Here’s a story that puts the lie to the myth of the “liberal media.” Too bad hardly anyone has been paying attention. Sen. Dick Shelby (R-Ala.), a snarling, bloodthirsty Cheneyite neo-con, abruptly ended his attempt to force the Obama administration to approve two pork projects for his home state after being called out for taking the nominees “hostage” by New York’s center-right New York Daily News on Sunday.

In Last Rites for the USA, Cindy Sheehan addresses the substantial erosion of U.S. democracy by oligarchy. The freshest hell, as Sheehan sees it -- an ultimate tipping point, she claims, in tearing away ANY illusion of democracy -- is the Supreme Court’s recent aggressive decision to expand “personhood” rights and protections of corporations in relation to campaign financing. “Corporations have long held sway over our government and the soft fascism of corporate control has been running things behind the scenes.” Sheehan points out that the oligarchs no longer need to lurk behind the “soft fascism” curtain to achieve their grotesquely ambitious goals. That had been soft fascism for decades, she contends. The corporatists presume to operate in front of the curtain now, thanks to the near unanimous, bi-partisan (or post-partisan in the darkest, Orwellian sense) cronyism -- of the across-the-moral-divide enabling of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of this, our formerly representative, democracy.

While Medicare payments for in-office services to private doctors, including those for blood work and x-ray units, were drastically cut, payments to outside corporate facilities for the same services were increased. It is obvious what is afoot. Corporate lobbies are using their whores in Congress to shift income from physician offices to corporate labs, corporate medical service providers, and hospitals that are owned by national corporations. Legislation that cuts payments to private physicians and increases the payments to large corporate entities is intended to destroy private practice and to create in its place corporate bureaucracies in which doctors are wage slaves. The physician's income is diverted to shareholders, CEO bonuses, and Wall Street. Health care is being replaced with health business. As a result of the way American medicine is being reconstructed, patients will cease to have a doctor whom they know and who knows them. Important information is lost in a system of bureaucratized "health care" in which a patient sees whatever face happens to be on duty at the corporate provider. Impersonal health care thus brings a cost of its own, and its quality can be low compared to private practice. Indeed, the U.S. is creating a "health care" system that is more costly and less efficient than single-payer national health systems. But it will enrich corporations and provide play for Wall Street.

A conservative Democrat from an increasingly Republican corner of Pennsylvania who nevertheless would become a hero on the Left for his criticism of George W. Bush's Iraq war, Rep. John Murtha has died. He was 77.

At least two Super Bowl fundraising events scheduled by members of Congress were scrubbed at the last minute or moved to undisclosed locations. Invitations to those parties, which had been circulated two or more weeks before the game, promised Super Bowl tickets to contributors who gave either of the lawmakers $5,000.

At first glance it appeared there was a typo in the headlines. The national media reported that, in January, another 20,000 more jobs were lost. Somehow, the unemployment rate dropped, from 10 percent to 9.7 percent. Nobody thought this paradox was worth explaining; instead, the media’s attitude was “more good news” about the economy. But there was other evidence of an obliterated job market hiding behind the cheerful headlines. After revising the employment numbers in 2009, The New York Times reported, “…the economy lost 150,000 jobs in December, far more than the 85,000 initially reported.” Overall in 2009, the adjusted numbers showed an additional “…1.36 million fewer jobs…” (February 5, 2010). And yet the unemployment rate dropped. One reason this happened is that the U.S. government uses a separate, more unreliable survey to calculate the unemployment rate, in contrast to the survey used to calculate job losses. There are other more important ways the government obscures the unemployment numbers: if you are no longer receiving unemployment benefits you’re not counted as unemployed; if you’ve given up looking for a job, you’re not counted either. You are counted, however, if you are working only 15 hours a week, or if you're a temporary worker. In this way the government cooks the books to bring fake optimism to the masses. The mainstream mediareports these fraudulent numbers without asking questions, so that the Democrats can continue doing absolutely nothing towards creating jobs. But there is a method to the madness. Mass unemployment brings incredible pressure on workers’ wages and benefits. The mere threat of being unemployed puts unorganized workers in a precarious position when they’re told to work for less.

