No easy answers, as Seymour Hersh makes clear in the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh
That's right. I said it. Independence Day. On this day, 232 years ago, the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies "Free and Independent States", no longer under British control. (The Declaration of Independence was approved two days later. And it got all the fireworks.)
Today, myths about American Independence and how they relate to the events of today (like the Millionaires Amendment and the Gun Ban). The common thread is that history is told by the powerful, not the truthful.
PLUS why I SUPPORT Obama's faith-based initiative, even though I played a major role in killing Bush's faith-based initiative.
On four big decisions last week, the Supreme Court struck down four laws as unconstitutional by a 5-4 decision, with 8 judges consistently lined up on the "liberal" side and four on the "conservative" side.
When it came to millionaires, gun owners, and extremely wealthy corporations, Kennedy sided with the conservatives.
But when it came to prisoners seeking habeas corpus or death penalty relief, Kennedy sided with the liberals.
The next President will decide whether the Supreme Court will uphold the rule of law or abolish it in favor of the rich and powerful.
- The Justice Department's inspector general exposes the Bush Administration's plot to turn the criminal justice system into its own political fiefdom
- The Supreme Court decision on the death penalty for child rapists
- And why the McCain Campaign wants terrorists to attack the USA
Guest: Michelle Richardson, Legislative Consultant for the American Civil Liberties Union
PLUS the Bush contempt judge urges Congress to jail Harriet Miers (fancy that!), something I have urged a cowardly Congress to do for almost a year now!
Mark debates Republican Strategist Mike Lane on:
1) Off-shore Oil Drilling - the McCain Flip Flop
2) New Scientific Study on Gay/Straight Brain Differences
3) Public Financing - the Obama Flip Flop
4) The new Intelligence Surveillance Bill and the Supreme Court Decision on Habeas Corpus for Guantanamo Bay Detainees
And a word in praise of Tim Russert
Wind and solar energy now! (no more oil, sorry bush/cheney/mccain)
AND
The Torture of Pentagon Lawyer Jim Haynes (before a Senate committee)
In a shocking display last week of respect for the rule of law, the Supreme Court held last week that the President did not have dictatorial powers to detain people at will and hold them for life without trial. In doing so, Justice Anthony Kennedy joined with the four "rule of law" justices in finding that the Guantanamo prisoners did have the right to challenge their detentions.
The four right-wing dissenters angry denounced the decision. If you don't give the President the extra-constitutional power to detain anyone at will, Scalia huffed, "it will cause more Americans to be killed."
Hitler, Stalin and other dictators have made the exact same argument as Scalia.
While Benjamin Franklin said, "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."
So which is more important, the security of tyranny or the danger of liberty?
Who is right?
Scalia and Hitler?
Or a tenuous majority of the Supreme Court and Benjamin Franklin?
It may be the most important debate of our time.
Guest Michael Macleod-Ball, Chief Legislative and Policy Council of the American Civil Liberties Union
How much damage can the Bush Administration still do in its waning days?
Will they be prosecuted when the seven months and nine days are up?
ALSO how Obama can stop Iran from being a nuclear power without use of arms.
The secret: Iranians really like us...DESPITE Bush.
Mark gives the Inside Scoop into the rarefied, self-obsessed inner world of talk radio, where:
-- Dick Cheney is still a hero,
-- statist conservatives call themselves "libertarians,"
-- the "rich old white male" is the only American that matters,
-- and Barack Obama is a closet terrorist.
Guest: Bishop Harry Jackson, co-author of Personal Faith, Public Policy
Obama's speech to AIPAC this week shows a strong defense of the American-Israel alliance
Scott McClellan tells the truth...for once
Oil executives and Arab dictators profit off of America's oil addiction misery
and Republicans refuse to fund the war or education for GIs, so that multi-millionaires don't have to give up 8% of the $126,000 they've received so far from the Bush tax giveaways...
Democrats Give Michigan and Florida Half a Vote - Say Goodbye, Hillary
Trinity's Guest Pastor Forces Obama to Make a Final Break with Church
McCain Opposes Aid to GIs
Bush Torture Approved at the Very Top
And any other news YOU want to bring up
From the vault: Mark Levine at the 2005 Conference on World Affairs in Colorado.
Part 1: Why Liberals Should Read the Bible
Part 2: Biblical Views on Homosexuality, God on Coins, Adam & Eve
Part 3: Mark Levine Answers Questions/Comments
I'm off this week but providing you space.
Post anything you like here, except spam.
(Except poetry, which should be on the poetry page.)
The only Arab democracy in the world could not last even three years....
(More in the comment section)
Fifty-one Caliber Freedom Bird
Memorial Day arouses stark memories
of grim realities,
pushin' up daisies for all these years,
I still remember,
I still remember.
The way through the corridor of horror
was a low altitude chopper ride,
straight ahead
with wide-eyed stare through M-60-fire
into elephant grass,
Is today a good day to die
on a hot LZ,
for living in this war
is such sleepless straining torture,
Over and over
in continuous psychic loop,
over and over
in big-screen fashion,
Is it a good day to die,
report for your execution,
be a good soldier,
now, and do your duty,
Ah,
the sublime release
of the .51 caliber freedom bird,
taking me away
from all this confusion,
If only I had to die once,
and not over and over
again.
