Leonard Pitts Tells the Truth About Who REALLY Started the Civil Rights Movement

And it sure as HELL wasn't people like Glenn Beck, who claims that "we" (right-wingers) founded the push for racial equality in America, and that Martin Luther King was a Republican in the 1950s (before lunatics like Beck grabbed control of the party). Pitts is having none of it:

But even by those standards, Glenn Beck's effrontery is monumental. Even by those standards, he goes too far. Beck was part of the ``we'' who founded the civil rights movement!? No. Here's who ``we'' is.

``We'' is Emmett Till, tied to a cotton gin fan in the murky waters of the Tallahatchie River.

``We'' is Rosa Parks telling the bus driver no.

``We'' is Diane Nash on a sleepless night waiting for missing Freedom Riders to check in.

``We'' is Charles Sherrod, husband of Shirley, gingerly testing desegregation compliance in an Albany, Ga., bus station.

``We'' is a sharecropper making his X on a form held by a white college student from the North.

``We'' is celebrities like Harry Belafonte, Marlon Brando and Pernell Roberts of Bonanza, lending their names, their wealth and their labor to the cause of freedom.

``We'' is Medgar Evers, Michael Schwerner, Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Reeb, Viola Liuzzo, Cynthia Wesley, Andrew Goodman, Denise McNair, James Chaney, Addie Mae Collins and Carole Robertson, shot, beaten and blown to death for that cause.

``We'' is Lyndon Johnson, building a legislative coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats to defeat intransigent Southern Democratic conservatives and enshrine that cause into law.

And ``we'' is Martin Luther King, giving voice and moral clarity to the cause -- and paying for it with his life.

The we to which Glenn Beck belongs is the we that said no, the we that cried ``socialism!'' ``communism!'' ``tyranny!'' whenever black people and their allies cried freedom.

The fatuous and dishonorable attempt to posit conservatives as the prime engine of civil rights depends for success on the ignorance of the American people. Sadly, as anyone who has ever watched a Jay Walking segment on The Tonight Show can attest, the American people have ignorance in plenitude.

This, then, is to serve notice as Beck and his tea party faithful gather in Lincoln's shadow to claim the mantle of King: Some of us are not ignorant. Some of us remember. Some of us know very well who ``we'' is.

And, who ``we'' is not.

Read all of Pitts' BRILLIANT column here.

Oh, and one more thing. This is a picture from Birmingham, Alabama, taken in 1963 during a civil rights demonstration.

The man on whom the dogs are being let loose is a founder of the civil rights movement.

The white cops are the kind of people who would be followers of Glenn Beck today.

Any questions?

Glenn Beck Would Have Hated Martin Luther King

Steve Benen is my hero of the day for saying what needs to be said:

As anti-government zealots assemble in the nation's capital for a rally intended to glorify a deranged, self-described rodeo clown, it's worth emphasizing a simple truth: Glenn Beck would have really hated Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beck recently told his minions, "Damn it, we will reclaim the civil rights [movement]. We will take that movement because we were the people who did it in the first place!"

It's hard to overstate how blisteringly stupid this is.

King's "I Have A Dream" speech was 47 years ago tomorrow, and over the years since its delivery, King has taken his place in the pantheon of legendary American heroes. His iconic status was hard-earned, and well deserved. But to argue that the civil rights movement that King helped lead was a product of right-wing activists who hate government and domestic social programs, is to stray so far from reality that it's hard to even capture it with words.

Americans wisely revere the King legacy now, but a half-century ago, Beck's conservative predecessors loathed the civil rights leader. The right-wing snake-oil salesmen whose shtick Beck is borrowing now used words like "communist" and "radical" to dismiss King and his movement.

I saw King's speech on television when I was 11. During the sixties, I also saw on television church bombings, beatings, Klan rallies, and generally vicious CONSERVATIVE assaults on blacks who were demanding their constitutional rights. Beck's attempt to co-opt the civil rights movement is an outrage, pure and simple.

Glenn Beck is a national disgrace, a con man, a self-promoting huckster, a lying sack of sh*t, and a general waste of skin.

However, I don't wish to be critical.

Fox "News" Explained

Yes, the Venn Diagram of the Fox "News" view of President Obama, courtesy of the folks at Cracked. (Click to Enlarge.)

Yes, in the psychotic world of Fox "News", also known as the New (Soviet-Era) Pravda, President Obama is no less than a Satanic figure who embodies everything that the demented, elderly, white, right-wing clowns who watch it hate and fear. These clowns don't, however, always have the exact words or images by which to express their hatreds, so Fox does them a service by associating Obama with every threatening symbol they can imagine.

Think I'm exaggerating? Just try watching Beck or Hannity for five minutes and see if I am.

And then realize just how dangerous Fox "News" is to the well-being of our country.

Republican Candidate for Governor of Florida: Scum of the Earth Rick Scott

Man, I've never seen as many hideously bad Republican candidates as I have this year. And they don't come any worse than Rick Scott, who made a pile of money by treating the health care industry as if it were McDonald's or WalMart--and patient care be damned. Think Progress has the goods on this bastard right here: Here's how Scott made his huge fortune:

Indeed, through an aggressive strategy of rapid acquisitions and consolidation, Scott turned Columbia/HCA into one of the largest health care companies in the world. Forbes magazine noted Scott ruthlessly bought “hospitals by the bucketful and promised to squeeze blood from each one.” HCA/Columbia executives saw health care as any other commodity. “This industry’s not any different than an airline industry or a ball bearing industry,” said David T. Vandewater, Columbia’s chief operating officer. “You run at 40 percent of capacity or at 60 percent of capacity you’re not getting the maximum value out of your assets.”

