New Frames

RFK Jr.: "Was the 2004 election stolen"

Rolling Stone Magazine has just published Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s article on how the 2004 election was stolen.  The evidence is damning and RFK Jr. has done a thorough and complete job on documenting it all.  A must read.

The truth about how legal immigrants feel

There seems to be an emerging myth out there that presumes legal immigrants in the US feel some animosity towards illegal immigrants.  The myth goes something like this: "I stood in line and followed the law.  They should too."  Even an article in yesterday's Oregonian added some fodder to this mythical fire:

...among Asians and African circles, in which the vast majority are legal migrants or refugees, opinions diverge: Significant numbers oppose legalization of the undocumented, saying it disrespects people who have entered the United States "the right way."

The phrase "significant numbers" obviously implies that a majority of legal immigrants feel this way, but the reporter of this article failed to provide any kind of background information to this supposed "factual" statement.  If the reporter, Angie Chuang, had done her research, she would have discovered that the opposite of her reporting was true.

Recent polls have shown that a majority of legal immigrants in the US support a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented workers.  Many feel that the immigration debate directly impacts them since much of the rhetoric has become "anti-immigrant" in nature.  One poll (audio), co-sponsored by New American Media found that 76% of legal Latino immigrants support legislation that would provide a path to citizenship, while 62% of European and African immigrants support such legislation and 51% of Asians do.

Another poll (audio) found that a majority of legal immigrants oppose a crack down on illegals, they find the dogmatic rhetoric threatening, they have little animosity towards the undocumented and generally have positive feelings towards them.

My husband, a legal immigrant from India, falls into those majority opinions and like most legals, has great sympathy for them in that they all have fundamental things in common, such as separation from their families and native homes, which is a feeling that runs deep in America's immigrants.  Although my husband's views, on their own, are not representative of the legal immigrant community, it doesn't surprise me that these polls demonstrate that his views are in the majority.

John Dean analyzes W's presidential personality type

Are you wondering if Bush is an active/positive prez like FDR?  Or a passive/positive like Reagan?  Or passive/negative like Thomas Jefferson?  Or maybe he's an active/negative like Woodrow Wilson, LBJ and Nixon... John Dean has an insightful piece on where Bush falls and why we are in more trouble than we realize as a result of W's type.

Frontline's "Tank Man"

Did anyone get a chance to watch PBS' Frontline yesterday evening?  It was a captivating episode about China since the 1989 Tienanmen Square protests through today and creatively wrapped around the "tank man."  Remember, the guy who, after hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured, suicidally stood in front of those Chinese tanks?

I was wondering if anyone else was as creeped out by this Frontline episode as I was?  I mean, here in America we're kind of given the story line that China's huge economic success is a great thing, but it was hard to believe that after watching Frontline last night.  We've almost forgotten that the Chinese government is still under one party Communist rule, but last night for those of us watching, we were reminded in stark detail how authoritarian the Chinese Communist government still is.

Its newly minted 250 million middle class citizens seem to live in a Matrix-esque kind of situation.  The government has enabled them to have their cars, cell phones, computers, fashions, etc. with the understanding that no one will decide to take the red pill.  And for those who do, Yahoo will help the Chinese government track down the IP addresses that are being used by red pill takers.  Google helps the government by preventing anyone from learning about the red pill and Cisco provides the networking capabilities for the government to find out if anyone is researching the red pill on the Internet.  Totally creepy.

A Frontline journalist showed the famous Tank Man photo to four Chinese university students, and not one of them had any idea what the photo was.  One thought maybe it was a parade.  The photo has been censored out of existence in China, and Google has helped make that possible.

As for the other 750 million Chinese citizens... well, it seems they've been left behind either in poverty stricken rural areas or poverty stricken urban areas where they work in sweat shops for slave wages, which usually get cut rather than raised because companies like Wal-Mart demand cheaper socks and bed spreads from the vendors who employ the sweat shop workers.

There is some seriously disturbing video clips in the Frontline episode.  What makes it even more disturbing is the fact that the US is so completely and utterly dependent on China's goods and debt financing.  So don't buy things made in China... oh, I forgot everything is made in China.

