With everything going on related to the $700 billion bailout, failing banks, stimulus packages, etc., there’s an important blog everyone should go check out. I’ve been a longtime subscriber to “Dollars & Sense” magazine. “Dollars & Sense” is an analytical, easy to read quarterly magazine based in Boston. They provide all kinds of insights, observations, and meaningful coverage in economic issues (albeit from a leftist perspective). “Dollars & Sense” by far had THE best coverage on Hurricane Katrina in their January/February issue. To my knowledge, they were the probably the only periodical focusing on poverty issues post-Katrina. OK… I digress. I’m done selling the magazine. Anyway….

For some of the best coverage related to the country’s ongoing economic mess, go check out The Dollars & Sense blog for some refreshing perspectives. Thanks!

Not sure who saw last night’s “Late Show with David Letterman” but McCain was supposed to be his guest. Low and behold.. he ditched him to go save the economy. Well Dave Letterman didn’t buy that… and boy did he let him know.

Network television late night hosts are known for being court jesters. This time Letterman wasn’t playing that role. Good for him. Enjoy!

So I was hovering around Huffington Post until I noticed their top story today. Check this out.

Jason Linkins writes:

“A critical – and radical – component of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 (which ironically reminds one of the popular name of the portion of the 1937 Housing Act that paved the way for subsidized affordable housing ) of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words, but it represents a significant consolidation of power and an abdication of oversight authority that’s so flat-out astounding that it ought to set one’s hair on fire.”

It definitely set my hair on fire. Are you all ready? Here’s what the bailout text says:

So the mother of all bailouts CANNOT be challenged by the courts. Does that make any sense? Is this even legal? Some answers would be great.

Kudos to Huffington Post for finding this. Has anyone else been covering this aspect of the bailout? It looks like The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner has delved into the issue… but not many.

Folks, this Section 8 of the bailout consolidates A LOT of power in the executive branch. I’m confident Leahy, Sanders, and Welch will vote against it but there’s got to be something we can do as bloggers to make sure this doesn’t pass. To read the Huffington Post article in full click here.

Scared yet?  

The Vermont Public Service Board will hold a statewide public hearing tonight on the fate of Vermont Yankee’s relicensure. You can participate in the hearing at VIT (Vermont Interactive Television) videoconferencing, beginning at 7 pm at the following locations:

Bennington, Brattleboro, Castleton, Johnson, Lyndonville, Middlebury, Newport, Randolph Center, Rutland, Springfield, St. Albans, Waterbury, White River Junction, Williston, and Montpelier.

Click here to find a location near you. The hearing runs from 7 pm to 11 pm.

If you’re at one of these locations tonight, feel free to leave us some updates. Be great to hear how it goes. Thanks!  

Like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, I got to interview bestselling author Vincent Buglosi during the DNC. Hope you enjoy! -Christian

PS: I take it you all know he was in Burlington yesterday.

Crossposted at Docudharma.

Vincent Bugliosi is a renowned prosecutor and respected lawyer. How good is he? Bugliosi successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter. Many consider Helter Skelter to be the best true-crime story ever written. Bugliosi also wrote two others New York Times best sellers: And the Sea Will Tell and Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder.  Other books include No Island of Sanity: Paula Jones v. Bill Clinton: The Supreme Court on Trial, Till Death Do Us Part, The Betrayal of America: How The Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President, and Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Bugliosi’s latest, The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder, is an explosive look at the un-reported (or under-reported) crimes committed by the Bush Administration. In The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder, Bugliosi skillfully and meticulously sets forth a legal architecture for the case against Bush and unequivocal evidence of his guilt. He also establishes the jurisdiction, on a federal and state level, for close to 1,000 prosecutors throughout the U.S. to prosecute Bush for the crimes of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Bugliosi spoke in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. He didn’t address party stalwarts, delegates, super-delegates, or the party faithful. Bugliosi took it to the people at the Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Denver. Here is what Vincent Bugliosi had to say.

Christian: So where are current efforts right now to bring George W. Bush to justice?

Bugliosi: I’ve already reached out to the 50-state attorney generals. I’ve ordered a copy of the national district attorneys from around the country that are elected and appointed prosecutors, not deputies in their office. Only the DA himself can bring a criminal charge against Bush. There’s probably 2,700 of them right now. We ‘re contacting prosecutors who represent counties of soldiers killed in Iraq. I don’t know what that number would be, so we sent out a letter to all of them. If we send one to a DA in a county that hasn’t lost a soldier, that DA would not have jurisdiction.

