Res Publica

Slavery by Another Name

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

“However, James W. Marquart, Sheldon Ekland-Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen offer a more complex thesis. In their book, The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990,[5] they argue that Texas' execution rate reflects the Southern "cultural tradition of exclusion," and that "[s]uch exclusion was a basic element of the legacy of slavery."

http://latinousa.kut.org/898/

The Best and the Brightest

Colbert follows O'Reilly logic: "We've got to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are"

Colbert follows O'Reilly's logic: 'We've got to pretend Jesus was just as selfish as we are'

Elections 2010, The American Dream and the Dream Act, life is but a dream…

2010-12-18T05:14:00.000-08:00

In the end was the founding of this once admired republic, now just a has-been, over-reaching wannabe empire, ever more than just a dream? It is what we called it, no---the American Dream? Contrasted to rising empires, China and India it is almost as if ours is a Napoleon Complex.

No doubt it was a delusional undertaking. Consider men openly and brazenly declaring that “all men are created equal” while holding in one blood stained hand the chains of those enslaved and in the other the musket of genocide used to unburden the natives of their land.

Then consider that Euro-Anglo-Israelis took the entire hemisphere. Some took the northern, others the central and still others the southern segments of it---but it was all the same people, Euro-Anglo-Israelis.

The philosophy based on the man-made dogma of organized religion was to preach God’s love and salvation through commitment to a specific brand of Judeo-Christian dogma to those held in slavery, facing the fiery end of a musket or being dispossessed of their continent.

Two-hundred-thirty five years later here we are with women still earning approximately 75 cents for every dollar a man earns, Blacks and Hispanics barely scraping by and more likely to go to prison than college and gays permitted few if any of the rights accorded by the equal protection clause of the organic instrument upon which the nation is based.

Was it ever really more than just a dream?

My sentiments are with young undocumented Americans. Yes, Americans. If you reside anywhere in this hemisphere---guess what---you are American. You may not be a documented citizen of this once great republic known as the United States but you are American.

These young undocumented Americans simply desire to take their place in the system they serve as so many generations of other Euro-Anglo-Israeli immigrants have done before them. To that end these young undocumented American students held a sit-in reminiscent of the 1960’s activists. For their trouble they were arrested for sitting outside the office of Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison office here in San Antonio, Bexar County, she denies she had anthing to do with that.

At the same time there are generous, benevolent individuals in our nation. The mean-spirited, hateful kind seem to outnumber them. Not all are the gosh awful ones (GOPers, John Bohner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor) we see on the evening news, hear on radio or read on the Internet. Then there are those who I suppose through the power of suggestion have been lead to believe are more and better than the “illegal aliens” they seem to loathe. (That’s back to preaching love while practicing hate)

The few civil liberties we still have are in large measure the work of dedicated, fearless egalitarian activists from among the Euro-Anglo-Israeli immigrants to this land. Those activists are in some way connected to proposed legislation known as the Dream Act presently on the verge of being presented for a vote.

Whether or not it will pass I do not know. I do know that listening to even the temperate, moderate voices on NPR (National Public Radio) I hear a great deal of vitriol, invective and outright condemnation of those termed “illegal aliens.”

To listen to these angry “Americans” “illegal aliens” are criminals who entered the country illegally and should not be allowed any path to citizenship.

Listening to these angry Americans rail, rant and rave against the Dream Act anyone without knowledge of their history might think these angry Americans had sprouted from the ground on this hemisphere just after the Big Bang. Certainly they would not have cause to understand that these angry Americans sprang instead from the vast migrating mass of humanity that has circumnavigated the entire planet for millennia. Only because straight lines and right angles are so Euro-Ango-Israeli are we even having this discussion. (Do we not see the issues Israel’s fences are creating there? Do we not recall the long cold war advanced for the purpose of bringing down the Berlin Wall?)

Like the “illegal aliens” they condemn these angry Americans once entered this land illegally as well. And may I add that the mere fact that “processes” are put in place for accepted means of immigrating doesn’t mean there aren’t work arounds that have always been and will likely always be in place.

Every day, those of means are allowed into this nation as is almost anyone who can pitch a 90 mile an hour fast ball.

Perhaps it has been no more than “just a dream within a dream….”

More:

Police respond to DREAM Act rally (arrest students and perhaps a dream)

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/police_respond_to_dream_act_rally_111008674.html

Latino USA: American Dreamer: Sam’s Story

http://latinousa.kut.org/897/

This American DREAM

By James Kwak

Brad DeLong reminded me that the DREAM Act is being considered by Congress right now and has an outside chance of passage. If you are a Senator on the fence about this issue, or you work for one, you should listen to the last segment of this This American Life episode, starting about forty-six minutes in. It will break your heart.

