Thieves in the Temple.

do it again.

The House did us proud yesterday by rejecting Tha Bush Mobb's Bailout-as-Mildly-Ameliorated-by-the-Democrats -- a bailout that, Pam Martens explains, was far more corrupt than you might have imagined. The People's Email Network continues to lead against the bailout, and provide two toll-free numbers, 1.800.828.0498 and 1.800.473.6711. And True Majority now provides a petition calling for, like, actual solutions that don't involve extorting the taxpayers. Hard to believe government regulation is popular again. Actually, it's hard to believe that Wall Street ever convinced us that whatever was good for them was good for us.

Of course, the bailout isn't the only thing going on -- Attorney General not-Alberto Gonzales has proposed new FBI guidelines for investigations. Anything you imagine only happens in police states would be OK now -- interviewing under false pretexts, stocking peaceful protest groups with informants, launching an investigation just because you're black or Muslim -- and all they need do is assert an "authorized purpose," never mind who authorized it. Possibly, just possibly, these new guidelines actually cover up FBI violations of the old guidelines, because, as any decent and moral individual knows, anytime you can't follow the rules you ought to just make up new rules. No, the need to prevent another 9.11 doesn't permit us to urinate all over the Fourth Amendment; Mr. Bush had the tools he needed to stop 9.11 and he failed. The ACLU helps you urge the Inspector General at the Justice Department to investigate possible illegal activity by the FBI. The IG has done a good job exposing Justice Department injustice in the past; hopefully the new administration won't replace him.

Finally, courtesy Princeton University's Policy Research Institute, we have more proof that taxing the rich doesn't cause them all to flee. America's Greatest State, New Jersey, actually improved its progressive income tax code with the 2004 creation of the half-millionaire bracket, set at almost 9% (the lowest income tax bracket in New Jersey sits at around 1.5%). Long story short, the Princeton study found that a) most New Jerseyans who leave the state are low-income and wind up moving to states in which they pay higher income taxes, and b) the tax revenue lost by the 350-odd half-millionaires who either flee New Jersey or choose not to move to New Jersey because of the higher taxes is way, way, way offset by the revenues the new tax bracket collects. So Grover Norquist may have to come up with something else -- or, we can only hope, concentrate more of his efforts on his hatred of the PATRIOT Act.

strange powers.

So the Democrats managed to ameliorate Mr. Bush's bailout a bit -- they can block about half of Mr. Bush's $700 billion, they got curbs on "golden parachutes" for top executives, they got assurances that taxpayers would ultimately get their money back, they got some amount of oversight. We still gotta destroy it. Either Wall Street figures out on its own how to get out of the game it rigged for itself, or Wall Street dies, and why should I care if corporations die? They're not people, after all. Tools for calling your Congressfolk are in the upper left-hand corner. And let's not forget the immortal words of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD): "A lot of people are going to hold their nose and vote for it, because they've been put in a bad position and they don't have any other option." "(P)ut in a bad position"? News flash, Mr. Cummings: you're in Congress. You've been far from powerless these last eight or sixteen or thirty years, and yet you've been spending them rolling over for the likes of Mr. Bush. So you and your kind get no sympathy from me about your difficult vote. Vote the way your constituents want you to vote. It ain't tough. You might even get re-elected.

In other news, thanks to the infinite wisdom of our great leaders in finance and statecraft, 401(k)s all over the country are drying up -- but a lot of good citizens were already resorting to using their 401(k)s to pay their medical bills. Consumers Union helps you tell your Congressfolk to listen to these stories, in the hope that maybe it'll have some effect on what they do in the future. I'm often a pessimist about having an effect on Congress, but, just like the Existentialists, we must always act as if we can have a positive effect on our surroundings. I believe that's when we tend to have the most positive effect on our surroundings.

in which our hero praises the wisdom of two Presidential candidates (but which ones?).

As Congress plans to shovel $700 billion Wall Street's way -- and, remember, Tha Bush Mobb came up with that number kind of, you know, because it's a big number -- Sens. Reid and Byrd have proposed a $56 billion stimulus plan that would do more people more good. The Reid/Byrd bill (summarized here) would (among other things) extend unemployment benefits, fund infrastructure projects, and boost Food Stamp funding. The people need that more than they need arrogant Wall Street blunderers to get out of the mess they made. The Coalition on Human Needs sponsors a toll-free number, 1.800.473.6711, which you may use to express your support for the Reid/Byrd bill. Be sure to express your opposition to the Wall Street bailout at the same time. I know at least one of my Senators will be happy to confuse the two.