-- Gordon Neumann
Guest: Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't
Today I take on perhaps my most right-wing fundamentalist guest yet: Bruce Hawkins, a "highly skilled political strategist" for the three most Radical Right-Wing candidates ever to run for President: Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, and Mike Huckabee.
I encourage everyone to call in and join in the debate.
Please let my guest know that substantial parts of America still believe that equal rights for all should prevail over his vision of a Taliban-like theocracy where the Government dictates religion and marriage partners for all.
Mark debates Republican Strategist Mike Lane on:
1) Why Republicans keep losing in Congressional special elections;
2) Why Bush has brought domestic politics to Israel;
3) Obama v. McCain on Iran; and
4) The California Supreme Court decision allowing gay citizens to marry.
The California Supreme Court has just made California the second state in the nation to allow gay people to legally marry. Now 1 in 6 Americans live in a state where gay people have equality under the law.
I predicted that 25 years after Massachusetts, gay people would be allowed to marry nationwide. Four years after the first state, California has become the second. Expect the pace to quicken as Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maryland, and Oregon all follow suit over the next three to five years. (You heard it here first.)
By every indication, Israel and the Jewish People should have been extinguished from the world stage more than 2500 years ago. In every generation and in every location, Jews have prayed for thousands of years, "Enemies seek to destroy us and God has saved us."
The very existence of the State of Israel -- warts and all -- is as miraculous as the survival of one of the oldest peoples on Earth in the face of implacable enemies.
Today, on the Inside Scoop, the story of Jewish renewal and rebirth in their Judean homeland (from which they were named) in the face of fierce odds. Like the Arabs of Arabia, the Indians of India, and virtually all national, anti-colonial movements, Israel was born in fierce bloodshed, fighting simultaneously the British and the Arabs.
For a fascinating account of Israel at age 10, check out this interview between Mike Wallace and Abba Eban, Israel's ambassador to the United States 50 years ago. Try to ignore the cigarette commercials. :-)
More below in the comment I post.
Guest: Sarah Posner, author of God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters
Who says Republicans don't like Big Government?
They love it, when it helps the wealthy...
Guest: Economist Dean Baker, Author of The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, will discuss his book and the current mortgage crisis.
Despite the squeaker in Indiana last night, it's over for Hillary.
Also the memory of Mildred Loving, who took on Virginia's law against interracial marriages in 1967. Before she died, Loving endorsed the equal right of gay people to marry as well.
And other news of the week...
Why are they so high?
Who profits by this?
Should gas taxes be lowered? Raised?
Is there an answer here? Apart from waving Bush's "magic wand"?
Guest: Tyson Slocum, Director of the Energy Program at Public Citizen
Going beyond the obvious (AIDS conspiracy, Farrakhan...)
I have no problem with Reverend Wright's argument that "difference does not mean deficient" nor his cogent analysis of African and European rhythm and music patterns.
But when Wright suggests that Black children need to learn differently from Whites, he brings us periously close to a reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.
Similarly, I praise Latinos (and other ethnic groups) who maintain the language and traditions of their native countries/culture but condemn those who do not want to learn English or American -- and yes, Western -- ways as well. We can have diversity AND a melting pot. We can be African and American, Latino and American, Jewish and American, Italian and American. But if you don't want to be American at all, if you don't want to learn English and traditional American ways of learning and teaching and speaking, well then, you don't really belong here. Yes, you can try to modify the standards. Yes, you can and should advocate a "mosaic" as much as a "melting pot." But we must have ties that bind us, even if those ties are the English language and a bunch of dead white Christian men who happened to found our country.
No one can dispute America's long history of racism and oppression, but to teach Blacks that there is no hope, that all of America is a white cesspool seeking to destroy them, there is no hope for African-American self-improvement. The same is true with some Jews who have a Holocaust mentality.
One hundred years ago, W.E.B. DuBois spoke in "The Souls of Black Folk" of a "talented tenth," that perhaps only 1/10 of Blacks could succeed in America given its systemic racism, but that 10% should be able to achieve despite all odds. Similarly, many Jewish and Asian families teach their children that despite the fact that antisemitism and racism continue to exist, they must still strive to learn and do better, even if they have a handicap. These cultures focus on education and share DuBois' vision of retaliation through education. "We'll show them!" is the rallying cry, rather than "We'll fight them" or "We have no hope because they're all evil."
Times are substantially easier now for African Americans than they were a hundred years ago when Du Bois wrote his book. No, systemic racism isn't gone. Yes, full equality remains decades, if not a century away.
Still, isn't it time to up Du Bois' numbers? How about a talented 70% or 80%? I suspect those numbers of African-Americans could succeed in America, despite the systemic racism that endures, if the taunt was only "We'll show them despite all odds" rather than "They're in a conspiracy to destroy us. Screw them!"
Wright's and Obama's visions collide. I trust Obama shares my vision, not Wright's.
