Amen Keith

Everyone in the United States needs to see this. Truer words were never spoken.

Vacation Time

Isn't it funny when you book a place with supposed internet access to find out that the access is limited to the lobby and only works sporadically? That is my current dilemma but I will be home on Sunday and will try to catch up on all the news that was missed.

Seems more of the GOP are abandoning Bush on the war and the commutation of Libby's sentence is still being debated.

Have a nice weekend.

Taking Stock On The Fourth Of July

Today is a day for reflection on what it means to be an American. I love this country and I am fearful for its future. Once recently someone told me that "America is Great because it is good" and I agreed. What happens when America is no longer good? It will cease to be great.

That is the current dilemma facing this nation. Will we go back to the days when we were known for our genousity and leadership or will we remain a rogue nation in the eyes of the world. Our new status in this world is the result of the most disastrous presidency in our history. Will we show the world through our actions that we, the American people, are also disgusted with what we see and want wholesale change or will further embrace the militarism that is America today?

My hope is that we will return to a country known for good and then we will return to being a nation known as great.

Key Home Sale Index Slides To 6-Year Low

Existing home sales are likely to see more declines in coming months as a key reading of pending deals fell to nearly a six-year low in May, a real estate group said Tuesday.

The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales, which reflects homes under contract, sank to 97.7 in May from 101.2 in April. The latest reading is 13.3 percent lower than May 2006.

Maybe the housing market will finally correct and become more affordable for the average middle class American. The current pain being felt in the industry may actually lead to better regulations and a healthier housing market.

Many middle class Americans can no longer afford a simple home. The rate of foreclosures is exploding with more pain expected as nearly $100 billion worth of subprime loans adjust to rates unaffordable to those that hold the loans. I remember the early 1990's saw a housing market in distress. In my own residential complex I saw prices drop from a high of $100,000 paid for a one bedroom apartment in the late 1980's to a similar unit selling for $25,000 just ten years later. I think this correction will last for years and is necessary if we are to maintain a middle class in this country.

Iran Denies U.S. Claim of Hezbollah in Iraq

An Iranian official slammed what he called "ridiculous and false claims" from U.S. officials about the "arrest of a foreign citizen in Iraq and his relation with Iran."

CNN reported in an exclusive on Sunday that a top special operations officer from Lebanon's Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah had been captured in Iraq. The U.S. military later publicly confirmed the report and provided details about the arrest.

U.S. officials identified the Hezbollah operative as an explosives expert who played a key role in the January 20 attack that killed five American troops in Karbala, a southern Iraqi city that is one of the most revered to Shiites.

Is this event going to be used by the United States to begin military action against Iran? If that happens the quagmire in Iraq could look like a day at Disney World. The Bush administration, especially Dick Cheney have been pushing for military action against Iran. The funny thing is that while head of Halliburton, Cheney had no problem doing business with Iran in violation of U.S. Law. When will this country wake up and understand that this is a criminal administration. Watching this administration work is like watching The Sopranos.

White House Won't Rule Out Libby Pardon

Was there anyone that really thought that the commutation of the sentence would be the last act on the Scooter Libby case? Today the WORST President in United States history declined to rule out the eventual pardon of Mr. Libby.

The White House on Tuesday declined to rule out the possibility of an eventual pardon for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But spokesman Tony Snow said, for now, President Bush is satisfied with his decision to commute Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

"He thought any jail time was excessive. He did not see fit to have Scooter Libby taken to jail," Snow said.

Snow said that even with Bush's decision, Libby remains with a felony conviction on his record, two years' probation, a $250,000 fine and probable loss of his legal career. "This is hardly a slap on the wrist," Snow said.

Are we to believe that somehow life for Mr. Libby will be difficult? Will he have the same problem finding new employment as many other felons? He will most likely be given a nice cushy job by one of the other felons in this administration.

Yesterday President Bush crapped all over the American public and told them to enjoy the smell. It is time to bring these felons to justice and remove them from office. How exactly are we supposed to explain to the children of our nation that crime is wrong? Should we just be honest and tell them that this is the act of a desperate President to cover his lying ass? When will the President be commuting the sentences of those accused of using drugs sitting in prison for years on end?

