Monthly Archives: June 2013

“Private Eyes” Given A Whole New Meaning.

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Recent revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) snooping on phone records, emails and Internet history have been used by some politicians to attack President Obama. Really? He not only inherited these programs from Dubya. By most accounts, he placed new restrictions on them.

Whatever the case, government spying on American citizens should be openly debated by all Americans and our representatives. Only the American people should decide how much privacy we’re willing to sacrifice in exchange for the prevention of terror attacks.

But while the media and Washington have been focused on each new revelation of the NSA program, several aspects have been relatively ignored.

One is that those collecting the information are not government agents or employees. They’re private companies. Edward Snowden was an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, which is a publicly traded, for-profit corporation that has sucked up billions in revenue from government agencies such as the Department of Defense, all branches of the U.S. military, U.S. Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Security Agency.

As a result of the political right’s fascination with privatization, companies like Booz are now handling many of the tasks the government used to. The belief, although not proven, is that awarding government contracts to such companies will save money.

Apparently, it also makes information related to these tasks less secure.

Not satisfied with revealing aspects of the secret program, Edward Snowden has told the South China Morning Post that the US has been “hacking Hong Kong and China since 2009.” Great! So after turning many American citizens against their own government, Snowden is now attempting to turn other nations against it, too.

Another surprising aspect of the Snowden leak is that Booz Allen Hamilton was paying him a salary of $200,000! This is a 29-year-old who dropped out of high school, dropped out of the Army, and possesses a GED. According to his social media sites, his real expertise is playing video games.

Finally, after revealing classified information about what he considered to be US government abuses, Snowden moved to China, saying that he admired Hong Kong for its commitment to free speech! (Perhaps he should talk to a few of my Tibetan friends about China’s commitment to free speech. He can find many of them in Chinese prisons.)

Not surprisingly, all of this has made Snowden a “hero” to the tinfoil-hatted Glenn Beck. Upon reading an account of Snowden’s revelations and his flight to Hong Kong, Beck tweeted “I think I have just read about the man for which I have waited. Earmarks of a real hero.”

On the other hand, Richard “The Dick” Cheney scurried out of his hidey hole and pronounced Snowden a “traitor.”

For me, this poses a real dilemma. If Beck praises someone as a hero, I can usually count on that person being a lunatic. And if the black-hearted Cheney calls someone a traitor, I can usually count on that person to be the opposite.

So now what am I to believe?

A Fine Example Of An Arizona Conservative.

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Last Tuesday, a federal jury convicted former Arizona Congressman “Slick” Rick Renzi on 17 counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and making false statements to insurance regulators. He was acquitted on 15 other felony charges because some evidence was ruled inadmissible.

I was especially interested in the outcome of the case, since the Republican’s conviction confirmed my character judgment. You see, Renzi represented my congressional district, and I became convinced of his corruption after my very first exposure to Mr. Slick. Indeed, only months afterward, rumors of Renzi’s abuse of power began to surface.

Renzi was indicted on charges that, while in office, he tried to force a mining company to purchase a former business associate’s land as part of a federal land exchange for copper mining. When the mining company balked, he engineered another federal land swap that included a payment of $4.6 million for land owned by James Sandlin, who then paid Renzi $733,000 for his help.

Renzi was also charged with embezzling more than $400,000 of customer premiums from his insurance business in order to fund his 2002 congressional campaign.

“Former Congressman Renzi’s streak of criminal activity was a betrayal of the public trust and abuse of the political process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a statement released after the verdict. “Mr. Renzi now faces the consequences for breaking the laws that he took an oath to support and defend.”

Sadly, Renzi’s conviction isn’t the end of political corruption in Arizona. But it’s a start.

Sore Losers.

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Following the expansion of Medicaid in Arizona, which was pushed by a very conservative governor and passed by a bipartisan coalition of both Republican and Democratic legislators, the so-called “patriots” of the Tea Party are trying every trick in the book to overturn majority rule.

They are threatening to collect enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot in 2014. Even if voters refuse to overturn it, the expansion would be delayed nearly a year after it’s supposed to take effect as part of the Affordable Care Act. At the same time, the very conservative Goldwater Institute and the ultra conservative Center for Arizona Policy are threatening to sue the state if the bill is implemented. That, too, could hold up the expansion of Medicaid in Arizona.

The irony of all this is that, not six months ago, our “scorpion-eating” Governor Brewer was idolized by the Tea Party Parasites of Arizona. Now these people are crying foul. They claim that they were bullied and ignored…in the same way they’ve treated Democrats in the legislature.

