Turn On The Lights

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore—James McMurtry’s “We Can’t Make It Here”

Thoughts along the armadillo highway . . .

New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s obvious escape from the sinking fortunes of the Republican Party and his possible presidential run as an independent candidate created quite a splash in the media, but not one story challenge the basic premise of whether it is good for democracy that a multi-billionaire uses his own money to essentially buy political power. There was much celebratory speculation about how much Bloomberg might personally spend in a presidential bid—$1 billion was mentioned in one article—but no debate about whether it is good for the country that a person can purchase or try to purchase the American presidency. For the record, money has polluted the American political process and threatens the country’s democratic structures. Bloomberg symbolizes how even the American presidency is for sale these days.

Has anyone else noticed the editorial videos starring The Daily Oklahoman’s Ed Kelley begin with an advertisement urging people to go to Colorado. It makes perfect business sense. After watching the somber Kelley drone on about how no one deserves free parking in Bricktown or whatever, one does feel the pull of different climes.

Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com is writing the sharpest political and media commentary in the nation right now. Greenwald is meticulous and ruthless with facts, sources, and logic. His new book, A Tragic Legacy: How a Good Vs.Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency, is out and making its way up the bestseller lists. It can be ordered here.

So who will step up to run against U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-ExxonMobilChevronTexaco) in the 2008 election? Inhofe is currently raising money for his campaign and stinking up Washington with his certifiable tirades that appeal to a narrowing base of ultra-conservative voters. It appears at this point he has the full support of the established Oklahoma power structure, from the right-wing The Daily Oklahoman to Chesapeake Energy. But that could change. Inhofe could become a major Republican liability in the months to come. Democrats need to get a viable candidate as soon as possible.

Richard Cohen, a Washington Post columnist, actually wrote this paragraph: “With the sentencing of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald has apparently finished his work, which was, not to put too fine a point on it, to make a mountain out of a molehill. At the urging of the liberal press (especially the New York Times), he was appointed to look into a run-of-the-mill leak and wound up prosecuting not the leaker -- Richard Armitage of the State Department -- but Libby, convicted in the end of lying. This is not an entirely trivial matter since government officials should not lie to grand juries, but neither should they be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.” Note the “it is often best to keep the lights off.” As Glenn Greenwald points out, this one line perfectly summarizes the corporate media these days. Reporters and editors are busy turning off lights so Republican corruption and fascism can flourish. Cohen, who once supported the “case” for the Iraq war, is another example of a dreadfully wrong beltway pundit. Why is he still writing for this influential paper when others who were right about the war and who would always argue for more, not less, light on public officials are marginalized and dismissed?

Greensunshine.org, a site under construction, will help marginalized voices get online. Rooted in the personal experience of its creators, who speak out in a hostile environment and face harassment and threats on a regular basis, the site will serve as a bridge between the content side of activist Web sites and open source code technologies and applications. Can you help? Do you have ideas? Check out the site and contact us with your thoughts.

The basic democratic structures of the United States of America are in jeopardy, and the country teeters on the precipice of fascism. We are a country that now systematically tortures prisoners in a vague so-called “war on terrorism” and both major political parties support it. Only right-wing political speech is given prominent play in the corporate media these days, though the mainstream media still pretends it offers balanced views. We incarcerate more people than any other nation in the country. Some of our prisoners languish for years in dilapidated prisons for simple marijuana possession charges. They are more often than not the victims of jail rape and torture. Despite recent elections that demonstrated the citizens’ desire to stop the Iraq occupation, the president has escalated the country’s involvement in an act of world defiance that has changed the nature of the U.S. presidency forever. The opposition party, elected to a majority based on anti-occupation sentiment, refuses to stand up to President George Bush and the growing corporate-military complex. American elections have been corrupted by right-wing tactics to lower voting by minorities. Only fools trust the official results in some election races throughout the country. The president himself was initially elected in a corrupt election, the results of which showed his opponent had won. Bush has ordered the wiretapping of millions of innocent American and world citizens. Our justice system—the one that incarcerates the most people in the world—is operated by complete political expediency.