If you're the village in one of those old Frankenstein films, and you've got the good doctor in custody but the creature he created is still on the loose, you really can't say you've solved the problem, can you?
Delay's decision to resign, (or rather his announcement of a decision to resign he said he has made, but not yet acted upon), certainly caught everyone off guard, including me and Mark. My first reaction, along with probably a lot of people, was that the news could not be true because Congressman DeLay's ego would not allow it to be true. It did not seem like the Tom Delay thing to do.
And after all, this was Monday. Just this last Thursday night saw a massive last-minute, end-of-the- quarter reporting cycle e-fundraising campaign asking supporters to generously give to DeLay's campaign so he might fight off the "Hollywood Liberals" who were behind "The Big Buy." From all indications, he was in flat out Hammer mode with no hint of the 180 to come.
But the more information you learn about the announcement, the more Delay-like it becomes.
First of all, it was extremely premeditated. This was no knee-jerk reaction. Apparently, he's been thinking about doing this since the primary season began in Texas last January or so. The only sure way to go out on top was to quit after you won that first heat, even if victory was diminished due to the field of puny-funded opponents. You still win under fire and can throw that back in your detractor's face.
The timing was all about the money. That tirade against our film was a calculated effort to increase Delay's Legal Defense Fund's coffers at the last possible minute. According to a published interview, DeLay made the decision to announce his decision on Wednesday. Thursday the appeal went out. He cynically waited to announce his resignation until after the end of the full campaign reporting cycle.
It was anti-democratic. Instead of allowing for a special election which might be won by a Delay primary opponent or Democratic candidate Nick Lampson, Delay's post-primary timing means the boys in the smoke-filled back room will be crowning Delay's hand-picked successor - Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace. To the bitter end, DeLay wasn't leaving anything up to chance.
Finally, contrary to my initial reaction, I now believe it was his ego that fueled his departure. Even if he slugged it out, waiting for him at the end of the rainbow was not his Majority Leader post, or any post of real importance. It was just being another congressman in the body he controlled like no other only months ago. That is a fate to which he literally had to resign himself from.
It looked like a spontaneous meltdown on the scale of some kind of political Enron. It was more like a planned withdrawal.
So having assembled a House Majority that walks, talks and deals like Tom Delay, does anyone really believe it needs the genuine article anymore? Not a chance. In fact, the guy was becoming a liability. He became too visible. Attracted too much attention. Jettison the personality in the news and you might not have to address the structural problems that he exploited, and that now you are exploiting. That's why there was nobody more delighted with Delay's departure than his peers in the Republican majority. After all, it was Delay's replacement as Majority Leader, John Boehner, who boasted that "I'm cozy with lobbyists" to his members so they'd know he wouldn't go overboard with this reform stuff.
DeLay is leaving the building, but DeLayism remains the operating system of Congress. With its five new DeLay-engineered seats from Texas, this Congress was built from what at least one court has ruled were ill-gotten gains. It was tainted from the get-go by Delay's master plan to create a "permanent majority" for the GOP, and it's never looked back. It's been a banner year for congressional scandals, and you realize what kind of bar has to be met and exceeded to say that.
Duke Cunningham, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Michael Scanlon, James Doolittle, Tony Rudy and yes, towering over it all, Tom DeLay. Some people have their hiphop nicknames. Many on Capitol Hill are becoming known by their indictment names - "Representative #1" or "Lobbyist #2" for example. You can't really see an end to the probes and hearings and trials.
This Congress was stolen by Tom DeLay and corporate money beginning in 2002 in Texas, and in 2006 it remains stolen, even if the thief is no longer lingering at the scene of the crime. This is the story we tell in our film. Tom DeLay has predicted that that story is "worthless" now that he's going to resign. We think it's priceless.
Ms. Rice should fail in her persuit for the presedential candidacy, because she violated the U.S. foreign policy by denying what previous embassadors and president Widrow Wilson acknowledged of the Armenian Holocaust , the First Genocide of the 20th century. The credibility of U.S. is at its lowest ever in history due to people like Rice. We must show the world that what we say we honor. We do not change our stand. Rice must understand and acknowledge the Armenian Holocaust. Forget lobbyists, and forget playing games. Stand for the Truth . Have gutts. Show Firmness and Determination, regardless of the outcome or personal gain as called (EXPEDIENCY).
