Bush's Saudi coddling blocked loose nuke probe

Just as Bush went after Saddam on a drip of evidence of supporting of Al Qaeda while blocking the investigation of a fire hose of Saudi support, he did the same thing with nuclear proliferation. We had to invade Iraq because Saddam MIGHT make nukes that he MIGHT give or sell to terrorists or rogue nations. By contrast, Pakistan was already doing both. And Bush's protection of the Saudis blocked the investigation of their funding of the Pakistani nuke program, as BBC reporter Greg Palast points out. Palast deserves a place in American history for his reporting on the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of black voters in Florida that our media ignored. He performs an equally important service for us here.

At some point, it has to become clear that these guys have no interest in fighting terrorism, but rather in keeping it an open wound that they can use to justify their hostile takeovers (wars) of oil producing countries.

KEY EXCERPTS:

SEPTEMBER 11: WHAT YOU "OUGHT NOT TO KNOW"
DOCUMENT 199-I AND THE FBI'S WORDS TO CHILL THE SOUL

Thursday, September 9, 2004
by Greg Palast

On November 9, 2001, when you could still choke on the dust in the air near Ground Zero, BBC Television received a call in London from a top-level US intelligence agent. He was not happy. Shortly after George W. Bush took office, he told us reluctantly, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the FBI, "were told to back off the Saudis."

We knew that. In the newsroom, we had a document already in hand, marked, "SECRET" across the top and "199-I" - meaning this was a national security matter.

The secret memo released agents to hunt down two member of the bin Laden family operating a "suspected terrorist organization" in the USA. It was dated September 13, 2001 -- two days too late for too many. What the memo indicates, corroborated by other sources, was that the agents had long wanted to question these characters ... but could not until after the attack. By that time, these bin Laden birds had flown their American nest.

Back to the high-level agent. I pressed him to tell me exactly which investigations were spiked. None of this interview dance was easy, requiring switching to untraceable phones. Ultimately, the insider said, "Khan Labs." At the time, our intelligence agencies were on the trail of Pakistan's Dr. Strangelove, A.Q. Khan, who built Pakistan's bomb and was selling its secrets to the Libyans. But once Bush and Condoleeza Rice's team took over, the source told us, agents were forced to let a hot trail go cold. Specifically, there were limits on tracing the Saudi money behind this "Islamic bomb."


FULL TEXT

12 Generals and Admirals Endorse John Kerry

This list includes a former head of the CIA, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former superintendant of West Point, and at least two heads of Centcom, the military command in the Middle East.

After each bio, there's a snippet of their comments about Bush or Kerry. What's striking is several mentioned trusting him with their own children serving in the military. Michael Moore was on O'Reilly yesterday and flummoxed him by asking if he would send his kid to die in Iraq.

Here's a sampling of the generals and admirals quotes:

"My son is a Navy sailor, my son-in-law is a Navy sailor, and my nephew is a Navy sailor. I want them, and all of America’s sons and daughters in uniform to have a new, wiser, better, and courageous commander-in-chief in John Kerry,"

"I am even prouder that 4 of my children have worn the uniform of our armed forces. Three are still serving. As a combat veteran and proven leader, I know that John Kerry will never send them in harm’s way, without exhausting all means of diplomacy. Even then, it will be a last resort."

"The current administration has an overly simplistic view of how and when to use our military. By not bringing in our friends and allies, they have created a mess in Iraq and are crippling our forces around the world. John Kerry has a realistic understanding of the requirements of our military and the threats that we face."

FULL TEXT:

12 Generals and Admirals Endorse John Kerry

Military Leaders to Speak and Take Part in Video Tribute in Boston Wednesday as Convention Focus Turns to Kerry-Edwards Plan to Make a Stronger, More Secure America

Boston, MA - In an unprecedented display of support from the military establishment, twelve retired generals and admirals endorsed John Kerry for president of the United States on Wednesday. These distinguished flag officers join the ranks of tens of thousands of veterans – including over 500 veteran delegates in Boston - who want a stronger, more secure America and their fellow veteran John Kerry to be the next Commander-in

-Chief.