Under Scott’s leadership, Columbia/HCA pled guilty to an massive array of fraud charges — which resulted in a fraud settlement of $1.7 billion dollars, the largest in U.S history. Columbia/HCA systematically defrauded taxpayers, charging Medicare $15,000 for Tiffany pitchers and other luxury goods, “exaggerating the seriousness of the illnesses they were treating,” and engineering a program where doctors were granted partnerships in hospitals as a kickback for referring patients. In 1997, “disaster struck in the form of an FBI raid.” In July of that year, “federal agents swarmed Columbia/HCA hospitals and offices in five states. Within weeks, three executives were indicted on charges of Medicare fraud, and the board had ousted Scott.” Scott left in disgrace, but not before walking away with “a $9.88 million severance package, along with 10 million shares of stock worth up to $300 million at the time.”

During Scott’s tenure at Columbia/HCA, his cost cutting methods threatened patient care and safety:

– Susan Marks, a technician at one of Scott’s hospitals, was forced to monitor 72 heart monitors by herself. Marks explained, “I have to. I’ve been told you either do it, or there’s the door.” [ABC News, 9/26/97]

– Scott downsized nursing staffs, created conditions where “babies were attended as infrequently as every three hours. Once, the only nurse caring for seven ill infants was so busy she failed to hear an alarm when a baby stopped breathing. A parent dashed to the baby and stimulated breathing, the state report said.” [New York Times, 5/11/97]

– Hospital workers in Florida complained, “gloves come in only one size, and rip easily.” In addition, California employees protested “filthy conditions,” and being “stretched to the limit” as Scott’s company slashed “the ratio of nurses to patients.” [Money Driven Medicine, pg. 119]

And this is who the Tea Party fanatics who run the Republican Party think should be governor of Florida. Scott is simply a CRIMINAL who got away with it, a moral degenerate who made his money by neglecting the well-being of sick and suffering people. What can be done about this?

CONTRIBUTE TO DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA ALEX SINK. You can contribute to the Sink Campaign right here.

Let's Join Together, and Sink Rick Scott Forever!

Yes, One of the Financers of the "Ground Zero Mosque" is a FOX "NEWS" OWNER!!

Jon Stewart (Bless Him!) has the goods:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Jon Stewart, the Voice of Reason and Sanity--Again

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Gingrich Compares American Muslims to Nazis

Is there a more sickening, repulsive excuse for a human being than Newt Gingrich? Now, he is comparing the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" (which is, in actually a community center two full city blocks away that does not overlook Ground Zero in any way, shape or form) to the Nazis putting up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. You got that everybody? The people putting in the Muslim community center in lower Manhattan are just like the Nazis. Steve Benen puts it well:

Gingrich insisted, without proof, that the cultural center's leaders are "radical Islamists" who intend to demonstrate that "they can build a mosque next to a place where 3,000 Americans were killed by Islamists." (The former Burlington Coat Factory store is not, in reality, "next to" Ground Zero.)...

We're well into the realm of farce at this point, and Gingrich seems to be playing a little game with the media establishment -- let's see just how ridiculous he can be on national television, but still be treated as a "serious" person, and still be invited back.

That's the real scandal here. This miserable, lying, two-bit hack Gingrich has been one of the most frequent guests on network news talk shows over the past year, despite having held no public office since 1998. His smears, his garbage, and his sickening falsehoods are given a respectful hearing. Now, he is trolling the lowest gutters of religious and racial hatred, playing up to the group of sick, hate-filled individuals that make up the Republican Party's "base". It is a national disgrace that an evil, corrupt man like Gingrich has the national platform he has.

The entire uproar over the "Ground Zero Mosque" is yet another example of the perverse ability of the Radical Right to drum up an issue by screeching about it on FOX "News" and right-wing hate radio. The Muslims of Lower Manhattan have EVERY RIGHT to have their community center. The people attacking them for exercising their religious liberty are spitting on this nation's history, laws, and traditions--and Gingrich, Palin, and the rest of the anti-American Right are in front of the mob, whipping it into a greater and greater frenzy.

ADDENDUM: From Balloon Juice: (Click to Enlarge--It's Worth It)

Michele Bachmann, a Brazen Liar--The Evidence

Politifact, which keeps tabs on the utterances of public figures, has an astonishing page on Michele Bachmann. Ten of her public statements are assessed: every single one of them is a blatant, unambiguous LIE. Geez, this psycho lies as much as Sean Hannity does, and that says something. Among her most despicable lies:

"The New England Journal of Medicine released a survey the week that President Obama signed Obamacare stating that over 30 percent of American physicians would leave the profession if the government took over health care."

LIE.

Page 92 of the House health care bill "says specifically that people can't purchase private health insurance after a date certain."

LIE.

Ezekiel Emanuel, one of President Obama's key health care advisers, "says medical care should be reserved for the nondisabled. So watch out if you're disabled."

LIE.

ACORN "could get up to $8.5 billion more tax dollars despite being under investigation for voter registration fraud in a dozen states."

LIE.

"Secretary Geithner has left the option on the table" of abandoning the dollar for a multinational currency.

LIE.

And remember folks--if you don't vote DEMOCRATIC this year, this lying psychopath who has called Democrats "anti-American" and has accused President Obama of wanting to set up concentration camps to imprison conservatives will gain power.

NOW are you going to vote in November?

The Republicans, the Party of the Confederacy

This post by Dennis G. in Balloon Juice deserves to be widely read. It is a powerful and devastating takedown of the attempts by the American conservatives to rewrite American history and portray the Confederate movement as "honorable" and "noble". And Dennis makes these points loudly and clearly:

There are many myths about the Confederacy, but one of the biggest is that it was a political movement built around honor. It wasn’t. It was a movement built around protecting a system of stolen labor and the ‘rights’ of a selective few to grossly profit from that system. Selling ideas of honor, states rights and outright racism was how a small group of 19th century Southern Oligarchs built an army to fight for injustice. Ever since their defeat these Confederates and their idealogical descendants have worked hard to spin their treasonous racist enterprise into an honorable ‘lost cause’ and in recent decades they have completely captured the Republican Party and the modern conservative movement.

In the beginning of the last century the Confederates were early adapters of new technologies to spread their myth. It was D.W. Griffiths’ “The Birth of a Nation” that spread the myth of Confederate honor across America and presented millions of white immigrants a narrative of white supremacy and shiftless, lazy, untrustworthy and threatening blacks. It was a narrative that generations of immigrants embraced as they and their children became Americans and it was a narrative that spread the reach of the Confederate Party and its ideology of hate to all 50 states.