Truth is, all these people really care about is their own narrow ideology. They could care less about democracy and the founding principles they claim to hold so dear. They could care less about the people of Arizona.

They’ve been exposed as the spoiled bullies they really are.

Arizona Turned Upside-Down.

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Mark it down. On Thursday, June 13, 2013, the Earth stood still! The clouds parted. The impossible became possible. Red turned blue. Blue turned red. Tempers cooled, even if the temperatures didn’t.

In a brief moment of clarity and political sanity, moderate Republicans joined Democrats at the behest of our finger-wagging Governor Brewer to pass a state budget that includes an expansion of Medicaid. It was a victory for bipartisanship, responsible government and “Obamacare.”

As a result, tens of thousands more Arizonans will have healthcare insurance.

Of course, the Teapublican legislators are apoplectic. For hours, extending through the evening and into the early morning, they railed against Obamacare and the federal government. They labeled the moderate Republicans and Governor Brewer as traitors. They said they were betrayed; bullied; treated as a minority. Hmmm…as the old saying goes, it seems these Tea Party Parasites finally got a taste of their own medicine. (Pun intended.)

Thank you Governor Brewer and moderate Republicans. Your display of bipartisanship and common sense was great! Unfortunately, I fear the attitude won’t last.

Jesus Lives!

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In an example of what passes for journalism these days, today’s website of the Arizona Republic featured a smudge someone had found on the floor of the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. The “reporter” submitted a photo because he/she thought it resembled Jesus.

What was the editor thinking? “Hold the presses! I’ve got Jesus on the floor?”

The photo and accompanying story even displaced news that the Republican-dominated Arizona Legislature voted to expand Medicaid as part of Obamacare.

On the very same day, someone posted a photo of the backside of his dog on Facebook because he thought his dog’s ass looked like Jesus.

Hallelujah and pass the Milkbones!

Although uniquely distasteful, these examples of Rorschach-like displays of faith are nothing new. They’re just the latest in the “I see Jesus” phenomenon. Like Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich, Jesus on toast, Jesus in the clouds, Jesus in a freckle, etc. they’re merely the products of runaway imaginations and wishful thinking.

Yet I worry less about the sanity of the imagineers than of those who choose to report these visions as news or as evidence of true salvation. What’s next? Are the media going to start covering the dreams and hallucinations of drug users as news? Are the true believers going to begin pilgrimages to the dog’s home in order to view its ass? Will they dare to kiss it?

Scandalrama!

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As the Teapublican House, led by witch-hunter-in-chief, Darrell Issa, looks under every rug and in every nook and cranny for dirt on Fast & Furious, Benghazi, Tea Party applications for non-profit status, the NSA, and anything else that can be used as a hammer against the Obama administration, the real work of Congress languishes.

The House still has not resolved the federal budget and the debt ceiling. It has not yet brought sanity to the nonsensical sequester cuts. It has not proposed a single bill to create jobs and lower unemployment. It has not proposed a bill to rebuild and modernize our infrastructure. It has not yet passed a bill to reduce or eliminate the waiting time for veterans’ benefits. It has not yet passed an immigration bill.

The House has not considered tax reform to eliminate loopholes that would prevent multinational corporations to stash cash in offshore tax havens. It has not passed a bill to end the senseless gun violence. It has not passed a bill to close loopholes in background checks or to control the straw buyers who provide guns to gangs and drug cartels. It hasn’t even proposed a solution for climate change caused by increasing CO2 emissions.

Teapublican congressional representatives have largely ignored all substantive issues. Instead, they have focused on trumped-up “scandals,” the repeal of “Obamacare” and a myriad of restrictive social issues all revolving around women’s vaginas. As always, they seem fascinated by the “evils” of sexual orientation and the rights of the unborn.

Meanwhile, they ignore the rights and the needs of the already living.

Post Racial America?

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On the anniversary of the murder of civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, his wife, Myrlie Evers-Williams, was interviewed on Politics Nation with Rev. Al Sharpton. Although acknowledging that much has changed since that day 50 years ago, Myrlie Evers-Williams said, “Jim Crow is still alive and it’s dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit, instead of a white robe.”

I believe that statement to be all too true.