The endorsement comes on the day the convention is focused on the Kerry-Edwards plan to make a stronger, more secure America. General John Shalikashvili (Ret.) will speak at the Convention on Wednesday evening and be introduced by Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy (Ret.). There will be a special video tribute to John Kerry featuring distinguished flag officers talking about what is at stake in this election and why they support John Kerry to build a strong America, respected in the world.

"My son is a Navy sailor, my son-in-law is a Navy sailor, and my nephew is a Navy sailor. I want them, and all of America’s sons and daughters in uniform to have a new, wiser, better, and courageous commander-in-chief in John Kerry," said Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn (USN, Ret.)

"Success in the global war on terror requires enlightened U.S. leadership – leadership that knows the importance of listening to and working with other countries. Senator Kerry is such a leader, and as Commander-in-Chief, he will adapt our military to the unprecedented security demands faced by our country and its armed forces," said Lieutenant General Daniel Christman (USA, Ret.)

Kerry arrives in Boston for the convention Wednesday morning where he will be met by 13 crewmates and fellow veterans from Vietnam. Many of these individuals will also participate in the convention program on Thursday night before Kerry accepts the Democratic nomination

At the 2004 convention, veterans are playing a historic, unprecedented role with over 500 delegates who are veterans in attendance. On Monday, the first ever Veterans Caucus was held. Led by notable veterans like Wesley Clark, former Senator Max Cleland and former Senator Bob Kerrey, over 2,000 veterans and members of military families attended. Veterans have also held grassroots ‘Basic Training’ sessions to learn how they can help organize veterans in their own communities and help elect John Kerry.

The Kerry-Edwards campaign has set a goal of organizing one million veterans by Election Day. Recruited through the 50 state-level Veterans for Kerry organizations, these one million veterans will be used in grassroots, veteran-to-veteran operations, including phone-banks, canvassing and GOTV efforts.

John Kerry and John Edwards offer the right plan for our troops and the right plan for our country. They have proposed expanding America's active duty forces by 40,000 to relieve the strain on today's military, doubling America's special forces capability and increasing other specialized personnel to improve America's ability to conduct counterterrorism operations, perform reconnaissance missions and gather intelligence. John Kerry and John Edwards will ensure that our troops have everything they need to accomplish their mission.

The flag officers endorsing John Kerry are:

Lieutenant General Edward D. Baca (United States Army, Retired)

Baca served as Chief of the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C. where he was responsible for formulating, developing, and coordinating all policies, programs and plans affecting Army and Air National Guard personnel. During his tenure as head of the National Guard, Baca was one of the highest-ranking Latinos in the U.S. military. A native of New Mexico, Baca enlisted in the New Mexico Army National Guard in 1956, volunteered for service in Vietnam, and retired as a three-star general officer. Baca also served as the Adjutant General of the New Mexico National Guard where he exercised joint command over both the Army and Air National Guard of New Mexico.

“I am proud to have served our country in the military for over 41 years. I am even prouder that 4 of my children have worn the uniform of our armed forces. Three are still serving. As a combat veteran and proven leader, I know that John Kerry will never send them in harm’s way, without exhausting all means of diplomacy. Even then, it will be a last resort. God forbid if he ever has to, he will make sure that they are part of an armed force as best equipped, best training, and most respected in the world.”

Lieutenant General Daniel W. Christman (United States Army, Retired)

Christman served as the Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He also served for two years as Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during which time he represented the U.S. as a member of NATO's Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium. He is a combat veteran of Southeast Asia where he commanded a company in the 101st Airborne Division. Christman was born on May 5, 1943 and is a native of Hudson, Ohio.

“Success in the global war on terror requires enlightened U.S. leadership – leadership that knows the importance of listening to and working with other countries. Senator Kerry is such a leader, and as Commander-in-Chief, he will adapt our military to the unprecedented security demands faced by our country and its armed forces.”

General Wesley K. Clark (United States Army, Retired)

Wesley Clark was born December 23rd 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1966 and received his Masters degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. In the Army, Clark rose steadily through the ranks, culminating in his service as the Commander-in-Chief of US Southern Command from 1996 to 1997 and NATO Supreme Allied Commander from 1997 to 2000. He retired from the Army in 2000. Clark and his wife Gert live in Little Rock, Arkansas and have one son.

