Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called it like it is yesterday …

“Saddam has been hanged, Karadzic was recently arrested, but this man goes around the world, lecturing on the rule of law,” he said, referring to Tony Blair’s presence in Malaysia yesterday, giving the 22nd Sultan Azlan Shah Law Lecture, an annual event of Universiti Malaya since 1986. The lecture was entitled “Rule of Law and Good Governance,” both of which are subjects Blair is singularly unqualified to speak about.

“I am disgusted that Tony Blair has been invited to Malaysia. This man, to me, is a war criminal. Through instigating the war in Iraq, he has killed more than Radovan Karadzic and Saddam Hussein,” said Mahathir at his office at the Petronas Twin Towers.

“It is disgusting to see this criminal of the highest order being welcomed in Malaysia, and worse still to talk on the rule of law when he broke all international laws and the laws of his own country by deliberately lying and sending young British soldiers to die in a war of aggression.

“Yet you have seen how readily the United States and its cohorts condemn the President of Sudan, Omar Bashir, for alleged war crimes in Darfur when there is no evidence that he deliberately issued orders to war against anyone.”

“The conspiracy of silence by Malaysia’s media is to be condemned, for you are lending support to a War Criminal whose criminal acts must not go unpunished.”

At the time of writing, a search of Google shows only three news articles covering Mahathir’s remarks, so the media silence goes a bit beyond Malaysia, I think.

Today, Mahathir Mohamad is Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal chairman.

If there’s one thing I object to in the strongest terms, it’s the use of the Holocaust as a political battering ram to shut people up when they criticise fascist behaviour.

In this case, it was Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, who, with some justification, said rich countries’ deception in trade talks reminded him of tactics used by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

The US delegation, led by Susan Schwab, immediately hurled her decendancy from Holocaust survivors straight back at him, in order to deflect media attention from the fact that the policies of the World Trade Organisation can quite justifiably be compared to those of the Hitler regime.

Bloody typical.

Science was recently able to announce proof that women’s brains are different to men’s. Anyone with a wife probably knows that anyway. But what science has so far not been able to prove, is whether Jacqui Smith, the British Home Secretary, has a brain at all.

On the 17th June, the government published the crime figures for 2007/08 (pdf). The statistics show a 12% fall in violent crime over the previous year, and yet, as part of the British government’s effort to disarm the general population of everything from guns to rolling pins, we have all been bombarded with story after story about the rise of knife related crime.

According to the British crime figures, no-one knows whether or not knife crime is more common now than in previous years, because they haven’t collected statistics on this specific area before - the numbers were rolled into the statistics for general violent crime, which as I already pointed out, are down on the previous year.

So in an effort to make certain that next year’s figures show an upward trend, Ms Smith is encouraging members of the public to intervene in knife related incidents. I can’t think of a better way to get yourself killed, which would be ideal for the propagandists at the Home Office, who would have a field day.

This government doesn’t want to see a reduction in knife related crime, or any other crime - they are using it as an just another excuse to degrade civil liberties, in the same way they use the non-existent terrorist threat.

The Guardian headlined a story yesterday with, “Policing to be put in the hands of directly elected mayors as part of radical shakeup.” The article says, “Directly elected mayors are to be given democratic control over their local police as part of a shakeup to be detailed today by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

So far only 12 towns and cities, including London, have directly elected mayors. Ministers hope the powers will increase the appeal of such a post.

Under the proposals, to be spelled out in a Home Office green paper on policing this afternoon, mayors such as Boris Johnson in London will become  the “new crime and policing representative” for their city, replacing the  existing police authority.”

So, what’s this all about, then?

Feudalism

Feudalism does not, as the word might suggest, require a society of kings and noblemen with peasants living in mud huts any more than to be a fascist requires the wearing of a swastika.

Rather, a feudal society is one where 95% of the population is treated like ill-fed, poorly educated (if at all) cattle, where there is no hope of a better life for the next generation, and where the top 5% live as an oligarchy, feeding off the rest via their corporations, supported by their unelected puppetmasters (think tanks, NGOs) who manage the so-called elected representatives.

