing to myself, and just so you know, it does make me feel a bit better after I write to myself) you know that I have been discouraged by the lack of “guts” on the part of Democrats as they have caved in over and over to the Bush administration since the election of 2006. I am not a fan of Harry Reid. I realize that he has a difficult challenge due to the lack of a 60 vote majority in the senate, but he acts like there is nothing he can do about this. And in the process we keep getting the Bush administration and/or republican garbage jammed down our throats – right up until January 20th, or so it appears. Considering he still won’t have 60 votes on January 20th, I’m a bit concerned as to whether we will have to continue having the republicans “molding” America’s policy as it comes out of Congress. Despite just about everyone except the Senate republicans understanding the importance of General Motors remaining a viable part of the American landscape, the “bridge loan” which is like a drop in the bucket compared to the so-called TARP bailout of wallstreet is not going to happen.

Here is what bugs me probably more than the republicans who, quite predictably due to their quest to destroy the labor movement which was put into high gear during the first term of Ronald Reagan, got the bill stopped with a threat of a filibuster. WHERE WAS THE FILIBUSTER????? Let these guys talk all they want!!! We’re talking about our national economy here. C’mon Harry, is going home for Christmas more important to you than our national economy. If that is the case then please resign your position so that we can find someone with the courage to face up to the obstructionists on the “other side of the isle.” Let these guys talk until they can’t talk anymore and then have the vote. If they want to talk until it’s time for the new congress, let them do it. Let them make a spectacle of themselves before the American people. YOU KEEP LETTING THEM OFF THE HOOK, HARRY!!! The public will never “get” this unless you will commit the time necessary to actually get their attention. I have educated co-workers who still think the blue-collar auto workers are being paid $70 per hour. In combination with the republican propaganda machine these senate republicans want to destroy every union they can while they still have a semblance of power.

If you think they will stop this obstructionist behavior when they only have 41 or 42 seats in the senate, you’re kidding yourself. They move en mass, according to whoever is giving the instructions. If you don’t force them to actually filibuster, they’ll just keep threatening this and nothing will ever happen. This is how they got the FISA bill through with “retro-active immunity” for the tele-comms who have been in cahoots with our government for years, collecting our emails and phone conversations by the millions without legal warrants. This is how they pushed through legislation that abandoned habeas corpus, a basic right that was afforded Jesus prior to his execution over 2000 years ago. This is how they managed to pass legislation that has attempted to say that torture is legal. This is how they prevented any rational attempt to end our illegal involvement as occupiers of Iraq. And I could go on, the republicans keep manipulating the democrats in Congress because neither Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi are up for the challenge of putting these people where they belong – IN THE HISTORY BOOKS!!!

Today, even Dick Cheney was quoted as saying that without a “bailout,” (remember, the auto industry is asking for a low interest loan to get them through this financial crisis which has been created by republican fiscal irresponsibility) times reminicent of “Hoover” will be upon us. If you’ve been paying any attention at all to national politics at all lately you have to be aware that the Bush administration is fully involved in “rewriting history” in an attempt to “guide” their legacy in a favorable direction as their time in office is set to expire. Well, not to be patting myself on the back (OK, that’s what I’m doing :o) I pointed out in this blog well over a month ago that if the Bush administration lets GM go down they will make Herbert Hoover look like an economic genius, or something close to those words. Normally, I don’t want to be compared to anything that Cheney does or says, but in this case, as they are working on this re-arrangement of history I believe reality is setting in and Cheney is finally getting it (maybe he read my post!). They’ve been trying to blame the economic woes they have inflicted on the rest of us on Obama, Clinton, and even Jimmy Carter. In fact, if you look closely at what GW actually said about a week ago in an interview with Charles Gibson, he’s even blaming it on his Dad! Try as they might, this aint going to work! And they know it – of course they will never stop lying, but this is so bad that even they know they’ve screwed things up royally. Based on Cheney’s own words, they are now trying to minimize the damage, even at the expense of going against the wishes of their own party which wants to destroy probably the most powerful union left in this country.

