After the Democratic victories in the mid-term elections this year, my thoughts turned to the future and finally having some checks on the dictatorial leadership that we currently have occupying the White House. While I know that Congressional investigations take a long time and are about as exciting as watching paint dry, I thought that I might be able to find some more information about Watergate and the investigations that transpired. The Nixon Administration and the resulting Watergate investigations are the closest precedent that I could imagine for what we are going through now.

I thought that I might be able to find a blueprint or guide for what I feel is going to transpire, HAS to transpire, in the coming months. What I found was a copy of the Senate Select Committee’s report, better known as the Ervin committee report named after the chair of the committee, Senator Sam Ervin. I jumped right in and thought I might find a few things here or there, or at least an idea on how investigations might proceed. What I found instead was shocking to me.

This report should be required reading for anyone seriously debating whether or not George W. Bush should be impeached. I started marking pages and folding over pages every time I found something that could be directly related to our current condition. My copy of the report is starting to look tattered with all of the bent over pages and markings on so many pages. The similarities are absolutely shocking. Some of the names are the same and many of the tactics employed then are being employed on the nation now. Many of the issues from that time are still with us, election reform, corporate money in elections, dirty tricks, vote siphoning, robo-calling style election fraud, warrant-less wiretapping, etc etc etc.

My marker started working right at the introduction of the report. Senator Howard Baker spoke about election reforms, reforms that are still needed this day. One of his recommendations that struck me as so common sense that I really can’t believe that it hasn’t been implemented yet was to have automatic registration. On page 23 of the report, Senator Baker suggested that we needed to overcome the cynicism against politics by implementing a policy of automatically registering a citizen at the age of 18. This way, voters were not faced with complex registration processes that would disenfranchise them. (Ken Blackwell anyone?) The suggestions and my head nodding in agreement continued throughout.

The report goes on to discuss in detail the day to day operations and inter-twining of bad guys and their intentions to disrupt the political system and protect an Imperial President from the Constitution of the United States. Sound familiar? Make sure to write down all of the names that you read about that are currently working in or near the White House again. It’ll shock ya!

Get this report and start reading while you’re waiting for the real thing to happen. This will give you the historical perspective you’ll need and insight into what is happening as it happens. This IS going to happen and I want to understand as much of it as possible. I’d suggest the same to all of you. The best part, you can get this report for under 2 bucks!

The Senate Watergate report:
http://product.half.ebay.com/The-Senate-Wa...

What is that old saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results or something along those lines.

It somewhat amuses me to hear all of the discussion and hub-bub about having a "surge" of troops to help quell the violence recently. If we just had a few thousand more troops, everything would be great!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/world/mi...



Then there's good ole boy Senator McCain:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...



It just strikes me with deja vu to hear these discussions, it almost seems like I've heard these stories somewhere before.

From May 2004

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmus...



From Nov. 2004

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1119/p03s01-...




There are tons more articles, but you get the idea. We've been told for the last several years that just a few additional thousand troops will quell the violence. It always seems that the magic number is 20,000-30,000 troops. The end result is that nothing changes, the violence grows, and more soldiers die needlessly in Iraq.

Why does the media continue to spew back the same ideas to us over and over again and expect us to believe that this time things will be different? This time things will go right.....maybe this time.....

to want to rush past the bad things that have happened in this country hoping to get back to a status quo. Remember, Gerald Ford had much the same idea of reconciliation, putting the whole mess in the past,and letting the nation heal.

http://www.watergate.info/ford/pardon.shtm...

"Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."

Look what avoiding the dark and dirty task of investigating the crimes and holding people accountable for those crimes against this nation only lead us to, cutting off the plant but leaving the roots firmly in place.

Then from those roots we got Iran-Contra. Again we looked the other way and avoided impeachment, for the sake of the nation. We cut down the re-grown plant. Then we got the Dubya administration, the same plant from the exact same roots.