Oh, and given that opposition has been basically along party lines: aren’t the people who would qualify for citizenship under the act natural Republican voters, anyway? Basically the act would reward people who pull themselves up by their bootstraps, without the benefit of federal aid. Or is that no longer what the Republican Party is about?

http://baselinescenario.com/

Status Affects Young Illegal Immigrants' Choices (tpr/totn/all things considered thur 16 dec 2010)

CONAN: Here's an email that we had from Wayne(ph) in Krakow, Wisconsin, writing when Citlalli Chavez was on the show. What this young lady and others like herself seem oblivious to and self-immune to is the simple fact that they are criminals, just by virtue of the fact that they are here illegally.
The U.S. has a system in place for becoming naturalized. It is not up to those who would like to circumvent this system to redefine it. Do you consider yourself a criminal?

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/16/132112116/status-affects-young-illegal-immigrants-choices

A Dream Within A Dream

America the Beautiful? Texas Red; fatal and spreading

Univision Shows Cell Phone Video Of Border Shooting

Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka , 15 student

Mexico anger high as US Border Patrol kills teen

Anastasio Hernandez, 32 father of five

Latino USA: American Dreamer: Sam’s Story

http://latinousa.kut.org/898/

http://latinousa.kut.org/897/

Royals? Royals? Royals, really? Royal what exactly? By virture of what?

UK says attack students made 'contact' with royals

They hit the car with sticks, fists and bottles and chanted "Off with their heads" before the vehicle pushed its way through the crowd and drove off.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_britain_royal_security

Latino USA

Movement on DREAM Act, Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Paco Ignacio Taibo II was born in Spain and moved to Mexico as a child. Today, he has made his name as one of Mexico’s most prolific writers, authoring everything from crime novels to historical accounts to biographies

http://latinousa.kut.org/911-2/

Protecting our Borders

http://www.youtube.com/user/NativismWatchTV?feature=pyv&ad=5506706371&kw=immigration#p/u/0/XvBwuAtetl4

A People's History of the United States – Howard Zinn

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-P-S/dp/0061965588/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290505605&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449

Slavery by Another Name

http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252

http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Justice-Rights-Violations-United/dp/0934936005/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282216290&sr=1-1

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

Probe Details Culpability Of Nazi-Era Diplomats

http://www.amazon.com/Powers-That-Be-David-Halberstam/dp/0252069412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290817555&sr=1-1

The Best and the Brightest

Report Details US Letting In Nazis After WWII

A report chronicling the history of the Justice Department's Nazi-hunting unit criticizes the government for knowingly allowing some Nazis to settle in the United States after World War II.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131317296

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Library of Congress/Religion

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html

DREAM Act Portal

http://dreamact.info

Public Policy: WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and the Jewish lobby

2010-12-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

We often hear about those “playing the race card.” We hear less but are affected more by those playing the “Holocaust” card.

I mention this in light of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. Many of Assange’s fiercest critics are also the most ardent supporters of Israel. It’s unlikely I’m the only one who’s noticed.

Whether Israel is justified in its aggressively arrogant and egregious conduct around the world is subject to debate. But, justifying the persecution of WikiLeaks by use of Israeli-like rationale is not just unacceptable it is unjustifiable and reprehensible.

Yet many of this nation’s most outspoken lapdogs of the oligarchs are encouraging what amounts to a McCarthy Era witch hunt and worse.

The same right-wing forces ironically foisting their “compassionate conservative Christian values” on the nation are now focusing their hateful diatribe on those who do not kow-tow to them.

“Once-liberal Democrat Bob Beckel said on FOX, “there's only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son-of-a-bitch.” Center-liberal legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said on CNN that Assange is “absurd", "ridiculous", "delusional", and "well beyond sympathy of anyone”. The Washington Times called for treating him as an "enemy combatant"; Rep. Peter King of the Homeland Security Committee who wants him prosecuted as a terrorist; and of course, Sarah Palin wants Assange "pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders", or a wolf in Alaska.

This is a lynch-mob moment, when the bloodlust runs over. We have this mad overreaction many times since the witch-burnings and Jim Crow, including the Palmer Raids of the 1920s, the McCarthy purges of the 1950s, the Nixon-era conspiracy trials, the Watergate break-ins, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11.”

http://tomhayden.com/home/the-lynch-mob-moment.html

As I prepare this blog I learn that Julian Assange has been released on bond from a London prison. This heartens but the nightmare is not over. The nightmare is not Assange’s alone.

