Re: OpEdNews: A Congress of Cowards, Selling out America

On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 12:05 PM, Rob Kall <rob@opednews.com> wrote:



OpEdNews Bold and Daring: The Way Progressive News Should Be If you have a problem reading this email, please click here to see the web page version You received this email because you signed up for it at OpEdNews. Unsubscribe instructions are at the bottom of this email. I'm sure you are as disgusted as I am with congress. I had an epiphany recently that I discuss in my newest article. By Rob Kall A Congress of Cowards Congress is punting again, this time on the tax cut extension. This pattern, which has led to the lowest approval levels since measures of approval were taken, has become chronic. It's really about the bulk of the members of congress being cowards who are intentionally destroying the balance of powers between legislative, Judiciary and Exectutive, so they can save their jobs. We have a lot of work in front of us. The sites that support Obama and the current system are not going to get us where we need to go-- to change that Democrats and Republicans will never legislate. Opednews is committed to being a voice for the REALLY BIG change that must happen. Won't you support our work with a donation? Click here to give a generous donation to help Opednews keep up the fight. BTW, looks like there's a lot of interest in the new Justice Party, which will be offering Rocky Anderson as a third party presidential candidate. thanks, rob kall Support Opednews. Make a tax deductible donation to make OEN Strong. Daily Headlines By Rob Kall A Congress of Cowards Congress is punting again, this time on the tax cut extension. This pattern, which has led to the lowest approval levels since measures of approval were taken, has become chronic. It's really about the bulk of the members of congress being cowards who are intentionally destroying the balance of powers between legislative, Judiciary and Exectutive, so they can save their jobs. By John Reed Hi Tech Spying Used by Libya, Egypt Almost Certainly Being Used On US Citizens Our government watches and listens to most everything we do, at least, to most every email, text, and electronic communication, and to every conversation we have by telephone or computer, and it knows where we are most of the time. If the idea of freedom contemplates privacy, then freedom is gone, and the idea that we are a free people is nothing more than illusion. Ari Shavit: Israel Has Never Been So Ugly Respected Israeli commentator and non-Lefty, Ari Shavit, painfully addresses Israel's severe social, political and human rights collapse under Netanyahu's failed administration. By Stephen Lendman Money Power World Rule By controlling democratic and despotic governments as well as others in between, they've moved closer to absolute global control of money, credit and debt to dominate economies, politics, commerce, and imperial adventurism. By Robert Reich The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, but Who It's For If we want to get our democracy back we've got to get big money out of politics. We need real campaign finance reform. And a constitutional amendment reversing the Supreme Court's bizarre rulings that under the First Amendment money is speech and corporations are people. By Sherwood Ross U.S. Held Losing Battle Against IEDs in Afghanistan High-tech U.S. responses against the improvised explosive devices have been costly and ineffective, and they are taking a heavy toll at present in Afghanistan. Several military experts say that low-tech solutions that could work are not being adopted. House GOP Lays Out Its True Beliefs For All To See Republican leadership in Congress presented their priorities to the American people: Protect millionaires, industrial polluters, gouging doctors and fossil-fuel refiners, while sacrificing the interests of federal workers and the long-term unemployed. Republicans say it's a crime against all that is sacred (read Grover Norquist) to ask millionaires to pay one bit more in taxes, but they were reluctant to extend a payroll tax holiday that would add about $1,000 to the average working family's pay next year. By Robert Parry Is Iraq War End a New Day? The departure of the last 500 U.S. combat troops from Iraq in the predawn hours on Sunday marked an anti-climatic end to a near-nine-year war that began with "shock and awe" and "embedded" journalists joining the invasion force. Were any lessons learned -- and what lies ahead? By Shaukat Qadir Was the Attack on Pakistani Outposts Deliberate?: How Far Will the US Go to Target Pakistan's Military? US explanations for the twin helicopter gunship assaults that slaughtered 24 Pakistani troops manning mountain outposts inside Pakistan are unconvincing. Were the attacks deliberate, asks a retired Pakistani military officer in a TCBH! article. By michael payne The Transformation of the