9.2% Latino Unemployment

Latino unemployment jumped to 9.2% (December '08 report - U.S. Labor Department). By comparison, Latino unemployment '06 was 4.9%.

Related:
Unemployment Jumps to 7.2% in December, 9.2% for Hispanics
Hoover & Bush: Devastating Latinos

Hoover & Bush: Devastating Latinos

With Barack Obama preparing to assume a nation with a bankrupt economy and a social fabric in tatters, the parallels between Hoover and Bush are striking -- including how the two failed Republican presidencies impacted Latinos:

1) Like Hoover's depression, George the 43rd's crashing of the U.S. economy is having a disproportionately negative impact on Puerto Rico. With an 'official' unemployment of double the national rate at 13%, the island is hemorrhaging jobs as a new wave of islanders flee in search of jobs on the U.S. mainland. Nationally, Latino unemployment has skyrocketed from 4.9% in '06 to 8.8% last fall.

2) Hoover forced 'repatriation' of Mexican workers, including arresting and imprisoning them in 'detention centers', stripping the detainees of their rights and property, and removing them to Mexico. Bush has presided over chillingly similar policies with equally devastating results. Scores of Latinos have been rounded up, families split, rights ignored. Many have been put in detention centers where a number have died under mysterious circumstances. Countless Latinos have been 'repatriated' including U.S. citizens.

Related: 1930's Mexican Deportations: U.S. Ethnic Cleansing?
Bush + McCain = Hoover

A Bluer New America

The NYTimes has this interesting look at Tuesday's presidential election results compared to 2004. The redder the area, the more people shifted towards Republicans. The bluer the area, the more people shifted towards the Democrats.

The map is interactive on the NYTimes site, allowing viewers to see national, state and county level shifts between 2008 and 2004 (as well as three presidential elections). Click here and here for the maps.

What's evident in viewing the maps is how red (i.e., Republican) the country was when Bill Clinton first won election in 1992; and how dramatically America shifted bluer during George W. Bush's 8 years in office.

With the exception of the deep South, the movement towards the Democrats since 1992 are striking and unbroken. Yet, Bush and Cheney won in 2000 and 2004.

Curious, no?

Eliot Spitzer: Bush Shielded Subprime Predators

Eliot Spitzer had a deep understanding of the corruption on Wall Street, and he wasn't afraid to take on corrupt fat cats and politicians. Early on he warned that predatory lenders were gauging the little guy, and if left unchallenged, their greed explode our financial system.

Spitzer--along with the country's attorneys general--sought permission to do what the Bush administration refused to do: prosecute mortgage industry lawbreakers. They were flatly denied.

Shortly before Spitzer's fall from grace, he penned a letter to the editor of the Washington Post which included this warning:

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

It's clear that Bush and his cronies just don't care about average Americans. Think about it. The Bush regime not only didn't do their job but they actively worked to bar states from seeking to protect the people.

Now, the Bush regime proposes to bailout Wall Street and nothing for the subprime victims. A modified version of that bailout bill was just defeated -- ironically, by the Republicans egged on by the kings of chaos on rightwing radio. These racists blame the Wall Street meltdown on minority victims of subprime predator lenders.

Link: Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

Eliot's Mess: The $200 billion bail-out for predator banks and Spitzer charges intimately linked

Paraguay's Lugo -- No Palin Photo Prop

Last week, John McCain sought to bolster Sarah Palin's nonexistent foreign policy credentials by having her sit for photographs with willing heads of state.

As expected, Palin scored photo-ops with Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai, Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili, Ukrainian's Viktor Yushchenko, Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari, Iraq's Jalal Talabani and India's Manmohan Singh as these leaders gathered in NYC for the annual UN General Assembly.

However, it appears some dignitaries shunned the political sideshow, declining the photo prop pleas of McCain-Palin. One such person is the newly elected President of Paraguay - Fernando Lugo. He is said to have confided to friends in NYC that he turned down an invitation to take pictures with Palin.

Who is Fernando Lugo?

He's a former Roman Catholic bishop, progressive and champion of the poor who broke the 62-year rule of the country's repressive rightwing regime.

