Karl'sBlog

2006-12-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Democrat's Defacto Pardon Bush et al

In what will be seen as the greatest political crime in US history--the greatest miscarriage of justice in modern times far beyond Ford's pardoning Nixon--the Democrats will provide the members of the Bush administration--who've committed known, documented, most heinous crimes--a defacto pardon by their unwillingness to do their sworn constitutional duty of agressively investigating, impeaching, convicting, removing from office, and formally charging them with the multiple felonies and crimes against humanity they've so openly committed. It will be a defacto pardon because if they are allowed to leave office normally they will be able to use the assets of the US government to defend themselves from any civil or criminal charges they might face while retaining secret service protection and the massive pensions and perks. This act will essentially torch the Constitution.

On the face of it, this might seem surreal, until it is acknowledged that the Democrats are the other faction of our one Imperial Party and that they hoped Bush's Iraq project would succeed for the same reasons it was undertaken--maintaining Middle East hydrocarbon production within the dollar denominated "free market" exchange system and reduction of Iraq to a US dejure oil colony through the use of production sharing agreements that affectively cede all Iraqi hydrocarbon control to the US/UK oil majors--the so-called international oil companies as opposed to Iraq's state-owned or national oil company. [For a greater discussion of this, please read this item, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HK22Ag01.html ] Another piece of evidence for this is contained in Congressman Kucinich's observation regarding the lack of Democratic opposition to funding Bush's Iraq conquest, http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1201-33.htm

The upshot is that Democrats want to maintain the institution of Presidential Impunity, which is totally opposite any principled stand on the bedrock of Law & Order. In fact, I would argue that by granting the Bush administration this defacto pardon for all practical purposes the Constitution will no longer exist, as the fundamental law consciously will not be upheld, all congresspeople who swore to uphold the Constitution will have consciously lied to Congress--a felony--which means that for all practical purposes our democratic/republic will cease to exist as the fundamental law no longer applies if its basic premises aren't upheld. The ground work for our current dilemma is from the pardoning of the Reagan administration for very similar crimes whose only difference is their lack of such great overtness. The only bond holding the country together is the old concept of Union; but we are beginning to see centrifugal forces driving states away from the federal organization due to the gross criminality centered in Washington and New York. There's only one remedy: The proper and immediate use of existing law while it still exists.

2006-11-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

AP provides us with a huge holiday whopper by H.W. Bush: "My son is an honest man." http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1122-08.htm
Wow!! Imagine what he'd be like if he was dishonest!!

At one point, he opined that a questioner was ignorant and needed to go back to school.
The elder Bush is responsible for war crimes related to his illegal invasion of Panama and its thousands of deaths, among others.

Tomorrow or whenever it is you have your Thanksgiving feast, please toast the Iraqi people and pray they have the strength to outlast our Imperial crimes and become whole once again after our well deserved departure; and then in a show of support for our troops, put your glasses together for Impeachment As Soon As Possible.

2006-11-17T00:02:00.000-08:00

My comments on Juan Cole's Informed Comment Blog 11/17

Like Custer, Cheney/Bush will say the course till the end; so, there will be no fundamental policy change until there's regime change in the metropole. In Iraq, there will be ongoing rebellion since the longstanding top dog group is being reduced to the runt of the litter.

Given the tools [tanks, helicopters, other heavy weapons] as you've suggested , the Shia will prevail--the only questions are how long and at what cost? So, from the USA POV, it's a no-win stalemate that can only become a win in the sense that losses and costs are minimized through quick withdrawl, which has essentially been the situation since day 1.

Iraq's extreme destabilization is completely the fault of the US Executive, and the Iraqi people will continue to lose for perhaps as long as a generation. Think Cambodia; and somehow Kissinger is still a free man.

The facts Cheney/Bush et al attempted a al Likud to establish on the ground cannot be maintained; and the "prize" of Iraqi oil will go to the east as it is unlikely any Iraq Oil Ministry chief would live very long if contracts were let to either the US or UK. Iraq itself may become three states, or it might continue as one. IMO, the centrifugal forces will end when the occupiers leave, although violence will continue through the consolidation phase.