“This week, Senators Joe Lieberman and Dianne Feinstein engaged in acts of serious aggression against their own constituents, and the American people in general. They both invoked the 1917 Espionage Act and urged its use in going after Julian Assange. For good measure, Lieberman extended his invocation of the Espionage Act to include a call to use it to investigate the New York Times, which published WikiLeaks' diplomatic cables. Reports yesterday suggest that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder may seek to invoke the Espionage Actagainst Assange…

I call on all American citizens to rise up and insist on repeal of the Espionage Act immediately. We have little time to waste. The Assange assault is theater of a particularly deadly kind, and America will not recover from the use of the Espionage Act as a cudgel to threaten journalists, editors and news outlets with. I call on major funders of Feinstein's and Lieberman;s campaigns to put their donations in escrow accounts and notify the staffers of those Senators that the funds will only be released if they drop their traitorous invocation of the Espionage Act. I call on all Americans to understand once for all: this is not about Julian Assange. This, my fellow citizens, is about you.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/post_1394_b_795001.html

More:

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has been released on bail with strict conditions.

WikiLeaks' Assange Released From Jail

The Guardian, Reuters and NPR's Philip Reeves are among those reporting that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hasbeen released from prison on bail in London.

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy^[1] is the title of a book by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, published in late August 2007. It was a New York Times Best Seller.^[2]
The book describes the lobby as a "loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to steer U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction".^[3] The book "focuses primarily on the lobby's influence on U.S. foreign policy and its negative effect on American interests".^[4] The authors also argue that "the lobby's impact has been unintentionally harmful to Israel as well".^[5]

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

The U.S. national interest should be the primary object of American foreign policy. For the past several decades, however, and especially since the Six Day War in 1967, the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering U.S. support for Israel and the related effort to spread democracy throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardized U.S. security.

http://mearsheimer.uchicago.edu/pdfs/A0040.pdf

MCM] Bradley Manning's detention is "cruel and unusual" (Glenn Greenwald)

The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention

Arianna Huffington: The Media Gets It Wrong on WikiLeaks: It's About Broken Trust, Not Broken Condoms

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-media-gets-it-wrong-o_b_797436.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=121610&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily+Brief

Julian Assange: Australia`s Gov`t Silent on Death Threats Against Citizens, Attacks Only One Messenger

Michael Moore, other high-profile individuals offer support to Assange

[MCM] Sweden doesn't prosecute REAL rape, but locks up Julian Assange (for "rape")

Sweden's Serial Negligence in Prosecuting Rape Further Highlights the Politics Behind Julian Assange's Arrest

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/post_1435_b_797188.html

We the taxpayers provide the State of Israel $2 billion in foreign aid annually.

Attorney: Swedish Case is a "Holding Charge" to Get Julian Assange Extradited to U.S.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/15/lawyer_alleged_swedish_sex_crime_is

[MCM] Columbia J-School profs urge Holder not to prosecute Assange

http://niemanlab.org/pdfs/columbiawikileaks.pdf

Attacks on WikiLeaks Violating the Law?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html

Air Force cutting off access to WikiLeaks news

http://mail.aol.com/32992-211/aol-1/en-us/Suite.aspx#

The Lynch-Mob Moment

Once-liberal Democrat Bob Beckel said on FOX, “there's only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son-of-a-bitch.” Center-liberal legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said on CNN that Assange is “absurd", "ridiculous", "delusional", and "well beyond sympathy of anyone”. The Washington Times called for treating him as an "enemy combatant"; Rep. Peter King of the Homeland Security Committee who wants him prosecuted as a terrorist; and of course, Sarah Palin wants Assange "pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders", or a wolf in Alaska.

This is a lynch-mob moment, when the bloodlust runs over. We have this mad overreaction many times since the witch-burnings and Jim Crow, including the Palmer Raids of the 1920s, the McCarthy purges of the 1950s, the Nixon-era conspiracy trials, the Watergate break-ins, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11.

http://tomhayden.com/home/the-lynch-mob-moment.html

6 Companies That Haven't Wussed Out of Working with WikiLeaks

As more and more companies bend under government pressure, a few are standing up for the site.

http://www.alternet.org/story/149142/

WikiLeaks founder Assange says Pentagon plans prosecution

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who angered Washington by releasing secret cables, said in a documentary on Sunday he faced prosecution by the United States and was disappointed with how Swedish justice had been abused.
Assange has been remanded in custody in Britain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Sweden, which wants to question Assange about allegations made by two women of sexual crimes. He has denied the allegations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_wikileaks_assange

The 9 Weirdest Things About the WikiLeaks Story

Elections Tax Cuts, negotiations, deficit, top 2%, 28 million unemployed, underemployed, DREAM ACT

2010-12-11T03:12:00.000-08:00

Since I graduated college (trust me a long time ago) there has been no real economic gain for me or any of the rest of the 98% plus Americans in the bottom 95% of our culture. Our earnings, our earning power has dropped 11%! And the top 2% want a tax break? Give me a break!