Read the whole thing, and keep it in mind when you hear Republican governors proclaiming "Confederate Heritage Months" or keeping Confederate flags as sacred relics (as does Mississippi's Haley Barbour), or when right-wingers rewrite American history curricula to present the Confederacy as a virtuous "Lost Cause", or when a Republican congressman from Georgia refers to the Civil War as "the War of Yankee Aggression". Roll it over in your mind: the so-called "patriots" of the Republican Party are the biggest fans of the worst group of traitors and murderers in American history, Jefferson Davis and his friends. They remember the greatest act of mass treason in American history with fondness. They are sentimental about the war that killed more Americans than all other wars in which the U.S. has been involved combined. They rhapsodize about a war that was fought for two reasons, and two reasons ONLY:

1. to perpetuate human slavery

2. to tear the United States of America apart.

The Confederate cancer used to live in the body of the Democratic Party, but beginning in 1948, the Democrats began cutting it out of themselves in a difficult but necessary procedure. But now the Confederate cancer has found a new and enthusiastic host: the radical, deeply anti-American right wing that dominates the modern Republican Party and which comprises its "base" of voters. Remember, folks, that it is the CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE YAMMERING ABOUT SECESSION. Remember that CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN GLENN BECK IS TALKING ABOUT A NEW CIVIL WAR. Remember that when the malcious adolescents that make up the conservative "leadership" in this country lose an election, they start threatening violence and revolution.

And if you, my beloved Democrats and Democratic leaning independents, don't bother to vote this November, the Confederate Party will win control of the Congress. So yes, it really does matter. You can vote to keep a flawed, often inept but basically correct Democratic Party in power.

Or you can let Jeff Davis and company drag this country down the drain.

It's up to you.

Right Wing Idiot Declares War on Theory of Relativity

No, really.

Actually.

Read about it here.

And then cringe about the possibility of these wretched people coming to power in November, if we don't get out the Democratic vote.

YES! Prop 8 Ruled Unconstutional!

In a victory for fundamental human rights, a California judge has struck down the ugly measure known as Proposition 8, which specifically discriminates against an entire class of our citizens. (A good analysis of this is here.) Prop 8 forbids gay marriage, an act antithetical to the personal freedom on which our nation is based.

Again: civil rights are NOT subject to the whim or wish of other people, and we don't permit people (ordinarily) to vote on other people's rights for a reason. Let's hope this decision stands up on appeal.

A great day for America.

41% of Republicans Are Birther Idiots

CNN has the goods here. From their latest national poll:

"Not surprisingly, there are big partisan differences, although a majority of Republicans thinks Obama was definitely or probably born here," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Eighty-five percent of Democrats say that Obama was definitely or probably born in the U.S., compared to 68 percent of independents and 57 percent of Republicans. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans say he was probably not born here, and another 14 percent of Republicans say he was definitely not born in the U.S."

These right-wing clowns continue to insult my state (Hawaii) by saying that our REPUBLICAN governor and her administration are lying about Obama's birth 49 years ago today in Honolulu. (BTW, Happy Birthday, Mr. President!) The hatred and stupidity of these birther idiots knows no bounds. They wouldn't believe Obama was a citizen if they had witnessed his birth personally. That they form more than two-fifths of self-identified Republicans is yet another sign of the moral and intellectual rot that pervades the conservative "base" of the Neo-Confederate Party, AKA the Republicans.

Oh, and naturally, the draft-dodging drug addict (you may know him as Rush Limbaugh) continues to push Birther lies relentlessly.

It's Time

This Little Thing - Legalize It!!! Funniest video ever! - watch more funny videos

Bwa-Ha-Ha!

(Click to Enlarge)

Yes, the Radical Right DOES Intend to Impeach President Obama

If the nation once again falls into the catastrophe of Republican control of Congress, we can count on a campaign to remove President Obama by means of a trumped-up impeachment. Steve Benen, as is so often the case, has the story here:

The far-right Washington Times published two op-eds, on the same page, on the same day, demanding the impeachment of President Obama. One was from the perpetually deranged Jeffrey Kuhner, who insisted, "Obama has betrayed the American people. Impeachment is the only answer. This usurper must fall."

The other was from Tom Tancredo, the former Republican congressman and presidential candidate, and apparent Colorado gubernatorial candidate.

"Yes, Mr. Obama is a more serious threat to America than al Qaeda. We know that Osama bin Laden and followers want to kill us, but at least they are an outside force against whom we can offer our best defense. But when a dedicated enemy of the Constitution is working from the inside, we face a far more dangerous threat. Mr. Obama can accomplish with the stroke of his pen what bin Laden cannot accomplish with bombs and insurgents. [...]"

Now Democrats, and Democratic leaning independents...

GET OFF YOUR A*S AND START WORKING FOR A DEMOCRATIC VICTORY IN NOVEMBER--UNLESS YOU WANT A PSYCHOTIC LIKE MICHELE BACHMANN DICTATING OUR NATION'S AGENDA.

The Disgusting Racial Lies and Fear-Mongering of Fox "News"

Rachel Maddow is my hero for this piece.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

FOX "NEWS" IS DELIBERATELY TRYING TO STIR UP FEAR AND HATRED AGAINST BLACKS IN ORDER TO FRIGHTEN WHITE VOTERS INTO SUPPORTING CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS.

Is that clear enough?

Rick Perry Lies--AGAIN

PolitiFact catches Perry in another of his pathetic lies right here. It seems Perry claims the White House never consults him--a demonstrable falsehood. Naturally, he disseminated this lie on the right's favorite propaganda outlet, Fox "News".

Oh, and Perry said that President Obama is harming Texas and has Texas "in his radar", and not in a good way. I guess that's why Perry accepted $17 BILLION in Federal stimulus money--the program President Obama pushed and Perry's right-wing fanatic allies in Congress opposed. The facts are right here.

