Sign the petition...

...to co-sponsor the Pelosi amendment to support our troops.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi:

Leader Pelosi introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill today, which says to the President: 'Within 30 days of enactment of this legislation, Congress expects an accounting from you as to what the strategy for success is. What security and political measures have you established that will bring our troops home?'

LOCAL ACTION ALERT!!!!

THIS SORRY GROUP IS COMING TO OUR TOWN TOMORROW. LET'S NOT GIVE THEM A WELCOME WAGON. ADVOCATING FOR VIOLENCE IS WRONG. EMAIL CHANUP1@YAHOO.COM FOR COUNTER-INSURGENCY ACTION.

The Morning Sun:

During a September 7, 2003 sermon available on his church Web site, Trewhella defended the actions of Paul Hill, who used a shotgun July 29, 1994 to kill Dr. John Bayard Britton, and Britton's escort, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel James H. Barrett, and wounded Barrett's wife, June, a retired nurse. Hill was executed in Florida four days before the sermon.

'It is legitimate to use force or violence,“ Trewhella said in his sermon. 'To think otherwise is nonsense.“

They will be in front of Planned Parenthood tomorrow from 11:30am - 1pm.

"Camp"in' trips...

...I thought they were less expensive.

With the summer months upon us, the desire to get out of town is on everybody's mind. Us working folks are taking less and less of our vacations, if we can even afford to have one.

If we could only be a Republican in Washington. They seem to have all the time in the world for vacation, and we could have special interests pay for them, lavishly.

In August of 2003, our own Congressman Dave Camp went on a five day trip to London, paid for by special interests. A five day trip to London, where $15,623 was spent on Con. Camp. The stated purpose was a "transatlantic conference". A conference put together by the Ripon Educational Fund.

What is the Ripon Educational Fund? Elizabeth Drew from The New York Review of Books tells us:

The Ripon trips are famous among lobbyists for the opportunities they present for pressing their cases with members of Congress. A Republican lobbyist says that a Ripon Fund excursion has 'become the trip to go on, because of the luxury and the access.' The Washington Post reported that a Ripon Educational Fund trip to London in 2003 was attended by more than a hundred lobbyists, including representatives from American Express, AOL/Time Warner, and General Motors. They pay the Ripon Fund an annual membership fee of $9,500, and in addition finance their own trips abroad to Fund meetings.

A "transatlantic conference" to hob-nob with lobbyists? Couldn't Con. Camp just do that on K-Street? In all, our local Washington Republican has been lavished with over $32000 in vacations since 2001.

Go here to see more about where Con. Camp is getting his money.

Impeachable offense - Smoking Gun Number 2?

So Tony Blair and George Bush both deny the Downing Street Memo means anything. That's the leaked memo to a London newspaper that asserts before Bush told Congress about the need to go to war in Iraq, the facts were being "fixed" to meet the policy.

But Blair was very insistent when he came to Washington last week. ''The facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all." And Bush added his lie on top of Blair's lie. No facts were fixed. ''There's nothing farther from the truth," Bush said, adding that military force was ''our last option." Do you remember what they said a few days ago? This Boston Globe story confirms what they said then. http://tinyurl.com/87ytn

So now everyone should be happy and rest assured that Blair and Bush have put that nonsense about the Downing Street Memo behind them, right?

Not on your life. Now comes Smoking Gun #2. Again it is from the British press. Another scoop.

This time it is a briefing paper that is being leaked and it appears in today's Sunday Times of London. http://tinyurl.com/bk5ze

Blair and Bush are caught in another lie thinking they can get away with it. George Bush leads us to war under false pretenses. Tony Blair lies for him and tells all the British mininsters to get on board because the Brits have to lie for Georgie Porgie. I wish I were making this up. It seems so surreal. Perhaps the American press will finally do something.

Let me guess. The American press will quote the White House press secretary tomorrow saying the briefing paper was a fake.

Or maybe they'll just say, " So what!!"

"What are you going to do about it? We lied to take the country to war, but it was all for the good because we got rid of Saddam and we brought freedom to Iraq. " That would be the honest and unlikely scenario from the White House.

The Republicans don't want to hear about it, so on Thursday, Rep. John Conyers and other Democratic Congressional members will hold their own hearings. It's going to be an interesting week. It makes me feel sorry for those folks who voted for George Bush for the very first time.
They've been lied to most of all. Many of them have been repeating Bush's lies beleiving he was telling the truth.

The case for impeachment is growing.

Bush Dips to New Low

Which new low? That's the question that came to mind when I first saw the AP headline. With this administration, they sink to new lows every time they make another policy decision or statement to the press, such as it is.

But this new low is in the polls. The American public is NOT as stupid as George Bush and the neocons think. Or at least most of the American public. It still amazes me that 35 % percent of the American public still thinks the country is heading in the right direction. Maybe one more outrageous tax cut for the rich or another unnecessary war will convince them too.

It's the lowest approval rating since December 2003, but it is probably still heading lower.
Here's where to find the AP story http://tinyurl.com/9mgz3

British Paper Doing It Again

If it is not uncovering Bush lies in leading the US to war, apparently The Guardian, is busy finding out something else about the Bush administration the neocons don't want Americans to know. This time it is about how the largest American oil company would rather destroy the global climate rather than lose a few bucks in outrageous profits.