If we avoid investigating and finally holding these people accountable, it will just be a matter of time and that plant will grow so strong and so tall that we might not be able to cut it down again. It might overgrow our Constitution and choke out the last remnants of Liberty that we have.

We have to learn the lessons of the past. We just can't afford to ignore it any longer.

Based on your writings H2OMan, I was inspired to start reading the Ervin report on Watergate to see what roadmaps we might have there. In just the first few pages, I saw many of the same issues and some great ideas to help that would still be useful today from election reform to seperation of powers. Thanks for the inspiration.

So I got the DNC grassroots email about having your donation matched by another grassroots donor which I'm sure everyone got. Well, today is my payday so I had a few bucks to donate.......

I went to the website through the email link and felt pretty good about having my little donation doubled by someone else and got this and I'm not sure if it's one of our guys trying to be funny or if it's some damn dirty freeper screwing up the system.

I submit my donation and then get the confirmation screen where you get to see who matched your donation and get a chance to send them an email if you want. This is what I get after my donation.


Get this:

Thank you for your contribution. Each year, tens of thousands of people from across the country make the decision to support the Party and Democratic candidates. Today you stood up and added not only to the Party's available resources, but to the larger sense of community and civic responsibility that we as Democrats stand for.

As part of that community, a Democratic donor agreed to match your contribution today. Their information appears below, and you have the opportunity to send a message to the person who is matching you. If you like, you can exchange information and build a longer-lasting relationship -- or, you can move on without sending a message at all.

Again, thank you for your support.

Your contribution has been matched by:
Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan

A message to you from the person who matched your contribution:
With Democrats in charge of the Congress, America will run like dogs from Iraq. What a glorious day for jihad that will be! Defeat the infidels. Vote Democratic in '06!


What a bunch of friggin animals!

far seperated from reality do you have to be? Aren't they tired of making excuses for every GOP foul up yet? It's got to be draining to come up with these stories on a daily basis.

The teenagers were consenting adults?? The age of consent in DC is 18, not 16 and not 17.

The Democratic party was holding on to these messages? Brian Ross said it was a GOP operative.

Would you be defending a teacher at school who sent these kind of messages to your 16 or 17 year old kid? Or would you be screaming for their head on a pike?

The messages are very similar so they must be fake or doctored. Guess what?? Child predators have a method to their ways. They have grooming techniques that they hone and perfect, so if it worked for one kid, and you know it did, then he'd repeat that to get his next conquest.

It's amazing what the 30% will force themselves to believe.

seems to have an Ax out when it comes to problems. Hey, Katrina was a bungle? Well let's further liquidate FEMA. Public education doesn't work? Let's outsource education to profit driven corporations. Hey, Congressmen can't keep their hands off of the pages? Hey, let's just get rid of a program that allows young people to get started in a life of public service. Gas prices are killing the economy? Heck, just shrug our shoulders and claim we are all victims of the "free market". Terrorism got ya down? Heck, it was all Clinton's fault!

Where and when exactly does the GOP EVER have a plan? Anytime there's a problem, they run and hide and point fingers. I never hear any kind of plan from them about anything. The GOP simply doesn't have a clue about how to govern let alone solve a problem.

Today has actually been a shock to me, the last 5 years on this date...I've not really batted an eye at "that" anniversary. It was just another day with a few mentions here or there on what happened on this date but I never REALLY got back to that time or place in 2001.

This morning I turned on my tv and caught my morning dose of CNN. I caught a mention that they would start playing the video, minute by minute, of "that" day. My conscience twinged a bit and continued to bother me for the drive to work. I've kept the same schedule since "that" day, so I was on the road at approximately that same time on that same day. My mind started to wander to "that" day as I retraced my steps and started to relive those events again.

I remember, it was one of the more perfect weather days that I can remember in my lifetime. Back in those days, there was no Air America, and I hadn't had time to truly understand the incompetence that had befallen our fair government, so I was tuned in to the local sports station in my truck. The big topic for that day, would Michael Jordan be coming out of retirement? I remember when such weighty topics used to be my focus...."Oh God, just one more chance to see Michael slam dunk, please?"

