Original Source at: Bernie Madoff Sentencing and War Criminals Who Stand Free

Sure, Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum of 150 years in jail. It's a life sentence, I get it.

Sure, the presiding judge said he "needed to send a message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment."

But Bernie Madoff did not act alone in his titanic Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $50 billion. Where are the others? The prosecution has failed to make the connections, and Madoff certainly wasn't going to squeal. As you can see from the photo, he's a man of dignity and principle. While some victims of the scam may find occasional relief from unsecured loans for quick cash, the vast majority will wonder why money man can work the system to such an extent that justice is (ultimately) perverted.

When Bill Clinton signed the World Trade Agreement it was the beginning of the end of U.S. dominance in worldwide manufacturing.

The congressional members who voted approval of this destructive agreement can take bows now for the General Motors collapse.

With $50 billion of taxpayers' dollars one cannot help but wonder where this deluge of borrowed billions is going?  

According to a New York Times article by Micheline Maynard on June 1, the plan following bankruptcy protection is as follows:

by CODY LYON

Today's America is markedly different than it was when I was growing up in 1970's Alabama.  While much among us has changed for the better, especially in the realms of official equality and social justice, mean-ness, as my Grandmother would have called it, still runs rampant throughout our society.   One need only go online and read headlines from across the country that detail economic inequity, corruption and acts of brutal violence that have in many ways numbed our souls.  Clearly, the biblical Golden rule that would have us do unto others, as we would do unto them, is still an afterthought, perhaps forgotten by many.

Amid all the discussions about potential paths forward in terms climate legislation, there is basic agreement about the need to 'put a price on carbon' to incentivize reducing carbon intensity (and usage ... or, actually, dumping into the atmosphere) throughout the economy.

Should we pursue a Carbon Cap (or A CAT, a Cap, Auction, and Trade) or some form of Carbon Tax (or fee)?

And, then the debate turns to "what to do with the resources".  For many, the best answer seems to be some form of Cap & Dividend program.  The idea of sending money "back" to people has great appeal, for many reasons but what about looking behind the curtain. Does it continue to make as much sense?

The March 15 Financial Times reported:

BEIJING CONCERNED OVER SAFETY OF DEBT HOLDINGS

In a front page article by Geoff Dyer in Beijing and Alan Beattie in Washington, it was reported:

"Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday urged the U.S. to take measures to guarantee its `good credit,' expressing concern about the `safety' of his country's huge holdings of U.S. government debt.

Harry Truman in a "bipartisan" moment with Lauren Bacall, a staunch liberal Democrat. This is about as "bipartisan as Harry got."

Last week was exhilarating for Democrats and, judging by the international media, for people all over the planet who have suffered for nearly a decade from the misguided and often criminal policies of George Bush and his terribly inept administration.

The swearing in of Barack Obama and the departure of the Connecticut Cowboy from our public affairs was something long anticipated, and, after our long dark winter, as welcome as the return of springtime and birdsong, at least in these quarters.

There was great emphasis made before Barack Obama's inauguration about reconciliation as a people, of reaching out across the aisle in a spirit of cooperation.  This emphasis was enhanced by the focus on Lincoln and Obama being sworn in on the same bible as America's Civil War president, who stressed "malice toward none and charity for all."

Obama indeed struck that note, but there were two areas of emphasis where the historical focus lay more with two Democratic presidents with direct linkage to World War Two and dealing with grave economic times.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt sounded the correct note in his memorable first inaugural address is stating the phrase that stands out historically more than anything else said, "We have nothing to fear itself."  With America caught in the vise-like grip of the Great Depression, his words served to enforce and reinforce the American spirit and the necessity to triumph over economic adversity.

Barack Obama sounded a comparable note in stressing the necessity of Americans rolling up their sleeves and getting to work, stressing the essential of common goal and purpose in a manner that unifies rather than dividing.

At the same time leaders of key American allies who supported completing that inspection effort were rudely insulted.  It was accordingly fitting and highly appropriate for Obama to send out a signal that the comprehensive change he advocated in his winning 2008 campaign would be carried out in the foreign affairs field.

When Obama cited the importance of reaching out and repairing damaged relations internationally he was visiting familiar terrain as a Democratic president.  Most of World War Two was fought under FDR, the same leader that presided over a domestic war against the Great Depression.  John F. Kennedy fought in World War Two and achieved heroism as a PT boat commander in the Pacific naval campaign.

Both Roosevelt and Kennedy achieved triumphs internationally, winning friends abroad with programs such as the Good Neighbor Policy under the former leader and the Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress under the latter.

Throughout the world Obama's November victory was greeted with elation.  World leaders and their people stand to embrace the new president and the kind of positive change he proclaimed to auger.

These were appropriate notes to highlight Obama's inaugural address and hopefully they will constitute a beginning, constructive building blocks toward a better future domestically and internationally.