Obama had to go to Wright's church to find the people that needed to be lifted up. But let us hope and pray that Wright's vision belongs to the past while Obama's belongs to the future.
The problem with Scalia is NOT that he's an originalist.
The problem with Scalia is he's a hypocrite.
Which 60 Minutes' recent puff piece did little to unearth.
But I did. As a student at Yale Law School, I put Scalia in his place...twice.
I challenged him on his own terms as a pure textualist.
And proved to him -- in the face of hundreds of law students who laughed and taunted him for his failure to answer my challenge -- that he is NOT an originalist.
In today's show, I share my personal "smack-down" of Scalia, as I comment on the 60 Minutes interview.
Audio
45 Bonus Minutes (from Bob Kincaid's show)
Wright seems determined to embarrass Obama.
Is this jealousy? Revenge?
Does Wright want to redeem his reputation?
Or enjoy his fifteen minutes of fame?
Perhaps he wants to free Obama by forcing Obama to denounce him.
Which Obama promptly did.
In today's show, we play in detail Wright's words, Obama's response, and my comments on the controversy.
For any that might doubt whether Obama might agree with Wright's most extreme words, this latest battle between the men should lay the issue the rest.
It should.
But it won't.
The Republicans have found their 2008 Swift Boat and they will ride that boat again and again all the way to November.
Mark debates Republican Mike Lane on:
- The Supreme Court's decision to disenfranchise the poor in Indiana
- The Pentagon Propaganda Ploy
- John McCain's 100 Years in Iraq
- The Government's Admission that We Have No Strategy to Combat Al Qaeda, Alive and Well and Living in Pakistan
Today the United States Supreme Court threw at least 43,000 and as many as half a million of Indiana's poorest citizens off the voting rolls. Their crime? Being too poor to afford a photo ID and not having a car or need for a driver's license.
Poll taxes are expressly forbidden by the Constitution. But today's Supreme Court -- including self-proclaimed originalist Justice Antonin Scalia -- does not care much for the text of the Constitution or the intent of the drafters of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment banning the poll tax in 1964.
They upheld Indiana's imposition of a poll tax -- $12 to buy a birth certificate in some counties as a necessary prerequisite to getting the photo ID -- even though that amount was higher (even inflation-adjusted) than the famous 1966 case striking down Virginia's $1.50 poll tax.
Indiana did not offer to take the pictures of these photo-ID-less citizens nor give them a ride to the DMV. They just said, "Tough luck. Guess you're too poor to vote." I guess the Republican governor and legislature of Indiana were angry at poor people who voted out three Republican Indiana Congressmen in 2006 (tied for the largest Republican loss of any state). So they took it out on the poor people by throwing 40,000 to 500,000 of them off the voting rolls. If they won't vote for us, Republicans reasoned, we'll take away their right to vote!
Although the real purpose of the legislation wasa to prevent poor people from voting Democratic, the stated purpose of the law was to protect against "in-person voting fraud." And how many cases of in person voting fraud occur in Indiana each year that justify throwing away 40,000 to more than 400,000 legitimate voters (1 to 12% of its voting rolls)?
40,000 a year? 4000 a year? 400 a year?
no, no, no
40 a year, 4 a year, 4 in all of Indiana history?
no, no, no
1 case in Indiana history?
You're getting closer, but no.
There has never been a recorded or even suspected case of in-person voting fraud in the 192 years Indiana has been a state.
There have been recorded cases of absentee voting fraud, but the Indiana statute upheld by the right-wing Supreme Court that installed Bush as President (two of whom, Roberts and Alito, owe their jobs to the Supreme Court's 2000 illegal coup d'etat) does nothing about absentee voting.
Indiana does not want to stop absentee voting fraud. Rich people vote absentee, as do military people who are presumed to support Republicans. So that fraud will be allowed to continue.
But in order to fight a hypothetical fraud that has never occurred in Indiana history -- and one that incidentally carries a penalty of five years in prison -- Indiana will throw away from 1% to 10% of its citizens votes. This even though there has never been an Indianan stupid enough to risk five years in jail to increase his or her candidate's vote total by 1.
And people think Jim Crow is dead.....
Or that poor Americans have all the same rights as other American citizens....
Ever wonder why this decision got such little press?
I give a full explanation of all of the details on today's show. And tomorrow, I debate the Supreme Court decision with Republican strategist Mike Lane.
Guest: Cindy Sheehan
I in no way doubt Cindy Sheehan's profound grief at the loss of her son Casey serving in Iraq nor her powerful desire to end the Iraq War as soon as possible. But I do wonder whether others -- with additional and darker agenda -- are not using the notorious "Peace Mom" to achieve their aims, not hers. By co-opting Sheehan, I worry that these allies -- including known terrorist organizations -- are not harming Sheehan and the entire movement to end the United States' occupation in Iraq.
At a recent rally in Washington to end the War -- a goal supported by more than 60% of the American Public -- less than 0.0001% (a ten-thousandth of one percent) of those opposed to the war showed up. If 1 in 100 Americans who opposed the war had showed up, the march would have had 1.8 million people. Instead the 23 groups organizing the rally (including Code Pink) had less than 180 show up.