Hey but don’t take my word for it. There are some really smart guys out there that I trust and so share their words, concepts and ideas with you. (Scarier yet Obama is talking “fixing” the tax system! The smart guys say when that happens run for the hills---a lopsided economy is going to get even more so!)

Robert Reich: Why the Obama Tax Deal Confirms the Republican Worldview

Apart from its extraordinary cost and regressive tilt, the tax deal negotiated between the president and the Republicans has another fatal flaw.
It confirms the Republican worldview.
Americans want to know what happened to the economy and how to fix it. At least Republicans have a story -- the same one they've been flogging for thirty years. The bad economy is big government's fault and the solution is to shrink government.
Here's the real story. For three decades, an increasing share of the benefits of economic growth have gone to the top 1 percent. Thirty years ago, the top got 9 percent of total income. Now they take in almost a quarter. Meanwhile, the earnings of the typical worker have barely budged.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/post_1408_b_794177.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=120910&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily+Brief

What Is Wrong With Cutting Taxes?

By Simon Johnson

“The president and congressional Republicans have reached a deal that would cut taxes “for all Americans.” Their argument is that this package will stimulate the economy, create jobs and help lead to economic recovery and sustained growth.

This proposal, which seems likely to pass Congress, is not a good idea. Why? (To see me explain these points in a five-minute video, click here.) Vice President Dick Cheney said, loud and clear, in 2002: “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”

He was right that Ronald Reagan showed the Republican Party that you can get away with running significant deficits as a result of tax cuts – exactly the strategy of President George W. Bush.

But Mr. Cheney was completely wrong with regard to the implication that there are no economic consequences of sustained fiscal deficits.

I suggest you talk to the Greeks (now in the International Monetary Fund’s emergency ward) or the Portuguese (who are headed in that direction.) For that matter, listen to any policymaker in the European Union – they are all focused on bringing down deficits in a credible manner. And watch the European financial markets – people there are doubting and testing the fiscal credibility of all governments throughout the euro zone.

In fact, try persuading any responsible policy analyst anywhere in the world outside the United States that cutting taxes in the United States from current levels will boost growth so much that the cut will pay for itself” and end up reducing or at least controlling the fiscal deficit (the proposition of the Laffer Curve). You will be met great skepticism.

If the I.M.F. could speak truth to authority in the United States, it would tell you this most forcefully.”

http://baselinescenario.com/2010/12/09/8372/#more-8372

Apparently Obama is upset at people on the left for insisting on purity. In his view of the world, he drew a line in the sand: he was going to protect tax cuts for the “middle class,” and he succeeded. Maybe he did. Maybe we should be giving him credit for getting what he wanted. But if that’s the case, he’s drawing moderate-Republican lines in the sand. His priorities, as reflected in his policy decisions, are lower taxes (for everyone, not just the rich) and the smaller government that necessarily implies. And that’s why the left is angry.

http://baselinescenario.com/2010/12/08/more-on-the-tax-deal/#more-8362

Temporary Tax Cuts For The Rich? No.

Second, this is obviously — obviously — a setup. The whole point is to avoid a vote on the middle-class tax cuts while Democrats control the House; when and if Republicans regain control, they can refuse to let anything but a full extension reach the floor. So the goal is actually permanent extension; what they’re offering isn’t a compromise, it’s a trap.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/temporary-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-no/

Paul Krugman: Don’t Give In To GOP Blackmail. Let The Tax Cuts Expire

http://www.alan.com/2010/12/06/paul-krugman-dont-give-in-to-gop-blackmail-let-the-tax-cuts-expire/

Meanwhile from Bexar County so brave college students efforts notwithstanding the DREAM Act seems little more than that, a dream.

The Effort to Claim That Economists Support Obama's Capitulation on Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

William K. Black - You know the administration is desperate when it creates a web page citing economists who support its capitulation on taxes.
The web page cites the support of five economists. Peter Cardillo, the Bank of America, Greg Mankiw, and Wells Fargo (are the second through fifth economists on Obama's list). Who are these supporters and why is the administration proud of their support? Cardillo is an economist for an investment firm, Avalon Partners. Avalon's web site states that it specializes in "wealth management" for "affluent investors...to meet the unique needs of high net worth individuals...." Yes, the wealthiest one-hundredth of one percent of Americans -- the truly, uniquely needy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/the-effort-to-claim-that-_b_794862.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=121010&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily+Brief