"I ask you to join me in standing up for an American who has given truly outstanding service to his country in peace and in war. John Kerry has the right message and right character to bring the nation forward. Both John and I served in Vietnam -- and know what it is to be tested on the battlefield, fighting for your country. John Kerry never quit fighting for his country."

Admiral William J. Crowe (United States Navy, Retired)

Crowe served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking officer in the U.S. military. Prior to serving as Chairman, he served as Commander in Chief in several areas, including the U.S. Pacific Command, Allied Forces in Southern Europe, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and the Middle East Forces. He was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1985 until his retirement from the Navy in 1989.

"The current administration has an overly simplistic view of how and when to use our military. By not bringing in our friends and allies, they have created a mess in Iraq and are crippling our forces around the world. John Kerry has a realistic understanding of the requirements of our military and the threats that we face."

Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn (United States Navy, Retired)

Gunn served as the Inspector General of the Department of the Navy until his retirement in August 2000. Gunn commanded the USS BARBEY and the Destroyer Squadron “Thirty-one,” a component of the U.S. Navy's Anti-Submarine Warfare Destroyer Squadrons. Gunn is from Bakersfield, California and is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his commission from the Naval ROTC program at UCLA in June 1965.

"My son is a Navy sailor, my son-in-law is a Navy sailor, and my nephew is a Navy sailor. I want them, and all of America’s sons and daughters in uniform to have a new, wiser, better, and courageous commander-in-chief in John Kerry."

General Joseph Hoar (United States Marine Corps, Retired)

Hoar served as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command. After the first Gulf War, Hoar led the effort to enforce the naval embargo in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, enforce the no-fly zone in the south of Iraq. He oversaw the humanitarian and peacekeeping operations in Kenya and Somalia and also led the U.S. Marine Corps support for operations in Rwanda, and the evacuation of U.S. civilians from Yemen during the 1994 civil war. Hoar was the Deputy for Operations for the Marine Crops during the Gulf War and served as General Norman Schwartzkopf's Chief of Staff at Central Command. General Hoar was born in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Tufts University where he received his commission through the ROTC program.

"Sen. Kerry has demonstrated his courage in combat and his broad knowledge of international relations while in the Senate. He’s a leader who is not afraid to lead."

Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy (United States Army, Retired)

Kennedy is the first and only woman to achieve the rank of three-star general in the United States Army. Kennedy also served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Intelligence, Commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, and as Commander of the 703d military intelligence brigade in Kunia, Hawaii. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and earned her commission as a second lieutenant in June 1969 through the Women's Army Corps.

"John Kerry understands the future as it is framed by the international community and by the people at home. He will make the right decisions about education, defense, intelligence, economic development both foreign and domestic, and sustaining international relationships. He is a leader I trust."

Lieutenant General Donald Kerrick (United States Army, Retired)

Kerrick served as Deputy National Security Advisor to the President of the United States where he was responsible for developing, implementing, and managing United States foreign and national security policies. He was a principal negotiator on the international Bosnia Peace Delegation that ended the Bosnian War, and served on the Steering Committee for the Protection of United States Critical Infrastructure. Kerrick holds a Masters degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelors degree from Florida Southern College. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Diplomacy from Florida Southern College. Kerrick was born on April 1949 in Bethesda, Maryland and was raised in Islamorada, Florida.

"The miscalculations of the last three years have severely stressed our armed forces both around the world and here at home. John Kerry understands the military and war. He is the right leader at the right time to restore America’s credibility around the world."

General Merrill “Tony” A. McPeak (United States Air Force, Retired)

McPeak served as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force. Previously, McPeak served as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces. He is a command pilot, having flown more than 6,000 hours, principally in fighter aircraft. General McPeak was born January 9, 1936 in Santa Rosa, California and entered the Air Force in 1957 as a distinguished graduate of the San Diego State College ROTC program.

"I’m a registered independent, but I like and admire John Kerry. He simply has a great record of brave and skillful service to the country. He is sure to be a fine Commander-in-Chief, one we can all be proud of, and proud to follow."

