Criminal Investigations

Truthout: Criminal Investigations of Massey Energy Go Forward

GOP darling and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship hates liberals and calls Democrats and their public policy "evil." But he's also famous in the coal industry for running unsafe mines in order to maximize profit. In March his decision to put profit over people killed 29 minors. Hopefully he and those he bought off get held to account. And hopefully someday less Republicans in elected office will clear the way for the rest of us to transition to clean energy.

Is That You Jefferson Davis?

During the May 19 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program Glen Beck said of the boycotts against Arizona "we're being pushed into an area where civil war is possible." He later suggested that President Obama is "trying to destroy the country." A day later on his show Rush Limbaugh echoed Beck's sentiment saying: "this is the kind of stuff that starts civil wars, folks."

They're pretty much correct that racist, inhumane laws and the backlash against them is what led to the civil war. But framing their displeasure in those terms seems to indicate they feel the confederacy was unjustly opposed in their fight to keep slavery.

Somebody Should Look Into That

Some critics of the Obama administration have now picked up the talking point that the oil spill is equivalent to the Iranian hostage crisis credited with destroying President Jimmy Carter's presidency. "I think the danger isn't that this is his Katrina. It's that it's his Iranian hostage crisis," George Will told ABC's Jake Tapper Sunday.

Oh yeah? Is there some Republican betraying the country like Reagan did with Iran and making deals with BP to keep the spill going until it damages Democrats in the election? Unlikely in this case, but Reagan did collude collude with Ayatollah Khomeini to keep the hostages until Carter got beat. And then he sold them munitions of war.

Lies About War

The Republican candidate for President Obama's old Senate seat, Mark Kirk, has admitted to inaccurately claiming he received the U.S. Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year award for his service during NATO's conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s.

So it appears both Democrats and Republicans, for some stupid reason like to lie about their war record. The difference voters need to consider is Republicans actually lie to send the country to war, which is pretty much the worst crime possible.

Tax The Poor

Hillary Clinton: 'The rich are not paying their fair share'

Predictably the right-wing is up in arms defending billionaires right to be rich tax free. But we have to ask, if not the rich then who? The poor? The ever shrinking middle class perhaps? The tax burden on the rich is just about as low as its ever been, the rich are richer than ever before, we're 10 trillion in debt, and we're spending 4 billion dollars a week on war. Somebody's got to pay. Besides, when Bill Clinton taxed the rich it gave us excellent economic results.

So You Going To Switch Parties?

Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal says he told President Barack Obama that “the federal government needs to do more to hold BP accountable"

Yeah, he needs to speak to his own party about that. Not only is his team currently doing all they can to prevent BP from being held accountable but for three decades Republicans have made it their mission to destroy any regulatory agency capable of holding industry to account, to defeat all regulatory and environmental laws, ignore clean energy, and drill baby drill. It's Jindal's political philosophy that's responsible for this mess so unless he's ready to switch parties he really should just shut up.

Sharks

Reuters - BP Plc installed a type of cement casing on its now-ruptured undersea well that it knew ran the risk of leaking gases in order to save money, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing a BP document it received from a congressional investigator.

Transnational corporations are like sharks. We don't really blame sharks for hunting. That's just what they do. Part of government's role is to protect us from the sharks. But when the government just throws us to the sharks, then they just eat us up. That's why people like Rand Paul and Dick Cheney and all the other deregulating Republicans are unfit to serve in government and why we always get chewed up when they do.

War Inc.

Oliver Stone’s new documentary South of the Border, which interviews several left-wing leaders of Latin American countries, has unearthed a startling new allegation from Argentina’s former president Néstor Kirchner. During his interview with Stone, Kirchner said Bush told him "the best way to revitalize the economy is war"

If by "economy" he means Blackwater, Halliburton, Bechtel, etc, he's right. But otherwise Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the taxpayers a trillion dollars, with much of that mind numbingly large sum going right into the pockets of crony GOP corporate war profiteers. And while some in the GOP might actually believe war is good economic policy, the fact of the matter is after 7 years of their wars they were thrown out of power with the economy in meltdown.

A Constitutional Ban On The Constitution

In an interview on Russian television Wednesday Kentucky Republican Rand Paul called for the repeal of the 14th amendment of the constitution.

Perhaps it's fitting he chose a TV network from Vladimir Putin's Russia on which to continue his assault on our freedoms. So to try and sum it up, Rand Paul Republicans don't like the 14th amendment, the fourth amendment, the fifth amendment, the eigth amendment, the 17th amendment, the Civil Rights Act, the establishment clause or due process. Perhaps Mr. Paul would be happier running for public office in another country.

