fox-in-the-henhouse statuette

"Across six years, the Bush administration has mocked all standards of conflict of interest by choosing private industry zealots for high regulatory posts — where they worked to roll back hundreds of rules on transportation, workplace and mine safety, the environment and other issues. The latest in this subversive chain must surely take the fox-in-the-henhouse statuette: President Bush has nominated Michael Baroody, lobbyist for the powerful National Association of Manufacturers, to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission."


The article goes on to point out how very, very, many industry insiders are regulating their own industry.

I just started reading a Sci Fi (not so much!!) story about some poor scientist (35 or so years down the road - Pres. Jenna, VP Barbara, former Pres. Jeb) trying to convince them all that a new method of extracting energy from the vacuum will precipitate a galaxy wide explosion. But there are no real scientists left in govt, of course, because the real ones wouldn't lie for the govt. He finally convinces them he's telling th truth when he explains that the Tau Ceti intelligence warning us had taken 5 years of bureaucratic snarffle before they decided to risk contact with us.

The 'most trusted man in America' Walter Cronkite, being profiled on CBS right now. My first speaking part! 4th grade: the boy picked to play WC on the Columbus Day "You Are There" play in my class called in sick. I guess he must have called in the day before, because I remember I was wearing a nice little 'girl' suit my Mommy had made. I was the only one in class who could read well enough to read it cold. I was a little ham.

Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps

An article on/in AlterNet by Naomi Wolf describes the process we have begun under the Shrub and company. I actually sent it to my sister, for whom I still hold hope for enlightenment. Usually I leave her out of my political ravings, knowing her Republican bent. And bent it is, IMHO. Unfortunately her every political leaning is tied directly to RTL. Supporting that seems to give them a pass on everything else. I'm afraid there are a fair number of Americans in the same circumstance.

The following is a bit from a link from the above listing provisions of a bill signed last year by jr. shrub. 1800 years of common law gone to hell.

" Habeas corpus, or the Great Writ, is the legal procedure that keeps the government from holding you indefinitely without showing cause. When you challenge your detention by filing a habeas corpus petition, the executive branch must explain to a neutral judge its justification for holding you. It’s been a pillar of Western law since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215."


"The last Congress passed the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006. . . . the MCA revoked the right to habeas corpus for anyone detained at Guantanamo Bay, as well as for any foreigner the government detains anywhere and labels an “enemy combatant,” including legal residents of the U.S.

"• Allows for evidence obtained through torture and coercion to be used in military commission prosecutions;

• Retroactively immunizes government officials and private contractors for their involvement in torture and abuse; and

• Strips Guantanamo detainees, and potentially all non-U.S. citizens, of the right to challenge their indefinite detention through a writ of habeas corpus. "

The Internet may very well be the salvation of us all. (Do I need to reiterate my long ago prediction that this would be so? Well, probably not, but it feeds my ego.)