Saturday, September 22, 2007

Hard Lessons from MoveOn Fiasco

By Robert Parry
September 22, 2007

The furor over MoveOn.org’s silly “General Betray Us” ad – which led to a bipartisan Senate condemnation of MoveOn after Republicans blocked a move to include right-wing smears against military veterans like Democrats Max Cleland and John Kerry – carries a bitter lesson for the American Left.

Simply put: This is what happens when one side of American politics – the Right – spends three decades and many billions of dollars building a sophisticated and powerful media apparatus and the other side – the Left – does next to nothing on meda infrastructure.

Read on.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

George W. Bush's Thug Nation

By Robert Parry
September 21, 2007

It’s said that over time Presidents – especially two-termers – imbue the nation with their personalities and priorities, for good or ill. If that’s true, it could help explain the small-minded mean-spiritedness that seems to be pervading the behavior of the United States these days, both at home and abroad.

On a global level, the world reads about trigger-happy Blackwater “security contractors” mowing down civilians in Baghdad, the U.S. military killing unarmed people under loose “rules of engagement” in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and the CIA “rendering” suspected Islamists to secret prisons or to third-country dungeons where torture is practiced.

Read on.

The Right's Garden of False Narratives

By Phil Rockstroh
September 20, 2007

One would think that from the cries of (feigned) indignation and calls for repentance arising from conservatives regarding Move-On.org's ad in the N.Y. Times that the liberal-leaning group had not simply questioned the insights and intentions of a public servant, promoting, in a public forum, the policy of an illegal and immoral occupation of a sovereign nation; rather, the folks of Move-On.org had committed blasphemy against the holy name of some revered saint -- General Mary Petraeus, Mother of God.

The false outrage of perpetually offended conservatives serves as cover for the true outrages of our era, including: truncated civil liberties, rising levels of social and economic inequality and injustice, and foreign wars of aggression waged by an insular and secretive executive branch and fought by a permanent underclass.

Read on.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Why Cheney Likes Mukasey for A.G.

By Robert Parry
September 19, 2007

In praising George W. Bush’s new choice for Attorney General, Vice President Dick Cheney identified one freedom in particular that retired Judge Michael Mukasey would protect: “the freedom from fear of terrorist attacks.”

The comment spoke volumes about the Bush administration’s priorities, fitting with the President’s oft-repeated claim that the government has no more important duty than to protect the American people.

Read on.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Halfway Measures on Bush's Tribunal

By Robert Parry
September 18, 2007

In a memorable scene from Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Rep. John Conyers explains how it was that Congress passed the USA Patriot Act without knowing many of its provisions. “Sit down, my son,” the courtly Michigan Democrat said. “We don’t read most of the bills.”

That reality does not appear to have changed much. In back-to-back years, Congress rushed through two sweeping pieces of legislation – the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Protect America Act of 2007 – without a full understanding of the powers being granted to President George W. Bush.

Read on.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Greenspan Spills the Beans on Oil

By Ray McGovern
September 16, 2007

For those still wondering why President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney sent our young men and women into Iraq, the secret is now “largely” out.

No, not from the lips of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It appears we shall have to wait until the disgraced general/diplomat draws nearer to meeting his maker before he gets concerned over anything more than the “blot” that Iraq has put on his reputation.

Read on.