Mr. Sanders goes to Washington

Saying he was prepared to speak "as long as possible" against a tax deal between the White House and congressional Republicans, Bernie today took to the Senate floor to make the case against deepening the deficit and widening the income gap in America by extending Bush-era tax breaks for the very wealthy. "I think we can do better, and I am here today to take a strong stand against this bill, and I intend to tell my colleagues and the nation exactly why I am in opposition to this bill. You can call what I am doing today whatever you want, you can call it a filibuster, you can call it a very long speech. I'm not here to set any great records or to make a spectacle. I am simply here today to take as long as I can to explain to the American people the fact that we have got to do a lot better than this agreement provides."

http://mail.aol.com/32992-211/aol-1/en-us/Suite.aspx

Who Wanted What?

http://baselinescenario.com/2010/12/10/who-wanted-what/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BaselineScenario+%28The+Baseline+Scenario%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Here's Obama ceding the high ground at the right time: "One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize - an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice. Mr. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was." www.huffingtonpost.com

The carefully, expertly negotiated tax cut deal---not so much. Obama only forced them into conceding that they (GOPers) could as usual have everything they wanted and more. Oh well, curses foiled again.

Told you you should have voted for Ralph Nader.

More:

WikiLeaks backers threaten more cyber attacks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101210/tc_nm/us_wikileaks

Is the Payroll Tax Holiday a GOP Trojan Horse?

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/12/payroll-tax-holiday-trojan-horse

SENATE FAILS TO OVERCOME DADT FILIBUSTER, STAND ALONE BILL INTRODUCED - "We're here! We're queer!.... Oh wait, now we're not here." A repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell was blocked on Thursday 57-40 by Senate Republicans after negotiations over a deal to pass the bill failed. A number of moderate Republicans who said they supported a repeal, including Scott Brown and Lisa Murkowski, voted instead to filibuster. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) was the only Democrat to vote against moving forward with the defense authorization bill, which contains the DADT repeal.

www.huffingtonpost.com

Less bang for buck at some schools

The top local rating was four stars for Northside ISD, which demonstrated as much or more academic progress than 91 percent of all Texas school districts and posted an “average” spending index, according to the report. North East, Alamo Heights and Southside ISDs received 3.5 stars.

San Antonio, Edgewood and South San Antonio ISDs garnered 1.5 stars.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Less-bangfor-buckat-someschools-868416.php

The cycle is self-perpetuating and vicious and pointed downward. Shouldn’t it matter to you?

A People's History of the United States – Howard Zinn

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-P-S/dp/0061965588/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290505605&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449

13 Bankers

http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Hunger in America | PBS

Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future

http://www.amazon.com/Aftershock-Next-Economy-Americas-Future/dp/0307592812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1285922323&sr=1-1

Winner take all Politics

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_24?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=winner+take+all+politics&sprefix=winner+take+all+politics

Slavery by Another Name

http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252

http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Justice-Rights-Violations-United/dp/0934936005/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282216290&sr=1-1

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Rope%2C+the+Chair%2C+and+the+Needle%3A+Capital+Punishment+in+Texas%2C+1923-1990&ih=1_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0.2973_1&fsc=-1&x=19&y=17

http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Justice-Rights-Violations-United/dp/0934936005/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282216290&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Powers-That-Be-David-Halberstam/dp/0252069412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290817555&sr=1-1

The Best and the Brightest

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_35?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+powers+that+be+david+halberstam&sprefix=the+powers+that+be+david+halberstam#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_46?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+best+and+the+brightest+by+david+halberstam&sprefix=the+best+and+the+brightest+by+david+halberstam&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athe+best+and+the+brightest+by+david+halberstam

Of WikiLeaks a/k/a Julian Assange assailed, egotistical oligarchs, lapdogs & minions

2010-12-08T04:48:00.000-08:00

In my last blog entry I wrote of my assessment and analysis of the WikiLeaks story. There are others who’ve also blogged, written and discussed the topic as well. In the end our assessments are fairly similar: the oligarchs and compassionate conservative religiosities of this former republic are sanctimonious, egotistical bullies almost without equal.

The very essence of our most foundational being---freedom itself---is under assault in the name of “national security.” In the very nascent, fledgling days of this former republic one of its most ardent founders and supporters spoke out to those of his time who would tear down the very foundation upon which the state would rest saying; "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin

Michael Brenner, Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations in the Huffington Post writes:

“Know thy Enemy is the famed dictum of the renown Chinese military thinker Sun Tzu. He took for granted something even more crucial: know thyself. Yet, Americans routinely ignore that latter counsel -- at our growing peril. That uncomfortable truth becomes abundantly clear when immersing oneself in the dense cable traffic revealed to us by Wikileaks. Their exposure of the mindset and outlook of the country's policy-makers and diplomats is more telling than any of the details. For it reveals who we are, who we think we are, and how that self conception is out of line with both world realities and others' perception of us…

Most striking is the unstated but pervasive belief that the United States is wiser, more skillful and dedicated than anybody else…

A second manifestation is the disparagement of anyone else's opinion…

Another cardinal feature of the prevailing American attitude, about which we exhibit no self awareness, is the reflex to divide foreigners into the two categories of "pro-American" or "anti-American."