Speaking of arrogant Wall Streeters, I'm still getting email alerts from reputable organizations insisting that "any bailout package include (insert quite reasonable item/items here)." But that's still not the way I want to go as a citizen -- I want Congress to enact the quite reasonable items and forget the bailout. There's no reason, for example, we can't use the toll-free number United for a Fair Economy provides (1.800.830.5738) and demand (as they do) controls on excessive CEO pay, increased taxes on wealthy investors, and mortgage assistance for those most affected by the crisis -- just without insisting they be attached to a bailout package. And there's no reason we can't call our Congressfolk and read them Ralph Nader's list of demands. Mr. Bush may have bewitched the Democrats, but he hasn't bewitched the people.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court came out of recess two days ago to stay the execution of Troy Davis, just two hours before the state of Georgia planned to execute him. But that stay will be lifted unless the Supreme Court decides to hear his case. Obviously we can't petition the Supreme Court (we don't have standing to do so), but we can increase the popular uproar over the death penalty (or, at least, the death penalty handed out to the undeserving), and so the ACLU helps you write a letter to the editor of your local news organ. Perhaps not coincidentally, even more death penalty advocates have rallied to Troy Davis's side: now Bob Barr, Libertarian Presidential candidate and death penalty advocate, believes that Mr. Davis's life should be spared. If that doesn't convince the rageheads -- just kidding, I know rageheads can't be convinced of anything. They can only be outnumbered.

The U.S. Country of Origin Labeling Program, or COOL, goes into effect on September 30, and though it covers most meat, poultry, and produce, it still has a few loopholes. For example, it doesn't cover bagged salad, mixed frozen vegetables, bacon or peanut butter, all of which seem, well, fairly important. I guess they get exempted because they come from too many places and are thus "too hard to trace." But Jesus Mary and Joseph this work is not being done by monks with quill pens; information technology has advanced to the point where we can trace all that information. Consumers Union helps you petition for changes to COOL. Just don't tell Morris Day, 'cause ain't nobody bad like him.

it's! our! money!

Free Press is looking for people to watchdog the Presidential debates -- if the Republican nominee shows up for any of them. Free Press aims to get the counterspin out there before the spin starts, and the spin will start immediately, unless the Republican candidate is too busy bailing out Wall Street to debate his opponent. Among the things you'd look out for are gossipy questions, "gotcha" questions, and pandering -- that is, of course, if there is even a Republican candidate to which they can pander. Mr. McCain couldn't possibly be acclimating the American people to getting along without democracy, could he? Of course not -- he's a maverick.

The Senate has renewed the few tax incentives Congress provides to the clean energy industry, but the House hasn't followed suit -- perhaps they didn't get the message that life goes on no matter what Mr. Bush or Mr. McCain says is most important. But that's why we're here, citizen! The clean energy industry is one of the few sectors of the economy that's actually growing and creating jobs. And yet it can't get a break. It's almost like someone planned it that way.

Meanwhile, the most recent Food and Farm Bill -- you remember, the one we had to pull frickin' teeth to get passed? -- created programs that encouraged water, air, and soil conservation, but the Senate has proposed drastic funding cuts to said programs already. Because nothing, no matter how smart, must derail their massive welfare handout program for their irresponsible friends on Wall Street! Contact information for your Senators is in the upper left-hand corner. The Union of Concerned Scientists can help you if you're stuck on the non-cursing part of your call. Oh, almost forgot: if your Senator is named John McCain, you can end your call by telling him to stop hiding behind the bailout and get his ass to the debate on Friday.

