Congress: A Confederacy of Dunces

It's no wonder the US is sliding toward oblivion. The US Congress is packed with idiots, cowering codependents, drunks, senile cranks, corporate minions, psychopaths and criminals, with a tiny band of exceptions (notably the black caucus, Jim Jeffords, Ben Cardin, Dennis Kuchinich and a few others). Why is it so few reasonable human beings opt to run for - and/or are elected to - Congress? The guality of most state and city governments is so superior to that in Washington now that it is scary - like living in the shadow of a teetering inverted pyramid.

Look at the track record of this pack of misfits! You want anything from them, just make either a terror-inspiring or feel-good speech and it's yours, no questions asked, no facts required. These are the folks who gave us, quivering and cowering, the Patriot Act. The folks who gave us, for that matter, John Ashcroft by approving, despite buzzers and bells blaring, his nomination. These are the folks who, after singing "God Bless America," teary-eyed, on the Capitol steps, disgraced America's ideals of fairness and gave us the war in Afghanistan, though all the known guilty in 9/11 were Saudi nationals. The folks who, after seeing the carnage and cost of the war in Afghanistan, and seeing not one shred of reasonable proof of Al Queda ties to Iraq, or of an active WMD program there, gave us the war in Iraq.

When it comes to inanity and self-interest, however, no one can top Congress. This is also the same group that gave us months and months of hearings focused on Monica Lewinsky's blue dress and talent with cigars. The same group that allowed French Fries to be renamed in one of their cafeterias as a show of "patriotism." The same group that votes themselves nearly bi-annual outrageous pay raises - while failing to pass a minimum wage hike in nearly seven years. The same group that calls social security and other benefits earned by citizens after decades of work as "entitlements," while they themselves enjoy one of the most lavish pension schemes in America in exchange for even two to four years part time work. This is the group that, in the wake of revelations that scores of Americans and thousands of Iraqis died in a war they sanctioned based on false evidence, gushed like aging groupies over a slick salespitch by Tony Blair ("progressive" Diane Feinstein was particularly pathetic). The same group that, while sitting in air-conditioned offices, approved awarding con artist/pssible murderer (see story below) Tony Blair the Congressional Medal of Honor while thousands of Americans swelter in 110-degree heat in Iraq, laying their lives on the line EVERY MINUTE.

Yep, that's the United States Congress. I, for one, believe America deserves better.

READ IT AND WEEP: Today's News Notes

White House Uses Drudge to Smear ABC Reporter Jeffrey Kofman: Is This a Government or the 'National Enquirer'?

In Today's "Reliable Source" in the Washington Post, Lloyd Grove reveals the White House's "National Enquirer"-style hot line to Matt Drudge. Drudge, of course, professes to be "hardhitting" and "unbiased." (Yeah, and the Godfather is really Santa Claus).
When ABC News' Jeffrey Kofman covered a story this week on the plummeting morale of US troops, the White House called Drudge to provide him with a smearing tip: Kofman is both gay and a Canadian. And, being a good White House minion but a very bad journalist (we like to assume good journalists have some ethics), Drudge regurgitated his "inside scoop" to the public - as did the Post, through Grove. But this is typical rightwing 'ethics' - whether a man is gay or from Canada is more important than whether that man is telling the truth.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8158-2003Jul17.html





Bush Forces Tuition Costs Up, Low- and Mid-Income Students Pay - and Sallie Mae Profits Soar

The giant corporation known as SLM, or "Sallie Mae" which serves as student loan monger to the U.S., is reaping a huge profit this quarter thanks to G. W. Bush and his good buddy Bob Ehrlich. Bush is systemmatically starving state governments, while Ehrlich has using the loss of revenue as an excuse to screw mid- and low-income citizens by trashing social programs and raising state college tuition. While the national average tuition hike has been 12.5, under Ehrlich, MD tuition just soared 20% in one year. What the Ehrlich tuition hike amounts to is a great big fat gift to the SLM corporation. Sallie Mae execs are gushing with enthusiasm over their soaring profits and say they look forward to burgeoning coffers for many years now, to come. Meanwhile, as low-income students are closed out of college at one end of their education, the GOP - with Ehrlich helping to lead the charge -is laying plans to choke off opportunities at the other end, by trashing Head Start. Ask Ehrlich and he'll claim that the GOP doesn't plan to trash Head Start - merely "improve" it by privatizing it. Of course, we all know what privatization means: more money to "administrative officials" at the expense of money spent on kids. Privatization of prisons, as an example, has been a pathetic disaster that has given birth to some of the most Stalaf-like hell holes in the Western Hemisphere. Yet we're supposed to hand our most vulnerable little citizens over to this "improved system?"