I think "conservative office holder" and "pathological liar" are becoming synonymous terms.

Karl Rove, the Cancer of American Politics, Hits New Depths of Dishonesty and Hypocrisy

I'll let Steve Benen take it from here:

The key to dealing with Karl Rove's presence in American politics is understanding the role he plays. Once one fully appreciates the extent to which he's a poison in our democracy, smearing our institutions with a pernicious venom, it becomes easier to endure his nonsense without developing an antacid addiction.

But once in a while, Rove's pathological tendencies are a little harder to take.

...Rove's "biggest mistake," he said, was not fighting harder against Democrats who questioned Bush's honesty on the war in Iraq. His column came seven years to the day after Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) concluded that Bush and his team "put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth." It wasn't long before this obvious truth became the standard position of the Democratic mainstream...

In Rove's bizarro world, it wasn't Bush's spectacular failures that undermined the nation, it was the nerve of Democrats to point out that nearly all of the claims the former president made about a war turned out to be false. In this strange alternate reality, those who lied and failed are the heroes, while those who called out the liars "lost their honor and blackened their reputations."

It's quite literally nauseating.

Read the whole thing and the accompanying comments. And try to control your disgust and amazement at the damned nerve of this son-of-a-bitch calling other people liars.

Right Wingers Lying (Again) About Sen. Franken's VICTORY in 2008

The typical disgusting story is here. Naturally, Fox "News", the Propaganda Arm of the Republican Party, is helping to push this utter BS.

They just lie and lie and lie. They have no shame. They have no morals.

And these are the people who will win in November if the Democrats don't bother to vote.

Question: Is Mitt Romney Mostly a Liar, an Idiot, or an Ignoramus on the START Treaty?

Fred Kaplan utterly destroys Mitt Romney's absurd, dishonest attack on the new START treaty right here. Romney has quite literally gotten EVERYTHING WRONG about the treaty--everything. Excerpt:

In 35 years of following debates over nuclear arms control, I have never seen anything quite as shabby, misleading and—let's not mince words—thoroughly ignorant as Mitt Romney's attack on the New START treaty in the July 6 Washington Post.

Senate Republicans are looking for some grounds—any grounds—to defeat this treaty, which was signed in April by President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, and which will soon come to the Senate floor for a vote.

Romney, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, clearly feels the need to pump up some foreign-policy swagger in advance of the 2012 presidential primaries. But one would think he could have found a ghostwriter who had even the vaguest acquaintance with the subject matter.

The Senate Republicans have only one real objection to the Treaty: it was proposed by President Obama. And so, in their typically reflexive, brain-dead manner, they have to oppose it, even though America would benefit from it.

But then, when have most of the Senate Republicans ever given a damn about what benefits the American people?

REMEMBER, DEMOCRATS AND DEMOCRATIC-LEANING INDEPENDENTS: IF YOU DON'T VOTE THIS YEAR, LYING, IGNORANT RIGHT-WING FANATICS LIKE ROMNEY WILL COME TO POWER.

Period.

What You'll Get If the Democrats Don't Vote This Year

You'll get borderline right-wing psychotics like Michele Bachmann doing everything they can to destroy President Obama--and America.

DEMOCRATS, GET OFF YOUR TAILS, GET PEOPLE REGISTERED, GET THEM TO VOTE, AND VOTE YOURSELVES!!

Meet the Republican Candidate for the Senate in Illinois

Another Brilliant Tom Tomorrow

(Click to Enlarge)

David Jungerman, Right-Wing Parasite

The entire pathetic story is here.

So it seems this right-wing SOB who's calling my fellow Democrats and me "parasites" has sucked up more than $1 million in Federal farm subsidies since 1995, including more than $200,000 in 2000 alone.

Really, do these extreme right-wing conservatives have no conscience, sense of shame, or morals at ALL?

(Click to Enlarge)

The Strange Career of Darrell Issa

As you probably know, radical right-wing Republican U.S. Representative Darrell Issa of California has promised the fanatics and haters who make up the Republican "base" that if the Republicans win control of Congress this November, he will use his position to launch one investigation after another of President Obama and his White House staff. The objective will be simple: to destroy Obama and possibly set up the "grounds" for the impeachment of the President. In the twisted, sick world of the Radical Right, no Democrat has the right to govern--ever. Issa intends to see to it that Barack Obama does not get to govern our country, and he intends to send a message: this is what will happen to EVERY Democrat who has the temerity to win the Presidency. Therefore, I thought it might be good to turn my gaze on Issa's career, to see what kind of man we're up against. I think you'll be as appalled and disgusted as I am.

DARRELL THE CON MAN; DARRELL THE CAR THIEF?

In this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, we see the interesting story of Darrell and his brother, who set up a phony car theft and then sold the "stolen" car to a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

In the San Jose case, Issa, who at the time was a 27-year-old U.S. Army officer, and William Issa, 29, were arrested by San Jose police on a felony auto-theft charge in February 1980.

They were accused of a scheme in which Issa's brother allegedly sold Issa's cherry-red Mercedes 240 to Smythe European Motors in San Jose for $13,000 cash and three $1,000 traveler's checks. Within hours, Issa reported the car stolen from a lot at the Monterey airport, near his Army post at Fort Ord.

Issa and his brother pleaded not guilty. A judge ordered them to stand trial on felony charges, saying he had a "strong suspicion" that the men had committed the crime, according to the records.

The case was not prosecuted because the DA didn't think he had a strong enough case, even though strong suspicions still surrounded the Issa brothers. Darrell was also suspected in involvement with two other car thefts, but he blamed his brother William for both of them and denied any wrongdoing. At the time the Chronicle published this article, by the way, Issa was spearheading the movement to recall California Governor Gray Davis, a movement which eventually led to the disastrous governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You will recall that this recall campaign aided and abetted Enron's looting of California via the phony "electricity crisis".

DARRELL THE TOOL OF BIG BUSINESS; DARRELL THE ARSONIST?