Can't Live With Democracy

Jonathan Bernstein lays out a compelling case that Republicans will indeed impeach President Obama if given the opportunity.

Of course they will. They impeached Clinton for nothing and they'll impeach Obama just the same. They've already begun the effort. People who are clearly hostile toward democracy can be expected to attack it when given the chance. Fans of democracy would do well to keep them out of government.

The Forrest

Minnesota Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer apparently violated campaign finance laws when his campaign donated twice the legal limit to a Christian punk-rock group which teaches public-school students that it’s “moral” to kill homosexuals.

The link above will rightly tell us that donating to to a group that advocates bible based killing of gays is a bigger story than the campaign finance violation. But the even bigger story people inside and outside of Minnesota need to know is that much of the GOP base agrees with Tom Emmer and Bradlee Dean and would like to see our constitution replaced with the bible.

It'll Be Fine

Newt Gingrich yesterday on whether new offshore drilling will be a problem: "I don't think so because I think that there was a specific mistake made. I think it can be fixed. It's the first oil well big problem in America since 1969 so I think when people put it in perspective it'll be fine."

We've not been drilling this deep since 1969 so so much for that perspective. There was "a big oil well problem" in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979. And all around the world these rigs blow up and burn all the time. For sure things like this mega-catastrophe don't happen every day but when they do they destroy entire oceans and that's unacceptable.

Rove's Katrina, Rove's Oil Disaster

Today in the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove penned an op-ed titled: "Yes the Gulf Spill is Obama's Katrina. "

Again, if that's true it's only because he should have known Rove, the GOP, and their big oil cronies would sell out the whole region. Fact of the matter is the drill baby drill, deregulate, deregulate, deregulate Republicans and their big oil backers are responsible for this disaster. It's encouraging however, that Rove seems to finally admit it was his administration defunding the levies and not mother nature that destroyed New Orleans. Both disasters along with Iraq and the financial meltdown are stark examples of how dangerous it is to let Republicans run government.

Not Dolphin Safe

Arthur B. Robinson, running on the GOP ticket this year for Oregon's 4th Congressional District, supports disposing of oil and nuclear waste by dumping it at sea. According to Robinson the ocean is the safest place in the world to dispose of certain types of industrial waste material.

If the bottom of the ocean is the "safest place" you can think of then this stuff is obviously too dangerous to produce in the first place. These guys think the earth is just one big dumpster for their cronies to contaminate. Instead of supporting clean energy they fight against it and advocate dumping radioactive waste in our oceans. Since the oceans are necessary to life on earth it would be best to vote against this agenda.

Democratic Legislation

A clause in the U.S. Clean Water Act may expose BP and others involved in the Gulf oil spill to civil fines that aren't limited to any finite cap. The Act allows the government to seek civil penalties in court for oil that spills into U.S. navigable waters, including the area of BP's leaking well. Projected penalties could have potentially already topped 12 billion dollars.

The clause Reuters is reporting on was made law by a Democratic congress in 1990. We have no doubt that any attempt to make such law today would meet with a Republican filibuster.

R-Big Oil

WASHINGTON -- Gulf Coast senators are pressing federal regulators to resume processing permits for offshore drilling in shallow water, saying that a moratorium imposed earlier this month is too broad.

All those named as signing the request are of course Republicans. They continue to shill for their corporate cronies even in the face of national disaster. Meanwhile, their efforts to keep us away from clean energy continue.

Small Government

Crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and washing ashore in Louisiana is exposing how ill prepared the U.S. has been to respond to a major offshore oil spill. Some scientists researching the spill don't have the right instruments to measure the spill or to study its impact. Maps that federal officials are using to identify priority areas to protect from spreading oil are outdated. And the Coast Guard says the country lacks enough plastic piping, or "boom," to keep the incoming oil away from the coast.

Welcome to the results of 30 years of Republican efforts to dismantle every regulatory agency in government. For sure it works for their big oil and big bank cronies, but not for the rest of the country.

Whats The Bigger Rand Paul Outrage?

Rand Paul is receiving money bombs from the white supremacist group Stormfront.

While this further highlights the nature and history of the GOP base we still think the bigger story is the one about Rand Paul Republicans having common cause with people who are looking to replace our constitution with the bible.

Human Shield

Newt Gingrich on Michael Steele yesterday: "And I think overall he is a very impressive guy despite the fact – in fact, I think one of the reasons the elite media attacks him is it drives the left crazy to have an African-American chairman of the RNC because they can't attack the RNC for being racist."