So we’re going to reach out to every prosecutor in the country. My belief (although I don’t feel strongly about it) is that there is a substantial likelihood we’re going to get one or more DAs courageous enough to take on George W. Bush. But before they do that, they’re going to have to check every citation of mine to make sure they’re accurate. They will have to assign members of their staff to investigate the case completely because I don’t think there’s any question it will be the biggest murder case in American history. So no prosecutor is going to just jump into this. A lot of research, time, and discussion will go into this so I don’t expect any immediate response. But I already have a state attorney general whose chief of staff wants to talk with me and a DA that wants to talk to me. So that’s a start.

I’ve gotten quite a few letters from people saying they’ve sent a copy of the book to their local DAs, asking them to prosecute. Wherever I speak, including today, people come up to me and say, “Mr. Bugliosi, is there any way I can help?” I tell them if you believe what I say in the book is correct, send a copy to the local DA with a cover letter and maybe 50 signatures from people who feel the same way. There is now a mini-movement, in America, that supports the notion of prosecuting George W. Bush for murder. He may very well end up in a prison cell but don’t forget, there’s no statue of limitations for murder. So when we talk about 2,700 more DAs for the rest of Bush’s life, those numbers multiply to 10-15,000 DA’s. As long as he’s alive, there’s no statue of limitations that someone can go after him. Where is it now? I think (the movement’s) gaining steam. My guess is if it happens at all, it’s going to be at the local level (a local DA) as opposed to a state attorney general or the Attorney General in Washington.

Now you are aware Obama has used the word “immediately” before. He said that if he becomes president, he’s going to “immediately” ask the AG to look at the record and see if there’s evidence of any genuine crime as opposed to terrible policy. Obama also said that no man is above the law. The implication being if he finds a crime, he’s going to look into it.

It’s amazing that with all the new information coming out on George W. Bush (Ron Suskind’s book for example), you would think people would be in the streets with pitchforks and torches demanding he be arrested. How is this information not reaching the masses? If it is, then why is there so much indifference?

My book does something about it. Suskind’s revelations provide nothing at all, even though it’s still good. If there was a prosecution, the people who gave him information for those revelations would be witnesses for the prosecutor. Follow what I’m saying?

I’ve had host of shows tell me, “I hate George W. Bush, All I want is for him to go away.” And I say, “What about justice? What about the fact that there’s at least 100,000 agree with me that this guy needs to be prosecuted?” Then they say, “Well I guess so,” but their first instinct is not justice. It’s just to get rid of him. I just feel like I’m a fish out of the water here because I’m expecting people to outraged. But here’s the point, an extremely important point. If this could be told to the American public and if evidence could be presented, that Bush took this nation to war and committed murder, that could fall into the hands of John McCain.

Look what happened to Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton did nothing at all. The consensus among virtually everyone is that his scandal hurt Al Gore in 2000 election. His scandal cost Gore several points in the 2000 election and it got to the point where Gore didn’t utilize Clinton in his campaign. The sense was even though Gore wasn’t involved, he was still the veep during this scandal. It was nothing it was sublime silliness, but it spilled over. So you can imagine what would happen if the American public were convinced that George W. Bush took this nation to war and committed a crime, that will slide over to John McCain. Particularly since John McCain supported this war. So the discussion should have happened (at the convention) and I wonder why is nobody talking about that. They’re talking about everything but that!

As far as indifference, I say “What’s happened to the soul of the Democratic Party? Why aren’t they talking about this monstrous crime that this guy committed (at the convention)?” Why is that? I don’t know. Peoples’ memories last as long as a breath and they go onto other stuff. I’m not going onto other stuff. I’m not going to let this guy go. I may not succeed but I’m not going to satisfied until I see him in an American court being charged with first degree murder on trial.

It seems that politicians don’t want to think about it at all. Their focus is all about winning the 2008 election. How do you get around that?

You know, a man came up to me today, thanked me and said, “My son died in Iraq and I did not sacrifice my son for George W. Bush.” Then he said “I hope you get him.” I gave him a hug. You know, it’s amazing the survivors of the kids that died over there are not up in arms. Do you know why they’re not? A lot believed they died for America but they didn’t die for America! They died for George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney! What American interests are being served over there? None!

Switching gears now. You said that there’s been a virtual blackout by the traditional media in covering your book. What’s going on?

When all my other true crime books came out, I went to New York City and started out on national television. Every single one. When this book came out, I didn’t go to New York because no network had me on; no cable had me on; and no newspaper reviewed the book. It was a total blackout. The New York Times did an article about the blackout and that opened it up just a tiny little crack. But for the most part, everyone has stayed away from it except progressive Democrats. Without progressive Democrats, this book would never had taken off.

How has citizen journalism, blogs, and other forms of online media helped?