American Society into a "Controlled" State In case you haven't noticed, the U.S. Congress, that completely inept, dysfunctional branch of our government, has just recently taken steps to enact legislation that would allow the military, in certain situations, to detain U.S. citizens and hold them indefinitely, without being charged with any violation of the law, and with no trial by jury. And, it appears that President Obama fully intends to sign it. By H. Kevin McNeelege Pre, Post and Presently Occupied by Snow Globes An expression of concern for the Occupy movement's continued failure to interact with the 99 percent they claim to represent. By Peter Michaelson Three Great Truths from Psychology The mental health of Americans is extremely important to the health of our democracy. Psychologists are not doing enough to identify and teach the best knowledge from their profession. By Tom Engelhardt Nick Turse: The Life and Death of American Drones Why America's "wonder weapon," the drone, will not be a game changer in our wars in 2012 or after. By Sherwood Ross Open Letter of Apology To President Barack Obama Now that President Obama has signed into law an act that gives him dictatorial powers to arrest and imprison Americans indefinitely, I make haste to write this open letter of apology for all the nasty things I wrote about him in the past. By David Michael Green A Better World's In Birth (Maybe) There's lots not to like about our times, that's for sure. Just the same, 2011 showed signs of progress. Hundreds Rally in Support of Accused WikiLeaks Source Hundreds of people gathered today outside a U.S. military base where evidence against Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking classified information to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, is being presented before a military judge for the first time since Manning's arrest. By Andrew Schmookler American Values and the Christmas Season: Intro & "A Christmas Carol" The holiday of Christmas has become deeply woven into American culture, expressing both the nature of our country and its ideals. In this series, I will be discussing four of the main imaginative works that Americans have made into important parts of the Christmas season in America. I'll explore here how these stories connect both with Christmas and with the political crisis we now face, and with my run for Congress. Greg Sargent: Has John Boehner lost control? In order to increase pressure on House Republicans to pass the Senate compromise on the two-month payroll tax cut extension, Dems are pointing out that John Boehner seemed to previously indicate that the House GOP would support it -- before getting an earful from his caucus and nixing his backing of the plan. By Ralph Lopez Anonymous: Night Raid Equipment-Maker Lobbied for NDAA, Singles Out Sen. Rob Portman. If we are pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan, what is all this stuff for? Night-raid gear? These are basically made to blind people as they awake from you busting down their door, not for open combat. In a night firefight you don't want any lights near you whatsoever. That gives the other guy an easy target. A $23 million contract would buy enough of these things to outfit maybe 50,000 soldiers. By Stephen Lendman Growing Hunger and Homelessness in America Millions of Americans now endure protracted Depression conditions at a time half the population is either poor or low income. Long-term unemployment is unprecedented, and federal aid is being cut, not increased. By E. T. SIMON A Juxtaposition of thoughts-My morning meditation on Christmas A juxtaposition of thoughts born out of my morning's meditation on Christmas and my posting of it on FB. By lila york Due Process Guarantee Act 2011 due on Senate floor in January Senators Dianne Feinstein and Mark Udall are co-sponsoring a bill to remedy the damage to the Bill Of Rights By David Fiderer Fatal Flaws In The Case Against Fannie Mae Execs, Part 1 The SEC hopes the District Court will ignore the fine print that exculpates the defendants By earl ofari hutchinson The Nightmare of Ron Paul's Iowa Win Ron Paul will win the Iowa Caucus no matter whether he actually comes out on top or not. A win for him simply means a solid showing which he'll make.   Latest Articles Walter J. Ong's Reflections on Being an American (Review) In his first book, FRONTIERS IN AMERICAN CATHOLICISM (1957), Walter J. Ong, S.J. (1912-2003), the American cultural theorist and religious thinker, addressed his fellow American Catholics. He urged them to reflect on their American identity. But certain points he makes about our personal and collective identity as Americans are worth sharing with non-Catholics and even with people who have no religious faith. Is Someone Trying to Set Me Up for an Arrest on Bogus Criminal Charges? Why does the star prosecution witness in the federal Alabama bingo trial want to talk to me? Why (Even If You're Not for Non-Human Rights) You Should UN-OCCUPY Big-Ag Big-Ag is a system which victimizes consumers from cradle to grave. Holding a Thumb to the Wind: America, Land of the Fearful, is No Place to Hitch-Hike Hitch-hiking, once a way of life in America, and for TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff, is not so easy today in the Land of the Fearful Is Republican Greed Driving a Political "Marriage" Made In Hell? How far will Alabama GOPers go to get their hands on billions of dollars?   