I got into the office and started by day, just like any other day. About 45 minutes into the work day, I heard the initial chatter..."Hey someone crashed into the WTC...It had to have been a Cessna..." Slowly, my day started to fall apart from there. I remember the reports starting to come in over the radio. The reports were vague and full of distortions. There were phantom jets all over the country. The Sears Tower was being evacuated. There were car bombs going off every where. It was a surreal time. I jumped on to the internet to see what was being said and every major web site was blank at first, but then eventually started to come back with stripped down graphics. The picture of that burning tower....the picture of the second jet just before impact. I remember thinking the country was under attack and here I am sitting in an office. How bizarre can this get? I should be doing something, what if "they" are attacking us in the streets now? My boss, unphased by any of it, called me into our project meeting. Just another day you know? I went outside for a smoke after awhile and remember just staring into the sky. How calm and peaceful it was, just like nothing happened.

The replay of "that" day was running through my head this morning as I clicked on the CNN replay feed and started to watch the news of "that" day. I watched for about an hour or so before I started to feel that same anxiety wash over me, I was transported back 5 years to that day. Then I got angry and clicked it right off. My anger boils over at this point. MY country isn't like this. The US of A never used to be afraid like this. I'm ticked off that at every turn, the media, the President, anyone with a microphone has told us how scared we should be. Doesn't anyone realize by now, after five stinking long years that a leader would have picked us up off of the mat, dusted off our clothes, punched us in the shoulder and said "it's ok, it's time to move on now". "You don't need to live in fear, let your leaders do that for you, we are doing our best to protect you." Instead, we float like a rudderless ship, the person at the helm keeps screaming "We're all gonna die! Die I tell ya! Everyone RUN!".

Little did I know how things would turn out 5 years later. I had no idea that every day for the next 5 years I would hear about September 11, 2001 in some way, shape or form. I had no idea that our government would work so hard to keep that surreal sense of fear and numbness that I felt that day so real and fresh in my mind.

My feeling about this anniversary? I yearn for the peace and prosperity of September 10th, 2001. I yearn for the sense of fellowship, around the world, that we were a part of on September 12, 2001. Most of all? I look forward to November 7th, 2006. That's when I can help to throw that crazy person at the helm over board and put leaders back in charge. Most of all....I refuse to be afraid.

I always check out the Bloomberg website to get the latest stock market data. Recently, I've decided to check out a few of the "Opinion" columns. I've noticed that it must be shockingly easy to get a high-paying job writing opinion columns.

1) You don't need any working knowledge of economics
2) You just need to parrot what you heard Sean Hannity say last night
3) If you missed Sean Hannity, just catch Bill O'Reilly a bit later on

Why do I get a college education anyways? Why do I actually put in hardwork?

Case in point:

A few days ago Kevin Hassett, the director of everybody's favorite, American Heritage Institute, had this to say:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...

Target the Deficit

There is an easy target: the budget deficit.

Profligate spending has pushed the deficit to historic heights, and spending restraint can easily bring it back. Republicans should promise voters they will balance the budget by fiscal year 2009, which we would talk about in the 2008 election year, if given the chance to remain the majority party.

That might sound like a tall order, but it isn't. Revenue has been picking up, and the budget would be balanced by fiscal 2009 if Republicans could freeze spending at its current level and cut an additional $26 billion. Given that government spending has increased by 56 percent since 2000, a simple freeze ought to be relatively easy to navigate.

Imagine how the conversation would change if Republicans took that step. Democrats would complain about the terrible damage that would ensue if government would shrink slightly, reminding voters that they are ideologically the traditional party of big government. And Republicans could have a field day picking out egregious things to cut.

And today, Bloomberg offers this tasty opinion column.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...

If a Deficit Falls in the Forest, Do You Hear It?: Amity Shlaes

Yet such details obscure the larger meaning of the deficit change. The new data supply evidence that President George W. Bush is right: lowering tax rates doesn't cause deficits, and can even diminish them. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is forging through a whole forest of difficulties right now -- the war, higher energy prices, a cooling housing market.