You see, I don’t have a computer. Apparently the book is big on the Internet. I hear that and I also hear a lot of blogs are talking about the book. That certainly has helped. But if you start out on The Today Show, you reach 8 million people. For me to reach 8 million people the way I’m doing it now, I have to give hundreds of interviews. I don’t think there’s too much question that this book would have been number one if I had started out like my other ones on national television. As it is, it got up to #9 on the NYT bestsellers list. This week it’s #10. If you can do #9 or #10 and still be blacked out by the major media, I think you can extrapolate that this book could have been number one.

*** His publicist interrupts and says the book is in its eighth straight week on the New York Times bestsellers list. ***

Switching gears again. One of the things naysayers say about the indictment resolution is that citizens cannot and should not have to the power to arrest a former president and vice-president. They consider indictments by popular vote to be mob justice mentality.

I don’t think it’s mob justice. (What Brattleboro, VT passed) that can’t happen. There’s no criminal indictment that can come from them. It can only come from a grand jury and the grand jury doesn’t take things upon themselves. The DA has to offer evidence to them, or a state attorney general. They lead the efforts.

Thank you very much Mr. Bugliosi!

A longer version of this interview is posted at iBrattleboro.

Vincent Bugliosi & I on the way to Denver International Airport

The Sarah Palin stuff is annoying but this one should grant an exception.

Raw Story is reporting that Republican veep nominee Sarah Palin credits her electoral success on a preacher who claims he can successfully hunt down witches. Raw Story’s John Byrne writes the following.

“In 1988, Pastor Muthee and his wife traveled to Kenya after being “called by God.” Setting up shop in the basement of a grocery store, they claim to have brought 200 people “to God” and away from the town’s “spiritual oppression.”

The source of the oppression? Witchcraft, Muthee says. When researching the community, they found that a woman named “Mama Jane” ran a divination clinic that drew a large following in the town.

“We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place,” Pastor Muthee said.

Muthee made his experiences into a video called Transformations, which documents his “spiritual warfare” against demons and occult practices. Spiritual warfare is more common in Latin America and Africa, where the concept of day-to-day demons has a stronger hold. The video’s trailer is available here.

Here’s the video of Palin crediting the pastor.

So much more. Read the rest of the story here.

Iraq War veteran and Bellows Falls native Liam Madden is in this morning’s Brattleboro Reformer. Madden travelled to both party’s conventions with Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) to demand a full and immediate withdrawal of American troops in Iraq.

In the Twin Cities, Madden said the GOP was not receptive (surprise, surprise). In Denver, it was a different story. Robert Plain writes the following.

“We marched right through the front gates of the Democratic National Convention,” he said proudly.

They told the guards they had a letter they wanted to deliver to Sen. Obama … the Obama campaign agreed to meet with leaders of IVAW behind the police line.

“It was the first victory of the anti-war movement in seven years,” Madden said. “They didn’t just send some Secret Service officer, they sent a senior official. it was the first time a protest ended in something other than everyone just going home.”

Madden and a group of veterans delivered the letter to Phil Carter, Obama’s senior veteran’s affairs liaison. During the meeting, Carter agreed to meet with IVAW at a later date. Madden is hoping he may get some face time with the nominee himself, as well.

Despite the good news, that still didn’t stop Madden from criticizing both parties.

On Barack Obama.

“Obama has presented himself as the anti-war candidate and he is not,” Madden said. “He said he wants to remove all the combat troops, but there are tens of thousands of non-combat troops in Iraq, too. He hasn’t committed to removing them. He’s just repackaged the war and re-selling it to the American people. It’s still the same war based on the same lies. It’s still the same violation of the Constitution.”

John McCain.

“McCain is obviously not supporting the troops,” he said. “As far as their voting record on veteran issues goes, Obama is clearly doing a better job.”

To read the full article click here.

Amidst all the hoopla surrounding the conventions, I think it’s imporant that we give Madden, IVAW, and other anti-war groups appropriate face time. They are too often ignored for all the great work they do and it’s important we support their efforts. Especially Madden, a Bellows Falls native.  

“What I find interesting is that, as a mother of five, she’s still a virgin. I think that beats Our Lady AND Mother Theresa in one punch.” – Anon E. Maus

What was the McCain camp thinking? This is comedic gold for us Dems. Discuss.

GMD in the spotlight again: Cox News Washington.

This is it. The last slide show from the Democratic National Convention. Included are photos from yesterday’s Progressive Democrats of America conference and the main event at Invesco Field. Obama’s speech was amazing. I don’t know how the GOP can actually respond to this. They’re toast as far as I’m concerned.

Hope you enjoyed the coverage. I’ll have a final recap sometime soon. It was fun out here. It really was.

– Christian