A third feature of the American mindset is set in stark relief by the Wikileak cables. It is the identity in our officials' minds of the American national interest with the world's interest. In instance after instance, they declare the cavalier premise that Washington's foreign policy serves the well-being of the international community.

There is another singular feature of how the United States sees itself that takes shape as we read these cables. It is the extraordinary sense of entitlement. An entitlement endowed by 9/11. It hallows all those other characteristic American traits with a robe of righteousness. Our unique virtue, our superior wisdom, our mission to save the world, our right to judge and to proclaim, our authority to set new rules or to break old ones -- all is rendered true and just by the calamity that we have endured. America feels that it has found in 9/11 a diplomatic ace that wittingly or not matches the Israelis' use of the Holocaust. It is not at all clear, though, that it serves us well.”

What can I add to that? At the outset, hear, hear!!!

The following words from a not so long ago time serve as well.

“I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. . .” - Martin Luther King

More:

WikiLeaks: The Three Faces of Uncle Sam

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/wikileaks-the-three-faces_b_793075.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=120710&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureMore&utm_term=Daily+Brief

Public Policy: Wikileaks, attacked, assailed, maligned by all the usual suspects……

http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-san-antonio/public-policy-wikileaks-attacked-assailed-maligned-by-all-the-usual-suspects

Jemima Khan Offers To Pay Julian Assange Bail After His Arrest

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/jemima-khan-offers-to-pay-julian-assange-bail-after-his-arrest_1188090

A People's History of the United States – Howard Zinn

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-P-S/dp/0061965588/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290505605&sr=1-1

Profiles in Courage

http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449

13 Bankers

http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051

Winner take all Politics

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_24?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=winner+take+all+politics&sprefix=winner+take+all+politics

Slavery by Another Name

http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252

Illusions of Justice

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

The Powers That Be

http://www.amazon.com/Powers-That-Be-David-Halberstam/dp/0252069412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290817555&sr=1-1

The Best and the Brightest

back to the McCarthy witchunt days……

Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks website

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101201/wr_nm/us_wikileaks_amazon

Public Policy: Wikileaks, attacked, assailed, maligned by all the usual suspects……

2010-12-06T00:59:00.000-08:00

What convoluted logic it is that cites harm done by the release of “diplomatic” cables? “Diplomatic” cables? Even the concept of these missives as anything resembling “diplomacy” is an oxymoron if ever there was one. Seriously, even among friends do these epistles sound remotely “diplomatic?”

If the cables resemble anything at all it is the diatribe leaked daily from the “w” administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove or Rice) about anyone the administration didn’t like. If the cables resemble anything at all it is the leaked information during the entire Cold War by all sides.

Harm to whom? The authors of the cables? The nations “diplomats” represent? Others? How can anyone, for even an instant, believe in some small way that doing what is done convertly is going to remain that way? Even within the community of “diplomats” cables are touched by enough people that everyone has to know that sooner or later they will leak. No?

Maybe a long track record of mostly keeping secrets promotes arrogant indifference and the belief that “diplomats” like the oligarchs are somehow bullet-proof. Oh and by the way, the word is getting out about the oligarchs, as well.

Is it an arrogant indifference and a sense of being invulnerable---because of a long track record, perhaps? Oligarchs call it paranoia or conspiracy theory if you should guess what they (the oligarchs) are up to. With in-formation now moving openly and freely at the speed of light (except in countries that are fearful of that) that anything is a secret for long is remarkable.

The world of the surreptitious is changing, morphing into something else. It is best---though perhaps not easiest--- to hide in plain sight.

What was the initial intent of the diplomatic cables? Peace? Please. Were that the case would we even be having this discussion? I didn’t think so.

Across the span of time-space and history monarchs, rulers, popes, oligarchs and the like have dis-liked it when anyone refuses to kow-tow to them. “Off with their heads.” Or in the case of Julian Assange a/k/a WikiLeaks---quick find something to charge him with! The more salacious, the more deviant the better. It encourages people to forget about the presumption of innocence and the fact that allegations are not proof.