Lisbon Treaty

One of the key authors of the Lisbon Treaty was Giuliano Amato, erstwhile President of Italy. In an interview with Barbara Spinelli*, printed in the Italian daily La Stampa on the 13th July, 2000, Amato explained his vision for the future:

“Frankly, I do not want a continental Europe only, without the immense patrimony of England, and of the Scandinavians linked to England. Nor would I like to lose Spain, which is skeptical of the vanguard … To have England among us would not be bad: In many ways, London is already where we would like to be. It would not be bad if England, with its experience of economic reforms, were present in the council of States belonging to the euro … Therefore I prefer to go slowly, to crumble little by little pieces of sovereignty, avoiding sudden shifts from national to federal powers … I do not believe in a federal sovereign, because our globalised universe is post-Hobbesian.”

Spinelli: “The world you describe seems to be pre-Hobbesian. It seems to precede the nation-state.”

“And why not going back the period before Hobbes?” replied Amato. “The Middle Ages had a much richer humanity, and a diversity of identity which today can be a model. The Middle Ages is beautiful: It can have its policymaking centers, without relying entirely on anyone. It is beyond the bounds of the nation-state. Today, as then, nomads are reappearing in our societies. Today, also, we have powers without territories … Without sovereignties, we will not have totalitarianism. Democracy does not need a sovereign.”

So, the idea behind the Lisbon Treaty, and surely Amato must have agreed this with the other authors, is for a return to middle ages style feudalism, which was characterised, for the vast majority, by a complete absence of human rights or justice, by short life expectancies, and by rampaging war and disease. To consider this “beautiful” is insane, is it not?

City States

Another characteristic of the middle ages, was the City State, and there lies the second front in the destruction of the nation state.

The modern drive to re-establish the City State came in April, 2006, with the “First Transatlantic Conference of Mayors,” held in Lyon, France.

Opening the conference, Denver Mayor, Wellington E Webb said, “If there is one theme that I would like to impart during this session, it is: the nineteenth century was the century of Empires. The twentieth century was the century of nationstates. The twenty-first century will be a ‘century of cities.’”

The Policy Of Dictatorship

So just as the Lisbon Treaty moves power from soveriegn nation state governments to an unelected dictatorship, the City State takes power via devolution. In combination, they leave the nation with no power of self determination, because in the end, the City State will only exist to implement the policies handed down by the unelected dictatorship.

This political architecture represents the goal of a centrally managed, global, fascist dictatorship. The key elements are being put in place slowly, but surely, and the migration of control of the police from the Police Authority to the City Mayors is just another step.

–

* The full interview can only be found by using La Stampa’s archive search. Use the search term “Europa,” change the next drop down to “Frase esatta,” change the dates to 13th July 2000, and click on Ricerca. The article is entitled “DAL SOGNO DEL PRINCIPE AL GOVERNO DI BRUXELLES DIBATTITO AMATO all’Europa non serve un sovrano” and is the first result returned.

There was an interesting exchange between Sir Peter Tapsell and Gordon Brown during yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions. Naturally, Tapsell was only ever going to get no answer at all.

Tapsell asked, “Are we to understand that the Right Honourable Gentleman’s bleak message to the country is that for many years to come, at Prime Minister’s Questions, he and his successors will be paying mournful tribute to the gallant men and women who in the previous week have been killed in Afghanistan, fighting an unwinnable, and deeply unpopular war, when it is widely understood that the Taliban are not international terrorists, who are now mostly … and the international terrorists are now mostly trained in Pakistan, Iraq and Britain.”

Brown responded, “Let me invite the Honourable Gentleman to join, eh, the Defence Secretary in a visit to Afghanistan, to see for himself. As a result of what has happened, the Taliban have been removed from power, 40 nations are contributing 50,000 troops, and as a result of what we have done, there were no girls in education in Afghanistan at all, now there are 2 million in education, and I would hope he will take up the invitation.”

Ah, but Mr Brown, that’s not quite the whole story, is it? For some reason, you seem to have failed to mention when questioned that as a result of what has happened, opium production, which had dropped from 3,656 tonnes to 74 tonnes between 2000 and 2001, has risen to record levels (6100 tonnes in 2006, 8,200 tonnes in 2007).

Rather than stopping poppy growing and promoting sustainable sources of income for the farmers (can anyone say “global food crisis?”), British troops are there promoting and protecting poppy production.

What is the nature of the war in Afghanistan, Mr Brown? Is it a war on terrorists, or is it an Opium War?

Is there any difference between the Britain of the 18th and 19th centuries and today? Then the British East India company was the British Empire, with a bigger, better equipped army than the British army, and control of the intelligence services. Lord Shelburne and his successors simply nationalised it. Today, it’s been privatised again, with whole swathes of the Ministry of Defence sold off to private interests like Carlile. With their better equipped private armies not only providing so-called VIP security, but running covert operations answerable to no-one, Britain is again the centre of operations for these interests. And just as the British East India company ran the opium trade from the mid 18th century onwards, British based private interests run it today, fully supported by the British Government.