Very interesting considering the cozy relationship between the U.S. government and the Paraguayan regime defeated by Lugo.

BTW: The U.S. established an airbase in strategically located Mariscal Estigarribia in Northern Paraguay -- an area with access to the Guarani Aquifer, the world's largest source of fresh drinking water; close to Bolivia's natural gas reserves, the second largest in Latin America; and within aerial reach of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and the rest of the continent. Additionally, Rev. Sun Myung Moon owns (1,482,600 acres), and George W. Bush is rumored to have recently purchased (100,000 acres), land atop the aquifer in Chaco.

Q: So, why was Lugo invited to sit with Palin? After all, Lugo is a left of center leader whose family members were persecuted by fascist Paraguayan regimes in league with the U.S. government--and who has not been an ally of the U.S. rightwing.

Links:
President of Paraguay Turns Down Meeting with Sarah Palin
Bush's Paraguay Land Grab
Where in South America is Sun Myung Moon?
The Bushes and the Moons
'Bishop of the poor' is winner in Paraguay poll
Fernando Lugo: Paraguay's 'Bishop of the Poor' Seeks Presidency
U.S. Military Eyes Paraguay
PARAGUAY-US: ‘Base’ story revived, with twists
U.S. military presence in Paraguay

W in Beijing: USA's Lead Frat Boy Represents

The USA's lead Frat Boy, George W.Bush, appears to be doing what frat boys do on summer breaks: party hardy. So what that he's president of the United States and leader of the "free" world.










W staggers............................................................while Laura looks away













A dopey and red-faced W.........................................fondles Phelps' metal










Daughter Barbara has had.........................................enough of W's antics










The women are not amused................................but Frat Boy wannabe Mitt is














A red-nosed W tries acting presidential................but loses to the frat boy












W spanks Kerri Walsh.....................................and reveals a scraped elbow

The Iraq War IS for Oil

John McCain lets slip that the Iraq War is really a war for oil.






The Young Turks: Oil Companies Take Over Iraq


The former Austrailian prime minister admits that Iraq is about oil.


"The Iraq War is largely about OIL." - Alan Greenspan


Straight-shooter Congressman Lantos (now deceased) agreed that Iraq war was about oil.


BBC: The War for Oil 1


BBC: The War for Oil 2


BBC: The War for Oil 3


Ex-White House Aide McClellan: Bush Lied About Iraq!

$23 Billion Iraq War Funds Lost or Stolen

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

For the first time, the extent to which some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding has been researched by the BBC's Panorama using US and Iraqi government sources.

"It may...be the largest war profiteering in history."

A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.

The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.

While George Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.

To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.

More

Related:
Iraq Loses $Billions in U.S. Taxpayer Funds
Billions $ Lost In Iraq
Ex-White House Aide McClellan: Bush Lied About Iraq!
Iraq War Cost Update: 3,501 U.S. Soldiers Killed; up to 71,042 Iraqi Civilians killed; and $432.5 Billion Spent

Ex-White House Aide McClellan: Bush Lied About Iraq!

W's former White House Press Secretary Scott McCellan's book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception", was released and it's causing a political firestorm.

Why?

Because a White House insider is publicly confirming what Americans have long known:

President Bush and his West Wing spinners LIED about Iraq.

They repeatedly "shaded the truth"--i.e., lied--in order to ensure that war with Iraq was the only option.

McClellan's motivation for writing the book?

"Like many Americans, I am concerned about the poisonous atmosphere in Washington. I wanted to take readers inside the White House and provide them an open and honest look at how things went off course and what can be learned from it. Hopefully in some small way it will contribute to changing Washington for the better and move us beyond the hyper-partisan environment that has permeated Washington over the past 15 years."

His conclusion about the Iraq War?

"What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary."

Thanks for waiting so long to tell us. BTW: Good job, Scotty.

Hey, doesn't this "revelation" make Hillary and her Senate colleagues who voted for the Iraq War even bigger dupes?

Perhaps more importantly, where was the press? We know that FOX has been a 24/7 propaganda outlet, but what about the television networks and newspapers? Why were so many of them so easily manipulated?