It is my view that Cindy Sheehan and others like her harm the anti-war movement by linking it to other, more nefarious objectives that neither I nor the vast majority of Americans support. After all, I didn't show up at the rally either, even though I fervently want this war to end.
Today, I will challenge Sheehan on the hijacking and harming of her peace movement and encourage her to focus on the uniting principle of getting America out of Iraq rather than the agenda of her unsavory allies.
Guest: Congressman Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania
Guest: Colonel Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, gives his thoughts on the recent Petraeus hearings.
Mark discusses all kinds of taxes with the Director of Government Affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, Kristina Rasmussen
Guest: Ex-scientologist Tory Christman who, after 30 years, reached the second highest-level of the famous secretive cult.
A related show on Rev. Sun Myung Moon: Republican Messiah
Thanks to the many "anons" and the one particular one in Kentucky who recommened Tory.
Yesterday, General Petraeus wouldn't budge from his position, which was really quite simply stated:
We have no idea how long we'll be fighting in Iraq.
We have no idea how much it will cost.
We have no idea whether we'll win or lose.
We have no idea how many will die.
We have no idea how to define victory.
Oh, and our enemies keep changing.
First we give money and arms
to the Sunnis (supported by Al Qaeda)
against the Shia (supported by Iran).
And lo and behold, the Sunni become more powerful and dangerous!
Then we gave money and arms
to the Shia (supported by Iran)
against the Sunni (supported by Al Qaeda).
And lo and behold, the Shia are becoming more poweful and dangerous.
Maybe we should help the Sunni (Al Qaeda in Iraq) again?
Rinse and Repeat for 100 years.
And don't forget the intra-Sunni and intra-Shia battles too, upon which we have to take sides!
Rinse and repeat for 100 years.
(Remember when dangerous Sunnis (led by Saddam) were evenly matched by dangerous Shias (led by Iran)? Sure, a million were killed in the Iraq-Iran War of 1982 and we armed both sides to some extent, but no land was conquered and no Americans died. Hard to believe those were the good ole' days, but in retrospect, they were.)
Who's Fighting Whom?
It's not just Shia, Sunni, and Kurd. It's Al Qaeda and Al Sadr. The Iraqi Government and Ours. Provincial Warlords, Iraqi Nationalists, former Baathists, foreign jihadists, and lots of folks just trying to survive.
Guest: Iraqi Raed Jarrar, Iraq consultant for the American Friends Service Committee, explains who's fighting whom among the various players in the Iraqi civil war.
As you might expect, American taxpayers are financing and arming virtually all of them.
Guest: Paul Waldman, co-author of Free Ride: John McCain and the Media.
Read an excerpt.
Cheri Honkala, National Coordinator of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and Shamako Noble, Co-Founder, President, and Executive Director of the Hip Hop Congress;
Lucy Blake, CEO of the Apollo Alliance;
Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for America, founded by his brother Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean;
Elizabeth Bagley, former Ambassador to Portugal and surrogate for the Hillary Clinton campaign; and
David Sirota, author of The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington
Mark and his guest Republican strategist Mike Lane have some surprising announcements to make today.
Guest: John Gorenfeld, author of Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom
Do you know how much the Bush family has taken from a self-proclaimed Messiah who says he talks to Hitler and Jesus every day, performs mass marriages of strangers, and controls a Republican media empire?
In one word, Cheney sums up the Bush Administration's astonishing arrogance and disregard for the American People.
Also, Mark Levine on the Leslie Marshall show sums up the "inside scoop" behind the Obama Passport Spying Scandal and the reason he's pushing the Democrats to hold Bush Administration officials in "inherent contempt."
Mark asks the tough questions to:
Chairman John Conyers of the Judiciary Committee on contempt for the Executive Branch;
his hero, progressive Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky on progressive disappointment with Democrats;
soon-to-be Congresswoman Donna Edwards on how she beat the establishment;
and former Congressman Tom Allen on fighting dangerous dictators without war.
Mark's guests today:
Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club;
John Arensmeyer, Founder and CEO of Small Business Majority;
Author Christine Pelosi (daughter of the Speaker); and
Television Talk Show Host Phil Donahue
We know the Bush Justice Department went after Eliot Spitzer, sifting through his private bank records to find out if he'd done anything wrong and then spending high-level resources on the successful goose chase.
We know that Rove made up allegations about Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, jailng him to keep him from winning the election.
And now we find out that in January 2008, the Bush Administration also illegally spied on Barack Obama's private passport.
How many prominent and powerful Democrats are being spied on by this Administration?
Let's just say a heck of a lot more than Watergate.
No wonder they want retroactive amnesty.
If, as I suspect, all of this can be traced back to Karl Rove, this will finally be what we need to impeach Bush and Cheney. But it has to be done in time. Unfortunately, Rove, acting on behalf of Cheney and Bush, is careful about hiding his fingerprints.
This is far far far worse than Nixon. Investigate now!!!!
