Presidential candidates and Big Business

A Fortune article that details the close relationship between the Presidential candidates of both major parties and those in charge of major corporations illustrates the point that, whoever the candidates of the two major parties turn out to be, all of them are in bed with Big Business. The article reports that

Clinton and Obama view CEO support as a key part
of their crossover appeal.

A roster of business endorsements "says to voters that
you'll be strong on the economy," says Clinton
campaign chair Terry McAuliffe. Most of the top-tier
candidates - Republican and Democrat - have made
pilgrimages to the Business Roundtable's offices in
Washington to pitch some 60 CEOs at a time.

'Well then. Nuff said. We know that the agenda of neither major party candidate will include challenging corporate power.

From Cindy Sheehan's blog

From Cindy Sheehan's blog:

After nearly four years of living with the horrible knowledge that my son was killed in Iraq for the lies of the lying bastards of the Bush regime, I still mourn him and miss him with all my heart and soul and I don't know if I will ever be able to go through a day without being reminded that he should be alive and well and home with his family. Presidential daughter Jenna Bush will be getting married soon and I can't help but feel that Casey should have been able to have the same opportunity to get married and have his own children and future.

We cannot place the blame solely at the foot of BushCo, though. We have two Senators vying for their party's presidential nomination who are nothing but spoiled Demo-Brats who snipe and bicker at each other instead of calling for the immediate removal of our troops from Iraq and the ouster of the liars who are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the tragic creation of millions of broken hearts (when we buried Casey, I discovered that the term is not just a figure of speech).

We have a Speaker of the House who has taken impeachment "off the table" and refuses to even consider doing her job because impeachment would be too "divisive" when so many families have been physically, emotionally, and politically divided by Republican and Democratic war crimes and support of war crimes.

It is imperative that BushCo be impeached for past, present and future high crimes and misdemeanors. They have not only lied about the reasons for invading and occupying Iraq, but they have used their war of terror to redefine and lie about torture and commit unspeakable crimes against humanity.

The FCC decides that buttocks are a sexual organ

Fascinating biological analysis from the FCC:

"Although ABC argues, without citing any authority, that the buttocks are not a sexual organ, we reject this argument, which runs counter to both case law and common sense."

Tomorrow Never Knows

I heard a story on NPR yesterday about a Beatles tribute band that focused on doing live performances of the later Beatles songs, which were recorded after the Beatles stopped touring and thus were never performed live. The tribute band, called the Fab Faux, has done an amazing job of bringing the 1960s studio technology to live performances. I found this example on Youtube of a performance of "I am the Walrus" that they did on the David Letterman show. It is truly amazing--I never imagined that I would ever hear a faithful live version of that song, but here it is:

Paving the way

Ken Rudin writes on the NPR web site that if the Democrats become the first major party to nominate either an African-American or a woman for President, they certain would not be the first party to do so. He has compiled a list of third party candidates who have been either female or black:

WOMEN: Victoria Woodhull (Equal Rights Party, 1872); Belva Lockwood (Equal Rights Party, 1884 and 1888); Charlene Mitchell (Communist Party, 1968); Linda Jenness (Socialist Workers Party, 1972); Margaret Wright (People's Party, 1976); Deirdre Griswold (Workers World Party, 1980); Ellen McCormack (Right to Life Party, 1980); Maureen Smith (Peace and Freedom Party, 1980); Sonia Johnson (Citizens Party, 1984); Willa Kenoyer (Socialist Party, 1988); Lenora Fulani (New Alliance Party, 1988 and 1992); Gloria La Riva (Workers World Party, 1992); Helen Halyard (Socialist Equality Party, 1992); Marsha Feinland (Peace and Freedom Party, 1996); Mary Hollis (Socialist Party, 1996); Diane Templin (Independent American Party, 1996); Monica Moorehead (Workers World Party, 1996 and 2000).

BLACKS: Clifton DeBerry (Socialist Workers Party, 1964); Charlene Mitchell (Communist Party, 1968); Eldridge Cleaver (Peace and Freedom Party, 1968); Dick Gregory (Freedom and Peace Party, 1968); Lenora Fulani (New Alliance Party, 1988 and 1992); Ron Daniels (Peace and Freedom Party, 1992); Monica Moorehead (Workers World Party, 1996 and 2000).

Little Mermaid found on Mars!