Excerpt from a 2000 report by prison on the "success" of prison privatization


 "The private prison industry caught the national media spotlight almost two years ago when six prisoners from Washington, D.C., (five of them murderers) escaped from a Corrections Corporation of America prison in Youngstown, Ohio.  It came to light that two prisoners had been murdered and at least 20 more were stabbed during the first year of operations at that facility.   In late 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a major report criticizing  many operational shortcomings that contributed to the disaster at the Youngstown facility.  Concerns included staffing deficiencies, poor security procedures, and problems with the misclassification of prisoners.  Litigation stemming from these problems resulted in a landmark settlement involving both monetary damages and a total restructuring of the prison’s policies and practices in regard to staffing, classification, medical care, and monitoring of prison conditions." see www.oregonafscme.com/corrections/private/prison_privatization.htm
for full report

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8433-2003Jul17.html



British Doctor who Told BBC that Blair had Doctored Iraq Dossier Has Apparently Been Found Murdered

British authorities say they believe a body found this morning in Oxfordshire is that of Dr. David Kelly, a WMD expert who broke the story of how the Blair dossier on Iraq had been doctored. How convenient for this apparent murder to have occurred during the very 48 hour period that Tony Blair is well removed from the scene of the crime, eh? The British government is already defending itself: "The ministry said Dr Kelly had at no point been threatened with suspension or dismissal for speaking to Mr Gilligan," reports the BBC, "'It was made clear to him that he had broken civil service rules by having unauthorised contact with a journalist, but "that was the end of it", said a spokesman." Or...was it the end of Dr. Kelly?


news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3076801.stm


White House Shows Its 'Gratitude" to Troops: Pentagon Vows to Punish any GI Who Dares Speak Out on Iraq Debacle

In Scott Mclellan's inaugural news conference this week, Helen Thomas asked him how the White House felt about the soldiers speaking out on their grim situation in Iraq to reporters. McClellan, oiler than Ari but more arrogant and nastier, babbled about how grateful the White House was to our troops - then cut her off roughly, refusing to answer her question. Now the truth comes out: the White House "gratitude" to our troops will be shown in punishments to any soldier who dares to try to speak the truth to reporters about the debacle that is now Iraq. How about a show of REAL gratitude, Bushfeld? Bring our troops home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


New White House 'Letters to the President' E-mail System Designed to Intimidate and Thwart any Opposing Viewpoints

"Do you want to send an e-mail message to the White House?" askes NY Times John Markoff, "Good luck. In the past, to tell President [sic] Bush — or at least those assigned to read his mail — what was on your mind it was necessary only to sit down at a personal computer connected to the Internet and dash off a note to president-AT-whitehouse.gov.But this week, Tom Matzzie, an online organizer with the A.F.L.-C.I.O., discovered that communicating with the White House had become a bit more daunting. When Mr. Matzzie sent an e-mail protest against a Bush administration policy, the message was bounced back with an automated reply, saying he had to send it again in a new way.Under a system deployed on the White House Web site for the first time last week, those who want to send a message to President Bush must now navigate as many as nine Web pages and fill out a detailed form that starts by asking whether the message sender supports White House policy or differs with it."


www.nytimes.com/2003/07/18/technology/18MAIL.html

Murdoch's SKY News Faked an Entire Newscast During Iraq War - Is It the Tip of the Media Lies Iceberg?

ABC.net.au reports: "Two journalists from Sky News have been suspended over allegations that they "faked" a television report from a British Royal Navy submarine during the Iraq war.The report purported to show the preparation and firing of a cruise missile from HMS Splendid. But a BBC documentary crew filming on board at the same time said it had been specially staged for the benefit of Sky's camera and no missile was fired." Of course, this is just the fake report that was actually caught - how many more were faked, by FOX, CNN, NBC and other propaganda outlets?

www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s904300.htm