Explain: Bush Approval Drops to 39% yet Senate votes 96-3 for Patriot Act

[Clara T]

and House votes 404-4 in favor of further war drumming (aka Iran Resolution) towards Iran.

And for sure the Senate is going to give a nod of approval for the Military massacre-boondoggle in Iraq.

So who's being represented here?

[ThomCat]

1. The corporations

that truly own the US.

[MrTriumph]

2. ThomCat is dead right.

x

[Straight Shooter]

3. Let me explain with a quotation of Bodie Thorne:

Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.

[Dr Fate]

4. The "strategists" who lost the last 3 elections know best.

"The Polls" show that people want us to "work with" the liars & criminals.

Now, about that check...

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. What explanation do the Democrats have for voting in favor of

the Patriot Act?

[Trevelyan]

6. Feingold was brave enough to lead the charge and we now know we have only

3 real Democrats. The rest are Republicans with a D after their name. Please thank Feingold for standing up alone and the other two real Democrats.

Please Sign Sen. Feingold's petition to INVESTIGATE NSA and to HOLD BUSH ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ILLEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Sign his petition And make a contribution

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/

Sen. Feingold also has a petition at the above URL to BRING OUR TROOPS HOME before December 2006.

FEINGOLD BLASTS FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM
Feingold: “The Intelligence Committee Has Abandoned Its Oversight Role.”

February 16, 2006

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold released the following statement this afternoon following the Intelligence Committee Meeting.

“The Intelligence Committee’s failure today to begin an investigation of the administration’s illegal domestic surveillance program is inexcusable. The Senate Committee charged with conducting oversight of intelligence matters has a responsibility to look more deeply into the President’s illegal secret wiretapping of Americans. The President has broken the law and Congress needs to hold him accountable.” ==
Statement of Senator Russ Feingold
On the Latest on the Patriot Act

February 16, 2006

"The Majority Leader's concession to put off final votes on the Patriot Act deal for almost two weeks gives the Senate time to consider whether this deal is good for the country, and allows the American people their chance to be heard. Contrary to an erroneous news report, I will continue to oppose this flawed deal, insist that the Senate jump through every procedural hoop, and demand the right to offer amendments to improve it. As Chairman Specter noted, the deal makes only "cosmetic" changes to the Patriot Act. No amount of cosmetics can disguise the fact that it fails to protect the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Americans."

[liberal N proud]

7. Corruption

The people who govern do not work for the people who they claim.

Those of us who were involved in those silly little popularity polls don't pay the politicians enough. And we can't threaten them and twist their arms the way KKKarl Rove can. Our votes don't count, we don't have any dirt on them and they are in power.

[Vidar]

8. It's about coporate payola. Votes no longer matter.

[MindPilot]

9. I can tell you who isn't represented

No American who follows the law, goes to work everyday, pays their taxes, cares for their family, and tries to leave the world a better place be they blue-state progressive or red-state freeper is represented by this bunch. They are out to fuck all of us, and the sooner the rank-and-file GOP realizes that, the better off we will all be.

[Poiuyt]

10. Bush's approval ratings are 39% among real people, but his approval

ratings in Congress are about 90%. Either that or Bush is blackmailing the members of Congress (wouldn't you like to know who's been wiretapped?)

[Astrad]

11. I think more of the democrats are against it

but they know it's going to pass anyway so they decide to 'play ball' with the republicans. Also they avoid those negative 30 second spots next October that accuse them of aiding the terrorists. Of course continually accomodating proto-fascists is a losing game. You end up with the next Adolph.

[Lexingtonian]

12. Not me, not you, not 60% of the country

But to be something of a downer, there is a thin and inarticulate rationale on which things do carry on.

The Iraq thang is horrible and stupid on its own terms. But in a larger frame, it's a cleanup operation on the Cold War (and maybe much of the Industrial Age and the Agrarian Age) in a lot of respects. It's unfortunate that Iraqis have to pay the price for this.

Saddam Hussein represented a residue of the Stalinism surviving in the world. For the Cold War to be finished off as a historical matter there has to be an end made to all the residual Stalinisms. Different ones fall in different ways- Cuba's ends at Castro's natural death, North Korea will slowly integrate with South Korea, Ukraine's involves the toppling and reinstituting of ever milder degrees, and so on. Iraq's Stalinist regime had to be toppled from the outside, unfortunately.

But the Western side of the Cold War also has to be disassembled politically, the whole set of right wing governments which function as residues of colonialism and imperialism, or obedient to that of other countries. Iraq and its oil wealth and the unsettled power imbalances of the Arabian Gulf drew these governments into the 'Coalition of the Willing'. Iraq is grinding down the perceived relevance and 'strength' of these governments- Spain's has fallen, Italy's and Britain's are in trouble and downward spiral, Australia's isn't doing too well, the long-dominant American right wing is also losing major aspects of its utility or credibility domestically in a permanent way. A lot of smaller countries have already withdrawn and most have mere token contingents there, out of political duress and pressure they're becoming more resistant to every day. The degeneration of this 'Coalition' and the constituent governments is an extremely important outcome of the Iraq affair.

The 'terrorism' bit is more complicated. Despite all the talk, it's not really about the 200 middle class Arab men who hate bad American behavior and oil-based corruption in the Middle East enough to conspire to kill a lot of people. In domestic American politics this is a proxy issue for the negative half of the increasing American relationship to a global society and global economy and need to measure to other societies honestly. It's about ego and defensive provincialism, parochial beliefs, sectarianism, racism, American exceptionalism, even whether global civilization is a good thing if we don't dominate it. The psychology of it revolves around grieving the old, passing, order of the world and paranoia at the new kind. And overcoming paranioa. That's why there's very little issue or interest in the most cosmopolitan parts of American society about 'terrorism' and nothing but indulgence and indolence about 'terrorism' in the most adamantly provincial and barbaric parts of the country.

[Initech]

13. Bush has basically declared himself Caesar

And he probably wishes he could overturn the 22nd Amendment to make it official.

[Clara T]

17. I'm not as concerned with Bush

as I am with the utter lack of any, I mean ANY, reasonable and staunch opposition in light of the following-a short list:

"We have had (a still incomplete list) the Florida vote scandal, the Patriot Act, the 9-11 fiasco, the failure to appoint a commission of inquiry right away, the Tora Bora messup, the war on Iraq, the WMD scandal, the sundry Iraq contractor overpricings, the Swift Boat scandal, the Ohio vote scandal, the incipient civil war in Iraq, the federal deficit, the trade deficit, and the Queen Katrina herself, not to mention domestic spying, any one of which could have supplied a curious or serious pressman enough questions for several news conferences. Yet how many memorable exchanges did we see?"

Okay I am concerned with the Bush junta for the all too obvious reasons like maybe blowing up the planet, looting the National Treasury etc... but what in the hell is going on in that snakepit called Congress?

[shance]

14. Great points Clara. I think its time for a third party.

I think it might be time for women to revive the National or International Women's Party. Overzealous white, racist privileged males and their overactive testosterone and fear are destroying the planet.

[iconoclastNYC]

15. The Senate is a swampland of compromised Democrats

We have to keep the pressure up on our Democrats and make these politicians pay for thier bad votes.

[dusty64]

16. In a nutshell

they no longer serve the People, we serve them and they ARE afraid of our wrath as they should be. If things continue this way there WILL be revolution and they are ready to strike back. This and the detention centers are there to make examples of us that dare stand against them, they are hoping the rest will cower and accept their corpofascist dictatorship. Trust me, BOTH sides are in on this and WE are considered the enemy.