I think a good candidate would be either Bill Frist or any of the rest of the current "conservative" or "liberal" candidates groovin' for a presidential run in 2008 who are positioning themselves by re-making themselves to get their party's nomination.
Who's next? Who, indeed. There are just SO MANY crooks in the Republican party it's hard to focus on just one but I'll try (okay, two): JEB BUSH, KAREN HUGHES; She's the crooked bitch responsible for the "expansive parameters", for the "wide net" of the "voting purge" in Fla in 2000, which resulted in the selection of Goerge W in the first place. All of the filth and flar and flar and filth that resulted after 2000 was basically brought on by her and there is PROOF! The most important thing in a trial is proof and there is enough to hang her and Jeb, at least there WAS in 2001. We need to destroy the people who would see our Democracy destroyed and they're at the top of the list! Until our elections are again safe, none of us will be safe. Not from terrorists OR from a criminal government.
I applaud your dogged determination!
Tipping the scales toward the democrats would certainly be a victory to celebrate. This would probably slow down our race to destroy all international relationships and erode civil liberties :)!
Seems to me, however, that there's not more than a precious few elected officials in our federal government who aren't bought off by big corporations. These corporations lobby to maximize profits for their shareholders. It is oil companies, arms contractors, pharmaceutical and insurance companies who are running the show. Even if we are successful in bringing down the worst of the right-wing republicans, we will be left with representatives who are not just aiding in the transfer of wealth to the richest at the cost of health care, jobs, education, etc. Now it is clear that this old guard will piss away crucial years that need to be devoted to the radical transition from a greenhouse gas emitting nation to one with sustainable means of transport and production. If we don't do this, life itself won't last long on this planet.
Therefore, I advocate strong support of a fledgling but promising movement. It has already made very significant changes in politics in Maine and Arizona. In California they're called the "California Clean Money Campaign" and are calling for support of A.B. 583, "The California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act". Surely there are similar organizations in every state. Without representatives who are advocating for what's best for the people (soon!) we are doomed.
Thanks for the venue. Keep up the good work!
Maureen Mackenzie
i'd have to agree with tammy c (somewhere way up there).
considering that i;
(1) live half a globe away from where all this drama is playing out
(2) am not american
(3) have never been been to the US
i seem to know just way too much about what's going on in your part of the world (and am getting concerned about it).
tammy makes an excellent point. the problem is not the neocons, or america or americans. the problem is certainly much bigger than any one person.
51 of the world's 100 largest GDPs are corporations, not countries, and many of these corporations are many times richer than the entire continent of africa.
this money (the same money that corrupts your government, fuels the undemocratic lobbyist profession and wages economic wars and wars of profit) eventually find their way into the coffers of approximately 1% of the worlds population.
the task at hand is enormous. i can appreciate your efforts, all your efforts, in taking apart this system, one cog at a time. but if 9-11 is a sign of anything, it's that we may not have time to go about this piecemeal.
i understand that my opinions, from this far away, may mean nothing to the larger american population, but as the rammstein song goes "we're all living in america, amerika ist wunderbar".
europeans, asians, africans... we all live in america. such is the power (and folly) of consolidating corporate and media empires into the hands of a handful of individuals.
while we all now live in a global america, and while many of is watch the spectacle that is american politics, only Americans have the power to vote.
if there is a peaceful resolution to the troubles we now face, then rational American voters are the only solution.
the all too present alternative, i fear, will be terrorism on a scale unthinkable.
i don't think i'm reaching. everything is more connected than it appears.
My choice would be Rep. Mark Green of WI. It has been shown that he was involved with Delay & Abramhoff and now he is planning on running for Gov. of WI. He must be stopped before he tarnishes the great progressive values of Wisconsin.
The next politician to go in plain and simple terms should be Secretary of Defense: Donald Rumsfeld.