Fifty years ago today I was halfway through my sophomore year at WE Stebbins High, an almost completely segregated school in the almost completely segregated city of Dayton, Ohio, a town said at the time to be a southern city that happened to be north of the Mason Dixon line.

The school was "almost completely" segregated because it was located within a good Hail Mary pass of Wright Patterson AFB. I don't remember exactly the reasons but we were told that because the school received federal funds for students who were military dependents that it had to be integrated.

"Integration" was accomplished by the admission of two young Black kids, The boy was named Sam. I remember because we became friends for awhile until the transparent racist displeasure of my little Quaker Grandmother became thick enough to keep him from dropping by. She wasn't ready for a black president.

The girl's name is beyond my atrophied powers of recall. I can see their faces though; both were exceptionally attractive, beautiful in fact, bright, "A" students (National Honor Society), and the son and daughter of Air Force Officers. They weren't related, although they might have passed for brother and sister (to my eyes) and they knew each other from the Air Base (the Air Force at the time wasn't a lot more integrated than my high school).

Their presence among the lower and middle class adolescent white children of factory workers, shopkeepers and lower level bean counting managerial types caused no great stir. There were no serious problems (to my eyes) other than an occasional racist taunt, or snub. Civility towards them was rigorously enforced. The powers that be paddled freely and often back then and the sting of that paddle and its humiliation was seldom sought.

George W. Bush had not done enough to benefit corporate cronies with his huge tax cuts and launching a war in Iraq on behalf of big oil with emphasis on corporate giants like Dick Cheney's Halliburton.

Despite efforts by incoming President-Elect Barack Obama, who was able through his influence to achieve a delay in action, George W. Bush told the nation's cable companies that he was definitely on their side.  

At the same time Bush's actions revealed that he was once more siding against the middle class and poor, especially those on fixed incomes suffering from the calamitous economy he achieved through his and partner Dick Cheney's policies.

Those so-called rabbit ears, those antennas from roofs that brought television into the homes of those struggling middle class, poor families and individuals just had to go.  

by Cody Lyon
In most cases, if a flight is canceled, an airline will re-book you on the first available flight to your destination at no additional charge.  But, as was the case in my experience, finding extra seats could prove difficult, especially if you're out and about over the holidays.  In a nutshell, this led to a couple of hours of travel trauma as my fellow passengers and I tried to make it back to New York City.

In an opinion piece in today's Washington Post Ruth Marcus poses the question:

"Should Bush administration officials be put on trial for crimes such as authorizing torture?"

The answer to that question is a simple and unequivocal "not yes, but, Hell yes, absolutely, yer darn tootin'."

Bear in mind that I live in a flyover state where many have limited tolerance for carefully parsed, nuanced or constipated prose, preferring instead to "throw it out on the lawn and see if any dogs come up and pee on it."

Ms Marcus says, less pithily and with a bit more ambiguity, that she is:

"just relieved to have this crowd heading out of office and its policies -- on torture, on indefinite detention, on warrantless wiretapping, on overweening executive power -- soon to be inoperative."

I share her delight in the departure of this gang of criminals but I fear that if they do not leave Washington in handcuffs and leg irons aboard a Federal prison bus that the chances of rendering the "policies" stated above "inoperative" are approximately ... zero.

by Cody Lyon
Ultimately, picking Caroline Kennedy to succeed Hillary Clinton as Senator from New York might send a disturbing message to Americans, the world, but perhaps more importantly, to the children of New York state.

by CODY LYON
But there is another side that must be addressed with some sort of legislative mandate because if the auto world of Detroit is allowed to fail and sink behind the veil of protection that bankruptcy provides, the potential for great human tragedy becomes increasingly real for large groups of vulnerable Americans.

Friday, newly minted Senator-Elect Energy Smart Jeff Merkley (D-OR) took the time to reach out to the netroots with a blogger conference call.  "The Netroots were critical to my election ... It is 40 years since an incumbent lost in Oregon and only the second time in 100 years that a Republican incumbent lost ... the Netroots put the campaign over the top."  

But, more important than any plaudits for bloggers ("Netroots Nation was one of the best things that I did during the campaign.") and promises to remain engage for the future, was Merkley's evaluation as to the election's mandate and visions for moving forward.

We have a very strong mandate for a progressive agenda. We have had two cycles in a row with winning six [at least] seats in the Senate.

Bush claimed a mandate when he didn't even win the popular vote.

We absolutely have a mandate and we should not be shy in anyway in claiming it.

If not now, when?  Our people need us, our planet needs us ...

by Cody Lyon
     In the end, despite the joy of Obama's landslide, millions of gay people found themselves feeling let down, left behind, it was as this vote was a referendum on all gay people, as if the inclusive mosaic the election seemed to paint along with the supposed more compassionate and progressive tidal wave the election signaled, did not fully include them.