Taxes are on profits, so they go to the big monopolistic companies that are killing small and medium businesses -- the Wall Stret giants and the Wal-Marts and Exxons. Small and medium businesses are struggling, barely making it. So why give the giants even more ammunition to use to crush them?

Sean Paige has a funny - and telling - screed up defending Colorado Springs from, well, the basic facts. He accuses my recent column and the Denver Post's recent front-page story of "slurring" his city by reporting on the draconian budget cuts its anti-tax zealotry are now compelling. I'm not quite sure how simply recounting cuts to police, firefighting, park services, road maintenance is a "slur," but then, I've learned not to try to make sense of the eternal delusions of a right-wing mind. What I can, however, do is point out some of the "tells" - the poker term for a bluffing player's giveaways: - Paige says Colorado Springs attracts new residents and economic growth "by actually putting America's limited government ideals into practice." In this, he asks us to forget that one of the city's biggest employers is the defense industry - that is, an industry that has absolutely nothing to do with "limited government" and everything to do with the hugest of Huge Government. Whether you support this Huge Government or not - whether you think it is a good or bad thing - it's size and centrality to the Colorado Springs economy is undeniable, as is it's antithesis to the concept of "limited" or small government. You don't have to trust me, the guy who Paige calls a "statist" (do people even use that red-baiting McCarthy-esque word anymore?). You can look at the $700 billion annual defense budget, or you can look to people John McCain and Don Rumsfeld who have repeatedly noted just how bloated the government's defense budget really is (I wonder if Paige believes McCain and Rummy are "statists," too?).

The American elite's unbounded, unquestioned, indeed unconscious sense of imperial entitlement and dominance -- based ultimately on war, the threat of war and the profit from war -- is one of the defining characteristics of our age. --- --- The ending of the imperial wars and the dismantling of America's global military empire -- and its global gulag -- would save trillions of dollars in the coming years. Not only from direct military spending, but also from the vastly reduced need for "Homeland security" funding in a world where the United States was no longer invading foreign lands, killing their people, supporting their tyrants -- and inciting revenge and resistance. This would release a flood of money for any number of "new domestic initiatives," while also giving scope for deep tax cuts across the board. Working people would thrive, the poor, the sick and the vulnerable would be bettered, businesses would grow, opportunity would expand, the care and education of our children would be greatly enhanced, our infrastructure could be repaired and strengthened, our environment better cleansed and cared for. In short, people could keep more of their own money while government spending could be directed toward improving the quality of life of all the nation's citizens. -- This is no utopian vision. Many problems, much suffering would remain. But it would be a better society -- more humane, more just, more secure, more peaceful, more prosperous than it is now. Such an alternative is entirely achievable, by ordinary humans; it would require no divine miracles, no god-like heroes to bring it about. --- But such a society is precisely what our elites cannot -- or, to be more accurate, will not -- imagine. --- --- --- A better world -- not perfect, by no means perfect, but much better -- is entirely possible. We could easily dismantle the empire -- carefully, safely, with deliberation -- over the next ten years. It is a reasonable, moderate, serious option. It would not require violent revolution, or vast social upheaval. But our elites do not want this. They can no longer fathom life without the exercise -- and worship -- of power that empire entails. They will not accept -- or even contemplate -- any alternative to it. --- --- And thus every option and policy we are offered -- whether from right-wing Republicans or "progressive" Democrats, or from "serious" news analysts on "serious" papers -- must fall within these pathetically cramped, constricted mental horizons. --- Empire -- the imposition of dominion by violence and threat of violence, and the financial and moral corruption this breeds, the example it sets at every level of society -- is the canker in the body politic. --- Until it is dealt with, there will be no healing, no hope, no change -- just more degradation and disaster all down the line.