Best News Links from the Web Newt Gingrich's Self-Adoration Frank Bruni 'MARVELING over a presidential candidate's arrogance is like noting that a hockey player wears skates," says Frank Bruni, " Arrogance is the grist, and arrogance is the given. That's where candidates -- and the presidents that some of them become -- differ, in ways that shape the sorts of messes they're likely to make. And that's where Newt Gingrich provokes real concern. You have to take another politician's ego, double it, and add cheese and a side of fries to get to Gingrich. An especially heaping, unhealthy diet of self-regard slogs through his veins."..Gingrich isn't the answer: he's hot-headed and truculent. And while Obama sees himself (with justification) as historic, Gingrich sees himself as epic. If Obama is The One, Gingrich is The Plus-Size One"... "That self-adoration made him an infuriating House speaker. It would make him a dangerous president," says Bruni! Israel plans for more than 1,000 new housing units on disputed land Israel's Housing Ministry announced Sunday that it would construct more than 1,000 housing units in the West Bank and Jerusalem area on land it seized during the 1967 Mideast war. "This government is doing it because there is no pressure to stop them," Ofran said. "After [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu got standing ovations in Congress [during a U.S. visit in May] he feels he can do whatever he wants." The Missing Link: 2010 Video Fills In The Fuzzy Period In Mitt Romney's Health Care Past Today Mitt Romney says he is for the full repeal of "Obamacare." And he's created a tightly woven explanation of just how his reform in Massachusetts differs from President Obama's national plan. As Romney now tells it, his approach was always different in kind from President Obama's, especially because the president's plan imposed a mandate nationwide. There was never a point, even going back to his days as Governor, when he would have supported Obama's approach. But a year and a half ago, that was far from clear. Then Romney was one of those Republicans who called for keeping the "good' parts of the president's plan while ditching the bad. And now a video has surfaced in which Romney makes clear that one of those "good' similarities was the mandate which is now the centerpiece of conservative opposition to the plan. Impeach All US Senators Who Voted for Military Detainment of US Citizens - Petition Stand up for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the American people! IMPEACH every single Senator who voted FOR the McCain/Levin "U.S. is a Battlefield" bill that gives the military the right to go to the houses of U.S. citizens and take them without charges or rights to a lawyer or trial for the rest of their lives! The Senators COMMITTED TREASON directly against the United States citizens! U.S. to leave Iraqi airspace clear for strategic Israeli route to Iran - Pakalert Press The U.S. military's fast-approaching Dec. 31 exit from Iraq, which has no way to defend its airspace, puts Israel in a better place strategically to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Iraq has yet to assemble a force of jet fighters, and since the shortest route for Israeli strike fighters to Iran is through Iraqi airspace, observers conclude that the U.S. exit makes the Jewish state's mission planning a lot easier. The Secret Behind Guantanamo - Meyssan It appears the "torture" carried on at Guantanamo was really a massive psychological research project, performed under the supervision of the former head of the America Psychological Association. Meyssan traces the history of the CIA's interest in the psychology of torture. In all, approximately 8,000 victims participated (against their will) in the experiment at various CIA prisons. According toe Meyssan, Obama can't close Guantanamo without disclosing what was happening there. If he does that, he will have to release all the prisoners, as their so-called confessions were obtained under torture. Newt Gingrich's Self-Adoration You have to take another politician's ego, double it, and add cheese and a side of fries to get to Gingrich. An especially heaping, unhealthy diet of self-regard slogs through his veins.     Copyright © OpEdNews 2011 To subscribe to OpEdNews, please click here. Or you can change to a weekly digest, if you like.

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