Is the Party of 'No' Becoming the Party of No-One?

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment -
National News wire - The Infinite Echo

With the defection of long time GOP stalwart Arlen Specter to the Democrats, could the Republican Party be facing irrelevance?

Tuesday’s announcement that Arlen Specter was bolting from the Republican party caught many by surprise. True, Specter has not been in lock step with the GOP for some time. Still, the senior senator from Pennsylvania had recently reiterated his loyalty to the party. How quickly the realities of politics can change the political landscape.

It’s no secret the GOP is in trouble. The ancient astronauts calling the shots at party HQ just don’t seem to get it. They are determined to play the game their own way, even if it ultimately means playing it alone. And playing it alone is no fun in politics. Just last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to Democrat. Specter understands. He gets the math. If the senior senator from Pennsylvania wants to stay relevant, he needs to represent.

With the Republican party facing a dismal 22 percent approval rating, one would be hard pressed to find good news, or good will, for that matter, within the party. Their highly publicized power struggle has only served to further the ever growing fissure splitting the GOP apart.

Conservative blowhards such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have been no help, continually fanning the flames of discontent. Can you say “scorched Earth”? It's hard to figure what these folks think they stand to gain.

I am not a Republican, and I don‘t mind saying so. I think the party is caught in an untenable time warp, racing toward obscurity. It is a party in disarray, represented by talking heads with no palpable conscience, only acerbic rhetoric. But then, these days, I’m not even certain the GOP has a pulse.

Will the last out the door, please turn off the lights as you leave?

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Bad Cop, No Doughnut

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment -
National News wire - The Infinite Echo

The jury is still out, but so far 2009 appears to be shaping up as the year of the bad cop. The year started off with a bang, when an Oakland, California cop shot an un-armed man in the back, and for the boys in blue it’s all been downhill ever since.

It all started January 1st, shortly after revelers rang in the new year, when Johannes Mehserle, an Oakland transit officer shot Oscar Grant, while Grant was lying face down on the pavement. Officers at the scene of the shooting attempted to confiscate all videos of the incident, but ultimately, several damning videos surfaced, showing the officer acted inappropriately. Officer Mehserle has since been charged with homicide and removed from duty.



Then on March 1st came the disturbing story of the King County Sheriff’s deputy who “beat down’ the fifteen year old girl in a cell. Once again, the brutal beating was caught on tape. The Deputy, officer Paul Schene, has been charged with fourth degree assault, including kicking the girl in the stomach, pulling her hair, slamming her head against the wall, and punching her while she was on the ground. This, all because the fifteen year old had referred to the officer as “a pig”.

Are you squirming in your seat yet? This is not the stuff I like to read about, nor is it the kind of story I prefer to write. And it just gets creepier from here. Read on.

There are two disturbing stories about rogue cops in the headlines as I write. First, there’s the story about the Dallas cop who detained NFL running back, Ryan Moats' in a hospital parking lot while his mother-in-law was dying. Yes, the incident was once again caught on tape, and again, it isn’t pretty. In fact, Ryan Moats’ mother-in-law passes away during the exchange, while the officer Robert Powell continues to badger Mr. Moats. The Dallas police department has expressed embarrassment over the matter.

Finally, there’s the story about the federal marshal in El Paso Texas who skips out on bail, having been busted stealing handguns and other items belonging to the feds. Vincent Bustamante, a deputy sheriff didn’t stay on the lamb long, however. His body was found just south of the US border in Juarez Mexico. He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the back of his head.

During my research for this column, I found more stories of such behavior than I care to list. It saddens me, and perhaps, it frightens me. I hoping this will all turn out to be an aberration of sorts, a departure from the norm, rather than a sign of things to come. Still, I am reminded of a bumper sticker I used to see often on the bumpers of beaters rolling around New England. ‘Bad Cop, No Doughnut’, it read. No doughnut, indeed!

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Skate the Razor Blog - blogment

Are Catholics Losing the Faith?

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment -
National News wire - The Infinite Echo

Could some Catholics be losing faith in their religion? According to a new report released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Affairs, Catholicism in America is shedding more members than any other traditional faith.

The numbers are alarming. The Official Catholic Directory of 2008 reports there are over 67.1 million Catholics in the US, a decrease of nearly a half a million in the span of a year. The result has been the shuttering of parishes throughout much of the country.