They're paying Michael Steele well to be there so Republicans can say things like what Newt said yesterday. But that doesn't change the fact the modern Republican party was built on a foundation of racism, constantly panders to racists, depends on an ever more racist base and at the moment boasts not a single African American in congress.

R-OI

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is set to introduce on Tuesday afternoon a bill that would fully eliminate any cap on the amount of economic damages that oil companies would have to pay for spills they've caused. Republican Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) has said he will filibuster the legislation.

Even after this disaster Republicans are still lining up to carry dirty water for big oil. It was exactly this kind of corruption that created the conditions that made this catastrophe possible in the first place. Voting Republican is just asking for more of the same.

Traitors

On Fox News yesterday Hannity and Dick Morris asserted an alleged white house job offer to Joe Sestack was far worse than the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Valerie Plame ran a decades in the making spy network that tracked nuclear material and technology with the aim of keeping it away from people who would use it to attack the United States. It was one of most important national security assets in the history of this country. And the Republicans burned it on purpose to try and intimidate the guy who was exposing their fraudulent case for the Iraq war. Well, that's treason, and anybody who defends it or tries to minimize it is not acting in the best interest of the United States.

Next Stop On The Crazy Train

With Sue Lowden faltering in the Nevada GOP senate primary race Sharon Angle is now considered the front runner. Angle favors privatizing Social Security, building nuclear power plants inside Yucca Mountain, abolishing the federal income tax, defunding healthcare, pulling the US out of the United Nations, banning nearly all abortions, geting rid of the Energy and Education departments and removing all campaign finance restrictions.

The new Republican party shows no signs of slowing its headlong rush to the outer reaches of the lunatic fringe. Any vote for any Republican anywhere is another step toward enabling this agenda.

Motive

A coalition of civil rights groups argued before a federal court in Atlanta today that Georgia’s citizenship voter-verification procedures should be permanently blocked because they will disenfranchise minority U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote.

Despite spending millions on multiple investigations the Republican party has failed to find any evidence of individual voter fraud. Since it doesn't exist, stopping it can't be their motive. And since the poor and minority voters these efforts will disenfranchise generally vote for the Democrats, it's difficult to escape the conclusion their real motive is to intentionally rob these people of their vote.

Sorry We Bled On Your Carpet

In an interview on 'Fox News Sunday,' former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin criticized the Obama Administration's efforts to clean up the Gulf oil spill, suggesting the President's relationship with BP has impacted the response.

So Sarah drill baby drill Palin goes on the Saudi owned mouthpiece of the GOP to accuse the proponents of clean energy, government regulation, and environmental protection of being bought by big oil. It's a wonder she found the time given that she spends so much of hers fighting for dirty energy, less regulation, and less environment laws. These people would shoot you in the back and then blame you for bleeding.

Two Steps Back

Last week, New Jersey ran out of four months' worth of solar rebates in a day. Less money was available than originally budgeted for in December because Gov. Chris Christie (R) took $158 million from the clean energy fund to help close an $11 billion state budget gap.

Lead us toward a future of clean energy, energy independence, a clean environment, the next economic boom, a healthy sustainable plant for future generations? Hell no, why do that when you can profit by selling out the country to big oil. So it goes when Republicans get elected.

Follow Up Question?

This morning on ABC's This Week, GOP chairman Michael Steele declined to criticize Rand Paul's position the Civil Rights Act. He told Jake Tapper that while he's not "comfortable with it, " it's Paul's "philosophical position," shared by many in his movement and thus he has no right to denounce it.

So why wasn't the next question: are you comfortable with people who have that "philosophical position" serving in government? Rand Paul can believe in the right to discriminate or flying space monkey's from Mars if he wants to. But if he does, he's not fit to hold public office. That's the point.

The Theocratic Party

Under the newly adopted social studies curriculum Texas schoolchildren will be required to learn that the words "separation of church and state" aren't in the Constitution.

Either are the words "right-wing psychopaths" but doesn't mean they don't exist. What is in the constitution is the establishment clause of the first amendment, and unless the Republicans are ok with the government teaching their kids Islam they had best embrace it.

Goldwater Is Dead And So Are His Republicans.

In a stunning victory, longshot Tea Party candidate for Governor of Colorado Dan Maes has defeated his Republican opponent, Scott McInnis in the Republican party assembly.

The crazy train rolls on.

Don't Check The Teabaggers

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Ohio man's resentment of authority and run-ins with the law apparently led him to murder two Arkansas police officers this week. On a recent internet radio show before he died in the fatal shootout with police Jerry Kane Jr had complained "I ran into a Nazi checkpoint in the middle of New Mexico where they were demanding papers or jail. That was the option. Either produce your papers or go to jail. So I entered into commerce with them under threat, duress and coercion, and spent 47 hours in there."