Finally, because you knew it was coming: Public Citizen provides a petition demanding that consumer concerns, not Wall Street CEO concerns, drive any plan to reconfigure the financial markets. I've reviewed the demands and they constitute a much better starting point than Mr. Bush's Henny Penny act. You think the petition is too long? Ask Martin Luther about petitions that are too long. Also, True Majority continues to sponsor rallies against the rich man's bailout -- and you can start your own rally there, too, if you like. Also, a few reputable organizations (whose alerts I use frequently here) are insisting we attach the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights to any bailout plan, but though I support the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, I won't link to them. Two reasons: one, Congress should pass the bill by itself (the House already passed it by a veto-proof majority) and Mr. Bush should sign it. Two: never compromise with evil. This bailout is evil.

internal rhyme alert!

Did you know tomorrow was a National Day of Action against Tha Bush Mobb Bailout? Neither did I until I checked my email. True Majority can help you find events protesting the bailout, or set up an event yourself. Also, the American Friends Service Committee provides a toll-free number, 1.800.473.6711, with which you may demand of your Congressfolk that they fix the financial meltdown through effective regulatory oversight and help those in need, not those in greed. Finally, the anti-hunger group RESULTS provides a letter-to-the-editor tool with which you may express your outrage that poor folks who could better use the assistance constantly get the back of George W. Bush's hand, while his cronies get all the cookies. The American people are showing a lot of courage -- my Rep and Senators find most of their callers (and there have been many!) oppose the Paulson plan, and a Bloomberg/L.A. Times poll suggests that well over half the populace say it's not the government's place to bail out private companies even if refusing to bail them out collapses the economy. But, of course, the people's enemy, Mr. Bush, might address the nation tonight, in an effort to get Congress to understand the "urgency" of passing the Paulson plan now, even though his administration wrote up the plan months ago. Please, Lord, let Mr. Bush speak. His words are like poison to his aims.

FAIR spots CBS doing a bad job covering the Presidential candidates' tax views. Taxes are tough to understand, because the rich want it that way, but FAIR's points aren't tough to understand at all -- basically, on one recent report, CBS used a Republican operative as a source to spread distortions and even to reinforce racial stereotypes, and on a second "reality check" segment, CBS didn't even provide complete coverage of the issues it promised to cover. I guess rigorous reporting is, like, work or something. Hard to believe that, at least on this issue, CBS has been outclassed by Fox News -- oh, wait, actually that's not so hard to believe. The link at the beginning of this paragraph tells you how to contact CBS.

Finally, Media Matters provides a petition demanding much better questions in these Presidential debates than in those Presidential debates. You remember the ones -- for example, the CNN Republican debate where they talked about illegal immigration for half an hour even though it's not a widespread obsession with voters? Or the ABC Democratic debate where the moderators spent an hour and a half relentlessly insulting the intelligence of American taxpayers with junk news questions? Those were the days, weren't they? The first Presidential debate and the Vice Presidential debate will be handled by PBS veterans, so they'll undoubtedly be better, and, to be honest, I'm not satisfied with the petition's structure -- a comment box seems a lot more necessary than a bunch of check-offs. Still, we need to send a message that (for example) relentless coverage of three ill-chosen words in a 2001 Jeremiah Wright sermon makes the Founders spin in their graves.

I got yr bailout right here!

At last, I have another contact tool opposing Tha Bush Mobb bailout of his rich cronies, this one from True Majority . You realize, of course, that the $700 billion figure is going to grow and grow and grow once the giveaways start -- the auto industry is already jockeying for its place at the trough. And you remember, naturally, that Tha Bush Mobb wants no Congressional oversight on how the money gets spent -- they won't even agree to limit payouts to CEOs. "No Congressional oversight" means no oversight by the people -- and, as we know, the people are Tha Bush Mobb's true enemy.

Speaking of actual financial reform, I've got two more contact tools in support of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights -- one from Public Citizen, the other from USPIRG. There are more goodies in this bill than I previously thought -- it cripples credit corporations' ability to arbitrarily hike rates, true, but it also gives the consumer a chance to set a fixed credit limit (giving the consumer tools, I love it!) and prohibits granting credit cards to anyone under 18. The Libertarian-minded might squeal at that, but, frankly, parents have rights, too, and that includes the right not to be inundated by credit card applications for their children, as they're already inundated by relentless advertising and ubiquitous platforms for said advertising.