General John M. Shalikashvili (United States Army, Retired)

Shalikashvili served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking officer in the U.S. military. Prior to serving as Chairman, he served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and also as the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. European Command. He served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army in Europe and during the first Gulf War in 1991, assumed command of Operation Provide Comfort, the relief operation that returned hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees to Northern Iraq. Shalikashvili is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was born in Warsaw, Poland on June 27, 1936.

"I believe in John Kerry. As a young man, he heeded his country’s call to service when it needed him. He commanded in combat and did so with bravery and distinction. He knows from experience a commander’s responsibility to his troops. He stands with our troops and with their families."

Admiral Stansfield Turner (United States Navy, Retired)

Turner served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1977-1981.

Previously, he served in the U.S. Navy as Commander of the U.S. Second Fleet and NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic. Turner also served as the Commander-in-Chief of NATO's Southern Flank, and as President of the Naval War College. Before promotion to Admiral in 1970, he served on destroyers off the shores of Korea and Vietnam, and as executive assistant and naval aide to two Secretaries of the Navy. A native of Highland Park, Illinois, Turner received his commission from the United States Naval Academy and was a Rhodes Scholar.

"George Bush as the Commander-in-Chief has got us into a morass in both Iraq and Afghanistan. John Kerry is a true veteran, and would be a much better commander-in-chief."

General Johnnie E. Wilson (United States Army, Retired)

Wilson served as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Material Command, and was responsible for the Army's wholesale logistics, acquisition and technology generation operations. He was born on February 4, 1944 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and raised in Lorain, Ohio. He entered the Army in August 1961 as an enlisted soldier and retired n 1999 as a four-star general. Wilson is one of just four African-Americans to earn four stars in the U.S. Army's more than 200-year history. Wilson held a wide variety of important command and staff positions including Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.

"Senator Kerry is a principled, patriotic leader with the requisite skills to lead America in the 21st century."

What the GOP thinks of college students

Karl Rove, chief political strategist for U.S. president George W. Bush, said:

As people do better, they start voting like Republicans --- unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.

If you know any college students who are thinking about voting for Bush or not voting at all, pass this information on to them.

The GOP has consistently tried to make it harder for you to go to college by shifting financial aids from grants to loans, then trying to move the loans to private lenders who can charge higher (and variable) interest when you graduate. Tax cuts for their rich friends are more important to them than your education. It's that simple.

When I went to college in the 80's, I probably got less than $1,000 a year from my family, but I only had to work in the summer because financial aid covered the rest. There's no reason we couldn't go back to that, or better, IF STUDENTS VOTE.

Why do you think politicians of both parties trip over themselves trying to give money to old people? THEY VOTE. It's the same reason big business people make political contributions: it's the best return they will get on their investment.


Taking the time to register and vote could mean you can quit your second job sometime before the end of your college career. Click on this link to register in your state:

https://www.workingforchange.com/vote/index.cfm?ms=OVR002

If you think you won't have time to go to the polls election day, you can ask for an absentee ballot when you register, and mail it in before the election.

Bush backs cutting college PELL grants $270 million and 84,000 students

The Bush administration’s Department of Education approved changes in the formula families use to determine if their college-bound students are eligible for financial assistance under the Federal Pell Grant Program. The changes, announced May 30, will rob 84,000 of aid and reduce financial help to hundreds of thousands of other students beginning in the 2004–2005 academic year, according to a memo from the Congressional Research Service. Education experts predict the impact of the changes will ripple into many state and university administered aid programs that base their eligibility formulas on the federal model, denying educational opportunity to even more students.

New York Times article with details:
http://corzine.senate.gov/clippings/collegeaid.nytimes.7.18.03.pdf

Republican Bill Pending in Congress Could
Eliminate Savings for Students

Wednesday, June 2, 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While welcoming last week’s news of another drop in interest rates on student loans for college, Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) also warned that the main higher education legislation pending in Congress could eliminate altogether the benefit that enables students to consolidate their loans at a low fixed interest rate and save thousands of dollars over the life of their loan.

http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/releases/rel6204b.html

Will Ferrell from SNL in new Bush commercial skit

This is pretty damn funny, and about five seconds into it, you have to start reminding yourself this isn't really Bush.


http://whitehousewest.com/

danger of American Fascism, by FDR's VP

Henry Wallace was FDR's vice president before Truman, and he wrote this while WWII was still going on. With the exception of right wing isolationism, he could have written this today.