James McGrath has posted a blog entry that includes a photograph taken from the Spirit lander on Mars:



I think it bears an eerie resemblance to the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, which is Denmark's national icon:

2007 movies

There is always a lot of buzz after the Oscar nominations about who got "snubbed", but my basic feeling is that the Oscar nominations (not to mention the awards themselves) can't be taken all that seriously. I start from the position that it is unlikely that I will agree with the Academy on much of anything, and then allow myself to be pleasantly surprised by the occasional points of agreement.

After I see a movie in a theatre, I go into IMDB and give the movie a score from 1 to 9 (I rarely give out 10's--just because.) Anyway, here is the list of 9's that I gave to last year's movies:

"In the Shadow of the Moon" - documentary
"In the Valley of Elah"
"Juno"
"The King of Kong" - documentary
"Michael Clayton"
"Sicko" - documentary

Interesting that 3 out of the 6 that I gave a 9 to were documentaries.

Whoa! Stop the presses!

AP reports the following:

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

Well, d-u-u-u-u-h-h-h.

Those wacky drug companies

You gotta love what the pharmaceutical industry can get away with.

Here's a news item that demonstrates what I mean:

The results of a clinical trial released Monday found that Vytorin did not reduce the buildup of harmful plaque in arteries any better than a much cheaper generic drug.

But the study was completed in April 2006. Typically, results are released in three to six months. Merck and Schering-Plough, the two companies that developed and marketed the drug, withheld test results for 19 months.

Additional clinical trials are often started after a drug is on the market so companies can make bigger claims and gain more market share. In Vytorin's case, it didn't work out that way. "The company's goal in doing this kind of study is to show their drug was better than the alternative drug. And they failed to do that," said Dr. Brian Strom of the University of Pennsylvania.

Companies are required to release test results to the FDA. But the FDA is not allowed to tell anyone else. So "disappointing" results have often been hidden, even from the doctors who prescribe the medications.

"The FDA considers the results from a clinical trial to belong to the company, that it's a 'trade secret' even if it's about a drug not working," said Dr. Jerry Avorn of Brigham & Women's Hospital.

The best part of it is that the government agency that is supposed to regulate the drug industry has actually been covering up for it.

Tony the Tiger

A news item from the beleaguered San Francisco zoo:

Zoo officials hope to find a new partner for a Siberian tiger that has been locked alone inside a labyrinth of Lion House cages since its platonic mate was shot dead after it attacked three zoo visitors.

Tatiana, the 4-year-old tiger who escaped its enclosure on Dec. 25 and killed Carlos Sousa and attacked two other men before it was shot by police, was brought to The City in 2005 for an older male tiger named Tony, according to San Francisco Zoo chief veterinarian Jacquie Jencek.

All I could think of when I read that snippet was--the zoo named one of their tigers Tony?

Cindy Sheehan on Hillary Clinton

This is from a January 8 entry in Cindy Sheehan's blog in response to her famous crying incident in New Hampshire:

She showed no emotion when I met with her along with another Gold Star Mother: Lynn Braddach from Oregon, whose son Travis Nall was also KIA in Iraq. We poured our hearts and souls out to her and she hardly even blinked, let alone shed a tear for our heartbreak that she had been a major neo-connette chearleader for.

That meeting happened in September of 2005, just a few short weeks after we left Camp Casey in Crawford, Tx on August 31, 2005. Anti-war sentiment was high and the apex was a mass march and rally that hundreds of thousands of like-minded (many for the first time) attended in the belly of the evil empire on September 24th. Since then, the motivation and energy of the anti-war movement has ebbed and flowed with each subsequent fresh assault on peace and democracy by BushCo with the help, support and justification of “Democrats” like Hillary Clinton.

I particularly like her characterization of Hillary Clinton as having been "a major neo-connette cheerleader" for the war. Unfortunately, a lot of voters now seem willing to forgive and forget Clinton's early support for the war, her refusal to apologize for that support, and the subsequent lies that she has used to justify that early support. And even recently, Clinton has talked about leaving US troops in Iraq through 2013. But Cindy Sheehan has been directly touched by the war that Hillary Clinton voted for and supported. Cindy Sheehan has good reason to be angry.

I bet he wishes he could fire the Board of Supervisors, too

From today's San Francisco Chronicle, we learn that mayor Gavin Newson has forced out three members of the Municipal Transportation Agency, including the head of the San Francisco Bike Coalition, Leah Shahum. As an independent voice who spoke her mind, Shahum obviously needed to be replaced by a Newsom crony who would rubber stamp his policies and parrot the Newsom party line. According to the Chronicle,

Three of the seven directors on the high-profile Municipal Transportation Agency board were informed by the Newsom administration over the weekend that their services are no longer needed.

One of those told she was being shown the door was Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, one of the most politically active advocacy groups in the city.