You may recall that the Department of Veterans Affairs refused to let nonpartisan voter registration services go to vets' hospitals and nursing homes and, well, register voters. Mr. Bush loves the troops so much he doesn't want them to vote! Well, this will put a stop that garbage. The House has already passed a bill which would essentially make the VA into a voter registration agency, but the Senate hasn't taken the bill up yet, and it has to, soon, because voter registration deadlines are coming up in many states. We might have to tell the Senate again and again -- and you know how full of themselves (and other things) Senators are -- but tell them again and again we shall if we must.

Robin Hood from the evil alternate universe.

I've received action alerts demanding that Congress tie certain legislative items to Tha Bush Mobb's $700 billion bailout proposal, but I'm not gonna use 'em, because I oppose the bailout. Especially a bailout that prevents Congress from any oversight -- yup, that's what Mr. Bush has asked for, and it's easy to see why. From the tax-cuts-mainly-for-the-rich to the Iraq war to Iraq reconstruction to Katrina reconstruction, Mr. Bush has done a damn fine job of stealing the taxpayer's money and giving it to his crony corporations, and this latest move, which definitively proves that the free market is exactly as real as the Easter Bunny, would add $700 billion to the tab. That's his legacy, folks -- a legacy of dividing friend against friend and family member against family member in order to steal a boatload of money. And we must stop this final insult, no matter how many rich CEOs it hurts. To my knowledge, only the People's Email Network has created an action page demanding that any legislation directly assist the real victims of this "economy," not the corporate "victims." I'd say work with that, and then call your Reps and Senators using the tools in the upper left-hand corner. Some say be polite when calling; I say politeness to criminals and their enablers is, at best, optional.

penny rants for the day of September 19, 2008.

It's time to call these bailouts what they are -- corporate welfare. Obviously I don't speak as some free-market ideologue -- for one thing, free market ideologues don't think about the word "welfare" without also thinking about black people, and for another thing, these bailouts are as precise an inversion of free market ideology as you can imagine. No, I speak as a simple American sick and tired of the government showing me the back of its hand -- are corporations the only entities deserving of government help, which is really the people's help? A healthy society doesn't shovel money to undeserving corporations without even asking for better behavior; a healthy society restrains its most powerful members from destroying the commonwealth. I've long argued that aggressive government regulation (of which Robert Kuttner gives three examples here) would pre-empt a lot of these troubles. But unless you're hiding Coxey's Army in your basement, don't expect a happy ending. A CNN crawl informed me yesterday that Mr. Bush had cancelled appearances in two Southern states so he could monitor the state of the economy, which I don't think is good news. Only crazy people believe that George W. Bush cares about anything but his own hide now. And at least Herbert Hoover was a humanitarian; all this dope is good at is getting away with failure.

Also, from our "danger danger Will Robinson!" file, the News Dissector suggests that the 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, which has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq, will be coming home in October to train "as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks," and (here's the kicker) "(t)hey may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control." Can you say domestic pacification, kids? If a Coxey's Army were to march on Washington in the wake of the financial armageddon we all think is coming, do you think Tha Bush Mobb would hesitate to call them "terrorists" and annihilate them? And these soldiers -- might they be a little shell-shocked from being used and abused in Mr. Bush's war? Maybe that is Mr. Bush's October Surprise, designed to remind the populace that you must vote Republican or die! and so deliver the White House to Senator McCain and Governor Palin. But, as usual, the more times we repeat it to our friends and family, the less likely such a thing will be. Just don't tell Dr. Smith.

any which way you can.

Mr. Bush always tells us that wrongdoers need to be punished, with no exceptions, right? Then why is he still pushing for nuke deals with India -- to whom we stopped giving nuclear materials in 1974, because they were lying about how they were using them? The Senate ratified the U.S./India deal in 2006, but that deal can be terminated if India tests a nuclear weapon; Mr. Bush is, of course, pushing for another deal without even that restriction. Because, you know, even though George W. Bush is our Personal Lord and Savior, he just can't do anything until he gets things exactly the way he wants them. What a weakling. Council for a Livable World helps you contact your reps.