The Media Matters Action Network has assembled a synopsis of Issa's wretched, scandal-plagued political career right here. Among the interesting findings:

AC Custom Fire: Flammable Liquid Had "Been Poured On The Only Area Not Covered By Fire Sprinklers." The Los Angeles Times reported that "seven months after Issa took control," a fire broke out at the "Quantum manufacturing plant." "Case files from Maple Heights, the Ohio fire marshal and insurers pointed repeatedly to the likelihood of arson in the blaze, which officials estimated caused $ 800,000 in damage. Although an accident could not be ruled out, the uneven and unnatural burn patterns made the blaze 'suspicious in nature,' the state concluded two months later. Flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the only area not covered by fire sprinklers, investigators found." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]

Issa Has Received Nearly $40,000 From The National Beer Wholesalers Association. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Issa has received a total of $38,500 from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) in contributions since 2000.

[Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 2/3/10]

NBWA Was A Leading Supporter Of Bush Tax Breaks. According to the Center for Responsive Politics: "The NBWA...was a leading supporter of President Bush's proposed package of business tax breaks in 2001." [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 5/31/10]

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Has Given Issa More Than $64,000 Since 2000. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Issa has received $64,150 in total contributions from the company Science Applications International Corporation from 2000-2010. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 2/3/10]

SAIC Produced Faulty Software For The FBI. According to SignOnSanDiego.com: "SAIC's custom software, known as Virtual Case File, was intended to help FBI agents and analysts track terrorists and manage criminal investigations. When SAIC delivered the product, [FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that] at least 400 problems were found with the software." The contract between SAIC and the FBI was worth "170 million dollars." [SignOnSanDiego.com, 2/3/05]

DARRELL THE ENEMY OF SIMPLE HUMAN DECENCY

In PERRspectives's "Top 10 Darrell Issa Hall of Shame Moments", (located here) we find the following tidbits:

Issa Calls 9/11 Attacks in New York a Plane Crash

No doubt, Issa's slur against World Trade Center rescue workers was the most unforgettable moment in a truly forgettable political career.

Desperate to refuse federal funds to the ailing workers who rushed to Ground Zero, Issa denied the September 11 carnage was an attack on the United States at all. As the New York Post summed it up:

"It's very simple: I can't vote for additional money for New York if I can't see why it would be appropriate to do this every single time a similar situation happens, which quite frankly includes any urban terrorist. It doesn't have to be somebody from al Qaeda. It can be someone who decides that they don't like animal testing at one of our pharmaceutical facilities."
Issa said the destruction of the World Trade Center did not involve a dirty bomb or a chemical weapon designed to make people sick.

"It simply was an aircraft, residue of the aircraft and residue of the materials used to build this building," Issa said.

Issa also viciously defended Blackwater from charges of committing atrocities, and accused those investigating Blackwater of "going after the troops"(!). He further accused Valerie Plame of perjury, and helped force out federal prosecutor Carol Lam with a phony report accusing her of "lax" enforcement of the immigration laws. The purge of Lam was done in retaliation for her successful prosecution of the crook "Duke" Cunningham.

Oh, and Issa also fought against a bill protecting homeowners from predatory lenders.

DARRELL THE PATHOLOGICAL DAMNED LIAR

Issa lied repeatedly and brazenly in the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. Issa lied about evidence and lied about the involvement of Democrats in the matter.

Issa also blatantly lied about the so-called "Train to Sin City", a non-existent piece of the stimulus plan that supposedly financed a high speed train from LA to Las Vegas at the behest of Harry Reid. David Shuster shot Issa down HARD, calling him on his lie in no uncertain terms. (You can see it here since, for some reason, the video will not embed.)

Issa also blatantly lied when he claimed, in a debate with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that the Republicans had been shut out of helping to shape Health Care Reform. Wasserman Schultz was having none of it:

Following the vote on the health care bill, Wolf Blitzer talks to Rep. Darrell Issa and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Issa claims that the Republicans were "shut out of the process from the very beginning" and Wasserman Schultz calls him out on it.

Schultz: That is just a brazenly false statement. From the very beginning...

Issa: Is that like you lied?

Schultz: No, it's a brazenly false (crosstalk). With all due respect there are two hundred amendments that were offered and accepted by Republicans, offered by Republicans and accepted by Democrats and incorporated into this bill. This is a bill that is bipartisan in content, unfortunately not bipartisan in the outcome of the votes. We gave every opportunity over and over again and the American people saw a President in Obama extend his hand and saw Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid ask Republicans repeatedly to sit down with the rest of the negotiating table and we were repeatedly rejected.

After Issa pretends like they would have used the amendment process for anything other than trying to either stall or shut down the bill being passed and Blitzer repeating his Republican talking points about major pieces of social legislation never being passed without bipartisan support Schultz comes back again.

Schultz: It passed without any Republican support by their choice.

Issa has also lied about his own military service:

As several politicians have been snared thanks to fibbing about their military records, TPM took a trip down memory lane exploring others who exaggerated service. It turns out that 12 years ago when Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was running for Senate, the San Francisco Examiner uncovered that his Army record was in doubt.

The Examiner published in May 1998 a devastating article detailing the conflicts between Issa’s public statements and public records. A focus in the story was Issa’s claim he protected then-President Richard Nixon as part of an “elite Army bomb unit” at the World Series in 1971. But it turns out Nixon didn’t even attend the games.

The Examiner scoured military records and concluded that Issa’s service on the squad “was marred by a bad conduct rating, a demotion and allegations that he had stolen a fellow soldier’s car.” It cited his 1998 campaign biography saying he served in the Army nine years, even though records showed he served just over five years.

In Darrell Issa we are facing one of the very worst, most dishonest, most unprincipled, most corrupt, most fanatically right-wing of our opponents. He lacks any shred of decency or concern for the average person. And it is this despicable, loathsome, pathologically lying man who will use his power to ruin President Obama unless we act to stop him, by getting out the Democratic vote in November.

It's simple: either we vote, or this son of a bitch Issa gets to ruin the United States of America.