My Grandafather used to say "The Fish stinks from the Head" and the head of our governement stinks worse than the NJ Turnpike on a hot summer day.

Isn't It Ironic?

Paris Hilton spent more time in jail than Scooter Libby. What does that teach us? Treason is now less of a crime than driving with a suspended license. Impeach them all now.

Reaction To Libby Travesty

"When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules - one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America. Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law." - Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"Accountability has been in short supply in the Bush administration, and this commutation fits that pattern." - Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

"This is exactly the kind of politics we must change so we can begin restoring the American people's faith in a government that puts the country's progress ahead of the bitter partisanship of recent years." - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world." - former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.

"The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own vice president's chief of staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law." - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"The president said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the president shows his word is not to be believed." - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"It is time for the American people to be heard - I call for all Americans to flood the White House with phone calls tomorrow expressing their outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law." - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

"By commuting Scooter Libby's sentence, the president continues to abdicate responsibility for the actions of his administration. The only ones paying the price for this administration's actions are the American people." - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

"The arrogance of this administration's disdain for the law and its belief it operates with impunity are breathtaking. Will the president also commute the sentences of others who obstructed justice and lied to grand juries, or only those who act to protect President Bush and Vice President Cheney?" - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Scooter Skates

President Bush has commuted the prison term of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, facing 30 months in prison after a federal court convicted him of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators.

Earlier Monday, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled that Libby could not delay his sentence.

The charges relate to the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Libby was only weeks away from surrendering to a prison.

Bush was under great pressure by Libby allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

In a written statement issued hours after that ruling, Bush called the sentence "excessive."

I think it is now time to call for the impeachment and removal of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney. We now know that the rule of law means nothing to these people. They will stop at nothing to further their agenda and believe they are above the law. I remember when candidate Bush said he would "restore honor and dignity to the White House". Nothing could have been further from the truth.

His action today told the American people that there is one set of rules for the common people and another set for the elite. He is no better than the thug dictators he rails against. This is the most criminal administration in our nations history. It really is time to remove them from power.

Officials: Captured Hezbollah Agent Helped Plan Deadly Karbala Raid

A top special operations officer from Lebanon's Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah has been captured in Iraq, where U.S. officials say he played a key role in a January attack that killed five Americans.

Ali Mussa Daqduq, an explosives expert, was captured in March in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where he was helping train and lead Shiite militias fighting coalition troops, U.S. intelligence officials told CNN.

Daqduq pretended to be deaf and mute when captured, and his identity was not known for weeks, the officials said.

Intelligence officials say Daqduq is one of Hezbollah's top special operations commanders, an expert in the use of roadside bombs. The Americans say he, along with the Iraqi militia commanders he worked with, has admitted working with Iran's elite Quds Force special operations unit.

Will the United States use this information to gain public support for military action against Iran? If we do use this information to start military action, will we do the same against Saudi Arabia which has long been suspected in funding Sunni insurgents within Iraq?

Reid Says Republicans Are Obstructionists

From Senator Reid:

Too many congressional Republicans have stood in the way of legislative progress Senator Harry Reid said Saturday.

“The immigration vote we had this week was just the latest example,” the Nevada senator said in the weekly Democratic radio address. “With that bill, we had a rare chance to make progress on one of the country’s top problems. The overwhelming majority of Democrats voted to move forward on a bill even President Bush supported, but just a handful of Republicans joined us.”

Reid was also critical of Republicans regarding legislation currently pending in the Senate. “The ethics reform bill passed by a vote of 96-2, but now Republicans are blocking it. The 9/11 commission bill passed with heavy Republican support, but they are also blocking this critical legislation.”

In his remarks, Reid said putting partisan politics aside was the best way forward. “This can start next week with the Defense Authorization Bill, which is a new opportunity to change course in Iraq.” The bill is expected to include measures that would seek to hasten a pull out of U.S. troops from Iraq. “While a growing number of Republicans are saying the right things on Iraq, we’ll soon find out if they have the courage to vote the right way also.”