Good thing the powers that be in Arizona are only planning to ask Mexicans for their papers. Seems white, right-wing gun types don't react well to such things.

Rand Paul Fans

Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway to TPMDC: Paul's civil rights comments are fair game.

Not only that, but every Republican should be made to agree with them or not. As well should they be asked about his comments on the oil spill and why he cavorts with people who are looking to replace the constitution. Fact of the matter is a great many elected Republicans and just about their entire base agrees with Rand Paul. This is the new Republican party and the more people get to see it the better the Democrats will do in November.

He's Still a Senator?

David Vitter (R-LA) has filmed a statement attacking Democrats for their response to the Gulf oil spill.

This disaster is a result of Republican energy policy, regulatory policy, and Dick Cheney big oil corruption. The responsible parties are David Vitter, Dick Cheney and the drill baby drill Republicans who profited financially and politically by creating the conditions that caused this disaster in the first place. And short of arresting people, once that rig blew a mile down the region was ruined and there was nothing anybody could do about it. Lastly, David Vitter is said to get off by putting on diapers and uh, well you know, in the presence of prostitutes. How he isn't humiliated enough to just quit is beyond us.

Operation Target Children

A Phoenix news station (KPHO) is reporting that the state Senator behind Arizona’s new immigration law, Russell Pierce (R), does not intend on stopping at SB-1070. In e-mails obtained by the local CBS affiliate, Pearce said he intends to push for an “anchor baby bill" that would essentially overturn the 14th amendment and no longer automatically grant citizenship to children born in the United States.

So the new Republican party is continuing their jihad against the constitution, presumably to replace our democracy with some kind of corporatist theocracy. And while we already know they don't like minorities, to have their corporate wing bring these people here so the racist wing can demonize them is ridiculous and not something they should be allowed to get away with.

Leads To Death

More and more stories of sick fisherman are beginning to surface after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Marine toxicologist Riki Ott said the chemicals can wreak havoc on a person's body and even lead to death.

Wonder how that GOP deal to get people to come swim in the oil in Mississippi is working out. Seems like everything these guys do leads to death.

Cheney Had Their Back

Former EPA Criminal Division Special Agent Scott West led a 2006 investigation of British Petroleum following a major oil pipeline leak in Alaska’s North Slope that spilled 250,000 gallons of oil on the Alaskan tundra. In a wide-ranging interview with Truthout West describes how the Justice Department (DOJ) abruptly shut down his investigation into BP in August 2007 and gave the company a "slap on the wrist" for what he says were serious environmental crimes.

Transnational corporations are like sharks. We don't blame sharks for hunting. That's just what they do. Part of government's role is to protect us from the sharks. But when the government just throws us to the sharks, then they just eat us up. That's why people like Rand Paul and Dick Cheney and all the other deregulating Republicans are unfit to serve in government and why we always get chewed up when they do.

We Can Talk About That

Coming to Rand Paul's defense Thursday the NRSC defended its Senate nominee in Kentucky by pointing out that it wasn't Republicans who were the most vocal opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act when it was in Congress, it was the Democrats.

Perhaps. But to build the party they have today, Republicans engaged in a decades long effort to use the fact the CRA was a Democratic bill, passed by a Democratic president, to lure all the racists out of the Democratic party and turn them into their base. They called it "The Southern Strategy." And it worked. The political phenomenon by which the confederate south became the philosophical and geographical power base of the Republican party is called "realignment," and it's in effect more than ever today.

Theocrats

Rand Paul was the featured speaker at the Theocratic Constitution party 2009 convention. The party platform states: "The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations."

Stoning anyone? The new Republican party is full of people pushing for a Christian theocracy. It was Sarah Palin that went full party of God earlier this month.

We already have a constitution and it's based on democracy not theocracy. It stands to reason then that anybody who is a fan of democracy would do well not to vote for people who are looking to replace ours with something more in line with what they run in Iran.

All Rand Paul

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul went on on the Rachel Maddow show yesterday to state his belief the federal government blurred the lines between public and private property when it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and made it illegal for private businesses to discriminate on the basis of race.

By now the whole world has seen Rand Paul defend property owners rights not to serve black people. But race aside, since Paul's list of things he doesn't feel the government should be involved in includes just about everything, we have to ask what exactly he intends to go to Washington to do? Nothing? Neither the mob nor the corporation can be permitted to rule and therefore neither can Rand Paul and the new GOP.