Vice President Biden Brings the HAMMER Down on BP Apologist Joe Barton,

BP's Best Friends: The Radical Right-Wing Republican Party

TPM has the goods right here about the disgusting way in which the official Republican Party and its enablers in the radical right media are kissing BP's ass as publicly as they can while trashing President Obama's tremendous achievement of getting BP to promise a $20,000,000,000 escrow fund for damages. Some of the select opinions, highlighted by yours truly:

Rush Limbaugh: the escrow fund would be a "slush fund,"..."Who's gonna get this money? Union activists? ACORN people? Who's gonna get this money. Let's keep a sharp eye on who Feinberg gives this money to. Because I'm telling you, this is just another bailout fund, called something else, and we'll see who gets it."

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) was concerned that making BP pay so much would hurt their profitability.

On Fox News, Sean Hannity speculated that the account would be used as a "political slush fund." (God, that takes some kind of special nerve coming from a crook like Hannity, who looted his own "veterans charity").

In a House committee hearing Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) referred to the fund as a "$20 billion shakedown."

The House's Republican Study Group called the fund "a Chicago style shakedown".

And my favorite idiot/liar/psychopath Michele Bachmann called it an example of "redistribution" of money.

Oh, and one more thing: Joe Barton, who actually APOLOGIZED TO BP at the Hayward hearing, is in line to become chairman of the House Energy Committee if the Republicans win control of the House in November.

(Click to Enlarge)

This is How Sick and Dangerous They Are

A new ad for a radical Right-wing teabagger Republican in Alabama:



Note the themes: Impeachment of President Obama, the ludicrous claim that the IRS is unregulated(!!), the lie about the IRS and health care, and most of all, the call to armed revolution and violence. THIS IS WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS NOW. This is how sick, how delusional, how dangerous, and how threatening to our country these people really are. They MUST be stopped.

Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents (and fed-up Republicans), the real call to arms is to you:

GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE IN NOVEMBER.

Yes, the Republicans WILL Try to Impeach President Obama If They Win This Year

Steve Benen has the story here. And wouldn't you know who's pushing it? Everyone's favorite right-wing psychotic, Michele Bachmann. Details:

Everywhere Bachmann goes [she says], people emphasize their desire to see the president impeached. Impeached for what? Bachmann didn't say, and given the deranged crowd she hangs out with, it's probably safe to assume that it doesn't much matter. (As a rule, those seeking to undo national elections might look for "high crimes," but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that those pushing the issue with Bachmann don't care if Obama has actually committed an impeachable offense or not.)

In this case, Bachmann didn't say exactly whether she supports presidential impeachment; it's just what "people" say "everywhere" she goes.

But this brings me back to a point from a couple of weeks ago -- how seriously are Republicans prepared to take this whole impeachment idea?

Obviously, President Obama hasn't committed any crimes, and there are no sane reasons for anyone to try to impeach him. But House Republicans have been known to take some stupendously crazy steps, so it's hardly unreasonable to ask now -- before the election.

Yes, let's ask the Republicans the question BEFORE the November election: Are you going to try to remove President Obama from office by means of impeachment? YES OR NO?

And by God, let's put them on the record IN FRONT OF THEIR OWN RIGHT-WING FANATICS. That's something I'd pay to see.

Addendum:

Bachmann is associated with (and politically connected to) a "Christian" rock band that advocates KILLING gays. Not imprisoning them or fining them or forcing them to stay in the closet, but KILLING THEM. And this woman is considered a leading Republican??

On Hiatus Until June 11

I'll rant to you later.

J. Miller's Current Political Reading List!

I have a wonderful friend coming to visit for a week, so I'll be incommunicado, but this selection of things should hold you for a while:

Michael Lind reminds us of the truth about the Confederacy here.

Governor Rick "Good Hair" Perry of Texas is exposed for the hypocrite and fraud that he really is here.

Arianna Huffington talks about the offshore tax haven scam here.

Newt Gingrich's pathetic lies are refuted with FACTS and EVIDENCE here.

A little history lesson about Dick Cheney, "patriotic" enabler of brutal regimes, is here.

The AP tells the truth about President Obama's andling of the oil spill crisis here.

Newt Gingrich's pathetic lies and right-wing idiocy get another going over here.

That should hold you for a little while.

This Could Shake Things Up in Illinois

I couldn't conceivably care less whether any candidate for public office is gay or not. But the hard-core Right-wing Republican base does care, intensely. So if this story about Illinois senate candidate Mark Kirk turns out to be true--well, it will be interesting, let's just say that.

Goodbye to One of the Greats

Dennis Hopper, 1936-2010

On Memorial Day 2010

This weekend is a time when we should pause and reflect upon those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our sake. Their experience deserves to be remembered for what it really was, and to that end I'd like to recommend you read this article from the archives of The Atlantic Monthly. It's from war veteran and author Paul Fussell and it's called, appropriately, "The Real War 1939-1945". It is a brutally honest look at what men in combat really go through as opposed to the often sanitized images of war the general public is given. Much of what Fussell recounts in the piece is hard to read, but it needs to be known. Excerpt:

For those who fought, the war had other features unknown to those who looked on or got the war mediated through journalism. One such feature was the rate at which it destroyed human beings -- friendly as well as enemy. Training for infantry fighting, few American soldiers were tough-minded enough to accept the full, awful implications of the term "replacement" in the designation of their Replacement Training Centers. (The proposed euphemism "reinforcement" never caught on.) What was going to happen to the soldiers they were being trained to replace? Why should so many "replacements" -- hundreds of thousands of them, actually -- be required? The answers came soon enough in the European theater, in Italy, France, and finally Germany. In six weeks of fighting in Normandy, the 90th Infantry Division had to replace 150 percent of its officers and more than 100 percent of its men. If a division was engaged for more than three months, the probability was that every one of its second lieutenants, all 132 of them, would he killed or wounded. For those being prepared as replacements at officer candidate schools, it was not mentally healthy to dwell on the oddity of the schools' turning out hundreds of new junior officers weekly after the army had reached its full wartime strength. Only experience would make the need clear.

