August 20, 2009 archive

1. McClatchy reports Afghan vote underway amid tension over Taliban threats. “Protected by tens of thousands of U.S.-led international troops and Afghan security forces, Afghans voted Thursday for a new president for only the second time in their history in an election held under the threat of vote-rigging and the Taliban’s vow to attack polling stations.”

   The Los Angeles Times adds Afghans in Kabul brush aside jitters to cast ballots. “On the eve of the vote, there was ample reason for nervousness. At least six election workers died in attacks by insurgents. Six more American troop deaths were reported in Afghanistan’s volatile south. And Taliban fighters engaged in an hours-long shootout with police in the heart of the capital, a clash that left three militants dead.”

   Meanwhile the Washington Independent reports of the Second major poll this month finds a big drop in support for Afghanistan war. “A narrow majority of 51 percent to 47 percent said the war was not worth fighting.”

2. The NY Times reports the CIA hired Blackwater to carryout assassinations. “The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials… The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects.”

   “Officials said the C.I.A. did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince”.

Four at Four continues with Swiss bank deal, fake letters to Congress, and endangered species selection.

AIG jumped 26 percent to $33.65 after Benmosche said in an interview in Croatia that “at the end of the day, we believe we will be able to pay back the government and we hope we will be able to do something for our shareholders as well.”

Why, you may ask, does the newly appointed CEO of AIG speak from Croatia? That is where Mr. Bob Benmosche is vacationing, at his million-dollar villa. Despite his weighty responsibilities as the newly-installed CEO of America’s most worthless insurance company, he decided not to interrupt his vacation to go to the office. You might also ask why Bob is so feisty and confident about his prospects when the US government effectively owns his company. The answer is simple. The government owns AIG, but has no effective control over it, and the ever-opportunistic Benmosche realizes this. He can do anything he pleases because the Obama administration desperately needs his cooperation to conceal the dimensions of the disaster at AIG.

There has been no investigation of the AIG debacle, and no effective accounting of the vast funds poured into this company. Now a strutting, blustering, rich CEO is taking over and telling the government to stop meddling in the business that it owns. Everything is back to normal and the inmates are running America’s financial asylum again.

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Why should Americans impeach America’s first mixed-race President? Obama should be impeached to protect our nation from a precipitous slide into economic ruin and societal decay. Lacking a constitutional mechanism for voters to remove a President who is providing disastrous leadership, impeachment is our only alternative for avoiding further grievous harm. Like a charlatan physician feeding laetrile to a cancer patient, Obama and his minions have misdiagnosed, mistreated, and mismanaged our economy from his first day in office. Here are some particulars:

1. Protecting the plutocracy. In the Obama administration, the holders of concentrated private wealth come first. Their interests, generally represented in proportion to their political contributions, are defended at all costs. Obama has effectively been bribed to protect the wealthy, and the payoff will come in his future media deals and speaking fees.

2. Rewarding incompetence and reinforcing failure. The economic management team put in place by Obama is led by “experts” whose theories of deregulation and minimal interference with the marketplace resulted in the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. They not only failed to forsee the problems, but are now failing to prevent their recurrence. Summers, Geithner, and Bernanke have presided over the largest transfer of taxpayer wealth to private corporations in American history. Meanwhile, unemployment rises inexorably, while a “recovery” is achieved by proclamation. Some of what has been done in secret dealings between the Obama administration and the malefactors of great wealth rises to the level of criminal conspiracy.

3. Preserving and extending a permanent warfare state. Obama has increased defense spending above Bush administration levels, because he is firmly committed to a permanent warfare state. This enriches the Military-Industrial-Complex, while providing a safety valve for unemployed and restless young people. It is the highest form of treason to engage America in unnecessary wars.

4. Making the President the supreme arbiter of the law. Obama declared that he alone would ban torture, and that no Congressional action would be required. He blocked the prosecution of Bush Administration war criminals as a further demonstration that all power effectively resides in the presidency. His continuation of the use of signing statements is further evidence of the continuation of Bush’s imperial presidency. This arrogant assertion that the President alone controls the detention and torture of prisoners in an endless war is a flagrant violation of the Constitution.

It is a sad thing that so promising a politician as Barak Obama has failed so badly, but we must accept the unhappy facts. Charm is no substitute for competence, and a smooth speaking style does not compensate for a faulty character. Obama the President is not what we were promised by Obama the candidate. The deficits in his performance are so great that they warrant removal. Impeach Obama while something of America remains to be saved.

Two short discussions, reports, about the Domestic Terrorist within, the known and unknown Militia’s, and the connection to those packin in Phoenix and elsewhere, in the large crowds for a Presidential Visit. With Children in that crowd! Incompetent gunowners misusing their interpretation of the Laws, and their total lack of common sense and civility in a civil society, as well as using those Children and the Crowd of Innocent Civilians as Human Shields should anything happen, making the possibility of that easier, looking an awful lot like Insurgents and Criminal Terrorist in our Wars of Choice, or those label as Terrorist anywhere!!

There will not be a Docudharma Times today as I’m not going spend the next three hours trying to figure out what the html problem is.