The failure to regulate financial markets has produced enormous losses to all Americans except the super-rich. But the U.S. government is guilty of an even greater failure. Washington has not only permitted but also encouraged the unemployment of its citizens by enabling greed-driven corporations to send American jobs abroad in order to maximize profits for CEOs’ bonuses, shareholders, and Wall Street. --- The dispossession of American labor has been heralded by offshoring’s pimps in the major universities as "the New Economy. -- "The "New Economy" is a hoax like most everything else the bought-and-paid-for-media feeds to Americans. There is no new economy. There is an unemployed economy. --- If jobs offshoring is a benefit to America, as the hired pimps of the transnational corporations claim, why is more than one-fifth of the U.S. work force unemployed? Why does the U.S. have the largest trade deficits in world history? Why is the U.S. dollar losing value over time to other tradable currencies? --- Greed, and elected representatives who are toadies to special interests, are decimating the American economy. --- --- --- American power is on the precipice, about to fall. Perhaps it is a good thing. The world will be rid of bullying, of invasions of innocent countries based on blatant lies, of torture and murder of woman and children, of redistribution of income from the poor to the rich. --- The criminal record accumulated by the United States makes it the least indispensable country on earth.

When I heard Queen Latifah (an old Rutgers alum, who I met in the 80s) was going to do the national anthem, I was pretty excited. Little did I know that I was somewhat misinformed! It was Carrie Underwood, in a spangled white spandex outfit, who sang the Star Spangled Banner, rendering it like a true hillbilly. What's worse, she mispronounced the word "perilous" in the phrase "thro' the perilous fight" as PER-UH-LIS, in typical down-home southern linguistic butchery. Also, Pete Towhshend (of The Who) did not smash his guitar, or anything else. This was one super bowl where the football was actually the best entertainment.

The Japanese government breached a series of internationally guaranteed human rights by detaining two Greenpeace activists who had uncovered major corruption in the Japanese whaling programme, according to a working group of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). (1) Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, known as the “Tokyo Two”, are due to stand trial on February 15th, but it has been revealed that the UNHRC’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) informed the Japanese government in December that the rights of the two men have been breached by the Japanese justice system.

The Bob Barker had been actively blocking the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling fleet’s factory ship when the collision occurred. Four harpoon ships, the Yushin Maru 1, 2, and 3 and Shonan Maru 2, were circling and making near passes to the stern and bow of the Sea Shepherd vessel. The Bob Barker did not move from its position. At which point, the Yushin Maru 3 intentionally rammed the Bob Barker, creating a 3-foot long 4-inch deep gash in the mid starboard side of the Sea Shepherd vessel above the waterline. No crew was injured during the collision. The Bob Barker continues to block the slipway of the Nisshin Maru, preventing the transfer of slaughtered whales and effectively shutting down illegal whaling operations. The incident demonstrates a continued escalation of violence by the illegal whalers in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Choose 3 Representatives from any district in the US. Of course, I chose Kucinich for one of the three. "It’s going to be a tough election year in 2010, so helping good incumbents keep their seats is going to be as important as supporting challengers was in 2006 and 2008. It's a rare breed of representative who stands up for progressive values and doesn't back down. That's why we want to choose members of Congress who aren't afraid to fight. We're calling them FDL Fire Dogs. Two thousand people who hailed from their districts nominated 180 members of Congress for support from FDL Action PAC. Now you get to decide — who should we help?"