Think well on all of this. And remember those who were sent and never returned. We owe more to them than language can express.

One Standard for Right-Wing Presidents, Another for Democratic Ones--Especially Barack Obama

Steve Benen strikes again in an incisive summary of the utterly dishonest and hypocritical manner in which the so-called "liberal media" deal with Democratic presidents. Among the things Barack Obama has been criticized for WHICH HAVE ALSO BEEN DONE BY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS AND REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS IN GENERAL: (Yes, I'm stealing--er, quoting-- shamelessly from Benen)

* Teleprompters: This trend of characterizing routine developments as controversial started very early in the Obama presidency. Every modern president has used teleprompters, but Republicans and the media thought it was hilarious and wildly important when Obama did the same thing.

* Bowing: Several presidents have been photographed bowing to foreign heads of state, but Republicans and the media thought it was absolutely scandalous when Obama did the same thing when meeting leaders where bowing is customary.

* Talking to school kids: Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush spoke to school children in national addresses, even taking a little time to push their political agendas. When Obama delivered a speech encouraging kids to do well in school, Republicans freaked out; Fox News compared the president to Saddam Hussein; and the New York Times literally ran a front-page story about it.

* Czars: For a half-century, presidents have relied on so-called "czars" for various policy areas. By one count, George W. Bush had 36 czar positions filled by 46 people during his two terms. No one cared. Obama's use of czars became the subject of months of media scrutiny, and even congressional hearings in response to Republican apoplexy.

* Oval Office attire: Several modern presidents have been seen in the Oval Office without wearing a suit jacket. When Obama did it, Republicans ran to the press to complain, and the media actually published pieces on the subject.

* Criticizing partisan media: White House complaints about unfair media coverage are as old as the republic. When the Obama White House noted what is plainly true about Fox News -- it's a Republican outlet -- the media went a little berserk, with the Washington Post and NPR characterizing the administration's criticism as "Nixonian."

* Reconciliation: Republican policymakers have relied on reconciliation to get around filibusters for decades. When Obama recommended the same tactic for health care, the GOP pretended it was an outrageous assault on the political process, and the media pretended Republicans' cries were legitimate.

* Industry bailouts: Government bailouts of struggling American industries and major companies have been common for decades. When Obama rescued GM, it was used as an example of his purported desire to a communist dictator.

* Campaign intervention: Every president has had a hand in campaign activities, with several presidents offering jobs to candidates to get them out of various races. When the Obama White House intervened in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary -- offering a House member an unpaid advisory gig -- the media found it fascinating and Republicans called for the FBI and a special prosecutor to intervene.

* Memorial Day: Many presidents have not appeared at Arlington on Memorial Day. When Obama does it, there's a "controversy." [See my post below this one.]

Yes, the "liberal media" sure are fair and balanced. Just like Fox "News".

Radical Right Determined to Lie About and Smear President Obama on Memorial Day

Shrieking right-wing frauds like Michelle Malkin are having a hissy fit about President Obama choosing to have the Memorial Day wreath laying in Elwood, Illinois, instead of at Arlington National Cemetery. And the right-wing fruitcakes are out in force, apparently, on the Radical Right conservative sites, with their usual incisive comments about our President: "traitor", "piece of shit", "Communist". It just shows how deeply dishonest, twisted, and morally bankrupt these idiots really are. There is nothing--NOTHING--they will not try to politicize and LIE about. The right cannot be trusted on ANYTHING. The do little else except lie through their teeth.

FOR THE RECORD, from commenter Sam on Liberal Forum:

1983 - Reagan attended a seminar in Williamsburg VA. Dep Sec of Defense W. Paul Thayer laid the wreath at Arlington

1987 - Reagan spent Mem Day at Camp David on VACATION while Navy Sec James Webb participated in the Mem Day services at Arlington Cemetery

1988 Reagan was out of the U.S. attending a summit in Moscow.


(during his 4yr term as Pres., Geo H.W. Bush NEVER attended ceremonies at Arlington on Mem Day)


1989 - Pres Geo H.W. Bush went to Rome Italy, and attended services at an American military base cemetery.

1990 - Pres Geo H.W. Bush was on VACATION at Kennebunkport MA on Memorial Day.

1991 - Pres Geo H.W. Bush was on VACATION at Kennebunkport MA on Memorial Day.

1992 - George H.W. Bush was on VACATION but attended a ceremony in Kennebunkport MA, where he also played golf while V.P. Quayle laid the wreath at Arlington Cemetery.

2002 - Pres. Geo W. Bush commemorated Mem Day at Normandy.

2007 - Pres. Geo W. Bush was in Texas, V.P. Cheney attended the Arlington Nat Cem services on Mem Day.

Any questions?

Right-Wing Anti-Government Radicals MURDER Two Policemen, Wound Two More

If the killers had been leftists, every right-wing media outlet would be shouting about it. But they're not--so the Right is dead silent.

Muhammed

A. Because I'll post anything I damn well want to on my blog.
B. Because I'm sick of people groveling to religious radicals of all stripes.

C. Because I stand in solidarity with those exercising their free speech rights.

Lewis Black is My Hero

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Yes, the Original Constitution WAS Flawed

The Usual Suspects are frothing at the mouth because Elena Kagan, newly nominated by President Obama for the Supreme Court, agreed with her mentor, the late Thurgood Marshall, that the original Constitution was a flawed document. Why, how dare she! She thinks the original Constitution wasn't perfect!!! How could she say that?!?

This is how:

From Article I, Section 2:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

Translation: Slaves will be counted as three-fifths of a human being.

From Article I, Section 9:

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

Translation: the slave trade will be permitted until 1808. That, by the way, was one of the terms that the patriotic, God-fearing representatives from South Carolina insisted on.

From Article IV, Section 2:

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Translation: the Free States are obligated to return any fugitive slaves that run away to escape the brutality and barbarism of slave owners in the patriotic, God-fearing southern slave states.