So, Mr Brown, does your invitation to Sir Peter Tapsell include a tour of the poppy fields?

–

What with the British Army putting so much effort since 2001 into protecting opium poppy production in Afghanistan, resulting in record production, the British government obviously feels the need to improve the retail end of the market.

So in an otherwise bland budget speech today, Alistair Darling added 4p tax on a pint of beer, 14p on a bottle of wine and 55p on a bottle of spirits.

I wonder what the result will be, in these days of wildly increasing household bills? Does Darling really think he will increase tax revenues with this move? Or could it be that people will feel more inclined to spend their weekend entertainment money on the range of now cheaper-than-beer illegal drugs?

I think so. Good job, Al.

Italian authorities have arrested Jorge Nestor Fernandez Troccoli, a retired officer of the Uruguayan Navy. Troccoli was wanted in Uruguay, because of his role in Operation Condor, the plan for the extermination of political opponents of military dictatorships in South America in the 1970s. Troccoli’s book, entitled The Rage of the Leviathan, brags of his role in these events.

Operation Condor was born in the office of the Chilean secret police DINA in 1975, under Augusto Pinochet. Lasting until 1977, at least 13,000 people were killed. Several hundred thousand more were imprisoned in concentration camps.

Italian prosecutors have issued further arrest warrants for 146 citizens of Chile, Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia (four of whom are dead), including former Argentinian leaders Rafael Videla, Emilio Eduardo Massera, former Montevideo dictator Jorge Maria Bordaberry, and former DINA chief Manuel Contreras.

Many of the victims of Operation Condor were of Italian origin. As a result of lawsuits brought in Italy by relatives, prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo launched a nine year investigation, culminating in these warrants.

According to UPI, “the prosecutor said the United States was aware of Operation Condor but did not participate in it.”

Perhaps, although the CIA’s admission of participation in the pre-Condor plot to get Pinochet into power in the first place was covered in an Associated Press article entitled “CIA acknowledges involvement in Allende’s overthrow, Pinochet’s rise.”

Every time we hear of Africa on the news, the message we are given is one of corruption, underdevelopment, malnutrition, disease and eternal pessimism.

One man tried to change all that. Today marks what would have been the 58th birthday of the late Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta) from 1983 to 1987. At 34 years old took power “in order to give Africa back to the Africans.”

In the most difficult of circumstances, and taking huge personal risk, he and his government undertook major initiatives to fight corruption and improve education, agriculture, and the status of women.

His revolutionary program provoked strong opposition from traditional leaders, western imperialists (i.e. the British and the French) and the country’s numerically small but powerful middle class.

The video below is a speech he gave to the Organisation of African Unity on the 28th July 1987. While the speech highlights his humour, his charisma and his courage, the content undoubtedly contributed to his assassination three months later.

The Roman Catholic Order of Malta has issued a statement rejecting allegations in an editorial in the UAE daily al-Bayan, by Jordanian MP Jamal Muhammad Abidat, claiming the order was playing a direct role in conflicts in the Middle East, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Such statements, as well as causing deep upset because they are unfounded, have been expressed about an humanitarian organisation that helps the weak and disadvantaged in 120 countries around the world with medical and humanitarian programs,” the organisation said in a statement.

The allegation stems from the fact that according to a European Parliament working document, drawn up by Giovanni Claudio Fava, Malta is the operational base of Blackwater, the organiser of private military militia which are increasingly taking on more and more roles which used to be undertaken by U.S. forces in Iraq and elsewhere. In addition, author Jeremy Scahill, in his book, Blackwater, points out that senior Blackwater executives such as Joseph Schmitz, former Pentagon Inspector General, not only subscribe to the “theo-con” ideology but are also members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

The Rome-based Order of Malta, whose full name is the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, is also known as The Knights of Malta. It was founded in Jerusalem in 1080 as an institution of the Norman chivalry who were being deployed under Venetian orchestration into “holy wars” against Islam. Its cover activity is to care for poor and sick pilgrims in the Holy Land. With 12,500 members and 80,000 volunteers, the Order of Malta retains its claim of sovereignty under international law, and has been granted permanent observer status at the United Nations. It issues its own passports, stamps, and coins and has formal diplomatic relations with 99 states.