Just like many of us weren't surprised to hear that the British newspaper had found irrefutable proof that Bush was heading into Iraq and would do anything to get there, we now have irrefutable proof that Exxon/Mobil was the major influence of US policy on global warming and the Kyoto accords. Profits ahead of people. Profits even ahead of destruction of the whole planet. Of course, if you believe we are heading to the end times, there is no reason not to make it all happen now, is there?

Do you suppose there was a good reason that Dick Cheney didn't want America to know who he was meeting with about American energy policy early in this fanatical administration?

Here's another piece of that sordid puzzle from our friends of democracy in Great Britain. Maybe in another few months the American media will pick up on this story and run it on Page C32.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5210708-103681,00.html

They take money from...

...anybody. The Washington Republican, the President of the United States, our Commander in Chief of family values, the country's mandated moral compass, has a date with a porn star.

For real.

And their excuse (via WorldNetDaily for cri-eye):

Last week, Carl Forti, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, explained to WND that self-described pornographer Mark Kulkis and his date, porn star Mary Carey, will be attending the two-day event, "The 2005 President's Dinner and Salute to Freedom," next Monday and Tuesday because their money is just as good as anyone else's.

"They've paid their money," he said. "No matter what they do, the money is going to go to help elect Republicans to the House."

Quick...who's the prostitute in this story?

Following the corruption trail...

...is never easy. But, I think Mark Felt reminds us to "follow the money."

Washington Republican's have perfected the art of corruption with the K Street Project. A project designed to root out all of the Democrat's from K Street, the famed home of Washington lobbyists. The project has been spearheaded by Tom Delay (who famously opened the books at a meeting and told those who hadn't to pony up or face retribution), Grover Norquist, and Jack Abramoff.

You remember Jack Abramoff, he's the guy that bilked $14M out of the Sag Chips for consulting.

We learn from Molly Ivins, by turning the lobbyists into a Republican Army, congress has become pay to play:

For an overview of the entire Abramoff scandal and its relation to Tom DeLay and the K Street Project -- and what all this means in terms of Washington sleaze -- see an article by Elizabeth Drew, 'Selling Washington,' in the June 23 issue of The New York Review of Books. Drew and other students of Washington corruption conclude what we have here is not so much a difference in kind as in degree of corruption -- but of a degree that's making a difference in everything.

Drew writes, 'The effects of the new, higher level of corruption on the way the country is governed are profound. Not only is legislation increasingly skewed to benefit the richest interests, but Congress itself has been changed. The head of a public policy strategy group told me: 'It's not about governing any more. The Congress is now a transactional institution. ...' The theory that ours is a system of one-person, one-vote, or even that it's a representative democracy, is challenged by the reality of power and who really wields it. (Massachusetts Rep.) Barney Frank argues that 'the political system was supposed to overcome the financial advantage of the capitalists, but as money becomes more and more influential, it doesn't work that way."

Our congressman, Dave Camp, is at the trough with the rest of the Washington Republicans. Passing legislation not for the good of the people, but for the good of his sugar daddies.

At Least One Democrat is Speaking Out!!

Have you been wondering where all the Democratic leaders are while things are going to hell? New York Sen. Hilary Clinton says it is not easy to speak out against this administration.

"There has never been an administration, I don't believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda," Mrs. Clinton told the audience at a "Women for Hillary" gathering in Midtown Manhattan this morning.

"I know it's frustrating for many of you; it's frustrating for me: Why can't the Democrats do more to stop them?" she continued to growing applause and cheers. "I can tell you this: It's very hard to stop people who have no shame about what they're doing. It is very hard to tell people that they are making decisions that will undermine our checks and balances and constitutional system of government who don't care. It is very hard to stop people who have never been acquainted with the truth."

Read the entire New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06cnd-hillary.html

Thanks to Linda Mason for pointing this one out.

He's anti-cure...

...apparantly. Camp says he's against funds being used for clinical tests that destroy human embryos. Which is a weasle way to say he's against stem cell research.

Here is a summary from U.S. Congressman Mike Castle, who wrote the bill:

This bill expands the number of stem cell lines that are eligible for federally funded research, thereby accelerating scientific progress toward cures and treatments for a wide range of diseases and debilitating health conditions.

Dave Camp is anti-cure.

From Bangor Maine - A forthright plea for impeachment

During Watergate the Washington Post was courageous. When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers he went to the New York Times to shed light on the lies about VietNam. One has to wonder what America's once great newspapers have become.

Why do we have to go to a newspaper in Bangor, Maine to hear some simple truths about the events of the past few weeks and the now famous smoking gun, the Downing Street memo?
The local writer asks Maine's Congressional delegation to take action. http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=114420

Writer Robert Shetterly warns:

We live a lie when we fail to hold leaders accountable for their lies. By not calling now for impeachment, we are saying that we condone hypocrisy, pseudo-democracy, and murdering thousands of Americans and Iraqis for strategic control of energy resources that we have no right to. Patriotism demands that we insist on the ideals of democracy, not that we support the "leaders" who cynically destroy them.