The republican party just can’t help itself. They’ve given their “true supporters” about half of the $700 billion and they’ve gotten away with doing so in a manner in which the CEO’s are still able to skim multi-million dollar bonuses right off the top of the money. In fact, I listened in horror the other day to the person in charge of “overseeing” the handing out of this money answer a direct question in congressional testimony by saying “I can’t answer that” to “Is it reasonable for an executive of one of the companies receiving this TARP bailout money to give himself a $30 million bonus?” I couldn’t believe it! And, of course, it then came out that the democrats put the stingingly stringent language in the bailout bill that executive compensation MUST BE REASONABLE! Obviously they haven’t picked up on what reasonable is to these republicans. In spite of all this, now with the opportunity to destroy the United Auto Workers, the republicans are “fired up.” They could care less about what happens to the people of this great nation. WE HAVE GIVEN THEM CONTROL AND THEY’RE GOING TO GET AS MUCH OUT OF THIS CONTROL AS THEY CAN,WHILE THEY CAN!!

I’m not sure if this vendetta is payback because they know that the organized labor movement has seen past their lies for years or if there is even a bigger reason. Keep in mind that the leader of the “pack” is Richard Shelby of Alabama. Alabama, with Shelby’s blessing, has spent upwards of $175,000 per job in tax incentives to lure foreign auto makers like Toyota and Mercedes to build plants in their state. Worker for worker, these “gifts” dwarf what GM, Chrysler, and Ford are asking for (in fact Ford may not need any help, although if GM goes down, Ford will be dragged down as well). If Shelby gets his way, not only will the United Auto Workers be potentially destroyed, but these foreign auto makers are the likely entities to come in and pick up the pieces in any bankruptcy proceeding. I don’t know about you, but I will never forgive our national leaders if we end up with no “domestic” auto industry. I, for one, don’t want Toyota and Mercedes to own GM and Ford. Our auto industry is among the remnants of what used to be an industrial society that actually produced things. Beginning with Reagan and now with Bush II and including all presidents in between (yes, including Clinton – maybe even more so) we have seen a push for a “service economy.” I have never been comfortable with this. We need to be producing things here!!!

The result of this is we are over $10 trillion in debt (doesn’t even include the trillion or so already borrowed for the occupation of Iraq or the trillion + in bailouts since last summer), we are importing most of the goods sold in this nation, we are exporting raw materials and then importing the resulting finished products which are produced under inhumane labor practices, and our trade deficit is horrifically negative and getting worse every month. Essentially, the United States of America is bankrupt. I look at it as if we are in Chapter 11. If the republicans have their way and GM goes down, with Chrysler and Ford close behind, we will be in Chapter 7 and it will be foreigners buying up what assets remain – they are the ones with all of our money due to these insane economic policies that began almost 30 years ago with Ronald Reagan. Republicans do not care if we have a domestic auto industry – what they care about is power, and I can guarantee you that the foreign car companies that have built plants in Alabama and elsewhere in the American South will be a huge source of income for the republicans as we go forward. There won’t be union workers in these plants, and unfortunately, any profits from these plants will go to the corporations based in other countries. In fact, the republicans will probably continue to give them favorable tax treatment to keep them in the US. This whole topic is making me sick as I write about it.

This nation was built into the greatest nation on earth on the backs of the blue collar workers who had the courage to risk their lives to form unions and collectively put workers in a position where companies fairly shared the successes they enjoyed with the workers who made it all possible. We have a nation which has eliminated cruel child labor, untennable labor practices for workers – in fact even many non-union workers today have benefits that would have been unimagineable without the sacrifices of the union movement of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Things like the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, vacation pay, sick leave, and I could go on and on, were all the result of collective bargaining. It was this movement and these workers that made this nation what it was before Reagan started dismantling it and what it can still be if the republicans don’t totally destroy it before President elect Obama gets into office. I find it interesting that Dick Cheney finally “gets it.” Bush, who’s really focused in on his legacy gets it – but essentially, the republicans in the senate have become the rogues that are aiming to sink the whole ship. Obviously, they have separated themselves completely from Bush – it would be a laughable site if this one issue wasn’t so important (the rest of the damage is with us already and there’s not much we can do except hope that Obama makes wise decisions once in office). Obama’s task is almost beyond “daunting” even with a viable domestic auto industry, but I believe he has the right philosophy, a bottom up approach to solving the problems. However, the US car industry in bankruptcy will increase the challenge of recovery exponentially. So I say to Harry Reid, don’t let the threat of a filibuster cause you to retreat and “tank” the legislation. Harry, let the republicans talk until they can’t talk anymore!