Each day brings more revelations of efforts of the NY Fed and Goldman Sachs to hide the details of the criminal conspiracy of the AIG bailout. . . . This is a real crisis on the scale of Watergate. Corruption at its finest. --- But unlike the perpetrators of the Watergate scandal, who wound up looking at jail time, Geithner evidently has a golden parachute waiting at Goldman Sachs, not coincidentally the largest recipient of the AIG bailout. At least that is the rumor sparked by an article by Caroline Baum on Bloomberg News, titled “Goldman Parachute Awaits Geithner to Ease Fall.” Hank Paulson, Geithner’s predecessor, was CEO of Goldman Sachs before coming to the Treasury. Geithner, who has come up through the ranks of government, could be walking through the revolving door in the other direction. Geithner has been under the House microscope for the decision of the New York Fed, made while he headed it, to buy out about $30 billion in credit default swaps (over-the-counter derivative insurance contracts) that AIG sold on toxic debt securities. The chief recipients of this payout were Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank. Goldman got $13 billion, roughly equivalent to its bonus pool for the first 9 months of 2009. --- Critics are calling the New York Fed’s decision a back-door bailout for the banks, which received 100 cents on the dollar for contracts that would have been worth far less had AIG been put through bankruptcy proceedings in the ordinary way. --- --- In a Bloomberg article provocatively titled “Secret Banking Cabal Emerges from AIG Shadows,” David Reilly writes: The New York Fed is a quasi-governmental institution that isn’t subject to citizen intrusions such as freedom of information requests, unlike the Federal Reserve. This impenetrability comes in handy since the bank is the preferred vehicle for many of the Fed’s bailout programs. It’s as though the New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nation’s central bank. --- The beneficiaries of the New York Fed’s largesse got paid in full although they had agreed to take much less.

Operation Breakfast Redux: Could Pakistan 2010 Go the Way of Cambodia 1969? --- --- While the CIA and the U.S. military have been expending enormous effort studying the Afghan and Pakistani situations and consulting experts, and while the White House has conducted an extensive series of seminars-cum-policy-debates on both countries, you can count on one thing: none of them have spent significant time studying or thinking about us. --- --- As a result, the seeming cleanliness and effectiveness of the drone-war solution undoubtedly only reinforces a sense in Washington that the world’s last great military power can still control this war -- that it can organize, order, prod, wheedle, and bribe both the Afghans and Pakistanis into doing what’s best, and if that doesn’t work, simply continue raining down the missiles and bombs. Beware Washington’s deep-seated belief that it controls events; that it is, however precariously, in the saddle; that, as Afghan War commander General Stanley McChrystal recently put it, there is a “corner” to “turn” out there, even if we haven’t quite turned it yet. --- --- In fact, Washington is not in the saddle and that corner, if there, if turned, will have its own unpleasant surprises. Washington is, in this sense, as oblivious as those CIA operatives were as they waited for “their” Jordanian agent to give them supposedly vital information on the al-Qaeda leadership in the Pakistani tribal areas. Like their drones, the Americans in charge of this war are desperately far from the ground, and they don’t even seem to know it. It’s time for Washington to examine not what we know about them, but what we don’t know about ourselves.

The biggest kerfuffle of the tea bag ball last weekend was a verbal brawl outside the hall between Andrew Breitbart and WingNutDaily editor Joseph Farah sparked by Breitbart’s displeasure over Farah’s speech exhorting tea baggers to return to demanding to see the original hard copy of Pres. Obama’s birth certificate.

Is there any other nation in the world where a leading politician can appear in public -- without controversy -- wearing the flag of a foreign country? It was a huge scandal on the Right when immigration reform marchers waved Mexican (along with American) flags in order to display cultural solidarity with Mexican immigrants who were being demonized and living in wretched conditions, as non-persons, in the U.S.; isn't it obviously more significant when someone who recently wanted to be Vice President and is now the leader of this Fox-News-sponsored political movement appears at events in the U.S. wearing an Israeli flag melded to an American flag, as though the two nations are joined as one entity? Why should an American political leader be wearing an Israeli flag?

What do we say to our more conservative friends, who genuinely think that the Single Payer solution to our health care crisis would be a disaster? Try what follows. In the end, you may simply agree to disagree. That's O.K., but what follows may give them pause to think.

Nice interview with Kucinich on Russia Today; 11 1/2 minutes or so. "The war in Afghanistan, jobs and health care. All big issues in America. And one man with strong opinions on all of them is U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich."