FBI Taped Conversations Of Sen. Stevens

Looks like the FBI has been investigating Alaska Senator Ted Stevens for a while now. Last July, the investigation came to light when the FBI searched Steven's home in a suburb of Anchorage. They were investigating corruption among Alaska state lawmakers, and the investigation spread to include the Republican senator from Alaska.

It seems that Alaska businessman and political patron of Stevens, Bill Allen, told federal prosecutors that he had paid for the renovation of the senator's home. Stevens countered with a "non-denial" denial. He said he had paid all of the bills he received. That may be true, since the bills went to Allen -- not Stevens. Stevens may deny his corruption, but having others pay your bills under the table certainly sounds like corruption to me.

Now it seems that the FBI may have been investigating Stevens before the raid on his ill-gotten house. Government sources have verified that Allen consented to the taping of conversations between him and Stevens. Several conversations were taped.

Allen was cooperating with federal government investigators, because they had evidence he was bribing state officials. Was he also bribing Stevens? Sure looks that way. What else could the taped conversations be about? We may soon find out that the payoffs went beyond a few home renovations. The investigation is still going on.

Republican corruption is the gift that just keeps on giving. Is there any end to it? Just when you think it couldn't get any worse, along comes another Republican guilty of either political or moral corruption.

I can hardly wait for that buffoon Stevens to be charged -- no one deserves it more.

Lawsuit Filed Against TxDOT

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has run into more opposition in it's bid to build new toll roads and turn existing freeways into toll roads, and then give them to private corporations. Thank goodness! This effort by state Republican leadership would be bad for all Texans, except for the filthy rich and the corporate bosses.

Yesterday, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) filed suit against TxDOT in a Travis County civil court. The lawsuit asks for a Temporary Restraining Order to stop TxDOT from lobbying Congress to allow toll roads and to stop TxDOT from spending public money to advertise for privatized toll roads, including the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC).

TURF believes that TxDOT is breaking Texas law by using public money to advertise a political position and to lobby Congress to support their position on turning our freeways into private toll roads. They have already asked Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle to investigate TxDOT's illegal activities.

TURF founder Terri Hall says, "Between TxDOT's PR campaign, report to Congress asking that all limitations on tolling be lifted including buying back existing interstates, and chairman Ric Williamson's recent trip to D.C. lobbying for the same, it's clear they've not only crossed the line into illegal lobbying, but they leaped over it. The citizens of Texas are fed up with TxDOT's blatant disregard for the public's disdain of toll roads and their infinite attempts to cram toll roads down our throats using TAXPAYER MONEY to do it! It's high time someone puts a stop to it!"

I hope TURF succeeds in their lawsuit. It's bad enough they want to build new toll roads and put tolls on our freeways and turn them all over to private corporations. It's utterly asinine to spend public money to advertise it and lobby Congress.

We have got to vote these Republican corporate lackeys out of office in 2008. Vote to keep corporate hands off our roads and out of our wallets.

American Company To Bring Jobs Back Home

For far too long, many American companies have been shipping American jobs out of the country to take advantage of cheaper foreign labor. This has been devastating to the job market in the United States. Now, an American company is trying to reverse that trend.

San Antonio-based ATandT says it is bringing 175 call-center jobs back to this country. The jobs will be based in their Arkansas headquarters in Little Rock. The move is part of the company's plan to bring back at least 5,000 jobs -- all of them to be union jobs.

Company president Ed Drilling said, "These jobs are currently outsourced to other companies and a lot of the work is actually done overseas. We're bringing these jobs as part of an ongoing commitment back into the country."

Of course, 5,000 jobs being returned is just a drop in the bucket up beside all the jobs still being outsourced by other American companies. But at least it's a step in the right direction. Now, other companies must be convinced to do the same.

These companies must realize that if they wish to be based in the U.S., sell to American citizens, and enjoy the fruits of this country, then they have a responsibility to the American community. They cannot keep sucking dollars from American consumers while shipping American jobs overseas.