According to Public Citizen, today is "National Call-In Day" on the nefarious energy bill -- but not just about offshore drilling, which might produce more oil in a few years but will make the Halliburtons of the world rich now. This bill also includes unlimited taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for the nuclear industry, a boatload of 'em. How many times must I tell these pimps! The nuclear industry doesn't need welfare handouts, mainly because corporations don't need handouts, but also because the nuclear industry too often fails to treat a handout as a hand up -- the Congressional Budget Office concluded in 2003 that a loan default by the nuclear industry was a lot more likely to happen than not. How can we expect the nuclear industry to stand on its own if we keep bailing it out of its messes? Public Citizen helps you call your Senators. (Also, Union for Concerned Scientists proposes that you call your Senators about the energy bill generally; they help you do that here. You may want to look at the UCS page before using the Public Citizen page.)

Republicans are good at turning the crises they create into opportunities, but maybe they've finally overreached -- the credit card lobby couldn't get the result they wanted on the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights in committee. This bill (among other things) vastly curtails the ability of corporations to jack up your interest rates and stops them from charging more interest on amounts you've already paid. Yes, Virginia, they can do that! Now USPIRG helps you ask Speaker Pelosi to bring the bill to a full House vote. Don't trust Democrats to do the right thing. They have to be told, again and again and again and again and again, as the Cure used to say.

And, speaking of again and again and again and again and again: Americans United for the Separation of Church and State also asks you to oppose the proposed HHS rule that would let health care providers take government money and then refuse to treat patients according to their "religious" "beliefs." If I seem unduly harsh with the quotation marks today, that's because I can't stand compulsive discriminators crying victim. Religious people under siege in the most Christian country on Earth? What a sick joke. What whiners some of our most "distinguished" religious figures are. You know they'll be off soiling themselves during a terrorist attack. And it's not only reproductive services that could be threatened by this HHS rule -- end-of-life services, too. Services for gay people, too. Taking federal money to refuse legal and necessary health services to people you don't like? Very frickin' Christian of Tha Bush Mobb.

I think I smell a rat.

You may have heard that Bolivia's President, Evo Morales, just survived a recall vote -- but you may not have heard that secessionists have been terrorizing the populace since then, burning government buildings and destroying gas pipeline infrastructure, the sort of domestic terrorism that would make American right-wingers soil themselves. You also may not have heard that President Morales gave the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia the boot because of his ties to Bolivian separatists. On that note, SOA Watch suggests you call Mr. Bush and your Senator and/or House Rep with one simple message: stop meddling in Latin American affairs. Of course, meddling in Latin American affairs has been American sport since before the Monroe Doctrine (not that we learn that in grade school), so a few well-placed phone calls might be the start of something bigger and better. The number of the White House occupant is 202.456.1414, and the Senate/House switchboard is 202.224.3121 -- or, you can find your Congressfolk using the tools in the upper left-hand corner.

Closer to home, the House leadership plans to bring an economic recovery package to the floor -- but they're also complaining about the "need" to get everything done by September 26, so that they can campaign for re-election. How many times must I tell these pimps! No re-election campaigns without getting all your work done first! Meanwhile, the government understates both unemployment and inflation by about half, and the fourth-largest investment bank in the country has just gone under. So of course the Coalition on Human Needs suggests a few things you might ask of your Congressfolk -- like extending unemployment benefits, more aid to states for rising Medicaid costs, more funds for Head Start. You know, things that help people, not CEOs. CHN also provides a toll-free number, 1.888.245.0215, with which you may call your Congressfolk.

Meanwhile, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post asks, in re "lipstick on a pig," "Why, exactly, did the mainstream media go hog-wild over a manufactured story that was pushed by the right?" Other panelists suggest that media folk live in an "echo chamber" (how brave of you to say so, years after everyone else I know has said so!) and also that they're "like addicts," which is pretty insulting to actual addicts. Look, Howie, here's "why," "exactly," the mainstream media goes "hog-wild" over everything the right wing spews forth: because the mainstream media worship at the altar of mammon. The only way to contain them -- since they know they're in an "echo chamber" but still seem to be so helpless -- is through anti-consolidation laws.

make way for the italics hammer, and his trusty sidekick, the hyphenator!