And where--praytell--is the public outcry? Afterall, 4,000 Americans and 100,000 Iraqis--and counting--have died in a war based on lies.

Related:
Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled U.S. on Iraq
Former Press Secretary Points Finger at Bush, Cheney for Deceit in CIA Leak Scandal

98% of Historians give GWB's presidency an F

In a survey of American historians, the History News Network found that 98 percent believe that Bush's presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Additionally, more than 61 percent of the historians view the current presidency as the worst in American history.

Among the reasons given for his low ratings:

• invading Iraq
• "tax breaks for the rich"
• alienating many nations around the world

This should spell doom for the continued Conservative Republican rule. However, they won't go down without a fight.

The rightwingers will go nuclear in an effort to keep power.

Look for the rightwing screechers/propagandists (Limbaugh, Hannity, et al) to put their "distract the electorate" campaign into overdrive. Their choice devise? The not so thinly veiled racial attacks on Senator Barack Obama.

The First Draft of History Looks a Bit Rough on Bush

W's Priorities: War, Yes; Children's Health, No

The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides health coverage for 6 million of America's disadvantaged children. The modest program's costs are shared by the federal governments and the participating states.

Recently, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly approved a re authorization of the program with an expansion in an effort to reach more of the estimated 9 million still uninsured children--most of which are members of working class families. That is, American families that make too much for government Medicaid and too little to afford private health coverage.

The legislation was sent to the White House for the President's approval and signature. Instead, President Bush vetoed it--putting the program in jeopardy and denying millions of uninsured children health coverage.

We don't have money to insure children but we have plenty for misguided wars. We have already wasted $458,000,000,000 in Iraq--and President Bush has just sent Congress a bill for another $42,000,000,000. An enterprise which most people agree is really dumb war and wasteful. For example, the government's own accounting office reports billions in war funds are missing or stolen.

Think of all the good that could be done with $458,000,000,000.

According to The National Priorities Project, half of the funds spent in Iraq thus far would pay for health coverage for all of America's children. That's right! All of America's 80,000,000+ children. Just a fraction of the war budget would cover all 15 million uninsured children targeted by CHIP.

Is it me or does this government have the most backwards of priorities?

Related:

Reaction to Children's Health Veto
Why Bush Was Dumb To Veto SCHIP
States sue Bush administration over children's health insurance
Campaign for Children's Health Care

Alberto Gonzalez: America's 1st Latino Attorney General Resigns

In a short three minute statement, Alberto Gonzalez, America's first Latino Attorney General, announced his much anticipated resignation effective September 17, 2007.

He thanked the staff of the Justice Department for their work and he said that serving as the nation's Attorney General had been a high privilege. He added that "we live in the greatest country in the world," and that he has "lived the American Dream."

Alluding to the problems besetting his tenure as AG--and to his modest beginnings, he said that even in the most troubling of times he enjoyed a life that was substantially better than what his parents were afforded.

The office of the Attorney General has been the leading force for implementing many of President Bush/VP Cheney's controversial policies. As such, political opponents first demanded John Ashcroft's resignation--and then Gonzalez'. Upon taking many arrows on behalf of the administration, charges of politically motivated firings of 8 Justice Department attorneys by Gonzalez were near fatal.

Gonzales' resignation is 4th high-profile departure from President George W. Bush's presidency in less than year, following former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; his former deputy Paul Wolfowitz stepped down as president of the World Bank; and top Bush adviser Karl Rove earlier this month announced he was stepping down.

Voter disgust setting stage for independents in '08?

If 83% of Americans say the Democratic-controlled Congress is doing only a lousy job, and 66% give low marks to the Republican administration (Zogby), isn't that like a massive S.O.S to an independent like Michael Bloomberg?

These historic levels of unhappiness with the president and the congress gives an opening to beltway outsiders with genuine independent streaks.

Unfortunately, the rigged rules of the two party system will also promptly dispose of such candidacies within the parties--and make it nearly impossible for people working outside of them. The major parties prefer to serve up the uninspiring candidacies of the common-denominator types, e.g., Kerry, Bush I, Bush II, Dukakis, Mondale, et al.