Parts of Ohio, including Cleveland, have been hit especially hard, but closures have effected perishes throughout the US, including Allentown, Pennsylvania, Camden, New Jersey and New York City. As many as a third of those in the survey raised as Roman Catholics no longer attend the church.



The cause of the migration away from Catholicism is said to be rooted in money. "Too many bishops are treating parishes as if they were Starbucks franchises," Sister Christine Schenk, a Cleveland-area nun opined. "It's about more than money. It's about mission to the people," she said. "This isn't what Jesus would do."

The Catholic church has been faced with a number of image problems in recent years, as a result of internal strife and mounting scandal. The most prominent scandal involved accusation of sexual misconduct between Catholic priests and under-age minors, usually young boys. Some priests were ultimately defrocked, while others served time in jail.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Skate the Razor Blog - blogment

Bush Officials Facing War Crimes Charges

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment -
National News wire - The Infinite Echo

At least six former members of the Bush administration are facing criminal charges, as a Spanish court proceeds with its investigation into alleged US war crimes.

The same court that successfully brought former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to justice, has pledged to prosecute six former members of the Bush administration for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Spanish law is not limited by international borders, allowing Spain to prosecute and extradite criminals from other countries, including the US. Some of those abused were Spanish citizens, adding further credibility to the proceedings.

The Bush administration officials facing charges include former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former undersecretary of defense policy, Douglas Feith, John Yoo from the Justice Department, Jay Bybee, and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.

Although disgraced president George W. Bush has long maintained that detainees were not tortured or abused, an abundance of evidence has surfaced, including the use of banned interrogation procedures, such as water-boarding, sensory depravation, and electrical shocks to the testicles.

Other ranking members of the Bush administration have recently expressed concerns over how the Bush administration handled matters following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. Bush and others have been described as having “panicked”, detaining scores of individuals they knew were innocent.

"There are still innocent people there," declared a former chief of Staff for Colin Powell, Lawrence B. Wilkerson. "Some have been there six or seven years." In all, over 800 prisoners have been held at the US prison facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, where Bush officials believed they could operate outside of established law. Nearly all of the prisoners have since been released, with only a handful proving to have been involved in any terrorist or anti-American activity.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Skate the Razor Blog - blogment

Inside the 9/11 Report

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

blogment - National News wire - The Infinite Echo

I've been reading through the 9/11 Commission Report, and it really doesn't do much to address some of the hard questions. It seems almost unconscionable to suggest the Bush administration could have been complicit in the events of 9/11, and yet, a great many Americans believe it to be true. Then again, one need not be a physicist to realize the official version of the story simply doesn't stack up.

Much like a house of cards, both towers tumbled to the ground in a matter of minutes, defying the laws of physics. The impact of the aircraft, and the subsequent explosion of jet fuel has been blamed for compromising the integrity of the structures, but leaves us with more questions than answers. If indeed, the towers fell due to structural failure, why then would building seven also fail? It was not struck by aircraft, nor was it built in the same manner as the towers. How does a building three blocks long collapse from a localized debris fire? Obviously, it doesn't.

Perhaps you are not familiar with the World Trade Center complex prior to 9/11. As such, it would be easy to overlook the obvious contradictions concerning the event. Throughout history, no other buildings have failed in a similar manner and yet, we are expected to believe that this fluke of physics occurred not once, but three times, in a single location.

Could the Bush administration have somehow been involved in orchestrating these events? Frankly, the jury is out. We know for a fact, however, that the administration of Dwight Eisenhower drew up plans for similar attacks on US soil to bolster support for invasions of the USSR and Cuba. The covert operation, known as Operation Northwoods' was wholly rejected by subsequent administrations, but a precedent had been set. The US government had proven beyond doubt, a capability to kill innocent Americans.


911 Report

Could 9/11 be another Operation Northwoods'? Unfortunately, it appears entirely possible. Just as the North tower was beginning to list to one side, a series of explosions occurred at street level, causing the building to buckle from beneath, bringing it straight down. These explosions could not have been the result of exploding fuel, as heat rises. Furthermore, we watched in terror as the jet fuel erupted into flames. What then, could have caused the explosions at street level?

We may never know the truth about 9/11, but we certainly know the official explanation is flawed and unacceptable. Could George W. Bush and his administration have knowingly murdered thousands of Americans? One can only wonder.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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