Two More Hours on Bob Kincaid's show
Barack Obama on Race in America
Barack Obama's Speech on Race in America
I predicted this uproar regarding Obama's Pastor Wright and am very glad Obama's putting some distance between him and his controversial pastor. I've always felt that Pastor Wright was Obama's Achilles' heel.
What is the source of Wright's incendiary comments?
How are they bound up in the tradition of the Black Church?
Is it fair to characterize him as anti-White? Or just pro-Black?
I disagree and strongly condemn much of what Pastor Wright has said in those few snippets shown widely on Fox News.
But I do think I understand where he's coming from.
And so does Barack Obama.
This may be the best speech on race in America in our generation. You owe it to yourself to listen closely, whatever your particular race or hue.
PLUS
McCain doesn't know Al Qaeda from Iran. No wonder he's unclear about who attacked us on September 11, 2001.
Osama Bin Laden wants to punish us for our cartoons.
The Supreme Court does its best to lift the DC gun ban. Good thing they have security measures that other DC residents don't have. Whatever happened to "strict constructionism"?
And Obama is wrong on the Michigan revote. C'mon Obama. I want you to win, but you gotta win fair.
Guest: Jay Lakinn, Co-Founder of PokerSourceOnline.com
Why do Republicans hate fun?
It's not just sex...
It's even low-stakes gambling on the Internet, by any industry that does not contribute to Republican candidates.
So poker is out. But if you like horse racing, you're safe.
As the Kentucky Derby crowd contributes to Republicans, "placing bets on the horsies" is legal.
Does this make any sense?
Poor me. I used to play poker online. Now if I do, I'm a criminal.
Mark interviews media consolidation watchdog Josh Silver
and blogger Rob Kall of OpedNews.com.
At this large progressive get-together,
I challenge the controversial tactics of Code Pink's co-founder Jodie Evans;
interview Kathryn Kolbert, President of the People for the American Way;
get the latest scoop on Rev Sun Myung Moon's Republican connections from investigative reporter and author John Gorenfeld;
and take on the No. 2 in the Democratic Party, Susie Turnbull about the mess created by the Democrats in Florida and Michigan.
The man has resigned.
But why was the FBI spying on him in the first place?
Should high-class prostitution even be illegal?
A man in prison today for no other crime except for being the most successful Democratic politician in Republican Alabama.
Here's how he was imprisoned by Karl Rove -- a man who should himself be in prison for treason -- for doing the same things that George Bush does every day.
Guest: Scott Horton of Harper's Magazine
A group of very powerful corporations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States is working with the Governments of these three countries to set up the North American Competitiveness Council.
You've probably never heard of it. And that's exactly the point. Its critics call it NAFTA 2.0. Get all the details tonight!
Guest: Dr. Gabriela Lemus, Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Is he anti-Catholic?
Is he antisemitic?
Is he anti-gay?
Should John McCain condemn him?
Guest: Max Blumenthal
Mark discusses Israel's decision, finally, to take decisive action to protect its citizens who have been under bombardment by 7694 missiles.
Here's why Palestinian Arabs and the world should encourage Israel to reoccupy Gaza. Let's face it, they had greater economic prosperity and were far more secure under Israeli rule than under the Hamas dictatorship.
A senior Israeli official described the situation bluntly:
This very limited (Gaza) operation was intended to show Hamas what could happen, what you may call a 'prequel'," the senior Israeli official said.
"If they decide they've seen enough and stop the rockets, if they get the message, then we may get into a period of quiet. If they continue to fire the rockets, then there will be more operations like this one or worse," the official said.
Those that support a Greater Israel have no greater friend than Hamas, which will eventually force Israel to reoccupy the Gaza Strip. They are lucky that Palestinians have never discovered their secret weapon, the one weapon that would crush support for a Greater Israel worldwide and in Israel proper and that would immediately lead to the creation of a viable Palestinian State.
That secret weapon is.....non-violence. Lucky for Israeli hawks, the Arabs will never think to try it.
Happy leap day! No show today, but I thought I'd devote this once-in-four-year opportunity to humor on the campaign trail. My personal two favorites are here:
The first I dedicate to Dave from California:
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
Keep away from those goons, Dave!
The second I've placed in the comments section. It gives the "bar pick-up lines" of all the Republican and Democratic Nominees for President.
Feel free to add your own!
Often disguised as anti-Israel in nature, antisemitism is on the rise everywhere: from typical sources such as Farrakhan, the United Nations, and Europe to new places like the American Methodist Church.
Guest: Ty Brown, founder of the Dreams End Blog who has been investigating the Methodist Church proposal to divest from companies doing business with the Israeli military, but not from Halliburton or companies doing business with Iran or Saudi Arabia.
Is antisemitism the only prejudice stomached by people on the Left?
Do they support another Holocaust?
Assuming not, then what would they do with all the Jews who are inconveniently living in Judaea when they destroy the Jewish State?
How would THEY respond if the Mexican Government were raining 40 missiles a day into Texas?
Condemn the USA for denying Mexico fuel supplies in response?