Since she was appointed to the post about 1 1/2 years ago, Shahum hasn't been shy in voicing her opinion - at times at odds with the administration's positions. Two examples: the closure of certain roadways to private automobiles in Golden Gate Park on Saturdays and issues regarding litigation over the city's Bicycle Plan.

"And it's been made clear to me that the mayor has been none-too-pleased that the Bicycle Coalition didn't endorse him" when he ran for re-election last year, Shahum said Monday. The coalition did not endorse any candidate in the mayor's race.

"I'm disappointed that somebody like myself who has been an effective advocate for sustainable transportation would be asked to step down," she said.

George McGovern calls for impeachment

George McGovern argues in a Washington Post column that Bush and Cheney should be impeached--something that my own Congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, refuses to even consider. Among other things, McGovern writes:

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard.

From the beginning, the Bush-Cheney team's assumption of power was the product of questionable elections that probably should have been officially challenged -- perhaps even by a congressional investigation.

In a more fundamental sense, American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime. The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country. The financial cost to the United States is now $250 million a day and is expected to exceed a total of $1 trillion, most of which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others as our national debt has now climbed above $9 trillion -- by far the highest in our national history.

All of this has been done without the declaration of war from Congress that the Constitution clearly requires, in defiance of the U.N. Charter and in violation of international law. This reckless disregard for life and property, as well as constitutional law, has been accompanied by the abuse of prisoners, including systematic torture, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Hear hear! I would go even farther than McGovern. I think that, after impeachment, Bush and Cheney should be tried as war criminals. But hey, one thing at a time.

Afghanistan redux

Here is a quote from a January 2 column by columnist Robert Scheer:

In the film "Charlie Wilson's War," the nitwit and deeply corrupt congressman elevated to heroic status through Tom Hanks' ever-charming performance has a meeting with Pakistan's then-dictator Zia ul-Haq, in which they broker a deal for a joint effort to "save" Afghanistan from the Soviets. It's all great fun; the United States is, as always, on the side of the good guys, in this case the Afghan mujahedeen, who later morphed into the Taliban, hosts of al Qaeda.

The movie does not mention that the mujahedeen went to war against the Soviet-backed government then in power in Kabul after it committed the unpardonable crime of allowing female students to attend rural schools. The film casually notes that General Zia, the U.S. ally in this effort to bring "freedom" to Afghanistan, was, like so many of the movie's heroes, a hard case full of contradictions, as exemplified by his having murdered Pakistan's previous ruler, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

I was in college when the Soviets intervened militarily in Afghanistan in 1980. I remember well the reaction that ensued--or, perhaps I should say, overreaction. In response to the events of the time, Jimmy Carter, who was gearing up for his re-election campaign, played a crucial role in the ramping up of the Cold War rhetoric that in turn set the stage for what followed when Reagan took office. For example, Carter instituted draft registration--something that I never forgave him for. Obviously, I opposed what the Soviets were doing--it was stupid and self-defeating, if nothing else. But it also was not, as it was portrayed in the media at the time, an act of territorial conquest or a land grab. I pointed out at the time to anyone who would listen that, first and foremost, there was already a pro-Soviet government in power in Afghanistan before the Soviets ever sent their troops there. It can hardly be an act of "conquest" to send troops to help an allied government on your nation's borders fight against an insurgency (imagine what the US would do if Mexico were embroiled in a civil war). And, as Scheer pointed out, and as I argued at the time, the reason the war started was that the religious fundamentalists who were fighting against the government in Kabul were, among other things, opposed to the fair treatment of women. These were people who were trying to keep Afghan society in the stone age. I further argued at the time that the Soviet war against a determined guerrilla insurgency was bound to fail anyway--that Afghanistan would be the USSR's Vietnam--and thus the fears that were raised in response to their military intervention were simply an overreaction.

History proved me right about the ultimate Soviet failure in Afghanistan, and history also proved me right when we saw just how barbaric the fundamentalism in Afghanistan turned out to be. In the light of the attacks of September 11, it is clear that the US, by supporting these fundamentalist fanatics, helped to create a monster that turned around and bit us. Much of the Cold War mentality at the time was really based on trumped up fears, and yet now, many look back on that time and act as if we don't know all that we have learned about the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Too often during the Cold War, our government was on the side of evil--such as in the support of terrorists and death squads in Latin America, or the support of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Fear and hysteria were the tools of the trade used to justify these misdeeds. But you might think that, after what happened to the World Trade Center, Americans might be a little more circumspect about the long term consequences of US foreign policy.