According to Global Vision, a eurosceptic think tank, 73% of British voters want a referendum on the EU treaty constitution. What a surprise.

Sadly, we won’t get what we wish for, because the UK is not a democracy. Its an Oligarchy, where a small, unelected, ruling class tells our elected representatives what to say and what to do. Our representatives’ job is to represent the policies of the Oligarchy to us, the voters. Those that do the best sales pitch, and make the most progress pushing forward the Oligarch’s agenda, get elected next time round.

Waken up, folks! There’s nothing an Oligarchy fears more than a politically active public. Don’t lie down and except this!

With typical generosity, the government today offered £20,000 for information leading to the return of the data CDs containing millions of bank account details of Britain’s citizens.

Don’t worry, folks. I’ll be in touch just as soon as I’ve taken a copy or two.

Now that Dick Cheney has been hamstrung in his fairly overt plans to attack Iran, the risks of a Gulf of Tonkin type false flag operation must have increased significantly. I’m sure Cheney is spitting bricks today.

In a blog entry in September, Council of Foreign Relations member, and erstwhile US Senator, Gary Hart wrote some “Unsolicited Advice to the Government of Iran,” saying, “Presuming that you are not actually ignorant enough to desire war with the United States, you might be well advised to read the history of the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor in 1898 and the history of the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.

“Having done so, you will surely recognize that Americans are reluctant to go to war unless attacked. Until Pearl Harbor, we were even reluctant to get involved in World War II. For historians of American wars the question is whether we provoke provocations.”

And there lies the danger. 3 US carrier groups are currently stationed within anti-ship missile range of the Iranian coast. A single incident, appearing to have come from Iran, would be enough to scupper the good intentions of the US intelligence community, who, no doubt, are still smarting from the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq.

As Gary Hart pointed out, the Gulf of Tonkin episode is only one example that demonstrates past US willingness to dupe its own people into an action they otherwise would not support.

Apparently Gordon Brown feels we Brits are having far too good a time, what with rising inflation and falling house prices, so he decided to pass along some of his misery. He trotted out Jacqui Smith yesterday in a cynical attempt to divert attention from his own troubles by scaring the crap out of everyone.

Apparently, some people in Slovakia were recently arrested for dealing in Uranium, so that means there’s going to be a dirty bomb attack in the UK.

Unfortunately for Brown, if the Daily Mail is at all representative, no-one’s buying it. 53 comments, and all but one expresses a desire that he sticks his propaganda up his arse.

You gotta feel sorry for him, no?

Well, no, actually.

In Sunday’s Observer, Henry Porter wrote: “Welcome to Fortress Britain, a fortress that will keep people in as well as out. Welcome to a state that requires you to answer 53 questions before you’re allowed to take a day trip to Calais. Welcome to a country where you will be stopped, scanned and searched at any of 250 railways stations, filmed at every turn, barked at by a police force whose behaviour has given rise to a doubling in complaints concerning abuse and assaults.”

“How have we allowed this rolling putsch against our freedom?” he went on to say. “Where are the principled voices from left and right, the outrage of playwrights and novelists, the sit-ins, the marches, the swelling public anger? We have become a nation that tolerates a diabetic patient collapsed in a coma being tasered by police, the jailing of a silly young woman for writing her jihadist fantasies in verse and an illegal killing by police that was prosecuted under health and safety laws.”

Henry Porter asks good questions. Lets investigate.

In 1990, a quarter of a million people protested against the Poll Tax, a system of local government taxation which Margaret Thatcher attempted to foist on the British people. Although the Poll Tax contributed to her downfall, the Conservative government, led my John Major, stuck their fingers up at the British people and introduced the Council Tax in 1993. “Oh, alright then,” the British people said.

In 2003, I watched a million people protest against the Iraq war. I continued to watch as a month or so later, Tony Bliar stuck two fingers up at a million people and went to war in Iraq. “Oh, alright then,” the British people said.

At the last general election, the Labour government made, as a manifesto promise, the guarantee that there would be a referendum on the European Constitution. Now that the constitution has been abandoned, they have decided to call it a treaty instead. People are complaining bitterly that Labour are not keeping their promise for a referendum, but they have learned their lesson, and aren’t putting up much of a fight. Nonetheless, Gordon Brown is sticking his fingers up at the British people and will push the treaty through Parliament. “Oh, alright then,” the British people will say.

