There was a time when it was permissible to think that the chief purpose of the judicial branch of government was to protect our constitutional rights as a check on runaway legislative majorities or executive overreach. To fulfill that duty, a judge is insulated from partisan maneuvering by a grant of lifetime tenure and a…
Galleries
The Implications of the Torture Report
The reaction to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s “Study of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program” is as significant as what the study uncovered about the psychology and methods of those who run the Deep State that rules us. After years of the Obama administration’s foot-dragging, obfuscation and threats, the senate Intelligence Committee’s “Study of the…
Can’t We Just Say the Roberts Court Is Corrupt?
Even in the absence of what Justice Roberts narrowly defines as “quid pro quo corruption,” a court that consistently decides all relevant cases on behalf of corporate interests – most recently McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission – undermines its own legitimacy as well as the Constitution. You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! The British journalist….
Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State
Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor,…
Q & A on C-Span with Brian Lamb
Program Detail: Info: Our guest is author and former Congressional staff member Mike Lofgren. He discusses his book titled “The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted.” In addition, he talks about his recent op-ed piece available on the website truth-out.org titled “Gates Agonistes.” The…
Gates Agonistes
Publish Monday Jan 20, 2014 Truthout link to article and comments Spies are inherently suspect people. For the sake of what remains of our democracy, they must be kept on a short leash. That is my conclusion from the furor surrounding former Secretary of Defense and onetime career CIA employee Robert M. Gates’s new book, Duty: Memoirs of…
Ex-GOP insider unloads: Blame “neo-Confederate insurrectionists” for shutdown!
TUESDAY, OCT 8, 2013 07:43 AM EDT Link to article and comments “I would take Boehner drunk over Cruz sober,” former 28-year GOP staffer-turned-author Mike Lofgren tells Salon BY JOSH EIDELSON TOPICS: SHUTDOWN, POLITICS, TED CRUZ, JOHN BOEHNER, NEWT GINGRICH, MIKE LOFGREN, CONGRESS,REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS, BARACK OBAMA, DEBT CEILING, GOVERNMENT, CONFEDERACY, CONSTITUTION,BOOKS, INTERVIEW, ELECTIONS NEWS, BUSINESS NEWS, NEWS, POLITICS NEWS The government shutdown, and the prospect of an unprecedented debt default, have sparked a new…