The man obviously has no idea what he is doing and has put in jeapardy our American Troops. The death toll is rising daily, the associated costs are astronomical, and more importantly the deployment of our troops in the first place was ill advised, predicated upon not poor planning but no planning at all.
Further there appears to have been no planning relative to an exit strategy. Basically making the situation that of a quagmire...
I think big.....let's go after and expose the entire Republican party of liars and bandits. Tell everyone you know that they can read all of the Bills and Amendments on thomas.gov and cspan.org---read the real truth about the employment statistics on The Bureau of Labor and Statistics. There are 9 million Americans that no longer are counted and no longer get unemployment checks. Getting two or 3 minimum wage jobs that replace a job making $60 thousand is not ---getting a job. Paying into a Health Savings Plan after loosing your health care or paying for most of it---is not getting health care...just getting your appendix out costs $6,ooo. That's if there are no complications. Bush's oil buddies will soon bring gasoline to $3+ dollars a gal.
But..guess how long it will take the oil companies to develop new and alternative fuels in this country.
Get everyone you know to vote in all of your local elections across the US. We must oust the liars and corporate Washington DC corrupt politicians. OH and also tell you friends that the water and electricity in Bagdad is only on for one hour everyday. And...yes we are building roads, schools and hospitals for the Iraqi's. However, we were the ones who bomb them to rubble in the first place. Sixty five thousand Iraqi's are now living in tents--most women and kids. There husbands were either killed or arrested.
Oh !! and how about if we start a huge boycott against China. STOP BUYING ALL PRODUCTS MADE IN CHINA, ESPECIALLY FROM COMPANIES THAT USE TO BE IN THE US. I call or email every company that has move to China and let them know that I'm no longer buying from them..and won't until they move back to the US and hire American citizens.
Remember CHINA IS STILL A COMMUNIST COUNTRY. Why do we want to support a communist country. LET'S GET STARTED ON THIS PROJECT RIGHT AWAY...BOYCOTT ALL GOODS AND PRODUCTS FROM CHINA. PASS THE WORD FELLOW AMERICANS. LET'S TAKE BACK OUR AMERICA.
I could go on, but I'm sure smart, self-directed democrats and liberals will come up with many more reasons to once and for all vote the retarded Repubs out of office.
Donald Rumsfeld needs to be the next corrupt politition to be forced from office once his dirty little secrets are exposed to the public. We need to send all of these guys running with their tails between their legs just like Delay.
Why go immediately after the politicians? Go after the the big corporations----big oil, etc. and the corrupt politicians who support them will be exposed in the process. That way it doesn't seem so vengeful and overtly "political".
President Bush has got to go before he leads us into yet another war! When he goes he needs to take Rummy and Cheney with him. If sending our soldiers to fight without protection and wiretapping private citizens is not enough to impeach then what will it take? Shooting someone in the face after consuming alcohol perhaps?...oh yeah not that either....
Congressman Tom Feeney was revealed in the press, (THE WASHINGTON POST, if I remember correctly,) as being the second most corrupt member of the House and in DeLay's pocket. He should be the next one to go.
What about giving Donald Rumsfeld. Even in the Netherlands were I live he is almost every day on the news, not in a positive way.
The latest news... well I guess you guys already know it... 5 top generals (out of service) call for the resignation of the minister of Defence; all because he hasn't planned the post Sadam war, so this chaos could be the result.
... And what about that filthy megalomaniac of a Bush who gave orders to rat out on Joseph Wilsons wife, who was CIA... Just read Wilsons book and you will be astonished.
Keep up the good work
To respond to this:
How about the true ANTI-CHRIST, Hill-Larry Clit-on ( aka Hillary Clinton ). Evil is alive in every DemoRAT and must be expunged by any means necessary.
Posted by: Drew Moungus at April 13, 2006 09:14 AM
....is to require the ability to suspend disbelief--how could anyone be so extreme, so angry, so misguided?
Every "Democrat" must be "expunged"--what do you mean, Drew, that you wish to kill them? Even the little old ladies who've voted that way their whole life? What about the children of those of whom you speak? Should they go without mommies and daddies because you want to "expunge" the "Democrats" using "any means necessary"?