In 1951, Bertrand Russell wrote a book called “The Impact Of Science On Society” which may go some way to explaining our behaviour.

“I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology,” he wrote. “Its importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda. Of these the most influential is what is called ‘education.’ Religion plays a part, though a diminishing one; the press, the cinema, and the radio play an increasing part … It may be hoped that in time anybody will be able to persuade anybody of anything if he can catch the patient young and is provided by the State with money and equipment.”

“The social psychologists of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. Various results will soon be arrived at. First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective. Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark gray.”

“Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen.”

Russell’s predictions are uncannily correct. Its almost as if he was outlining a strategy. It should be noted though, that although he predicted the use of “education” as a conditioning mechanism, the destruction of the family unit, and the mind numbing effect of modern music, he could not foresee the effects of “celebrity,” of “social networking,” or of computer games.

These days, people are spending all their time living in a fantasy world, scared to look out at the real world in case they notice just how shit it is. For a while there, it looked like we were wakening up to the scams our “ruling class” pull on us, but along came MySpace and Facebook to send us all straight back to sleep.

We really are living in The Matrix.

Yesterday, as promised, Dennis Kucinich introduced a privileged resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives to impeach Dick Cheney. Kucinich has explained that he decided to bring the resolution now because the danger that Cheney would lie to justify a preemptive war against Iran is high. He read the full text of the resolution on the House floor. The resolution is similar to HR333, which he introduced in April, but has languished in the Judiciary Committee ever since. HR333 has 22 cosponsors now, the latest being Democratic Representative Danny Davis.

The resolution introduced yesterday indicts Cheney for having lied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and that the Iraq government had worked closely with al-Qaeda. The resolution also accuses Cheney of violating the US Constitution by threatening to use force against Iran, when Iran poses no threat to the US.

Although Nancy Pelosi was not visibly present on the floor of the House during the entire procedure, once the resolution was introduced, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md) made a motion at her behest to table, i.e., kill the resolution. Echoing Pelosi, who has repeatedly said that impeachment is “off the table” Hoyer told Fox News: “Impeachment is not on our agenda, We have some major priorities. We need to focus on those.”

Initially it looked as if the motion to table would easily succeed. At one point in the voting it had 290 votes. However, a decision was made by the Republican leadership to instruct party members to change their votes and vote against tabling the measure. The final vote was 251 against tabling to 162 in favor of tabling. 165 Republicans voted against tabling, as did 86 Democrats, with at least 17 Democrats also changing their votes at the very end to also vote against tabling the motion in clear defiance of Pelosi.

With this vote, the impeachment of Dick Cheney is clearly no longer “off the table” as Nancy Pelosi has insisted. Her protection of Cheney’s war policy has been thoroughly unmasked.

Next, Hoyer moved to refer the resolution to the Judiciary Committee. The procedural vote as to whether to vote on the motion to refer to committee succeeded by a margin of 218 to 194, with the Republicans once again voting against Hoyer in order to force a quick one-hour debate on the house floor.

The actual motion to refer to committee won by the same margin 218 to 194.

Poor Gordon Brown was on the receiving end of some vitriolic comment from David Cameron today in the run up to the Queen’s Speech. What could be so wrong with it?

Apprenticeships (draft) Bill

Applying in England, this bill is likely to give 16 to 18-year-olds an entitlement to an apprenticeship, in an effort to reduce the number of young people not in education, training or employment.

Come on, Gordy! Where are all these apprenticeships going to come from? Now, if your next proposal were to be a massive investment in basic economic infrastructure, you know, even if it’s only a couple of nuclear power stations or a maglev or two, then I could see where you’re going with this …

Climate Change Bill

This bill creates a legal framework to reduce the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions up to 2050 and beyond. It will propose statutory targets to reduce UK carbon dioxide emissions by at least 60% by 2050 and between 26 and 32% by 2020 - as compared with 1990’s emissions. Provides for pilot schemes by councils to cut household waste. Much of the bill applies to the whole UK.

Nope, nothing here which might create an apprenticeship. This one’s just silly. Gordon, repeat after me, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ANTHROPOMORPHIC CLIMATE CHANGE!

But as I have said before, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get rid of fossil fuel based power generation and transport systems. Why don’t you simply commit to complete replacement of our coal, oil and gas fuelled power stations with some nice, safe, pebble bed high temperature gas cooled reactors? Why not go for a hydrogen economy? Could it be that your mate Al Gore wouldn’t be able to make his millions through his various carbon trading hedge fund activities? Could that be it? Just maybe?