If we want to save lives on all sides, there must be a change in Imperial policy; and that will only occur through impeachment, conviction and removal of the primary executive officers. Although I must admit, I don't see Pelosi being able to do the job.

2006-11-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

It's very clear that the United States faces its biggest Law & Order crisis since the secession of the Southern states prior to the South Carolinian attack on Fort Sumter in 1861. But before continuing, let's look at this: The oath of office required by the sixth article of the Constitution of the United States, and as provided by section 2 of the act of May 13, 1884 (23 Stat. 22), to be administered to Members, Resident Commissioner, and Delegates of the House of Representatives, the text of which is carried in 5 U.S.C. 3331:

I, Loyal Citizen of the Republic, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Those members of Congress who've stated impeachment is off the table have violated their oath and will do so again when they affirm the above oath on January 5, 2007. They will have lied to Congress and WE THE PEOPLE--AGAIN. Of further interest is the vote to install these corrupt liars into the most powerful positions in the House--All who voted for Pelosi as Speaker are now every bit as corrupt as she for installing an avowed corrupt liar. By lying to Congress, Pelosi and cohorts will violate US Laws related to Fraud and False Statements, Title 18, Chapter 47, Section 1001 and Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Title 18, Chapter 19, Section 371. If we didn't have a completely outlaw government before, we will have one soon as the criminal Republican leaders of the House will be replaced by criminal Democrats.

There seems to be only one remedy: people power rising from the local and state level through a resolution passed by the statehouse demanding the House start impeachment procedings as a "Priviledge Bill." This initiative was started earlier in 2006 in Illinois--Illinois House Joint Resolution 125--and was highlighted at Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/24/2820/90986. Apparently, this bill has many sponsors, but has just sat gathering dust, http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=125&GAID=8&DocTypeID=HJR&LegId=25794&SessionID=50. Now that we've had the Great Betrayal by Pelosi et al, it seems like the time is ripe to get this and other like resolutions pending in other states to a vote and start the process of reclaiming our government from both corrupt national parties.

2006-11-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

The "Honorable" John Conyers has joined Pelosi by declaring himself to be a corrupt lying politico. This is even more reprehensible as he was one of the few congresscritters to denounce the BushCo criminals and pushed for hearings after the leak of the "Downing Street Memo. His blog is in total revolt. People feel they've been stabbed in the back, which is 100% correct. I'm sure Karl Rove and his criminal crew are grinning and guffawing. It's too bad too; that group would look so good in prison jumpers. I think the country is ripe for a "Dirty Harry" moment, which I will blog later.

2006-11-14T01:19:00.000-08:00

Pelosi Announces She’s Corrupt and a Liar:
Another Lying Corrupt Speaker We Don’t Need

By declaring “impeachment is off the table,” Nancy Pelosi announced to the world she’s corrupt and a liar, of little difference from the disgraced Republican Speakers of the House and the Bush administration. She’s a liar because she took an oath of office that swore her to “uphold and defend the Constitution,” which by not pursuing impeachment means she doesn’t intend to defend the Constitution by upholding the law. This in turn leads to her corruption, as she is essentially protecting an provably corrupt executive and thus becomes corrupt herself. Do we really want an admittedly corrupt liar as the House Speaker again?

The Speaker We The People deserve must be as tenacious as the US Marshal in the film The Fugitive by insuring that executive branch impunity is finally disciplined to the fullest extent of the law--we have several million people in prison whose crimes aren’t nearly as heinous as those committed by people in and out of the Bush administration. Indeed, one of the main reasons Cheney and Bush thought they could get away with their crimes is because of previous impunity “enjoyed” by prior administrations that ought to be disciplined as well. This is at its foundation a Law & Order issue, not political. Members of Congress are supposed to be the primary officers of the law, which is why they are given the power to enact law. If they refuse to enforce the law or look the other way as is often the case, then they are corrupt and liars, and essentially guilty of treason, for their acts debase and fundamentally weaken the country. Historians like myself who dig into the past behavior of our Empire know that this must come to a halt NOW for it has gone on far too long.