Really, Drew, that's too much. Are you Drew Mangus of Bedford, TX? Because if you are, nothing in your nature could explain such behavior, in writing or otherwise.
Shape up, Drew, or you'll be whistling Dixie down the wrong algorithm, endlessly.
I have to say that J.D. Hayworth has got to be next in line rigth after Delay. He is coming up in an election vs former Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell. We need to do everything we can to stop Hayworth and get Mitchell in there.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Montana. He took more money from Abramoff than anyone and is the chair of the Senate subcommittee on Indian Affairs. He's up for reelection this year. After him Rep. Rehberg, R-Montana. He's a big Abramoff money receiver too and also up this November. Sleeze from Big Sky Country soon to get bucked off!!!
Karl Rove, Bill Frist and Denny-boy Hassert come immediately to mind.
How feeble can the obviously mental retards/Republicans responding on this blog that they want you to do a movie about an incident that was unfortunate but had nothing to do with national security, world peace, personal freedoms, thievery, abuse of power affecting the world and every living thing in it. Talk about grabbing at straws!!! Those people that still support this administration are maybe the true enemies and worthy to do a film on.
Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. He is poisonous to this country.
Over the past year or so there have been several seemingly "natural" disasters in countries that disagree with the United States (Iran earthquake, Pakistan earthquake, Indonesia earthquake) and in areas that produce oil.
Are these really natural disasters, or, is the US using deep earth bunker busting nuclear bombs to retaliate against countries that it dislikes and/or search for oil?
Earthquakes give the U.S. a great cover to go in an offer humanitarian and security relief.
Also, I would like to see a thorough investigation of RUMMY and the deals he has made to use the "civilian warriors" who are currently fighting the war in Iraq -- Kellog, Brown and Root and the other Texas company that provides "civilian security forces" to help the U.S. Military troops. The civilian types are not accountable, are paid a ridiculous amount of taxpayer money while the enlisted troops have to buy their own kelvar vests and other protective gear. I'd like to know how much the taxpayers have paid for the civilian security types and if it is MORE than what we have paid to the young American men and women who serve in the U.S. military.
Please . . . who could possibly list all of the scumbags in the Republican party? It would take a 12-hour movie (or more) to cover all of the rotten, mean-spirited, hypocritical, nasty, sinful people who live in the gutters yet represent their states back home. Something just does not "add up" here when we see these Republicans confessing to be "Christians" but they obviously have not had time to read the Bible as yet, especially some of these radical right-wingers in the South and, of course, the great state of Texas!! They don't have a clue as to what Christianity is all about. AND, when in the history of our country have we EVER had this much corruption in our government?? A totally unnecessary war, killing and maiming so many of our young people as well as thousands of innocent Iraqis. Every single thing this idiot president has attempted has failed miserably. We've had nothing but lies, deception, lies, lies, and more lies. Which leads me to say that if we continue in the direction we are being led by the bunch of morons in the White House, we will sooner rather than later become a NAZI state. Nixon tried his best to steal our country from us - Bush and Cheney just might succeed. My list:
Cheney
Rove
Bush
Frist
Rumsfeld
Rice
Santorum
McCain
Scalia
Bill Frist and/or John Mccain, two head runners for the presidential race. Bill Frist more than Mccain. Only problem with Mccain, he has indepentant voters convinced hes a moderate, when he is not. Frist is a threat to all who are slightly left of the political spectrum.
Cheney/Halliburton 1st, and then Bush right after midterm elections (President Pelosi is an excellent, if optimistic, suggestion). Unfortunately, the field of corruption is so wide almost anywhere one turns there are persons of interest - Rove, Hastert, Frist, Ney, Santorum, Inofe, Mollohan, et al ad nauseum, are all most probably culpable and worthy of closer scrutiny. The solutions to serious systemic problems need more than just a change of faces. If we really want to live in a democratic republic worthy of the name we need to find a way to short-circuit the current corporate kleptocracy
There are so many ... dubya, "turdblossom" rove, "vice" chaney ... et al, ad nauseum
However, I think the priority maybe should be the amerikan taliban and the ayatollah robertson, along with his mullahs falwell, dobson, f. graham, reed, their religious police in and around colorado springs [including at the U.S. Air Farce Academy ... especially their commandant ant their "team jesus" football coach], and the rest of the neocon, far right, evangelical christian "ignorant designers" and hate mongers !