One Less Republican In Legislature

Today, there is one less Republican in the Texas legislature and one more Democrat -- and it didn't take an election to do it. Yesterday, State Rep. Kirk England (Grand Prairie) announced that he is switching his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. He said he will run for re-election as a Democrat.

In the last election, England won the seat by a slim 250-vote margin over Democrat Katy Hubener. She was planning to run against him again next year, but has put those plans on hold since his switch to the Democratic Party. District 106, currently represented by the new Democrat, covers Grand Prairie and the southern part of Irving.

Did England see the "writing on the wall" with the growing unpopularity of Republicans? Possibly. This is a working and middle class district, and would probably have gone Democratic in the next election, whether England switched parties or not. Now the liklihood is even greater.

England said he switched parties because, "After one session in the House, I found that the Republican leadership in Austin had no tolerance for the values and priorities of the folks I represent. I trust the voters in District 106, and I am confident that my friends and neighbors agree that doing what is right is more important than partisan politics."

England listed his priorities as public education, the Children's Health Insurance Program and rising utility rates. Sounds to me like he's already thinking like a Democrat!

Holly South, librarian at the Legislative Reference Library in Austin, said there hasn't been an instance of a sitting Representative switching from the Republican to the Democratic Party in the last 100 years in Texas. This may be a rare thing right now, but if the Republican leadership continues their self-defeating policies, there may be others to follow England soon.

Whatever his reasons, I welcome Rep. England to the people's party, and to the party of reality-based political thinking. There's always room for one more in the "big tent" Democratic Party.

Countrywide Screws Its Customers

The home mortgage business has been hurting lately. Many parts of the country are experiencing record defaults on home loans and foreclosures. The situation has gotten so bad that it has even begun to effect the stock market.

But even though many companies made loans they should not have made and are now beginning to feel the financial effect of that, there are some things that a company should not do. One of those things is to go back on their word.

Back when hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the coastal areas of Louisiana, Missippi and Texas, the mortgage lender Countrywide decided they would get a little good PR by offering to help. They told their customers in these areas that they could have a three to six month grace period, where they would not have to make payments. They assured these customers there would be no penalties, and the payments would just be tacked on to the end of the loan.

Sadly, many of their customers took them at their word and took advantage of the "grace period". That turns out to have been a very bad mistake, since Countrywide has now shown they cannot be trusted. They are now breaking their promise to those customers.

The company has sent those customers a demand for immediate payment of the money that was not paid during the faux "grace period". Those who cannot make all those payments in one lump sum face foreclosure.

It may be true that when they made the offer, Countrywide could not forsee the current troubled mortgage crunch. But even though the company may now be in financial trouble, it is wrong for them to break their word to their customers. Like an individual, a company is only as good as its word and they are showing their word is no good.

What is wrong with these company executives? Don't they realize that by breaking their word they are doing even more harm to their company than their financial problems ever could?

The Annual Holocaust

Just heard a BBC report on the drive home, discussing the report by WHO that a record *low number of children died of starvation & preventable diseases last year: 9.7 million.

In 1959, Buckminster Fuller (one of my heroes) predicted that the outright conquest of poverty would occur on or around the year 2000. This was a logical deduction from the fact that industrial efficiency had improved astronomically over the first half of the 20th century. To put it simply, providing everyone with enough food to survive is no longer a technical problem.

In 1977, almost twenty years later, the National Academy of Sciences confirmed Fuller’s prediction. Their World Food and Nutrition Study, prepared by 1,500 scientists, concluded, “If there is the political will in this country and abroad... it should be possible to overcome the worst aspects of widespread hunger and malnutrition within one generation.”
http://www.bfi.org/our_programs/who_is_buckminster_fuller

Do you mind if I call attention to the "if"?

So many things are merely a matter of "political will" nowadays...

Another Stupid Criminal

Most criminals are not too bright, but every now and then one is found that takes stupid to a new level. The FBI has found a new candidate for this honor.

On September 5th, a man robbed a bank in Englewood, Colorado of $5,000 by passing a note to a teller demanding the money. Now this doesn't sound too out of the ordinary. A lot of bank robberies are done this way.