Energy Bill

This bill aims to provide greater incentives for renewable energy generation and to make it easier for private firms to invest in offshore gas supply infrastructure, in “carbon capture” research and provisions on nuclear waste and decommissioning financing. Applies to whole UK.

I’m confused now … why, if you want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, are you promoting gas supply infrastructure? “Carbon capture?!?!?!” You’re nuts! Spend the money on FUSION research. Then you won’t have a carbon dioxide problem, real or not. Nor would you have a nuclear waste issue. Remind me, why aren’t we involved in fusion energy research? Oh yes, you’re blowing bubbles, aren’t you?

Constitutional Renewal (draft) Bill

Promises to “rebalance power” between Parliament and the government and give MPs more clout to hold the government to account. Subject to more consultation, the bill will propose giving Parliament powers to ratify treaties and decide whether troops should be deployed. It will also incorporate the findings of the ongoing consultation on judicial appointments and the handling of protests in Parliament Square. Most of the bill applies to the whole UK.

So, does this mean it’s going to be harder in future to get us into one of your dodgy wars? Tony was good at that, wasn’t he? Or does this just mean that you’re going to redouble the propoganda effort to make sure that MPs are too scared to say no? Just like Hitler did, maybe?

Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill

Allows the government to use money held in bank and building society accounts which have not been used for 15 years to provide more youth facilities. Applies to the whole UK.

This one’s great! So, I’ve got some money in a bank account that’s just sitting there accumulating interest. And you come along and take it. Isn’t that theft? Ah, I see that if I notice that you’ve done it, I can claim the money back. Does that include the interest?

Just finance the damned projects! You don’t have to steal people’s money for this kind of thing.

The rest of it bored me, Gordy. Come on, you want my vote?

Dennis Kucinich, Demotratic Congressman for Ohio, announced yesterday that he will be offering a privileged resolution in the House of Representatives next week, probably on the 6th of November. The resolution will bring articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney, contrary to the wishes of Kucinich’s boss in the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Kucinich said in his press release, “The momentum is building for impeachment. Millions of citizens across the nation are demanding Congress rein in the Vice President’s abuse of power. Despite this groundswell of opposition to the unconstitutinal conduct of office, Vice President Cheney continues to violate the U.S. Constitution by insisting the power of the Executive Branch is supreme. The Congress must hold the Vice President accountable. The American people need to let Members of Congress known how they feel about this. The Vice President continues to use his office to advocate for a continued occupation of Iraq and prod our nation into a belligerent stance against Iran. If the Vice President is successful, his actions will ensure decades of disastrous consequences.”

The press release reports that the privileged resolution has priority status for consideration on the House floor. Once introduced, the resolution has to be brought to the floor within two legislative days, although the House could act on it immediately. Kucinich is expected to bring it to the House floor on Tuesday, 6th November.

H. Res. 333, Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President, sponsored by Kucinich, has 21 cosponsors.

Contrary to the BBC news reports yesterday that the California wildfires have been brought under control, only Malibu, the area inhabited by the Hollywood “greats,” is actually being contained. In the meantime, the majority of fires which have so far consumed  650 square miles, 1600 homes and 6 lives, continue to rage.

Yesterday, Arnie held a press conference to slap the backs of the firefighters for doing a great job. I’m certain they are doing the best they can, with the limited resources they have left, after the looting of California’s fire fighting and prevention infrastructure by Arnie on the advice of his puppetmaster, George Schultz. That darned budget deficit.

On the 12th of October, a few days before the fires were started, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, laid-off all of their 1,400 seasonal firefighters. The layoffs were ordered because the State of California had declared the official end to the fire season. After the firestorms began, the State rescinded the fire season declaration, allowing CalFire to hire back the seasonal firefighters. Patti Roberts, spokeswoman for the Governor’s office of Emergency Services, told MSNBC on Tuesday afternoon, “I can’t say that they have all been rehired, but they can be rehired.”

The Governator obviously enjoys watching the fires. Maybe he’s invited his friends round for a barbecue.

Vice President Dick Cheney was caught on tape and caught off guard during a meeting with President Bush today.

A news crew was taping a cabinet meeting at the White House as the president was giving a briefing on the California wildfires, when they caught Cheney as he appeared to be nodding off.

“Wake me up when they’ve blamed it on Iran,” he said.