But this year could be different. The independent vote within across party primaries will be more formidable than ever due to state balloting changes--and there's a strong possibility for truly competitive independent candidacies to emerge.

The bottom line? If the public's current 'pox on both houses' sentiment holds through next year's federal elections cycle, we may well see the first real boomlet of independent victories of this century.

W: You're No Teddy Roosevelt

Timothy Egan's piece on the Bush administration's abuse of the nation's public lands (This Land Was My Land, NYTimes - 6.23.07) is utterly depressing.

Allowing our national parks to fall into disrepair, promoting the commercialization of pristine environmental habitats, while proposing to yet again under fund the Forest Service and selling off thousands of acres to the highest bidder, is simply pathetic.

Describing his own recent experience, Egan wrote:

"...I drove through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on my way to climb Mount Hood, and found the place in tatters. Roads are closed, or in disrepair. Trails are washed out. The campgrounds, those that are open, are frayed and unkempt. It looks like the forestry equivalent of a neighborhood crack house."

You would think that the preservation and upkeep of the country's national parks, wild life refuges and public lands would be something the left and the right would hold as sacred trust. Afterall, Democrats talk alot about environmental preservation, and it was Republican Teddy Roosevelt who established the U.S. Forest Service. Apparently, not anymore.

W: You're No Teddy Roosevelt.

W's 1st Disaster: The Slow Death of Ground Zero Workers

The Iraq War, Katrina and immigration reform are but a few of the items on the Bush administration's long record of failures. However, among its most horrific mistake was its handling of the debris pile at ground zero.

The collapse of the towers triggered a Chernobyl-like explosion of toxins, including: thousands of tons of asbestos, lead, chromium, benzene, PCBs, dioxins, highly-caustic cement dust and hundreds of other dangerous substances. And the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency allowed rescue workers, downtown employees and residents to be exposed to the lethal soup.

Christie Whitman, former head of the EPA, assured New Yorkers at the time that "their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink." Since then thousands have become ill. Some have died and the prognosis for many is not good.

Actually, anyone in the region exposed to the plume of toxins is in jeopardy. Consider the early data from the Mount Sinai Medical Center's World Trade Center health study (see Stephen Smith's 9/11's Lingering Cloud, CBSNews - 6.20.07): Of the 70,000 people taking part in the Center's study, 85 percent are suffering some kind of respiratory problem.

Sadly, that's probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Six years later, the US Congress takes up the environmental management of the pile.

Christie Whitman and the Bush administration will be asked to account for what is perhaps the administration's first (and unaided) example of deadly incompetence.

Read Damning questions Whitman must be made to answer (by Juan Gonzalez, NYDailyNews - 6.25.07)

Update: Christy Whitman is still before the congressional panel answering questions, but she's already made it clear that the bulk of the fault for workers not using respirators lies with Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration. She claims that EPA or the feds simply didn't have direct control over the clean-up site. She did add that in the Pentagon clean-up workers were mandated to wear protection. However, in a telling bit of video-footage at ground zero Christy Whitman herself is seen not using a respirator.

The Losing Presidencies of Bush I & II

Wow! It looks like it has taken GWB about 5 years to match his dad's achievement. Both presidents George Bush managed to start with OK approval ratings (mid-50's), realize huge positive spikes in 'war-time' favorability (75%+), and then see their poll numbers and presidencies utterly collapse.

It's as if the Bushes can only do one thing. Bush Senior successfully took back Kuwait from Sadam and then proceeded to squander the public's support by coasting. Bush Junior successfully took Iraq from Sadam and then he proceeds to coast as well. The only difference is that Junior's initial combat victory was followed by an incredibly costly and disastrous occupation. But in neither case did these presidents attempt much more than their wars.

(BTW: I believe that the Clinton presidency was largely a failure as well. But the public seems to have appreciated that administration's efforts to address more than one problem--even if their solutions sometimes failed.)

Isn't there a lesson here for future U.S. presidents?

Chart: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press