KEY EXCERPTS:

Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war, either via Latin America or within the United States itself.

Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. American fascists of this stamp were clandestinely aligned with their German counterparts before the war, and are even now preparing to resume where they left off, after "the present unpleasantness" ceases...

The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.

FULL TEXT:

Editor's Note | This story ran in the New York Times in 1944. Draw your own conclusions and compare Henry Wallace's analysis to the situation we find ourselves in today.

The Danger of American Fascism
By Henry A. Wallace
The New York Times
From Henry A. Wallace, Democracy Reborn (New York, 1944), edited by Russell Lord, p. 259.

Sunday 09 April 1944

On returning from my trip to the West in February, I received a request from The New York Times to write a piece answering the following questions:

What is a fascist?
How many fascists have we?
How dangerous are they?

A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; or may be a culture, religion, or a political party.

The perfect type of fascist throughout recent centuries has been the Prussian Junker, who developed such hatred for other races and such allegiance to a military clique as to make him willing at all times to engage in any degree of deceit and violence necessary to place his culture and race astride the world. In every big nation of the world are at least a few people who have the fascist temperament. Every Jew-baiter, every Catholic hater, is a fascist at heart. The hoodlums who have been desecrating churches, cathedrals and synagogues in some of our larger cities are ripe material for fascist leadership.

The obvious types of American fascists are dealt with on the air and in the press. These demagogues and stooges are fronts for others. Dangerous as these people may be, they are not so significant as thousands of other people who have never been mentioned. The really dangerous American fascists are not those who are hooked up directly or indirectly with the Axis. The FBI has its finger on those. The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful. Most American fascists are enthusiastically supporting the war effort. They are doing this even in those cases where they hope to have profitable connections with German chemical firms after the war ends. They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.

American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of demagoguery.

The European brand of fascism will probably present its most serious postwar threat to us via Latin America. The effect of the war has been to raise the cost of living in most Latin American countries much faster than the wages of labor. The fascists in most Latin American countries tell the people that the reason their wages will not buy as much in the way of goods is because of Yankee imperialism. The fascists in Latin America learn to speak and act like natives. Our chemical and other manufacturing concerns are all too often ready to let the Germans have Latin American markets, provided the American companies can work out an arrangement which will enable them to charge high prices to the consumer inside the United States. Following this war, technology will have reached such a point that it will be possible for Germans, using South America as a base, to cause us much more difficulty in World War III than they did in World War II. The military and landowning cliques in many South American countries will find it attractive financially to work with German fascist concerns as well as expedient from the standpoint of temporary power politics.

Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war, either via Latin America or within the United States itself.

Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. American fascists of this stamp were clandestinely aligned with their German counterparts before the war, and are even now preparing to resume where they left off, after "the present unpleasantness" ceases:

The symptoms of fascist thinking are colored by environment and adapted to immediate circumstances. But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power. It is no coincidence that the growth of modern tyrants has in every case been heralded by the growth of prejudice. It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups. Likewise, many people whose patriotism is their proudest boast play Hitler's game by retailing distrust of our Allies and by giving currency to snide suspicions without foundation in fact.

The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.

Several leaders of industry in this country who have gained a new vision of the meaning of opportunity through co-operation with government have warned the public openly that there are some selfish groups in industry who are willing to jeopardize the structure of American liberty to gain some temporary advantage. We all know the part that the cartels played in bringing Hitler to power, and the rule the giant German trusts have played in Nazi conquests. Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself.

It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us. The myth of fascist efficiency has deluded many people. It was Mussolini's vaunted claim that he "made the trains run on time." In the end, however, he brought to the Italian people impoverishment and defeat. It was Hitler's claim that he eliminated all unemployment in Germany. Neither is there unemployment in a prison camp.