The International Code Council votes on building safety recommendations that could have saved more lives on 9.11 -- recommendations including adding stairwells, better fireproofing, and glow-in-the-dark markings in stairwells. And which Personal-Lord-and-Savior-of-All-the-Americans-Even-the-Ones-Who-Hate-America stands in the way? Why, Mr. Bush, of course: his General Services Administration alone is bold enough to stand up to efforts to protect people's lives, bold enough to ask: "at what economic cost" (actual quotation!) do we save lives if another pair of planes flies into another pair of buildings? I mean, we have to think about the inalienable right of rich landlords to gild their plumbing. Encourage the ICC to do the right thing here. Since America's President (sic) doesn't know right from wrong.

In the wake of Jack "the Hat" Abramoff's sentencing (he got four years in prison for all his influence-peddling), Public Citizen helps you call for public financing of Congressional campaigns. Well, specifically, a system of opt-in public financing for Congressional campaigns, the idea being that folks who "opt out" bring shame and degradation upon their efforts. I'm not sure it works quite like that -- Mr. Bush opted out of public financing twice and won twice, though his Administration may yet bring the shame and degradation upon its members and supporters that they so richly deserve. But I am sure that public financing won't break the bank. There's plenty of slack in the federal budget to accommodate public financing; just look under "welfare, corporate" or "defense spending, wasteful."

Finally, this is getting to be a pretty stinky election, folks, and your "liberal" media ain't helping. I mean, of course they ain't helping by pretending every single deliberate misinterpretation of everything Mr. Obama says is important enough to repeat six million times a day, but they also ain't helping with their "fact-checking." Look, factcheck.org does a pretty good job. I link to their "factcheck wire" now, on the right-hand side of this page. A lot of smaller news organs also do a good job fact-checking and I'll continue to link to those as I find them. The "liberal" Washington Post, on the other hand, thinks fact-checking is mainly about digging up a lie on one side and then digging up a much smaller lie if-it's-even-a-lie on the other, so that the report is "balanced." That's not balance, or fairness, for that matter -- it's symmetry, and if the lies and deceit are mostly coming from the Republican side and I think any sentient life form would agree with that assessment, then calling symmetry "balance" doesn't help anyone. The FAIR link above includes contact information for the Post. They'll act like they know so much more about these things than you do, but you know better.

five patriotic things to do on 9.11.

H.R. 5244 would would cripple the ability of credit card companies to impose because-we-feel-like-it rate hikes, but the House is (in theory) only in session a few more weeks, and the credit card lobby would like to kill the bill. Will the House realize that the credit card lobby is, right now, almost as popular as the oil lobby? Maybe, if they hear from you.

The FCC soon will consider whether to open up unused "white space" broadcast spectra for use as wireless data spectra -- but the broadcasting industry opposes it, claiming that new wireless devices using the spectra might interfere with TV signals. Which is rubbish. Will the FCC realize that the broadcasting industry lobby is, right now, almost as popular as the credit card lobby? Possibly, if you, also, tell them.

Congress mandated the FDA to collect data on the use of antibiotics in animal settings in July, and authorized new research on the use of antibiotics in agriculture a month earlier, and these are good things, but if around 70 percent of all antibiotics in America go to animals who aren't sick, then the problem is still outrunning Congressional action. Will Congress recognize that the big food lobby is, right now, almost as popular as the broadcast industry lobby? Perhaps, if you signal your support for an end to routine antibiotic use in animal feed.

In other news, American Rights at Work joins forces with Brave New Films to produce a pretty funny "welcome to your new job at our great company" video. The CEO (played by an actor who looks awfully familiar) lists all the reasons you could be fired, including pregnancy, military service, and talking about unions with your co-workers, and then uses record profits to buy himself a yacht and his employees a bottle of soda and a stryofoam cooler. And he calls the soda and cooler "giving something back"! It'd be even funnier if it weren't all so true. CEOs are, as you probably know, even more popular than the oil industry right now.

Finally, Roy Edroso's latest beatdown of the Artist Formerly Known as Jane Galt, Megan McArdle, is especially uplifting on this most patriotic of days, because he reminds us that, contrary to what the "liberal" media believes, the real elitists are on the right and the folks who work like dogs still know what's being done to them. So, if the choice comes down to watching Obamamccain walk solemnly around the Twin Towers site or reading the aforementioned Roy Edroso post, I think you'll be much better off reading Roy Edroso.