The goal of the Republicans at this point is to stop any progress by the Democratic Congress. By creating the appearance of a "Do nothing" Congress they feel they can regain lost seats in 2008. What the American people need to understand is the procedures by which the Senate operates. It takes 60 votes to advance any legislation and the Democrats simply do not have the votes.

There are only 49 Democrats and two independent Senators. Bernie Sanders from Vermont is a reliable vote for the Democrats but then there is the asswipe from Connecticut. Joe Lieberman is a Democrat in name only and sides with President Bush on many issues. Everyone needs to remember that when issues important to the American public are not addressed.

Moving Beyond Kyoto

Read this op-ed from Al Gore.

After Bill’s Fall, G.O.P. May Pay in Latino Votes

Many Republican lawmakers returned to their home districts in triumph this week, having beat back a comprehensive immigration bill that many of their constituents had denounced as untenable.

But the bill’s demise may have greatly damaged the party’s ability to meet its enduring goal of attracting a large percentage of the growing number of Hispanic voters — thousands of whom are ostensibly in line with the party on a host of other issues, said many Republican lawmakers, consultants and Hispanic voters.

“There may be some short-term gain from this,” said Linda Chavez, who served in the Reagan administration and is now chairwoman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative public policy group. “But in the long term, it is disastrous for the Republican Party.”

The nasty rhetoric of the Republican Party during this debate could only be viewed by Latinos as bigotry. The problem they had with the bill was not the guest worker program, that would benefit big business at the expense of both the immigrant and the working poor, but the so called amnesty provision that would have given them a path to citizenship.

This is the same party that wants to make English the national language by statute. How can they expect to sway legal immigrants to the Republican party with such bigoted positions?

Those so opposed to amnesty need to ask themselves exactly what did these people do that was so horrible that it can not be forgiven? They simply came for a better life from places where life is tough and feeding your family is a struggle. There are ways to express your views without being a bigot. The Republican party does not know how to do with with immigrants, minorities or the Gay and lesbian population.

If the Latinos were smart they would never vote for any Republicans until the party is reclaimed from the fanatics that now control it.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading opponent of the measure, at one point in the debate, said, “The bill would provide amnesty and a path to citizenship for people who broke into our country by running past the National Guard.”

That quote is one of the examples of the bigoted rhetoric during the debate on this issue. Is it any wonder why the Latino vote will surely swing Democratic?

I was not in favor of passage of this bill either. I felt it lacked the necessary teeth to secure the borders and punish the employers who hire illegal immigrants but it was not out of any prejudice for the immigrants. I don't think the Republican party can say the same thing.

Bush Presidency Fading Fast

Facing eroding support for his Iraq policy, even among Republicans, President Bush on Thursday called al Qaida "the main enemy" in Iraq, an assertion rejected by his administration's senior intelligence analysts.

In the space of a single short week, Bush was hit with more Republican defections on Iraq, more bad news from the battlefield, more subpoenas from a hostile Congress, a new assault on his signature education plan and embarrassing disclosures about his vice president.

He also found himself in a fight over executive privilege that begs comparisons to Richard Nixon's legal battles during the Watergate scandal.

"It's the incredible shrinking presidency. He's lost battles in the courts. He's lost battles in Iraq. He's lost battles on Capitol Hill," said Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University.

"His bank account is empty and there's nowhere to go for more. I think his presidency is essentially over."

Light proposed a headline to sum up the week: "The president loses his legacy."

The President will always have his legacy of a failed war based on lies that killed hundreds of thousands of people. That legacy will remain forever as will the horrible taste in most Americans mouths of a Presidency that will rank as the worst in American history.

5 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq

When will this madness and senseless death end?

A coordinated attack in southern Baghdad killed five American soldiers and wounded seven others, raising the total number of U.S. fatalities in June to 100, the U.S. military said Friday.

The soldiers were on a combat patrol Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near them. Insurgents quickly followed with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, according to a statement. Of the seven soldiers evacuated to a military hospital, one was able to return to duty. The soldiers' names were withheld until their families could be notified.

The attack pushed the number of American deaths to 100 or more for the third straight month, the deadliest three-month period of the Iraq war for U.S. soldiers, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a website that tracks fatalities.

