Opinion - Eugene Robinson: It is way past time for Gonzales to go - sacbee.com

Opinion - Eugene Robinson: It is way past time for Gonzales to go - sacbee.com: "Gonzo has managed to do something no one else in Washington has managed in years: create a spirit of true bipartisanship. After his pathetic act in front of the committee Tuesday, it's no surprise that Democrats want to investigate him for perjury. But it was Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican, who looked Gonzo in the face and told him, 'I do not find your testimony credible, candidly.'"

It wasn't until this administration that I appreciated the fundamental flaw in our presidential system. In a parliamentary system, a no confidence vote by the House of Commons (a.k.a. Representatives) would mean the end of the executive branch. No trial. No messy impeachment. Just a new vote.

Of course, under such a system Nancy Pelosi would now be president (sorry, I mean Prime Minister) and we wouldn't even need to discuss this further. Sigh.

You have to wonder if the GOP isn't trying to break our system of government on purpose.

Uh-O Canada: The Newest Nearshore Threat?

Uh-O Canada: The Newest Nearshore Threat?: "[T]echnology companies, frustrated with the difficulty of bringing skilled foreign workers to the United States to staff their companies, will follow in Microsoft's footsteps to Canada, where it is easier for foreign nationals to obtain work credentials."

This is interesting considering that Canada's strong dollar means that any move along these lines would be more about access than cost. As of this morning, the exchange rate is CAD $1.00 = USD $0.9592 ($1.00 = C$1.04) Hmmm... I wish I'd converted all of my money to loonies back in 2004 when USD $1.00 would have bought me CAD $1.21.

C'est La Vive!

After a Brutal Attack, Many Hope for Change but Few Expect It - New York Times

After a Brutal Attack, Many Hope for Change but Few Expect It - New York Times: "When she returned from checking on the car — borrowed from a friend because hers had recently been stolen — a throng of men, their faces covered, followed her inside.

They had two guns, she said. They stayed three hours.

“Nobody came for us,” the woman, 35, said in the interview with WPTV. “Nobody even called the police for us.”"

I lived in Florida when I was a child, and can tell you that this problem is related to the fact that in Florida, parents who spank their children risk going to jail. More importantly, this state is typical of other Southern states in that those with money live very nicely, and those without live impossible-to-believe lives of third-world poverty.

Can you believe that there is a waiting list to get into this place? Can you imagine "moving up" to this? What kind of society are we allowing?

It boils down to this: Poverty (at home or abroad) cannot be ignored because it is an infection. The welfare reforms of the 90's combined with the unbelievable give away to the rich in the for of tax reductions in the current decade are the reason for this and explain how we got here. It is better to spend the money preventing the infection in the first place (food stamps, reduced-cost or free daycare, education grants) than it is to clear the infection (police, courts, prisons, etc) and heal the wounds they leave behind.

A better world is possible. I know this in my heart. Our children are being sacrificed on the alter of "free market" capitalism that is anything but. The rich are bleeding us slowly so we don't notice and cannot die. Unless America joins hands to fight the underlying causes of these problems, they will continue to get worse.

Register to vote. Take your butt to the poll at voting time. Call your elected officials and let them know that you believe a better world is possible and you want them to do something about it.

If you're not angry, you're not paying attention.

Twilight Zone Filibusters - New York Times

Twilight Zone Filibusters - New York Times: "In postponing real action to September and beyond, Republicans laughed off the all-night debate as a “slumber party” of “twilight zone” theatrics by the Democrats. In fact, Bush loyalists seem trapped in the twilight zone, ducking their responsibility to represent constituents by applying credible pressure on the president to come up with an end to his sorry war."

The NYT Editors are much more polite that I would be in describing GOP hypocracy.

George "Bring em on!" Bush is certainly our worst president ever, but the present-day Republican party is going to be remembered for it's partisanship, indifference, and outright greed when historians look back and note the final days of the Republican party.

A landmark in corporate welfare - Yahoo! News

A landmark in corporate welfare - Yahoo! News: "The drug company comrades-in-armchairs should compete for their margins like everybody else, not be propped up by nonnegotiable government overpayments. Instead, analysts estimate that this congressionally sanctioned price support program, unmolested by market forces, will result in at least $30 billion in windfalls to drug companies in the next decade.

When the bill was being debated, taxpayers were told the program would cost $400 billion. Today, realistic estimates put the figure at more than $1 trillion. The big drug companies, of course, love this. All those multiyear investments in lobbying have paid off – allowing them to use your tax dollars to boost their earnings."

This is despicable. It makes me sick to to how Republicans claimed this was a program for the needy, but was in fact a program for the already-wealthy Big Pharma companies. Americans need to wake up to the fact that over the last six years, the GOP has been taking them to the cleaners and the only thing getting cleaner was their pockets! I hope that there is a special place in Hell set aside for these hypocrites.