Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.  
Everybody knows the war is over.  
Everybody knows the good guys lost.  
Everybody knows the fight was fixed.  
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.  
That's how it goes.  Everybody knows.
~~Leonard Cohen

Here are my top 10 reasons to "take it to the streets." I think you know what I mean.  Our best hope of salvaging what's left of our economy involves ordinary people like you and me engaging in peaceful public protest of the recent moves by the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury Department.  All of these moves were sanctioned by our Congressional leadership -- meeting behind closed doors -- to ensure a soft landing for liars and cheats while decent people lose their houses, life savings, and pension funds.

If Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted we nearly avoided a domino-like crash of the nation's secondary financial institutions (i.e., Bear Stearns) it admitted that it allowed the housing bubble backed by inflated ABS/MBS securities and the even more inflated securities derivative debacle to go on for way too long.  I think we're past the point of no return.  And I think so do many of you.  

I'm not writing here trying to impress anyone.  Many people have a better idea of how bad things are than I do. And I'm certainly no economist -- I'm just appealing for public support to voice opposition to the contempt for working-class people that we've endured for 8 years.

Why?

But, that particular memory is overshadowed by another, a more recent memory that has led to a shared painful reality, a reality that some say has divided and fatigued an entire nation, a reality most of us witness from the comfort of our homes and communities, a reality that is nightmarish, a shared but awful truth of where we the people find ourselves today.

President Bush recently vetoed legislation that would stop the CIA from using water-boarding and other harsh methods of interrogation because such methods "have a proven track record of keeping America safe."  

Did you ever wonder what kind of speech Bush would like to  give to us little old peons? I think I was too kind to him but this is probably a polite version of what he says in private!

Enter G. W. Bush.)

Good Evening

Ms....er...uh...Madame Speaker -- Hi Sweetie, Hasn't it been a fabulous year? Vice Dick... Yo Dead Eye, thanks for keeping that squirmy little Dennis Kucinich and his impeachment resolution out of my face.

(Waves and points to where members of the Supreme Court are sitting)

A special thanks to the fabulous Supreme 5 for putting me in this office. It's been fun guys! Good evening to you.

That was the headline for an Associated Press article by Dave Gram that ran in the Seattle Times December 29.

A picture appears with the accompanying story showing Kurt Daims, a Brattleboro, Vermont activist, who is leading the drive to make Bush and Cheney subject to arrest in the town.

The story reads as follows:

"Montpelier, Vermont - President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont.  In one town activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes.

Michael Mukasey's refusal to answer whether he believed water-boarding to be torture should scuttle his nomination to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer. The Senate should refuse to bring his nomination to the floor. President Bush needs to be told that while he may allow garbage to amass in his administration, the Senate will not.

"You're A Whole Different Person When You're Scared"~~Warren Zevon, Hunter S. Thompson My friend Bernie says since Democrats won the Congress, George Bush reminds him of a cartoon where this destructive Texas jackrabbit was careening headlong down a path, his eyes riveted on a rabbit hole in the distance.  A tortoise, sunning himself at the side of the path, looked behind the rabbit where a baying pack of dogs, in hot pursuit, was gaining on him. The tortoise smiled.  The poor bunny was in a race for his life. As he shot by, the tortoise called out lazily, "Think you'll make it?"  The rabbit, looking neither to the right nor left, shot back desperately -- "I gotta make it..."

Author Note. The following essay was co-authored with Coleen Rowley, retired FBI agent and former Minneapolis division counsel.

Among the most important public health advances of the past century has been the development of potent vaccines against dangerous and life-threatening illnesses. Polio, tuberculosis, and measles quickly come to mind. Through a process of inoculation, a small dose of the pathogen is intentionally administered to the patient which induces immunity against the full-blown disease.

In a similar way, social scientists have demonstrated that attitude inoculation can be used to prevent the transmission of hazardous beliefs and behaviors from one person to another. For example, research reveals that adolescents can more effectively resist pressure from cigarette-smoking peers if they are given role-playing opportunities in which they rehearse their responses to students pressuring them to smoke.

But today we are in urgent need of an inoculation campaign against an entirely different threat to our nation's health--namely, the Bush administration's exploitation of its "global war on terror" to eviscerate the rule of law and our constitutional checks and balances; to prolong the disastrous occupation of Iraq; and to lay the groundwork for military strikes against Iran. Ever since the tragic events of 9/11 six years ago, the White House has promoted this agenda by working non-stop to spread a simple yet infectious idea: All actions taken by this president and his representatives are necessary to protect the United States from future catastrophic terrorist attacks.

Articles in major newspapers in Texas have announced that public schools in Texas must now test all children each year, starting at grade 3, on pushups, sit-ups, and a mile run, and measure flexibility and body fat.

There are problems with this new law.

Since the Democrats won a majority so razor-thin that an ailing Senator's hospitalization caused Dick Cheney to briefly believe he was part of the legislative branch, the threat of filibusters and the reality of failed cloture votes has kept the Democrats stymied. Perhaps it is time to consider a new tactic, truly becoming a do-nothing Congress.

Senators are concerned that tourism to the United States has dropped nearly 20% since 2001 and they want to open a special office to promote tourism. Of course this accidental activist couldn't resist putting together an example of what their first big PR blitz might look like!

Preaching to the choir yesterday in Martinsburg, W Va, Bush recited the same sermon he and his handlers reserve for these carefully controlled and completely choreographed appearances before the faithful.

"We give thanks for all the brave citizen-soldiers of our Continental Army who dropped pitchforks and took up muskets to fight for our freedom and liberty and independence," Bush said. He added: "You're the successors of those brave men. . . . Like those early patriots, you're fighting a new and unprecedented war."

I wonder if anyone else noticed that our Revolution against the tyrannical rule of that earlier George, the occupation of our cities and provinces by British troops, his interference in what we regarded as our affairs, and the general mistreatment of our citizenry was, in fact, the polar opposite of  our invasion and occupation of Iraq and the mistreatment, maiming and murder of their citizenry.

According to dictionary.com, the word moratorium means "a suspension of activity." Examples include the moratorium on nuclear testing and the 1969 moratorium staged in protest of the Vietnam war. It is time for a new moratorium, this one, hopefully, can bring an end to the war in Iraq.

This article was originally posted by me on MicahsCall.org.

Back in the days when the Presidio of Monterey's roads were open to civilian vehicles, providing a shortcut between Monterey and Pacific Grove, I used to enjoy watching what would happen outside at 4:30pm. For the uninformed civilian merrily driving along, having cars in front of her suddenly stop and troops get out of their cars, stand at attention and salute, must have seemed so bizarre. Some motorists would honk their horns, some would yell, most would just sit and wait, steaming at the interruption of their day.

"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."~~Dante

Okay.  Let's talk about troops.  Everybody's doing it.  We're bombarded round-the-clock with "support the troops...fund the troops...bring the troops home...surge the troops...use the troops for Commander Guy photo opps..."  Congress is embroiled in a ghoulish "troop" food fight that has gone on far too long.  Democrats say Republicans demoralize and dishonor the troops by sending them into an unwinnable war built on lies.  Republicans counter that, by suggesting the war is lost, Democrats demoralize and dishonor the troops by calling them "losers."