One thing we do know, American Jews are regularly condemned for lobbying their Government on behalf of Israel or for protesting those who are anti-Israel. Few complain about the gun lobby, the pro-choice lobby, the pro-life lobby, or the pro-Irish lobby (which puts Irish immigrants ahead of every other), the way the "pro-Israel lobby" is condemned with books like Mearsheimer's and Walt's. Meanwhile, virtually nothing is written about the extremely influential (but shadowy) Saudi lobby which lobbies in secret, unlike pro-Israel supporters who lobby in public. In the Comment Section is a detailed review in The New Republic of Mearsheimer's and Walt's recent antisemitic screed, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Note how M&W blame both 9/11 and the Iraq War on American Jews.
Guest: Republican Strategist Mike Lane
Obama, Hillary, and McCain
Gaza, Pakistan, Cuba, and Kosovo
Bush v. Congress on Warrantless Wiretapping
We debate it all.
You don't have to believe in conspiracy theories to know that Ralph Nader is the best hope that McCain has for winning the election
I don't know whether this megalomaniac, funded almost entirely now by the Republican Party, actually supports George Bush or just likes to see his name in the press. I do know he's the Republican Party's greatest ally. Maybe he's funded by COINTELPRO?
It's one thing to believe in transferring wealth from the poor and middle class to the superrich, creating a theocracy in America, supporting the deaths of millions in an endless war against a country that never attacked us, destroying the environment, creating a massive debt giving our country away to China and Saudi Arabia, licking the boots of oil company CEOs, and taking away the civil rights of gay people and Black people and Latinos. If you do, then you're a Conservative. I don't like it, but at least you know what you stand for.
But to claim to be a "progressive" and then devote your entire life to pleasing Karl Rove and Dick Cheney is disgusting....truly disgusting.
I dislike George W. Bush's policies. I loathe Ralph Nader.
Did John McCain have an inappropriate relationship with a 40-year-old lobbyist? Even if not romantic, is he in her pocket as a lobbyist?
And the Democrats. Two bad mistakes/slips of the tongue:
Hillary Clinton says Obama is not "ready" to be President....
Michelle Obama says for the first time in her adult life, she is really proud of her country....
George Bush often talks about promoting freedom around the world, but the mishmash of US policy promotes some dictatorships while attacking others. A look today at US policy in:
- Cuba, with the ending of Fidel Castro's reign
- Pakistan, with the strong Pakistani vote against Musharraf
- Kosovo, with its declaration of independence
- Africa, where Bush is visiting this week, and
- Gaza, where Hamas is putting in Gaza in their worst misery ever while devoting the Strip's entire meager resources into a useless, murderous war to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible
Here's the article I reference on today's show: Gazans Feeling Recoil of Attacks on Israel
As Armed Groups Continue Rocket Strikes, Palestinians Grow Weary; Farmer Fells an Orchard After Mother Is Killed. It was the Washington Post, not the New York Times, that printed the article. I regret the error.
Check the Comment Section for the eloquent speech by Senator Dodd attacking this travesty: Dodd: The Rule of Law Abandoned, "Dark Day" in the Senate
Also, read my diary on Daily Kos describing my extensive effort to get an answer from my Senator Webb on why he voted for this monstrosity.
For more information on today's show, check out the Warrantless Eavesdropping Timeline on Wikipedia.
Flip-flopping McCain voted today to allow torture.
Meanwhile the House Democrats may have miraculously found their spine in Article I of the Constitution by voting today to hold Miers and Bolton in contempt!
And Republicans disrupt Tom Lantos' Memorial Service! Boy they hate Congtressional Oversight. Don't they!
Did you know we executed 8 Japanese for water torture (the old name for waterboarding)? Maybe they were trying to prevent an atomic bomb explosion. Wouldn't that make -- in Bush's and McCain's view -- their torture of American servicemen justified?
Oh what a slippery slope we fall on when we start justifying inhumane and unconstitutional violence. Remember when we used to think of America as the good guys? Remember when the world used to agree?
Happy Valentine's Day. Now if only we could create an America that spread love and was loved by the rest of the world...
Just before the Potomac Primary, Mark poses his tough questions to representatives of the Clinton, McCain, and Obama campaigns to help you decide who to vote for.
The Democrats tie Super Tuesday.
While the Republicans, after more than 60% voted AGAINST McCain, are going to get him as a nominee.
Now THIS is the problem with having all the states vote at once...
(Treat this as "Week in Review" and comment on anything you like.)
Mark and Republican Strategist Mike Lane discuss the greatest national primary in American history: 22 states vote tomorrow.
For Democrats, it's difficult to decide because both candidates are so good: intelligent, compassionate, and dedicated to serving all Americans.
For Republicans, it's also a difficult choice because they hate their candidates so much. Will it be the whiny flip flopper? Or the one hated by Rush Limbaugh but endorsed by the New York Times?
According to the Senate's Joint Economic Committee, It's enough to pay for health care for every uninsured man, woman, and child in America.
Mark went on the Leslie Marshall show to discuss this isssue.
PLUS more reasons to vote for Obama!