Despite the fact that we have a president of African-American heritage, there are still racist attacks. As pointed out by Evers-Williams, on the night that President Obama was re-elected, there was rioting on the University of Mississippi campus. Across the country, Tea Party rallies have displayed racist representations of President Obama along with the battle flag of the Confederate States of America. Teapublican-dominated legislatures have put in place voter ID laws designed to suppress minority votes. African-Americans are arrested at a rate many times that of white Americans for drug use. As a result, our prisons are over-flowing with minorities. Teapublican politicians are determined to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, which is often the only medical provider in minority neighborhoods. And African-Americans are still arrested for “driving while black” in some cities and neighborhoods.

Post racial? I don’t think so.

Certainly, we have come a very long way since June 12, 1963. But we have a very long way to go until we have ended racism in the United States.

How Quickly We Forget!

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A new poll by Gallup has found that 49 percent of Americans now view President George W. Bush favorably, while 46 percent view him unfavorably. Assuming that the poll is more accurate than Gallup polls from the 2012 election, it would seem to indicate that 49 percent of Americans are either uninformed, misinformed or blissfully ignorant. The only other possible explanation is an epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder!

What exactly did Dubya do that could be considered good?

Was it the fact that he used his brother’s position as governor of Florida to steal the 2000 election? Was it his failure to pay attention to pre-9/11 warnings of a terrorist attack? Was it his campaign of lies and misinformation leading up to the Iraq War? Was it his apparent disinterest in completing the mission in Afghanistan? Was it his administration’s failure to regulate our nation’s largest financial institutions leading to an economic collapse? Was it his policies that led to the loss of millions of jobs? His bailout of the too-big-to-fail banks?

Was it Dubya’s embrace of “extraordinary renditions,” torture, no-bid contracts to military suppliers, or warrantless wiretaps? Was it his administration’s failure in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? Was it his administration’s embrace of the oily executives who control our nation’s energy policies?

Yes, by all means, let’s sit back and, through the haze of fading memories, fondly remember those halcyon days of incompetence, corruption and abject failure.

Rx For Economic Depression And World War.

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Last week, the Romney-Ryan campaign released its plan for the transition of power from the Obama administration had they won the 2012 election as they expected. Titled the Romney Readiness Project 2012, the 138-page report reads more like a plan to destroy our nation than to lead it forward.

Among the recommendations were 20 percent across-the-board tax cuts for individuals and 10 percent cuts for corporations. The plan also recommended eliminating labor agreements in federal contracts, eliminating regulations on Big Coal and Big Oil, repealing “Obamacare” while quietly maintaining its cuts to Medicare, cutting Medicaid by offering block grants to states, and “voucherizing” Medicare.

As for foreign relations, the report recommended restoring military funding to pre-sequestration levels, confronting China’s trade policies and designating it as a currency manipulator, sustaining troop levels in Afghanistan beyond 2014, asserting US military might in Syria, and confronting Russia over human rights and its support of Syria and Iran.

In other words, Romney would have dramatically cut revenues while greatly increasing expenses (And you thought Teapublicans were concerned by deficits!).  At the same time, he would have tried to bully other nations, including some of our allies.

By re-electing President Obama, we very likely dodged a bullet…literally!

How The Wealthy Avoid Taxes.

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Last fall’s presidential election shed light on the issue of offshore tax havens. Thanks to the fact that, as a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney was forced to reveal his income tax returns, many people now better understand how the world’s wealthiest people avoid taxes by stashing their often ill-gotten fortunes offshore.  According to the Tax Justice Network, up to $32 trillion in assets are stashed in a country where the owner of those assets has no legal or tax residence.

The primary reasons for sending assets offshore? Tax avoidance and money laundering.

Most of the countries housing the assets are chosen for their secrecy, their low tax rates and willingness to help the wealthy get around the laws of their own countries. Of course, Switzerland is the most famous of these tax shelters and, not surprisingly, the largest in terms of offshore assets. Others, in descending order, are Hong Kong/Singapore, Ireland/Channel Islands, Caribbean/Panama, the United Kingdom, the United States (yes, some time in the 1980’s, we changed our tax laws to create tax havens for non-US citizens), Monaco/Dubai/Luxembourg and assorted other playgrounds for the rich.

An investigative series on offshore money by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists exposed the extent of “the global offshore money maze.” And it’s not just shady business tycoons who take advantage of offshore tax havens. Those who stash their money in other countries include royal families, bankers, celebrities, lawyers, politicians, doctors, publishers, mercenaries, hackers, drug lords and more.

The practice may not be illegal. But it is unethical and highly destructive to the countries where the money was obtained. Meanwhile, people like you and me make up for the taxes the wealthy avoid.