Kevin Phillips: must read commentary

Kevin Phillips, former Republican strategist for the Nixon administration, has written an outstanding piece of required reading, How the GOP Became God's Own Party.  In it he describes the toxic combination of alliances that have formed the modern Republican Party and how fearful Democratic leaders have done absolutely nothing to challenge this dangerous threat to the health of American democracy.  The focus of his commentary points to the rise of religious fundamentalism in GOP politics and why it is the most toxic ingredient in the party's axis of interests, which include:

...the oil-national security complex, with its pervasive interests; the religious right, with its doctrinal imperatives and massive electorate; and the debt-driven financial sector, which extends far beyond the old symbolism of Wall Street.
(a.k.a. oil, fundamentalism and debt)

According to Phillips, America's debt and oil dependency are bad enough in and of themselves, but add religious fundamentalism to the mixture and we're in for a world of hurt:

...more danger lurks in the responsiveness of the new GOP coalition to Christian evangelicals, fundamentalists and Pentecostals, who muster some 40 percent of the party electorate. Many millions believe that the Armageddon described in the Bible is coming soon. Chaos in the explosive Middle East, far from being a threat, actually heralds the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oil price spikes, murderous hurricanes, deadly tsunamis and melting polar ice caps lend further credence.

The potential interaction between the end-times electorate, inept pursuit of Persian Gulf oil, Washington's multiple deceptions and the financial crisis that could follow a substantial liquidation by foreign holders of U.S. bonds is the stuff of nightmares.

And to make matters worse, with fundamentalism playing such a vital role in the Republican Party, the party is successfully discrediting science, the very field of study that propelled America forward in the last century.  When science is discredited the reality of today's crucial challenges are not only ignored but dismissed as quackery:

These include Bible-based disbelief in Darwinian theories of evolution, dismissal of global warming, disagreement with geological explanations of fossil-fuel depletion, religious rejection of global population planning, derogation of women's rights and opposition to stem cell research.

...No leading world power in modern memory has become a captive of the sort of biblical inerrancy that dismisses modern knowledge and science.

Although Phillips briefly addresses the fact that this axis of danger has gone unchallenged by Democratic leaders, it's important to note that at the grass/netroots level there is a powerful opposition movement that is growing every month.  Without this in mind, it would be easy to fall into a serious depression about where this country is headed.  The new progressives leading this movement don't simply act as opposition they are also developing innovative ideas on how to get off the destructive path the modern GOP has put us on.

There are several events coming up that address these issues and compliment each other nicely, particularly in the order they are scheduled:  Kevin Phillips will be speaking at Powells this Friday the 7th at 7pm, and on Monday the founders of the progressive uber-blogs Daily Kos and MyDD will be promoting their book Crashing the Gate at Lucky Lab Brew Pub from 3:30 to 7pm.  They'll head over to Powell's for a book signing event at 7:30 and then top it off with an appearance at Rob Brading's (progressive Dem challenger to Oregon House Speaker Karen Minnis) campaign event at the McMenamin's Kennedy School.  You can be Kos Heads and follow them around to each event or just show up at one, preferably the Brading event where your support will be the most effective.

So at Phillips' event we can learn about the destructive GOP alliances and what they are doing to America, and at the Crashing the Gate events we can learn about what to do to put a stop to this craziness.

"Why We Fight"

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
(Dwight Eisenhower, January 1961)

If you haven't had the chance yet to see the outstanding documentary film by Eugene Jarecki, Why We Fight, figure out a way to see it ASAP.  Jarecki chronicles the build up of America's military industrial complex (a favorite term used by liberals but coined by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower in his famous 1961 Farewell Address) and how it has slowly been pulling the foundations of our constitutional democracy out from underneath us.

Jarecki shows us through a series of in depth interviews with former Pentagon officials, politicians, journalists and public policy analysts the clever ways in which the MIC is triumphing over the principles of democracy by 1) making every single state in the nation dependent on it and 2) weaving it into the symbols of our national heritage. 

Because every state now has a stake in the MIC, even liberal congressional representatives are put in positions where they have to choose between cutting MIC jobs in their states or continuing the MIC pork they receive.  In Oregon, of course, we saw what happened when we were threatened with proposed cuts to the local Air National Guard.  Our state's most liberal progressive representative, Earl Blumenaur, led the fight against the cuts.  And if representatives like Blumenaur supported cuts to the MIC, they would be labeled as unpatriotic, un-American, weak, unwilling to defend freedom and protect American jobs.

Just across the border in Washington state (a large stake holder in the MIC with Boeing in its midst) many Congressional representatives with Ds next to their names are the first to fight for increased spending for large defense contracts from the Pentagon, even though the fruits of those contracts yield defense products that are not necessary or are no longer relevant in today's world.

One might argue that these contracts provide our region with good jobs, and therefore we have no choice but to support our representatives in their quest to bring more MIC jobs to the Northwest.  But isn't that a false choice?  As Dwight Eisenhower so aptly alludes to in his famous MIC speech, when we over invest on the MIC, we fail to tend to the health and general welfare of our citizens and the democracy of which we are a part:

As we peer into society's future, we-you and I, and our government-must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

Jareck gracefully weaves Eisenhower's speech throughout the entire movie, leaving viewers astounded and befuddled at how Eisenhower's powerful warning has gone completely ignored by every single President and Congress since, no matter what letter, a D or R, sits next to their names.  Although Jareck demonstrates in Why We Fight, how this happened, you can't help but ask yourself as you walk out of the film, "How did this happen?"

Why We Fight will be playing in Portland at Cinema 21 through Feb. 16th.

Feds want Google data

Google has promised to "vigorously" fight the Bush administration on it's quest to get Google to turn over a "broad range of material":

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

This is being done under the guise of minors having access to internet porn.  But knowing this administration and it's insatiable thirst for spying, I wonder...  If Google loses, privacy advocates are screwed.

Instead of using Google, we'll be stuck with this.  Really!

Note to O's editors: Jack Abramoff is a Republican (updated)

I'm not sure what the editors at the Oregonian's editorial board were smoking when they came up with this lousy editorial about the massive corruption scandal surrounding uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  They have the audacity to suggest that Abramoff pushed his weight around within the Republican party simply because that was where the opportunities existed:

There's no question that Abramoff wormed his way deeply into the Republican power structure, whether because he was loyal to it or whether it was simply where the opportunity for influence was.

This ridiculous statement implies that Abramoff's influence wasn't about the current Republican power structure, but instead about his own desire for power.  Abramoff didn't "worm his way" into the GOP power structure, he helped create the current Republican power structure. 

Perhaps the O's editors are in denial, but Abramoff has been hard at work creating the Republican culture of corruption since he was in college.  He was elected chairman of the College Republican National Committee through a campaign managed by Grover Norquist (starve the beast - see Katrina aftermath) and Ralph Reed, Jr., former head of the Christian Coalition.  A law firm Abramoff once worked for described him as:

...directly involved in the Republican party and conservative movement leadership structures and is one of the leading fund raisers for the party and its congressional candidates.

How much more Republican can one get:  Grover Norquist?  Ralph Reed?  Chairman of the CRNC?  One of the leading fund raisers for the party?  And it's no surprise that both Norquist and Reed are part of the Abramoff investigation.

Then the O goes even further by suggesting this scandal is not a Republican one, but one that ensnares both parties:

...Abramoff contributed to candidates of both parties, proving again that greed doesn't vote a straight party ticket.

Ah, yes, there will be a few Dems caught up in Abramoff's stink, and the O's editors along with the rest of the MSM will surely put extra focus on those few in order to lull people away from the Republican culture of corruption meme that's beginning to take root in the American psyche.  But make no mistake about it, this is through and through a scandal brought to you by the Republican party and its operatives.

As Bloomberg News notes, all of Abramoff's own donations went to Republicans only:

Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show.

He directed his Indian tribal clients to give some money to Dems, but most of it went to Republicans:

At least 171 lawmakers got $1.4 million in campaign donations from the group [tribal clients.] Republicans took in most of the money, with 110 lawmakers getting $942,275, or 66 percent of the total.

The O's editorial board have turned themselves into Republican apologists by trying to muddy the waters on this.  Who are they trying to protect?  Certainly not the readers.  Maybe they have word that their darling Gordon Smith might be one of the 60 lawmakers Abramoff is fingering.  After all, it wouldn't be the first time Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Update:  Speaking of Gordon Smith, Jack Abramoff and cookie jars, Willamette Week has the scoop (link via Blue Oregon) 

No war on Christmas in liberal nations

How I envy those "godless socialist liberal" Swedes and Canadians!  You know, those people who have nationalized health care systems, gay marriage, affordable, if not free, university education, strict separation of church and state, and other perks that contribute to some of the world's highest literacy, longevity and low infant mortality rates... you know, you've heard of those countries, right? 

Well, those secular liberals got to celebrate Christmas this year in peace, goddamnit, and I'm pissed.  I'm particularly pissed at the Swedes who's Christmas celebrations last for nearly two months, totally in peace.

It's not fair!  Fundamentalist Christians in America need to travel to Sweden and Canada during the summer of '06 and inform the citizens in those countries that there is an official War on Christmas.  They can spend the summer training and teaching Canadians and Swedes how to convince their fellow citizens that there is a War on Christmas.  And in doing this they can expand on the WoC meme by creating a World War on Christmas meme (WWoC.)

If secular liberals in America who celebrate Christmas have to suffer through the holiday with the WoC meme, then those "godless socialists" in Canada and Sweden should be forced to as well.

At least we can all have fun on New Year's Eve!

Lang grab dropped from budget bill

The public land grab that had been quietly tucked into the federal budget bill got dropped from the bill.  A coalition of hunters, anglers and environmentalists helped put an end, for now, to the right-wing GOP dream of privatizing our treasured lands.  Hunters and environmentalists make strange bedfellows, but lately they've been waking up quite a lot next too each other... next to the campfire.