Yes, the original Constitution was deeply and profoundly flawed. It sanctioned the hideous institution of human slavery, at the insistence of Southern conservatives. Slavery, which should have been abolished outright by the Constitution, was not only preserved, but the other states were compelled to support it by being forced to return "property" that had fled to them and recognize slaves as partial humans. An appalling, disgraceful phenomenon.

By the way, you'll notice that the words "slave" and "slavery" were not used in the original Constitution. The writers didn't have the courage to actually say what they meant outright, preferring to hide behind euphemisms. The word slavery wasn't used in the Constitution until the 13th Amendment, which outlawed it in 1865.

Yes, slavery was outlawed after a terrible war that had devoured 620,000 lives, a war that was started by traitorous, violently anti-American slave owners looking to preserve their barbarous system--a system that shouldn't have even existed in a country founded on the stated ideals of the United States, a system that was codified into law by the original Constitution. I call that flawed.

Who would dare to disagree?

Radical Right-Wingers in Utah Dump One of the Senate's Most Conservative Members

Utah GOP Senator Bob Bennett has been denied renomination in Utah for being insufficiently uncooperative to the Democrats. This is UTAH we're talking about folks, one of the most Republican states in the country. Now we see again that to the Ultra-Right Tea Party Loving idiots that now run the Republican Party, ideological purity is the only test. You shouldn't be surprised--but you should be working to turn out the Democratic vote in November NOW.

Republican Candidate for Governor of Minnesota a Complete Wingnut Idiot

Yes, candidate Tom Emmer thinks that Minnesota should have the right to NULLIFY any Federal law it wants to unless 2/3 of the state legislature and the governor approve of it. Yes, you read that right. The Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota is, in effect, a Confederate (in line with the modern Republican Party, in other words). Allow me to quote from a document Emmer needs to familiarize himself with:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. [ From Article VI of the United States Constitution.]

Emmer is a radical right-wing buffoon in the Sarah Palin mode. He embraces every single aspect of the extremist agenda of the Limbaugh-Beck-Palin-Bachmann lunatics that run the GOP. For that reason alone he deserves defeat.

But I want to take this son-of-a-bitch's [political] head off for another reason. I quote State Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, 26 September 2009:

"I don't think you can call yourself a freedom-loving American and be a Democrat."

I want to take this scumbag down HARD. I'm sick and tired of these idiots spitting in my face and acting as if they had the right to tear up the Constitution whenever they feel like it. We need to WHIP THIS GUY'S ASS and send the lunatics a message, loud and clear:

"You're through."

The True Face of the Wall Street Trader

Do you want to see the face of utter arrogance?

Do you want to see the face of repulsive entitlement?

Do you want to see the face of total contempt for the rest of America?

Then read this dissection of an e-mail written by an angry Wall Street trader, a man who's an arrogant, self-entitled, contemptuous asshole down to his toenails. This laughable little Randian thinks that if he's forced out of his ludicrously overpaid job as a professional con artist that he could just walk into any job held by his social "inferiors" and just do it, no sweat. Unbelievable. Read the whole evisceration of this idiot, and don't miss the comments. They're priceless.

Halliburton, Cheney, and the Disaster in the Gulf

The prominent left-wing, Communist-leaning rag called The Wall Street Journal has part of the story here:

An oil-drilling procedure called cementing is coming under scrutiny as a possible cause of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that has led to one of the biggest oil spills in U.S. history, drilling experts said Thursday...

Regulators have previously identified problems in the cementing process as a leading cause of well blowouts, in which oil and natural gas surge out of a well with explosive force. When cement develops cracks or doesn't set properly, oil and gas can escape, ultimately flowing out of control. The gas is highly combustible and prone to ignite, as it appears to have done aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased by BP PLC, the British oil giant.

Concerns about the cementing process—and about whether rigs have enough safeguards to prevent blowouts—raise questions about whether the industry can safely drill in deep water and whether regulators are up to the task of monitoring them.

The scrutiny on cementing will focus attention on Halliburton Co., the oilfield-services firm that was handling the cementing process on the rig, which burned and sank last week. The disaster, which killed 11, has left a gusher of oil streaming into the Gulf from a mile under the surface.

Federal officials declined to comment on their investigation, and Halliburton didn't respond to questions from The Wall Street Journal.

Halliburton, you might recall, was the former employer of one "Dick" Cheney. (You may also recall that KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, electrocuted 12 GIs through incompetence and negligence.) Interestingly, another feature of the oil well disaster story is emerging as well. Another excerpt from the Marxist/Socialist/Terrorist Wall Street Journal:

The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills.

The lack of the device, called an acoustic switch, could amplify concerns over the environmental impact of offshore drilling after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig last week.

The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.

As a third line of defense, some rigs have the acoustic trigger: It's a football-sized remote control that uses sound waves to communicate with the valve on the seabed floor and close it.

An acoustic trigger costs about $500,000, industry officials said. The Deepwater Horizon had a replacement cost of about $560 million, and BP says it is spending $6 million a day to battle the oil spill. On Wednesday, crews set fire to part of the oil spill in an attempt to limit environmental damage...

Industry critics cite the lack of the remote control as a sign U.S. drilling policy has been too lax. "What we see, going back two decades, is an oil industry that has had way too much sway with federal regulations," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Democratic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson. "We are seeing our worst nightmare coming true."

U.S. regulators have considered mandating the use of remote-control acoustic switches or other back-up equipment at least since 2000. After a drilling ship accidentally released oil, the Minerals Management Service issued a safety notice that said a back-up system is "an essential component of a deepwater drilling system."

The industry argued against the acoustic systems. A 2001 report from the International Association of Drilling Contractors said "significant doubts remain in regard to the ability of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency back-up control system during an actual well flowing incident."

By 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly." [End excerpt.]

And who was the oil industry's chief point-man in the government from 2001 to 2009? You know who. And guess which Bush Administration official pressured the Minerals Management Service to NOT require BP and other Gulf drillers to use the acoustic switch?

Take a wild guess.