The only surge that seems to be working is the surge in American deaths. The time has long since past to get out of this civil war. When will the American people take to the streets and demand and end to this madness?

Not One More Roberts Or Alito

Just say no to any more nominees like Roberts or Alito.

High Court to Hear Terror Detainee Case

The Supreme Court said today that it would review the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees to challenge their confinements in federal court, reversing a decision in April not to take up that issue.

The justices did not say what had changed their minds. The Bush administration had praised the court's earlier decision not to review the matter.

At the time, only three of four justices necessary to grant review--David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer--were willing to take the two cases involved, saying "these questions deserve this court's immediate attention.'' Two other justices, John Paul Stevens and Anthony M. Kennedy, issued a statement saying they might want to hear the issue in the future.

The court consolidated two cases, Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S., and will hear them together sometime after its new term begins next October. In addition, the court said it would consult the findings of the D.C. circuit appeals court in two other pending cases in which detainees challenge the judgment of the military tribunals that determined them to be enemy combatants.

The court has considered the rights of detainees twice in the last three years, ruling both times against the administration.

This is good news from a Court that has recently turned far to the right with the addition of Justice Roberts and Justice Alito.

The United States has always stood for freedom and equal justice under the law. How can we just hold people without charge for as long as we want? This sounds more like the tactics of a dictatorship than a democracy. Military tribunals without public oversight is not the image we want to present to the world. If the people being held are terrorists, prove it in a court of law. The first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 resulted in the arrest and convictions of those involved. If we do not return to our democratic roots than the terrorists have won by changing the very definition of what it means to be American. Free and open trials are the backbone of our democracy and if the detainees are truly terrorists then provide the evidence in open court.

Car Bomb Found In London

Police in London say they have deactivated a bomb packed with nails and capable of creating huge casualties, raising renewed fears of a terrorist strike almost two years after the city was hit by deadly suicide bombers.

The device, consisting of 200 liters of fuel, gas cylinders and nails linked to a triggering mechanism, was found in a car in Haymarket, in the city's busy nightclub and theater district shortly before 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Friday.

British police anti-terror chief Peter Clarke said the explosives would have resulted in significant injury and loss of life had they detonated

A stretch of road near Buckingham Palace in London has also been closed due to a suspicious vehicle. there is no word yet if this is another car bomb or a false alarm. I will post more information as it becomes available.

The Reason That Nothing Gets Done In Congress

Use of Race in School Placement Curbed

In a decision of sweeping importance to educators, parents and schoolchildren across the country, the Supreme Court today sharply limited the ability of school districts to manage the racial makeup of the student bodies in their schools.

The court voted, 5 to 4, to reject diversity plans from Seattle and Louisville, Ky., declaring that the districts had failed to meet “their heavy burden” of justifying “the extreme means they have chosen — discriminating among individual students based on race by relying upon racial classifications in making school assignments,” as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the court.

This ruling can be seen as a direct assault on the Brown vs. Board of education decision in 1954. Is it possible that we will go back to the separate but equal school system that we had without ever having to state that publicly?

The rationale of the chief justice’s opinion relied in part on the historic 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed segregation in public schools — a factor that the dissenters on the court found to be a cruel irony, and which they objected to in emotional terms.

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discrimination on the basis of race,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote.

That is the most simplistic and idiotic explanation for a ruling that I have ever heard. In what world does Justice Roberts live? If stopping discrimination was that easy we would not have the racial prejudice that exists in this country today.

Will this ruling be used as the legal precedent to get rid of affirmative action? If you listen to Justice Roberts it would appear that is a strong possibility.

Mark Rahdert, a Temple Law School professor and a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, said that today’s ruling means that “racial balance” will be “the new catchphrase conservatives will use to attempt to eradicate any form of affirmative action.”

As for Justice Kennedy’s “willingness to leave the door open to some forms of affirmative action,” it will be impossible as a practical matter, Mr. Rahdert said.

The National Urban League issued a statement asserting that today’s decision “could end up legalizing re-segregation nationwide by raising the bar for achieving racial diversity.”

Dissenting Justice Stephen Breyer said to an open court "It's not often that so few, have changed so much for so many."