Ralph (Baby-face) Reed of Georgia.
His tale of corruption, in connection with Jack Abramoff, is exposed in the current issue of "The Nation."
And I thought that I had seen or heard everything. Not so.
What a bunch of whiners.
More years of Bush-Cheney ahead.
DEAL WITH IT LOSERS!
Speaker of the House, Rep. Dennis Hastert, I am ashamed to say from my home blue state of Illinois, is nothing more than a quiet puppet put in his high seat by De Lay and Tom is still pulling the strings, even if he were in a jail cell. Dennis must go!!!! To impeach Bush and Cheney, we would get Dennis and who do you think would run the show??? Tom, maybe with a presidential pardon and the Vice in the White House official job. Dennis must go!!!! Remember how he tried to water down the House ethics just to save his pal Tom??? Dennis must go!!!!
START WITH- J D HAYWORTH-A TRUE BUM-
THEN JUST CONTINUE ON- WITH KARL- THEN DICK-BOTH OF THEM- OF COURSE DUMBYA-HIS DAD-
VEAL SCALIA-FOX BS/NEWS-CONDUM-CROYN-BROWNBACK-LIEBERMAN-AHNOLD AND SO ON AND SO FORTH TILL ALL WE ARE LEFT WITH IS-
PAUL HACKETT-FEINGOLD-RANGEL -JON STEWART AND AIR AMERICA
Largest Campaign finance Fraud Ever.
Interesting stuff.
http://www.peterfpaul.com/ The short clip on the March 13, 2006 posting is worth a look.
http://www.peterfpaul.com/2006/01/hillary_treasurer_admits_filin/
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42301
http://hillcap.org/default.php?page_id=2
We need a housecleaning. The whole bunch 'on the hill' need to be replaced.
Impeachment? I think a charge of treason would be in order here.
George W. Bush is the guy to start with. along with Dick Cheney. After all, if Bush was impeached, or charged, we'd get Cheney - so go after both bad guys.
Why?...
Lies, lies and more lies.
Illegal spying inside America.
Illegal war.
Illegal torture.
Illegal imigrants.
$156,000 debt for every man, woman and child in America with no end or plan in sight.
Record debt, but with permanent tax cuts which mainly help Bush's 'base' - the rich.
Drug plans which help drug companies more than Americans.
Sell-off of public assets to finance country education.
Record profits for petroleum giants and record costs for Americans with no change in sight.
Endangering a government agent by releasing her name just to 'get even' with someone.
More? What more do you need?
I agree with what looks like the general concensus. Go after GWB and Cheney and the rest will be dragged down with them. The responsibility for what has happened for the past 6 years rests with the leadership. Many writers are also corect when they say we need to do some house cleaning on the Democratic side of the isle too. Who do we have that can put things in prospective and lead the nation with honor and integrity? We need a champion on international affairs and with the guts to clean up the immigration mess that has gotten totally out of control.
Mollohan, or Conyers, or both. Then proceed with clean hands if you can.
The list is so long that I haven't been able to read everyone else's, but how about going after our defunct, couterproductive, electoral college? People cling to it because that's the way it's always been done... but as long as it's Republicrats vs. Democricans and no one real, as long as Florida and Ohio can be considered lynchpins to the presidency... can we really expect change?
Impeach Bush ASAP. He is an emotionally disturbed man, a messianic narcissist who must be ousted from the office he never was elected to.
Bush and Cheney must be top rank. Impeachment is well deserved at this point. But I also agree that second priority should be faux moderates/Dems like McCain (see Kruger's post) - there is nothing as repulsive two faces.
The next person should be Tom Fenney. Mr. Fenney is the one who instigated the flip votes stealing system created by his request through a Chinese local firm who has debious business practices. The flip votes sytem has been used by the Republicans for the last 8 years to keep themselves in power. We can talk all about impeachment as much as we want, but if they can flip votes to keep control, it will not matter because like today, there is not the vote number needed to do anything productive with impeachment. They know they can do anything they want since they control your votes. Lenin stated best: "it not who votes to counts, but who counts the votes."