But how many robbers write the note on the back of one of their own checks? That's right, this genius wrote the robbery note on the back of his own check. The FBI said he did try to black out his name, but they were still able to read it.

But even that wasn't stupid enough for this criminal. He then goes out and brags to someone about getting $5,000 in a bank robbery. Of course, this person calls the crime tip line and turns him in (probably for a reward).

I really hope this guy is not planning a life of crime, because he presents no challenge at all for the police.

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NOTE - I will be out of town for the next few days and may not be able to get near a computer. I'm afraid blogging will be sparse, if at all.

Another Republican Lie

Many programs being pushed by Republican officials really make no sense. That is why they have to tell lies to try and make them seem reasonable. One of these unreasonable programs is the wasting of billions of dollars to build a fence along Texas' southern border. Most Texans know the proposed fence would do more to hurt Texas than to protect it.

The fence is really nothing more than an attempt to pander to the racist base of the Republican Party, but in order to get the ridiculous thing built they must convince most people that it is needed to make our border secure. Thus, the lies. We heard one of those lies on Wednesday.

Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw told the North Texas Crime Commission that several terrorists with ties to Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Queda have been apprehended trying to cross from Mexico into Texas. He said the most important of these terrorists was named Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed. Just like most people who make this claim, he was unable to name anyone else.

There are a few things wrong with McCraw's ludicrous claim. First, when was the last time a terrorist was arrested that Republicans didn't splash it all over the news media? Never. They never miss an opportunity to try and scare the American people. If there were really any arrests like this it would have made huge headlines -- and there have been none.

Second, there was a person named Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed arrested at the McAllen airport in July of 2004, and it was initially thought she had terrorist ties. But since that time, both customs officials and the US Attorney's office in Houston have said the reports were in error, and there were no ties to terrorists.

Third, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said her department was unaware of anyone with terrorist ties being arrested crossing our southern border. Frankly, if ICE doesn't know about it, then it didn't happen.

It's bad enough that Republicans keep coming up with indefensible programs, but please -- STOP THE LYING!

America - Still A Racist Country

There are those who believe that since our government has outlawed some blatant racist acts in the United States, we have solved our racial problems. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Racism will never be conquered as long as it resides in the hearts of many Americans. Consider the following stories.

You may have heard of the "Jena 6". Jena, Louisiana is a town of about 4,000 citizens, about 85% of whom are white. There is a tree at the high school called the "white tree". It is where white students congregate. One day an Afro-American student sat under the tree. The next day three nooses were discovered hanging from the tree.

The principal tried to suspend the students who put the nooses there, but he was over-ridden by the school board and the district's superintendent. They claimed it was just a "harmless prank", and gave the offenders an in-school suspension lasting three days.

Naturally, this created ill-feelings between white and black students and numerous fights broke out over a several week period. When one white student bragged in school about how a black student had been beaten, he was attacked after school by 6 black students. He was not seriously injured, and returned to the school that same night for a ceremony, but the 6 black students were arrested.

Throughout the semester of several fights, no white student was charged with anything more than a misdemeanor. However, these 6 black students were charged attempted murder. Even though the charges were finally reduced, they were still convicted of felonies and face the possibility of many years in prison.

They are now known as the "Jena 6", and their unfair treatment shows that racism is alive and well in America -- even in our educational and governing institutions.

But Louisiana is not alone. In West Virginia, a 23 year-old black woman was kidnapped and held for days by several whites. She was beaten, stabbed, sexually abused, called racial epithets, and forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet. Fortunately, someone tipped the police and they rescued her, or she would have probably eventually been killed.

The FBI says they are considering charging the six white criminals with a hate crime. I don't know what there is to consider. Of course it's a racially-motivated hate crime! These cretins need to be thrown so far back in the jail that they never see daylight again.

These are just two cases among many, but they prove the point. This country doesn't just have a racist past, it has a racist present. Unless good and decent people of all races come forward to stamp out this evil, it will also have a racist future.

Kathy Griffin Brings Out TV Academy's Bias/Fear

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences gave away part of this year's Emmy Awards last weekend. Winning her first Emmy Award was edgy comedian Kathy Griffin, for her TV show My Life on the D-List. As she is known to do, Griffin told the truth as she accepted her award.

Obviously the Academy was not ready to deal with the truth, and along with the E! network, they have said they would censor Griffin's acceptance speech before it is shown on television. You may be thinking that she must have said one or more of television's seven forbidden dirty words. Not true.

You have probably heard christians thank Jesus when they win something, even though they really won it through talent and hard work. If there is a God, I seriously doubt that he/she cares who wins an award, game, race, etc. To claim you won because of God/Jesus is to say God/Jesus preferred you over the people who lost. That's pretty presumptious to claim to be God's favorite (which is really what you are saying).

But instead of playing that silly game, Kathy Griffin decided to make fun of it. She said that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus." She went on to proclaim, "This award is my god now."

I thought her remaks were funny and very true. She didn't win the award because God/Jesus preferred her over the others. Her show got the award because of some very talented performers, writers, producers, directors, cameramen, soundmen, etc.

But some so-called christians didn't see the humor in this little bit of truth. Religious bigot and Catholic League president Bill Donohue was quick to call her words a "vulgar, in-your-face-brand of hate speech". I would think he should know how to recognize hate speech by now, since he indulges in it so often. But evidently his version of hate speech is when someone disagrees with him.

The TV Academy shares Donohue's religious bigotry. Either that, or they are so afraid to offend right-wing christians that they quickly knuckled under and threw free speech out the window.

There is nothing wrong with Griffin's remarks. If christians are free to spout their religious beliefs on TV, then those with differing beliefs should also be free to give their own opinion. Isn't that what free speech is all about?

It's easy to allow speech that you agree with, but if you truly believe in free speech, you must also allow speech that you don't agree with. If you are never offended by speech, then you don't live in a free country.

Censoring Griffin's acceptance speech is just wrong.

This Blogger's Proud To Support Noriega

It looks like the Watts campaign is jealous of the nearly unanimous support that his opponent, Rick Noriega, is receiving from Texas blogs. Watts may have millions of dollars with which to try and buy a senate seat, but he has virtually no support among progressive Texas blogs. This led the Watts campaign to plant a story in the San Antonio Express News saying that Noriega denigrated Texas bloggers.

Of course, Noriega's words were taken out of context. I won't go into detail because other bloggers have covered this well -- among them are McBlogger, Bluedaze and Eye on Williamson.

I personally think this was a rather pathetic attempt to try and convince progressive bloggers not to support Noriega. That is the aspect I wish to address.

My decision to support Rick Noriega for senate was reached on my own. I was never contacted by the Noriega campaign or anyone else. After looking at the candidates, it was my opinion that Rick Noriega was the candidate who would best represent the people of Texas in Washington, DC.

Although I believe that Noriega's comments were taken out of context, I personally do not care what he thinks of this blog or any other. I did not give him my support because he loves blogs, and I would not withdraw support because someone says he doesn't like blogs. I really don't care whether he likes blogs or not.

I am proud to be a supporter of Rick Noriega for senate, and he will have the support of this blog as long as he remains a candidate. He has served his country honorably and ably in the military. He has also served his state honorably and ably in the legislature. He is a family man, an honest man and a man of the people.

I support Noriega with this blog and with monthly campaign donations, because I am convinced that he will make a great senator. I urge my readers to do the same.

Bush Lies About Osama

When the Twin Towers came down, Bush went to New York and swore to Americans that he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice for masterminding the terrorist action. He still hasn't done that. He hasn't done it because he was more interested in getting Iraqi oil for his corporate buddies, than in getting justice for the terrorist's victims in New York.

Even though Saddam and Osama were sworn enemies and hated each other, Bush invaded Iraq. When no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, Bush tried to say that Iraq was a haven for Osama's group al-Queda. It wasn't true at the time, and even today most of the Iraqis fighting and killing American troops are not members of al-Queda.

Now it is six years later and Iraq has gone bad and Osama is still at large. Bush has not only failed in his efforts in Iraq, but he has also failed in his promise to bring Osama to justice. In an attempt to cover one of his failures, Bush is now lying again to the American people.

When the new Osama tape surfaced, Bush sent his security advisor out to claim that Osama was "a man on the run from a cave who is virtually impotent other than these tapes". He wants us to believe that he has Osama on the run, and that he no longer poses a threat to Americans. Once again, Bush shows that he considers Americans to be stupid fools who will believe any lie that he tells.

The people in charge of securing the safety of Americans aren't buying the new Bush lie. Director of National Michael McConnell, FBI Director Robert Mueller and even Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, all disagree with Bush's assessment of Osama bin Laden. All three of these men believe that Osama remains the most dangerous terrorist threat to the United States. They are right.

No other terrorist leader has damaged the U.S. as badly as Osama has. Even if he is holed up in a cave, all he has to do is issue an order and his followers will find a way to carry it out. The United States will never be safe as long as Osama is free.

It is time for Bush to end the quagmire in Iraq and keep his word to the American people. It is time he brought Osama to justice.

Where's The Cowboys Defense ?

There's certainly nothing wrong with the Cowboys offense this year. In the opening game against the Giants, Quarterback Tony Romo threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns. They scored a total of 45 points, and are leading the league in scoring right now.

I guess I should just be happy that they opened with a win, but this game didn't make me feel too good about this season's prospects. Where the hell was the defense? They continually allowed the Giants to come back, and wound up letting them score 35 points. We're not going to win a whole lot of games giving up that many points.

I realize that Terence Newman and Greg Ellis weren't able to play, but the defense still shouldn't have given up that many points. The Giants seemed to be able to move the ball and score at will (and they're not one of the league's best teams). I thought Wade Phillips was supposed to be the defensive genius who would solve the Cowboys' defensive problems, but tonight's defense looked a lot like last year's ineffective defense.

The main problem is that they still don't have an effective pass rush. On most plays, Manning had all the time he needed to find open receivers. I hope Coach Phillips can come up with something to improve the pass rush. If not, it's going to be a long season.

They play the Dolphins next week -- hopefully with an improved defense.

Regime Change Coming In Pakistan

Musharraf is not doing too well right now as the military ruler of Pakistan. He turned much of the country against him when he tried to fire Chief Justice Chaudhry of the Pakistani Supreme Court. So many people rose up against the move, that he had to back down.

That seems to have given impetus to his opponents, and now many people are demanding an end to military rule. Musharraf has become so unpopular that he has recently had his people involved in "power sharing" talks with exiled former leader Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto is now saying that she is going to return regardless of how the talks turn out. She will announce her return date next friday.

Just to complicate things, exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also announcing his return to Pakistan. He is to return on Monday, and travel with supporters from Islamabad to Lahore, greeting supporters along the way. He said, "I know that this is a risky course for me and there can be dangers in it. But I am doing this for Pakistan. Nothing else can be more pleasing for me than freeing (Pakistan) from the clutches of military dictatorship. I will be happy that for a small price -- my going to jail -- Pakistan will get freedom."

It looks like Musharraf is afraid of Sharif, because he had ordered the arrest of 2,000 Sharif supporters in the last couple of days. Many believe he will try to arrest Sharif when he returns. The army is only allowing those with outbound flights to go into the vicinity of the airport.

Arresting either Sharif or Bhutto could turn out to be a huge mistake for Musharraf. Both have a lot more supporters than Chief Justice Chaundhry did when Musharraf tried to take him on. Musharraf's position is becoming more untenable with each passing day. He's like a nervous man on a tightrope, with Bhutto and Sharif on either end of the rope hacking away with machetes.

I really don't expect Musharraf to last much longer. I just hope Bush doesn't try to interfere in Pakistan's internal affairs. The majority of Pakistanis already hate us, and if we try to intervene, it could really become a mess. It could even make our position in Afghanistan untenable.

What will these changes in Pakistan mean for us? That's anybody's guess. But it will be better for us to refuse to take sides in the coming power struggle.