I've got contempt for Karl Rove, all right.

The ACLU asks you to ask the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute the death sentence of Troy Davis. Mr. Davis, convicted of murdering off-duty cop Mark MacPhail in 1991, was convicted solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony, and seven of those witnesses have since recanted. The Georgia State Board stayed his execution in July, but Mr. Davis's plight demands that the judicial system reconsider his case, which it has not yet done. Even death penalty proponent William Sessions (formerly FBI director under Presidents Reagan and Bush) has joined Bishop Desmond Tutu in calling for reconsideration of Mr. Davis's sentence. I'd think if you approved of the death penalty (which isn't terribly Christian, no matter what Mike Huckabee says), you'd have to be aware that every time the state kills an innocent, it weakens the case for the death penalty. Mr. Davis will be executed on September 23, as it now stands.

Meanwhile, Karl Rove has asserted that he has "absolute immunity" against the Congressional subpoena issued against him in July, but both federal judge John Bates (appointed by guess who?) and common sense disagree. The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Mr. Rove in contempt, but Common Cause helps you tell your Rep that the House must have a full vote. No doubt Republicans will ask why we're bothering with Karl Rove when there are so many other pressing problems. How many times must I tell these pimps! No recess until all your important work is done! And stop whining!

The Republican Party's platform says this (on page 5) about gays in the military: "To protect our servicemen and women and ensure that America's Armed Forces remain the best in the world, we affirm...the benefits of traditional military culture, and the incompatibility of homosexuality with military service." Come on, dudes, don't you know 300 is, like, the right wing's favorite movie? So Republicans believe that America's military won't be "the best in the world" if there are any gays in it. And, in a development that I'm sure will be a shock to you, the Republican Party's platform appears to oppose the will of actual Republicans on this matter, so says a July Washington Post/ABC News poll. So the SLDN provides a petition telling the Republican leadership that its position is unacceptable. I mean, when you're fighting two wars, you don't have time to be a bigot.

Finally, thanks to Atrios, I've actually found something fairly uplifting in the New York Times: Bob Herbert defending the good name of liberalism. Mr. Herbert is pretty angry about liberals failing even to embrace the word "liberal," as am I. But he's actually taken the trouble to defend liberal accomplishments and achievements. Next time your crazy brother goes off about liberals, remind him of it.

in which Sarah Palin's honeymoon is so, so over.

In July, the House passed a bill preventing nursing homes from forcing residents and their families into "binding mandatory arbitration" agreements, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up said bill next week. We remember why "binding mandatory arbitration" agreements are bad, right? Because the corporations that force such agreements generally get to pick the judges, and they don't pick judges who routinely rule against them. We have inalienable rights, as citizens, to confront our accusers before impartial judges and juries, and corporations shouldn't have any right to force us to give up those rights. And nursing homes ought to concentrate on care and not avoiding accountability, though I understand that avoiding accountability is very "in" these days, given how the Oval Office occupier acts. Public Citizen has the contact tool.

The Senate might also vote next week to allow funding for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. The main problem with said system? It doesn't work! Even in rigged tests back in 2004 it performed badly! It will cost a mint and will be easily-fooled by decoys! Balloon decoys! And what do its adherents tell me is the solution to all of that? Fire 50 missiles at the incoming missile instead of 10! Obviously because the American taxpayer doesn't pay enough fat cat defense contractors for enough crap! Right-wingers won't throw money at a social problem, even though you'll throw so much less money at it to solve it, but they'll happily throw money at a defense contractor boondoggle, and call me a terrorist-coddler while they're at it! I'll keeping using the exclamation points until the Senate gets the message!

Meanwhile, Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin spewed forth this monstrosity the other night: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." I guess Mrs. Palin thinks that community organizers, including the many whose action alerts I use at this blog, sit back and drink beer all day, and our esteemed "liberal" media, judging by their fawning over her and her speech, likely agree. So yesterday I received two action alerts demanding an apology. One of them said (and I quote): "Sarah Palin would never have been able to take the stage as the nominee at a national political convention if it weren't for community organizers of the past who dreamed of, fought for, and won the right of women's suffrage." Excellent words. But then I said: why bother asking for an apology from her? If she's willing to slander tens of thousands of good people just to land a punch on Barack Obama and prove she's "tough" to Republican idiots, then why should I give her the benefit of the doubt about anything else? Community organizers are more necessary since the federal government has spent the last quarter-century-plus showing the citizenry the back of its hand -- mainly due to the policies of her party. She either doesn't know that, or she knows it and doesn't care. So I will not taint myself by asking Mrs. Palin for an apology, nor will I taint myself by accepting one. People who try to destroy my community don't belong in my community.

more life, more fight!