So it is that we learn that one of Assange’s accusers is an old hand at playing the Cold War games so popular with the controlling forces that emerged from the womb of the Second World War---violent, predictably unpredictable, malicious and malevolent, especially toward the defenseless.

In Texas Red that would be the proverbial “poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”

More:

Julian Assange: Whoever leaked US embassy cables is unparalleled hero

http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=27886

Assange Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group

http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy/2010/12/04/assanges-chief-accuser-has-her-own-history-with-us-funded-anti-castro-groups-one-of-which-has-cia-ties/

Assange Not Actually Wanted for 'Rape'

http://www.newser.com/story/106802/assange-not-actually-wanted-for-rape.html

Making a Mockery of the Real Crime of Rape

http://www.counterpunch.org/shamir09142010.html

and people are upset with WikiLeaks? Spare me. Nothing has changed since “w.”

Government reports violations of limits on spying aimed at U.S. citizens

Congress passed FISA in 1978 to prevent Americans' communications from being tapped without a warrant. Lawmakers amended the law in 2008 to broaden and clarify legal authorities after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and advances in Internet communications prompted fresh concerns over expanded surveillance powers.

The ACLU, human rights activists and other parties sued, charging that the new law violates the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches. A U.S. district judge tossed out the case, which remains on appeal, and the ACLU has pursued a related Freedom of Information Act request.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120206052.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

democracy in action! No?

Govt. Workers: No Reading Leaked Docs!

http://www.newser.com/story/106875/govt-workers-no-reading-leaked-docs.html

Under attack, WikiLeaks seeks shelter in cold war bunker

WikiLeaks fights to stay online amid attacks

US Cables: Mexico drug war lacks clear strategy

Public Policy: America’s prejudice, bias toward anything different---isms die hard

http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-san-antonio/america-s-prejudice-bias-toward-anything-different-isms-die-hard

A People's History of the United States – Howard Zinn

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-P-S/dp/0061965588/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290505605&sr=1-1

Profiles in Courage

http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449

13 Bankers

http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051

Winner take all Politics

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=winner+take+all+politics

Slavery by Another Name

http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252

Illusions of Justice

http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Justice-Rights-Violations-United/dp/0934936005/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282216290&sr=1-1

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

The Powers That Be

http://www.amazon.com/Powers-That-Be-David-Halberstam/dp/0252069412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290817555&sr=1-1

The Best and the Brightest

back to the McCarthy witchunt days……

Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks website

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101201/wr_nm/us_wikileaks_amazon

I don’t know dude maybe it’s because we hold ourselves out as so much better than those Muslim extremists---maybe not. Religiosities are religiosities regardless of the source of the man-made dogma they worship…

Smithsonian Under Fire For Gay Portraiture Exhibit

But included in that meditation is a crucifix — a cross bearing the body of Christ — crawling with ants. The image, according to Catholic League President Bill Donohue, is offensive. He calls the video "hate speech" and says that "the Smithsonian would never have their little ants crawling all over an image of Muhammad."

“If it's wrong for the government to take the taxpayers' money to promote religion, why is it OK to take taxpayers' money to assault religion?” - Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131730255/smithsonian-under-fire-for-gay-portraiture-exhibit?ps=cprs

Library of Congress/Religion

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html

The prison-industrial complex, apartheid public education system, racism and Elections 2010

http://robertruiz-respublica.blogspot.com/2010/10/prison-industrial-complex-aparatheid.html

http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-san-antonio/the-prison-industrial-complex-aparatheid-public-education-system-racism-and-elections-2010

The War Against The Third World Part One (John Stockwell)

The War Against The Third World Part Two

The War Against The Third World Part Three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XwM4iCaaXI

Public Policy: Votes affect, shape events of the day

2010-12-04T04:21:00.000-08:00

We live in a culture in which the average citizen is more concerned with who is judging American Idol, who was just kicked off Dancing with the Stars or simply prefers to sit back and watch Survivor than in staying informed about the state of our republic and civil liberties.

Given our apartheid public education system could it be otherwise? Presently schools are more segregated than they were 15 years ago. The ridiculous and convoluted “Robin Hood” system of school funding in Texas Red is little more than institutionalized madness that encourages “rich” school districts to hold on to the millions of dollars allotted for “poor” school districts.

What’s with this business of rich and poor public education systems anyway? Are we all citizens of the republic or not? While I’m at it, what’s with the non-educator Arny Duncan/Obama “Race to the top” business? Why are we making it a “competitive” process when all children of citizens of the republic deserve a viable education?

Face it just how is it there’s anything “competitive” about a race between rich and poor? The rich start at the finish line in expensive running shoes while the barefoot poor don’t have a clue where the finish line is.