Bush gives his final speech to the nation and tries to put his best gloss on what his Administration has bequeathed America over the past seven ears: the terrible economy, loss of life at home and abroad, massive debt, unending war, increased poverty, shrinking dollar, huge dependence on foreign oil, failure to catch Osama Bin Laden, opposition and setbacks to science, loss of jobs, treason, and shredding of the Constitution for which his Administration will always be remembered.
Tonight we address Bush's last speech, say a prayer that he cannot do much worse in the last year than he did in the past seven, and discuss why historians in the future will consider this one of the worst Presidents in American History.
PLUS Gazans escape to Egypt. See comment below.
I'm wondering how much support for Hillary Clinton is a backlash against the mainstream media which has done everything but get on its knees and beg the American People to support Obama and McCain, rather than Clinton and Romney. I may vote for her because of it.
If I vote for Obama, it will be in large measure because of his oratory, including this powerful speech he gave on MLK Day in Atlanta.
Mark analyzes the Democratic Debate in South Carolina and gives the inside scoop on the three front-runners.
Guest: Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback and his new book NEMESIS: The Last Days of the American Republic
Why the Economy Always Tanks Under Republican Rule . . .
A Primer on Fiscal and Monetary Policy
Happy Martin Luther King Day!
Mark discusses the primary season with Republican strategist Mike Lane on the Democrats
Meanwhile Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to meet "God's standards"
To those who fear theocracy in America, I say, (badly) paraphrasing Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, "the fear, dear Brutus, is not in the Middle East but in ourselves."
I've been holding a lot of conversations about politics.
Is it just me or do you also find it exasperating when someone simultaneously complains, "All Democrats and Republicans are the same" and "Why can't people put partisanship aside and do what's best for the country?"
When someone says "The Democrats don't stand by their principles. They're just like the Republicans." And then says "why can't the Dems compromise more and work with Republicans?"
When someone says, "The Democrats spend just as much as the Republicans and support earmarks" and then turns around and says "The Democrats haven't accomplished anything."
Today we discuss how much of the American electorate is taught to hold two contradictory ideas in their head simultaneously without realizing the contradiction.
Mark Debates Ex-Congressional Staffer, Republican Buzz Hawley on the Republican Choices in 2008 Presidential Race
I'm still undecided at this late stage.
Call in and convince me.
Listen Live here or on 89.3 FM in Metro Washington and Baltimore.
The pundits had completely written Hillary Clinton off, just as they coronated her a week before Iowa. Isn't it wonderful when the voters tell the pundits to back off?
I discuss the impact of this important primary in the future of both political parties.
Despite some human flaws, she was Pakistan's best hope for democracy and the world's best hope for peace.
Her assassination illustrates the dangerous idiocy of the Bush/Cheney decision to virtually abandon the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to pursue the "sweet oil" of Iraq.
Today's show -- the last of 2007 -- we look back on the best and worst moments of The Inside Scoop, which has been radio broadcast for 4 1/2 years and televised for more than two. We also take you behind the scenes to thank the staff who do a tremendous job putting on the television show and to give you some insight as to how difficult it is to put on a live, call-in, internet-streamed, television/radio show.
Happy Holidays everyone. Mark now goes on two-week vacation. The next live Inside Scoop will be Sunday, January 6, when Mark and Republican Mike Lane will discuss and debate the result of the Iowa caucuses and the prospects for the New Hampshire Primary two days later.
If you find yourself craving The Inside Scoop during the Winter Break, check out the tremendous Broadcast Archive. There are almost 1000 shows there on everything from Abortion to Zimbabwe! (If some of the older links don't work, just email me. Most all of them can be reinstated.)
First Hour Audio
Two More Hours on Bob Kincaid's show
Christmas is around the corner, and there are two subjects you are not supposed to talk about in polite company: religion and politics. I deal with politics every day. So why not go after religion?
My guest today, Darrell Bock, is a Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is an editor for Christianity Today and past president of the Evangelical Thelogical Society. He is the author of Dethroning Jesus Concepts: Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ.
I've always felt that I should be able to discuss any controversial topic. Some of you will be unhappy with my evangelical guest. Some of you will be unhappy with me for questioning and challenging the basic tenets of Christianity.
But hopefully many of you will hear a conversation of respectful disagreement, where all questions may be asked and none fear the consequences of the answers. Here's your chance -- whatever your beliefs -- to explore the beliefs of others. I hope many of you call in.
Fundamentally, they believe in a Constitutional showdown with Bush, they'd lose.
Bush would rather have leave American soldiers without battle armor or food than bring them home. And Democrats know that Bush would be willing to allow large numbers of Americans to suffer rather than lose a political battle, just so he could get his way and blame the Democrats for the suffering. This is why, in the political game of chicken, Democrats roll over time and time again. They're just not callous enough to allow innocent Americans to be harmed. And our political system, that allows nothing to be accomplished unless Congress and the President agree, unfortunately rewards whomever cares less about Americans......
Guest Author A.F. Cook argues that Democrats don't have to change their views but need the perception of being "regular guys" in order to win elections. Democrats, unlike Republicans, do support the underdog. But like Bush, who bought his Crawford Ranch in 2000 to play "ranchhand," learning how to fake blue-collar values is 90% of the perception battle.