Consumers Union gets in on the media consolidation act with this action alert. And I quote (from the email Consumers Union sent me): "Do you love your network news? Do you think they really get the story, especially in your local area? Probably not. Help stop the networks from taking over your local newspapers. The Senate has already said 'NO' but your House member must say 'no,' too." "Help stop the networks from taking over your local newspapers" -- that's public relations gold right there. I bet people who don't even think of themselves as liberals respond to that. Of course, I mean even more people who don't think of themselves as liberals.

In other news, I congratulate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for being nominated to the Republican ticket. Frankly, the more I learn about her, the more I think of her as an empty suit, but I nonetheless rejoice that old-school bigots now have a choice between a ticket with a woman on it and a ticket with a black man on it. Given that said bigots won't vote for Cynthia McKinney or Nader-Gonzalez, their only real choice is Bob Barr, who'll hurt John McCain a lot more than he'll hurt Barack Obama. It's hard out there for a pimp.

a great day for freedom.

On Monday, police in St. Paul arrested several journalists, including an AP photographer and Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, at the Republican convention. Sounds fishy, don't it? And I recall Ms. Goodman being pushed around by the authorities just for trying to interview Katrina survivors in their trailers a few years back. FreePress provides a petition to St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman demanding that charges against journalists be dropped, and CREDO provides a contact tool with which you may demand that CNN and MSNBC cover the arrests. (I guess they've given up on Fox News, though I'd think Fox News would be happy to cover the arrests -- and then have their "analysts" slam the journalists for being too, I don't know, partisan or activist or reckless or something.)

Meanwhile, Mr. Bush's Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a rule that would require government grantees providing health care services to certify that they don't "discriminate" against providers who don't want to perform abortions or (possibly) give counseling about birth control. In doing so, HHS discriminates against the law -- if providers don't want to perform legal acts, they shouldn't take government money. And if right-wingers want to make abortion and birth control illegal, they should do it by trying to change the laws, not pretend that they themselves are victims of "discrimination." Every time a right-winger claims they're a victim of "discrimination" when the real problem is they don't have everything exactly the way they want it, they murder some part of the world. The ACLU has the relevant beatdown tool.

You may recall that the far right's point man in gutting the Endangered Species Act, California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, got blown out in his 2006 re-election effort. But apparently Mr. Bush has chosen to carry his torch -- he's proposed a rule that would permit federal agencies that propose projects such as roads, dams, or mines to decide all on their own whether or not protected species would be threatened by said projects. You don't see any potential conflicts of interest there, do you? Especially since a great many federal agencies don't even have biologists on hand who know anything about endangered species? What actual conservative would call such a rule change conservative? You know, besides the "conservatives" who think the only important thing is that big corporations make money? The Union for Concerned Scientists provides one beatdown tool, and Defenders of Wildlife provides another.

Finally (cue wild applause from the convention crowd), the state of Florida has two amendments on their ballot this November which would eviscerate church-state separation there. Amendment 7 would eliminate the Florida Constitution's mandate preventing the government from using public funds "directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution," and Amendment 9 would permit public funding of religious schools through school vouchers. We support church-state separation not just because the folks who started America were running from real religious persecution -- you know, the kind where you get killed or have your property and/or rights taken away, not the kind where you don't hear Merry Christmas at Target. We also support it so churches can remain independent of the state. Churches who take state money will always feel pressure to go along with the state in its more nefarious projects, and your right to worship as you please is more important. Americans United helps you take a stand.

UPDATE. The Florida Supreme Court has just stricken the two aforementioned amendments from this November's ballot. I do not know if Governor Charlie Crist -- a much better public servant than his predecessor, Jeb Bush -- will try something else, but I presume AU will be on it if he does.