Even if Pelosi changes her position, could we trust such a person? I say NO! We also must be wary of Congressman Murtha, who is on record as saying we should have invaded Iran instead of Iraq! [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15817001.htm] Given the criminal Iraq debacle, imagine how badly that would have turned out--and still might unless we literally shackle the current administration by applying the law so we can arrive at some semblance of order.

There is one Congressman who has proven himself to be tireless in his pursuit of executive malfeasance--Henry Waxman. He would make a great Speaker for the People. Doing the right thing--applying and enforcing the law--would by itself constitute a revolution of sorts; and given the great disconnect between Washington D.C. and the rest of the country on almost every issue, it’s a revolution the great majority of People will welcome.

2006-11-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

Some are saying that the election promises unknowns, as in what will happen next.

What's the great unknown? There should be little question what the election result will mean: ever more murder, pillage and pollution--which is the US bipartisan approach to the world as history shows so well. A rollback of piratical trade policy started by FDR and Truman (or further back, by Teddy and Wilson)? Continued murder in the middle east, when supposed hawk turned dove Murtha was quoted (my paraphrase) as saying we invaded the wrong country; we should have done Iran ( http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15817001.htm ); and Murdoch shill Clinton is all for more war to show she's manly enough to be president. Then there're CO2 emissions, which establisment Democrats show no urgency in curtailing as they're just as beholden to big coal, oil and auto as Republicans. As for the enforcement of law and order by impeaching the whole Bush administration--for which there's massive evidence to convict--rolling back the tax breaks for the rich and draconian "patriot" act? Forget it. The establishment Democrats were all party to the Trilateral Commissions's recommendation that democracy be undermined as it presented a threat to their plutocrat interests.
The United States is a runaway rogue state out of the control of its citizens in all areas that matter most. I wish this were'nt true; but it's better to face the reality of a situation and react accordingly than to dwell on illusions and wishful thinking.

2006-10-26T23:49:00.000-07:00

US Empire's Threat to Humanity

To understand and find this post correct requires some prior knowledge. The first task for the reader is to go to http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/print/Russian%20Giant.html and read the whole essay. The second is to have a working understanding of the potential disaster posed by Global Heating, as James Lovelock calls it. For a very wide base of information combined with lively discussion, RealClimate is a place to start, even though there's a lot of info there, http://www.realclimate.org/ For those wanting the short version, here's Lovelock's disturbing essay, http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article338830.ece and here's James Hansen's, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19131

Now, if you've done your homework, we can start.

Engdahl's analysis of the primaryUS Empire goal and strategy is correct as my own personal research has informed me; and most anyone with a brain can see the same evidence for global heating Hansen describes, and far more is available from other scientists. What is important is that most climatologists agree that we still have an opportunity to mitigate the worst effects of global heating, but the window is small and closing fast. All agree we can no longer afford anything close to business as usual--emissions must crash, not grow.

It's those last five words that any continuation of the US Imperial project will negate, and the world will roast and drown because of it, with billions dying. This is because US emissions are increasing, while the countries it's set on antagonizing--primarily Russia, but China too--will have no choice but to ramp-up their own industrial plant to meet the threat, thus increasing their emissions, overpowering any other attempts to power-down and drastically reduce emissions. And thus over the tipping points we go. With the Greenland ice sheet already showing signs of great instability, it will likely break apart rapidly before 2030 and cause 7m--23'--in sea level rise. Other positive feedback loops along with this sea level rise will cause the Antarctic ice sheets to melt by century's end. That's a total sea level rise of more than 70m--230'--not counting thermal expansion and other terrestial glacial melt . Note nothing's been said about the demise of the oceanic food web or the evaporation of glacial water sources for 2 billion asians, or other catastrophic effects.