Democracy to crush fascism internally must demonstrate its capacity to "make the trains run on time." It must develop the ability to keep people fully employed and at the same time balance the budget. It must put human beings first and dollars second. It must appeal to reason and decency and not to violence and deceit. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels. As long as scientific research and inventive ingenuity outran our ability to devise social mechanisms to raise the living standards of the people, we may expect the liberal potential of the United States to increase. If this liberal potential is properly channeled, we may expect the area of freedom of the United States to increase. The problem is to spend up our rate of social invention in the service of the welfare of all the people.

The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan. Democracy can win the peace only if it does two things:

Speeds up the rate of political and economic inventions so that both production and, especially, distribution can match in their power and practical effect on the daily life of the common man the immense and growing volume of scientific research, mechanical invention and management technique. Vivifies with the greatest intensity the spiritual processes which are both the foundation and the very essence of democracy.

The moral and spiritual aspects of both personal and international relationships have a practical bearing which so-called practical men deny. This dullness of vision regarding the importance of the general welfare to the individual is the measure of the failure of our schools and churches to teach the spiritual significance of genuine democracy. Until democracy in effective enthusiastic action fills the vacuum created by the power of modern inventions, we may expect the fascists to increase in power after the war both in the United States and in the world.

Fascism in the postwar inevitably will push steadily for Anglo-Saxon imperialism and eventually for war with Russia. Already American fascists are talking and writing about this conflict and using it as an excuse for their internal hatreds and intolerances toward certain races, creeds and classes.

It should also be evident that exhibitions of the native brand of fascism are not confined to any single section, class or religion. Happily, it can be said that as yet fascism has not captured a predominant place in the outlook of any American section, class or religion. It may be encountered in Wall Street, Main Street or Tobacco Road. Some even suspect that they can detect incipient traces of it along the Potomac. It is an infectious disease, and we must all be on our guard against intolerance, bigotry and the pretension of invidious distinction. But if we put our trust in the common sense of common men and "with malice toward none and charity for all" go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail.

american fascist henry wallace fdr franklin delano roosevelt prescott bush ku klux klan chamber of commerce president george w bush dlc democratic leadership council republican GOP conservative corruption occupation halliburton white mans burden professor smartass iraq corporation fascism democracy worst president ever failure war criminal idiot retard closet gay smartass comments resistance censored news rebel

Florida Purge needs criminal investigation says US Civil Rights Commission

Greg Palast testified before the Civil Rights Commission about the purge of black voters in 2000, and how Jeb is trying to repeat the trick.

It's encouraging that this is getting some play, but the discouraging stuff is at the end of the excerpt: since this is a federal issue, it gets kicked to Ashcroft for investigation, who will investigate it about as thoroughly as the Ku Klux Klan would.

KEY EXCERPT:

Following Palast's testimony, Civil Rights Commissioner Christopher Edley, Dean of the Law School at the University of California at Berkeley, said that on the basis of evidence from Palast and state officials and contractors, "There appears to be a criminal violation of the Civil Rights Act." In response, the Chairwoman of the Commission, Mary Frances Berry, at the request of the Commissioners, is sending a letter to the Justice Department to demand investigation of the criminal or civil violations which appear to have occurred.


FULL TEXT:

Rev. Jesse Jackson with Greg Palast at National Press Club Today to Demand Criminal Investigation of New Florida Vote Fix

Friday, July 16, 2004

Noon, Friday, National Press Club, 14 Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC

The New York Times has reported that the State of Florida has stopped purging voters from registries. This is plain false, a canard traceable to the partisan office of the Florida Secretary of State.

In May, Governor Jeb Bush's appointed Secretary of State ordered local officials to begin removing 47,000 voters from registries, supposedly illegal "felon" voters. As in a similar list used in 2000, the new "purge" list turns out to contain few felons but many Democrats - four to one over targeted Republicans.

Excluding such innocent voters -- about half of them African American -- won Florida and the White House for the Bush family in 2000.

It's 2004 and here they go again.

Palast, whose investigative reports for BBC television on the fix of the election formed the basis of that section in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, was asked to testify yesterday in Washington before the US Civil Rights Commission on the 2000 and now 2004 voter purge in Florida...( the rest of the story is at gregpalast.com)