The narrowing deficit of 2006 is worth noting. To find your way out of the woods, you have to know what goes on inside them.

Take a look at these two opinion columns and you'll see the emerging message. The terrible economy is A) Not caused by tax cuts B) The deficit isn't all that bad,it's getting better now don't you see? (Hey Amy, how's the overall debt picture look?) C)The economy is only bad because Dubya is too much of a socialist and is spending way too much on social programs.

This is what's coming folks, we need to spread the word far and wide. The Republicans are setting up the message to continue their policies of economic "stay the course" and apply as many tax breaks as possible no matter what the situation may actually look like in the land of reality that so many of us live in.

In the meantime, I'm going to start writing my Bloomberg opinion piece and see if I can get my piece of the Bloomberg pie. I'm going to start it out by copying and pasting some of Sean Hannity's transcripts. Woo Hoo, big money here I come!

detached from reality? Well, check this out:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...

Republicans' Best Hope? Stop Imitating Democrats:

snip-

Why might core Republican voters be dispirited? The answer is obvious. Republicans promised voters a lean and efficient government, and they delivered the opposite. The size of the government has increased more since Bush took office than it did during Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. This Republican government has been among the most liberal with taxpayers' dollars of any in history.

Part of the story is the war on terror, but there is much more to it. Republicans have governed as if they could maintain a permanent majority by merely giving voters all the big-spending liberal programs that Democrats have always promised, like prescription drugs. They have out-liberaled the liberals.

New Heights

Republicans took the strategy to new heights last week, when they made a sharp increase in the minimum wage a centerpiece of legislation that also would have reduced the death tax. The minimum wage has been the bane of Republicans for as long as I can remember, because it strikes them at their ideological core.

Republicans used to understand that the government should let free markets work and intervene as little as possible. Now, their core election strategy is to abandon principle and be as socialist as possible.

The predictable result: Democratic voters have given them no credit for the conversion, probably because they are so upset about Iraq, and Republicans have decided to stay home, since no party seems to speak to them anymore.

-snip

Well folks, here's our chance to get the back of Ambassador Wilson. Let's do it!

http://wilsonsupport.org /


To help Ambassador Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson pay for the substantial legal costs associated with the illegal leaking of Mrs. Wilson’s classified CIA status. This includes:

Counseling them for their potential witness testimony during the upcoming trial of Scooter Libby; and


Helping them to prepare for a civil suit that would uncover the truth surrounding the leak, ensure all relevant public officials are held accountable for actions depriving the Wilsons of their privacy and constitutional rights, and serve as a deterrent to similar crimes being committed in the future.
Should the civil action result in a payment to Joe and/or Valerie Wilson that is in excess of all costs associated with their legal activities, the equivalent of all monies contributed to the Trust will be returned to the Trust. All Trust money will then be distributed by the trustees to a charitable organization(s) that works to protect government whistleblowers’ First Amendment rights and helps to defend them from retaliatory action.

Just read the TPM posting about the NSA spy plan and the gut feeling that Josh Marshall has about a third party vendor being involved. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/... Could ChoicePoint be that vendor? Last night while driving home, I heard ChoicePoint's PR guy on the radio with Randi Rhodes on Air America. She was grilling him fairly well about what ChoicePoint does and doesn't do but I think she missed one point that stuck out in my mind. The PR guy, Mr. Lee I believe it was, said that ChoicePoint doesn't collect phone records, medical data, credit reports, etc etc. He said that they simply verify information for consumer agencies like stores and employers doing background checks. He made a few points very clear, they don't COLLECT the sensitive private data that we are all worried about, BUT he did NOT say that ChoicePoint would not take that data that had been collected by another agency and use that to verify and provide reports back to the government just like they do with information provided by an employer to be verified by ChoicePoint, he used an example of an employee filling out a job application, and then ChoicePoint uses the data provided on the application to run verifications. He also mentioned that ChoicePoint sells software, could they be providing software to "lay" over the top of an NSA database? Could the NSA be providing phone records or could the phone companies be providing phone record data directly to ChoicePoint? ChoicePoint then gets to deny providing sensitive data and the phone companies get to deny providing sensitive data directly to the NSA.