The above is the real threat the US Empire poses to the world. It's not North Korean nukes or the Iranians wanting to harness the nuclear fuel cycle, or Islamists fighting neocolonialism. It's the US Imperial elite that wants to dominate the planet, as they've openly stated in several documents and just announced regarding outerspace, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

The US public is mostly ignorant of this, while a portion of the world is not. In this respect, the US elite are no different from the Nazis, but far more dangerous. I know my blog is read by very few; and as soon as I click post, the NSA will know that I know that they know. Maybe the officer there reading this will remember the oath s/he took to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and draw the proper conclusion. There's no victory, only defeat for all; thinking themselves immune, even the elites will lose. To be sure, power-down and no more business as usual will be painful, but at least we'll have a chance at overcoming the future we seem destined to experience.

2006-10-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from an interview where Chomsky assesses the role of intellectuals and explains why we do what we do:

Ex: What is the role of the intellectual when dealing with imperialism and are the intellectuals doing they job?
Ch: Unfortunately, intellectuals are doing their historic job. The historic role of intellectuals if you look, unfortunately, as far back as you go has been to support power systems and to justify their atrocities. ... If you go back to the Bible, there's a category of people who were called prophets, a translation of an obscure word, they were intellectuals, they were what we would call dissident intellectuals; criticising the evil king, giving geopolitical analysis, calling for the moral treatment of orphans, decent behaviour. They were dissident intellectuals. Were they treated well? They were [im]prisoned and driven into the dessert [sic] and so on, they were the fringe. The people who were treated well were the ones who centuries later, like in the gospel, were called false prophets. So it goes through history. The actual role of the intellectual has been supportive of power. Should they do that? Of course not; they should be searching for truth, they should be honest, they should be supporting freedom and justice and there are some who do it. There is a fringe who do it, but they're not treated well. They are performing the task that intellectuals ought to perform."

2005-08-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

If you think oil and gas are expensive now, just wait 'till 2008 when the decline from peak oil's plateau becomes recognizable beyond doubt. However, before that NG depletion rate acceleration will likely put rates in double digits before the 2006 election. Millions will pay over $2/gal for their heating oil this winter and likely another 30-40% more next winter, and the one after that, and ....

How many people in the Northeast can be kept warm and fed sustainably? Where will the refugees go? Where will Floridians go when sea level rise floods their state in 100-150 years? How many additional, ever stronger hurricanes?

2005-08-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I didn't come up with this before, but the proper name for our illegal war should be Liraq. Another good laugh today is the idea that a tax on gas is needed to make energy markets work correctly, this after years and millions in bribes paid to deregulate, which means no taxation, energy markets in particular. Poor neoliberalcons just don't know what to do.

Finding money to aggressively fund primary energy sources like wave, wind and solar can be easily done by eliminating most of our "national security state" and all subsidies to the current "energy" industry. My conservative estimation is about 1 Trillion dollars annualy would then be available. That's right, "projecting" our Empire consumes half the federal budget. Zero dollars in the federal budget go to the promotion of peace, as peaceful pursuits have always operated as euphemisms for Empire projection or PR.

2005-08-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

An item of interest today was revelations by top steel executives that corporate energy costs for production were in some cases 40% higher than last year, primarily electricity, whose price is tied to that of NG. With North America's NG production in decline and prices rising in response, energy costs for big steel will continue to escalate rapidly. These rising costs will further big steel's market share losses from price competition and the continual weakening of the dollar. Big steel is one of the few parts of the industrial base that haven't been completely outsourced offshore and represents a vital cog in what remains of the domestic manufacturing sector. The costs that will be passed along will have a telling ripple effect and further push the inflationary spiral caused by rising energy prices and interest rates.

More news of the Big Melt is in regarding the thawing permafrost in Siberia and Alaska whose methane emissions will provide an ample positive feedback to global warming, possibly rapidly. This is certainly not good. Sea level rise is already a bit over an inch/yr in the higher latitudes, which bodes ill for the Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers. It will be interesting to watch how its upcoming summer unfolds.

Gas price is 2.73 at Boston's, but more in SF according to the Chronicle.