I think that the sanctimonious Rick Santorum should be next. With his K street cronies, he is up to his eyeballs in shady dealings. He is also facing a tough reelection challenge. Targeting him could assure another seat gained by the Democrats in the fall.
Hey ,
Is everybody forgetting ,the one thing,Democrat ,or Republican ,this is a captalist country. It's always been about power and money. This is most off the reason that today we wage a war with the dictators "WE" (US goverments) placed in power. Yes ,Sadam is a product off our own doing, we guided ,funded, and loved him into power.This is by no means an isolated thing ,the Shar of Iran we placed him in power,in the process pushing out a democraticly elected secular government in Iran, and all that did was to push the agender off hardliners in that country ,leaving us at this point talking war with Iran.
We placed Agusto Pinoche (spelled incorrect i think?) in power ,pushing out the elected gov off Allende ,so we could push free market ("well ,for us anyway").
I think you should do an expose' on Karl Rove. He's such an "evil-doer" and I think he's in love with George Bush (I wonder what the real relationship is between those two). Expose the truth about those gay-hating "Christians."
Dead-eye Dick Cheney is the most obvious target. Start with all his deferrments which showed his chicken-shit nature and end with his chicken-shit defense of his drunken shooting of a friend.
Cindy Sheehan! The professional mourner who cloaks her hatred of America in the flag of her dead son, who is now being exploited by his own mother.
If you really want to go after the HEAD cheese, then you must go after the Corporate Heads that are the real manipulators of our economy. Read Lou Dobbs book! What an eye opener that is. You could do 10 movies with that information!
Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Bush. The big fish is probably Karl Rove!!!!!!
Tom DeLay was one of the strongest supporters of Israel in Congress. But of course to Jews in Hollywood, that is irrelevant. Their leftism is their religion. To heck with Israel or the fate of the Jewish people.
How about a film about a campaign worker left in a car to drown, while the driver of the car tries to get someone to cover his sorry ass and take the rap??
Now there is some serious corruption to uncover and expose!
How about the true ANTI-CHRIST, Hill-Larry Clit-on ( aka Hillary Clinton ). Evil is alive in every DemoRAT and must be expunged by any means necessary.
Ever think of making a movie which supports the military, or honors the souls murdered on 9-11? Nah.
Hey Greenwald. Stick with making schlocky movies for Lifetime TV. That's a better genre for you.
There are several politicians that I think we need to unveil the truth about several republicans one is JOHN McCAIN, because this man IS NOT WHAT HE WAS. For someone who was tarred and feathered by the republican party in particular Jerry Farwell and the Religious Right, plus our very own President/Karl Rove for the VERY DIRTY politics that was done to McCain and HIS FAMILY. Who in there right mind would go to Bush’s Birthday and give him a kiss after what they did to him in SC primary?
MITT ROMENY: This guy is not as squeaky clean as he perceives himself to be, plus this guy will run for President and we need to start looking now into his past. As governor of Massachusetts he has made the Religious Right quiver with anticipation.
BILL FRIST, because this guy is as crooked as my dads walking stick. First the whole selling of his families long held stock weeks before it tanked. Then theirs the whole Terry Shivo video debacle, which was a total embarrassment. This man is a very highly paid ambulance chaser who gets lots of my money from the insurance lobbyist.
Pathetic Hollywood lefties.
Can't win elections, only make bad movies nobody cares about. I guess that's why you do nothing but spew bile. Haw haw!
I think you should go after Chuck Schumer. He's dishonest as the day is long, sent his goons to acquire illegal information about Michael Steele, and is an all around a**hole.
Or you could go after Hillary. Whitewater, Rose Law firm, futures trading, travelgate, stolen goods from the White House, etc.
Or Harry Reid. Or Ted Kennedy. Or ...take your pick.
puppet bush isn't smart enough to be evil. the guys manipulating the strings from the shadows are the ones to aim for.