The careful parsing of language and non-denial denials that I've been hearing lately have made me acutely paranoid about what these companies are saying and made me start to look for the angle. This is what I've been thinking about. Am I that far off base?

Mr. President, I know a lot of folks have been hard on you for every little thing lately. I just wanted to take this moment to say thank you. Thank you for making some very fundamental changes in my life which have made me a much different man then I was back in 2001.

Prior to your coming into office, I was a very careless man. Yes, I took time to read up on politicians prior to elections and tried to make the best decision about who to vote for based on what they’ve done in the past, not solely on their party affiliation. That means I voted for some Republicans in my past. I was even rooting for McCain to win the nomination instead of you. But now, I know that John McCain could have never changed me in the ways you have. Now it will be a long time before I vote for a Republican, because I realize through my not paying close enough attention, I let you and your party take over my country. I promise sir, I will NEVER let that happen again. NEVER. You’ve given me a new sense of vigilance that I will never let go of. I will always search out every last bit of information on a political candidate, because to not do so, means a repeat of the last 5 years. Thank you, Mr. President. I even canceled both of my newspaper subscriptions so I could use that money to become a monthly sustaining member of the DNC so that the Democratic Party could be strong enough to stand up to ideologues like you and keep them out of office in the future. Before you, I never donated money to any political campaign.

Allow me to elaborate on the changes you’ve made in my life. I’ve lived on my own for 16 years now. In those years, I used to be so careless about everything. When I wanted to drive, I just drove. I could always just put another 10 bucks in the tank, and get almost a full tank of gas. My wife and I used to just get in the car and take road trips for fun and to see new places. This year, we had to cancel our labor day road trip, because we couldn’t afford the gas. If we had gone, we wouldn’t have had any extra cash to enjoy ourselves, so we just stayed home. Now, we try to plan any of our trips so we aren’t making any unnecessary trips and saving gas. I’ve learned to keep my vehicles tuned, and the tires rotated and properly inflated, can’t waste a single mile per gallon now. Thanks to you sir, I’ve even started reading up on Bio-Diesel and Hybrid technologies. Thanks to you, I know that I need to do these things just to survive, but thankfully, those things are also good for the environment. Without you making things so tough, I’d have never known that.

In the past, I if my house got cold, I’d just turn on the heat until I felt comfortable. Heck, I could afford it, why should I be chilly? Even in the dead of winter, the gas bill was only 100 bucks at most. Now, my heating company is charging the highest rate that they have ever charged for natural gas. Thanks to you sir, I did my homework and learned about great ideas to avoid using heat in my home. Just the last few nights, it was in the high 30s and the low 40s and I can count the times my furnace turned on on one hand. Back in the old days, like 3 years ago, I would have turned on the heat to a nice 70-72 degrees, somewhere around there. Now, I’ve put a digital thermostat in and installed a 92% efficient gas furnace. I even installed a full house humidifier to make the house feel warmer than it really was. I have a new tower space heater that I carry from the living room to the bedroom. Anything I can think of to keep my furnace use to a minimum. If you hadn’t been so out of touch with the common man and made things so expensive, I’d have never known how to conserve all this energy. Before you came into my life, I never knew what a British Thermal Unit was or how much it should cost. Now I know the closing price for not only oil, but also natural gas. I also know the Dow Jones Industrial average. These are things I never cared about before. You sir have opened my eyes to a whole new world and for that, I thank you.

All of these things may seem trivial, but each one stacked on the other has forced me to re-evaluate every little aspect of my life. Those changes will make me a better man in the future and for that, I swear, I will never forget you George W. Bush.