UPDATE: Although I intended to talk about Obama and Huckabee and do in the last quarter of the hour, most of this show is properly labeled, "Do Nothing, Congress! Part 2"
Today is the last Presidential debate of 2007. And there has been a steady rise in Democratic support for Barack Obama and Republican support for Mike Huckabee. Both men have an uphill battle for the White House. But what does this excitement and support for each of them say about their respective parties?
It says that the Democratic Party is full of young, idealistic voters who want to be inspired again by their Government and the Promise of America as a place for Peace, Prosperity, Celebration of Diversity, Prudent Fiscal Management, and Equal Opportunity for All. They are excited by the fresh face of a new generation and believe Obama breaks free from Government as Usual.
And that the Republican Party is full of Fundamentalist Christians who want a more "Christian", theocratic Government inspired by the Promise of their peculiar (and historically inaccurate) version of Jesus Christ, a place where Women and Gay People are Punished for Having Sex, where Neighbors Mistrust and Spy on Each Other, where the Rich Become Richer and the Poor Become Poorer, and Where Everlasting War and Massive Debt eventually lead to the Rapture.
There are plenty of more mainstream Democrats and Republicans who don't necessarily share these ideas, but it is telling just where the excitement and inspiration in each Party lies.
This time it's Omaha, Colorado Springs, and Denver. Last time it was Virginia Tech. Before that was Columbine.
Guests Larry Pratt, Executive Director of the Gun Owners of America and Brian Siebel Senior Attorney, Legal Action Project for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence debate whether easier access of Americans to deadly weapons -- or more limited access -- makes America safer.
In their zeal to "get something done," this Democratic Congress is bowing way too much to satisfy Bush's every whim. Bush says he will not sign a single spending bill (i.e., shut down the Government) unless the useless War in Iraq is funded without preconditions and, incredibly, the Democrats are giving in.
Please, Democrats, do nothing! Nothing is highly preferable to another year of satisfying Bush and the Republicans. Do nothing and your opinion ratings will go up. Do nothing and people will understand who the real obstructionists to progress are.
Since Georgie and the Republicans won't play ball with you, TAKE YOUR BALL AND GO HOME! Nancy and Harry, are you listening?
Many of you have remarked upon the fact that I am no longer hosting the ATN/PressTV Show, "The American Dream." You have a right to know what happened.
I was originally told I could host any topic without censorship dealing with American policies and politics, domestic or foreign, including even a show on the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as long as it was relevant to the USA.
So when the Iranian President came to speak in New York, I proposed a show with four of the best Persian scholars in the USA discussing the Iranian President and his American trip. The panelists that agreed to do the show had varying points of view, some quite praiseworthy of Mr. Ahmadinejad and some quite critical.
Although I specifically asked permission to do the show on this topic and was granted it, one hour before the show was scheduled to air live, the show was cancelled with no explanation given. I was later told that Press TV would not allow me to discuss the topic.
Shortly after that, I was fired. I was promised a new show, "Inside America," to air on PressTV, but these promises have yet to be fulfilled. I'm hoping in the future to be re-hired to host a show on PressTV, but I will not do one unless I am free to invite guests critical of any Government's policies, whether it be the USA or Iran or any other country.
It sure looks like censorship to me.
The Inside Scoop on worker conditions at the largest pork processing facility in the world.
Guest: Leila McDowell of the Justice at Smithfield Campaign
The Smithfield Corporation has been officially invited and encouraged to participate live in this discussion. Although unable to attend tonight, they have provided a written statement and a promise to appear on a "Smithfield Update" show in February or March. They have asked me to provide their side of the story.
The United States Supreme Court's decision to review the District of Columbia gun ban will be the first time since 1939 that the High Court has reviewed the Second Amendment to the Constitution. At that time, the Court held that the Amendment protects the rights of states to organize militias but not individuals' right to own firearms. Indeed, that has ALWAYS been the holding of the U.S. Courts. The National Rifle Association has not changed the text of the Second Amendment, but their lobbying efforts may, for the first time in 217 years, change the meaning of the Amendment. The text of the Amendment is below:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Audio
OK, so Iran is NOT seeking military use of nuclear weapons and hasn't since 2003. Oops!
The Good News from Venezuela
The Bad News from Russia
Huckabee's dirty tricks
Romney's "religious" speech
The Obama-Clinton flap
Mark and Republican Strategist Mike Lane square off on the Presidential Election of 2008
You've probably seen the iconic image of the intifada, a 12-year-old boy named Mohammed Al-Dura ostensibly hiding behind his father and a barrel in the face of Israeli bullets. The image, now a fixture in Palestinian homes, has also been used by Al Qaeda terrorists and the murderers of Daniel Pearle to justify their atrocities.
But what if Palestinian gunmen, rather than Israeli soldiers, killed the boy?
Tonight, the details of how unscrupulous Palestinian "journalists," coupled with an unquestioning French press corps and a corrupt French judicial system, staged a propaganda scene. And why the truth is only now being uncovered.