Texas Red spends millions to tweak its money-making prison-industrial complex but not a dime to improve conditions that would make the prison-industrial complex obsolete. It is even less likely the powerful such as the Koch brothers would back any effort to re-cast our apartheid public education system or improve healthcare for he people. Count on it.

www.DontGetRolled.org

Public Citizen

Stunning Statistics of the Week:

69: Number of preliminary reviews conducted by the Office of Congressional Ethics over the past two years
11: Number of disciplinary actions meted out by the House ethics committee during that time
10: Number of disciplinary actions meted out by the House ethics committee between 1997 and 2008, before the Office of Congressional Ethics was created

U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at Arizona clean elections law
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging Arizona’s clean elections law. Under the system, if candidates forgo private fundraising and adhere to spending limits, they can receive public money after raising a set number of $5 donations. The law permits candidates to receive extra money if their opponent spends more than a certain amount. Good government advocates worry that the Supreme Court is gearing up to once again erode laws designed to curb corporate influence of elections.

U.S. Chamber’s election spending raises eyebrows among shareholders
Investors in four corporations that sit on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – IBM, Pfizer, Pepsi and Accenture – are raising concerns about the Chamber’s political spending and agenda. Through the shareholder resolutions, investors challenged their corporate boards to review their policies relating to political expenditures. One of the resolution’s filers said in a press release that “[t]he Chamber of Commerce is an aggressively partisan organization that is standing in the way of solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems, from health care to climate change. We are asking why these companies would lend their good names — and their implicit endorsement — to the Chamber’s agenda.”

Rove groups were “undisputed leaders” of outside spending in Nov. elections
The latest filings to the Federal Election Commission show that two conservative groups co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove raised more than $70 million for the November elections. The Washington Post calls American Crossroads (which amassed almost $28 million) and Crossroads GPS ($43 million) “the undisputed leaders of an onslaught of outside spending on 2010 House and Senate races.” The groups were created after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last January in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, in which the court gave corporations the green light to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.

Left to the GOPers, Tea Partiers and Blue Dogs, fewer and fewer Americans would be eligible to cast a vote. Not that based on the outcome of elections, in particular elections 2010, more or less Texas Red voters would do anything to challenge the status quo.“The rich get richer and the poor get babies… “ and you know from appearances not only do few give a damn but most are pleased as punch to leave things as they are.

More:

Wealthy Texas school districts kept millions

HALLSVILLE, Texas — Dozens of wealthy Texas school districts held onto more than $40 million in tax dollars that should have gone to poorer districts under the state's so-called "Robin Hood" law until the state demanded they pay up this year, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7294682.html

De Facto School Segregation Growing, Study Says

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5169990

A new Harvard University study finds America's public schools are more segregated now than they were 15 years ago. Ed Gordon discusses the findings with Harvard professor Gary Orfield, a co-author of the study, and with John Brittain, chief counsel and senior deputy for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law…

Furthermore, to let school districts build schools in black and Latino neighborhoods perpetuates segregation with state full funding and they let predominantly white schools renovate and build new schools in the suburbs that also maintains desegregation. So, our laws have failed and our government actors have failed.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5169990

Take no prisoners, shoot the wounded and eat the dead…..

My buds usually say to this type of discovery, “No sh-t Sherlock?”

Equity Center releases ominous finance report

The Austin-based advocacy firm The Equity Center recently released a report called “Money Does Matter” detailing the trouble with public school finance in the current educational climate.

Two San Antonio superintendents — Robert J. Duron with SAISD and Robert Jaklich with Harlandale ISD — contributed to the project and said they both understand why unequal funding is becoming more and more of a problem.

Jaklich said two years ago, Harlandale was hit hard with the problem when HISD was forced to cut 100 positions, close an elementary school and attempt to run the district with $3.9 million in the bank.
“It costs $8 million a month to run the district,” he said. “Harlandale is 22nd from the bottom as far as property wealth, so our funding is very low.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/equity_center_releases_ominous_finance_report_106975173.html

The Equity Center recently released a report called “Money Does Matter”
http://www.equitycenter.org/moneymatters/Money%20Matters%20Publication.Sept%202010.pdf

Race to the Top

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_top

The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win

Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186

Covert Operations

The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer

those tea partiers---what jokers. There’s a lot in the Constitution as originally stood-up that the Tea Partiers should hope doesn’t become the focus of attention….

Tea Party: Don’t Let Renters Vote

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/home-equity/tea-party-dont-let-renters-vote/3350/

Revised deficit panel plan seeks deeper cuts

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AS4Z120101201

Public Policy: America’s prejudice, bias toward anything different---isms die hard

A People's History of the United States– Howard Zinn

13 Bankers

Winner take all Politics

Slavery by Another Name

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990