(I added the audio. This garbage cannot be allowed to stand. -Brian;
Thanks, Brian, for the audio! And thanks, dday, for posting about this horrifying rambling by Orange County’s most notorious psychotic politician. – promoted by atdleft)

Check out this diary for video.

Of all the wingnutty statements from Rep. Dana “you say Taliban, I say Paliban” Rohrabacher, this may be the wingnuttiest.  What makes it worse is that he said it in the presence of Col. Ann Wright, who served this country for 45 years in the military and the diplomatic service, fighting for the very values on which Rohrabacher spits. 

During a Congressional hearing this week with members of the European Parliament on the practice of extraordinary rendition, whereby detainees are flown on CIA planes to secret prisons all over the world to be tortured either at Guantanamo or their countries of origin, Rohrabacher scoffed at all notions of eliminating this deeply troublesome program, which has harmed our stature with our allies and around the world and has debased our souls, and then busted out with this:

Rohrabacher railed against anyone who questioned the right of the Bush administration to do whatever it wanted, legal or illegal, to prevent terrorist acts and said that by not supporting the Bush policies was consigning their country to the terrorists. In particular he said that any Americans who questioned the extraordinary rendition were un-American […]

Rohrabacher never once mentioned due process, the rule of law, right to a trial for anyone picked up in the extraordinary rendition program. Merely because persons were “rendered” and imprisoned by the US meant to Rohrbacker they were guilty.

Rohrabacher said if European countries did not cooperate with the United States and go along with whatever the Bush administration wanted, they were condemning their countrymen to death by not using extralegal methods to imprison terrorist suspects. When citizens attending the hearing, including members of Codepink Women for Peace and Veterans for Peace, heard Rohrabacher’s statement, they collectively groaned. Then, much to the shock and disbelief of everyone in the hearing room, Rorhbacker said to those who had expressed displeasure at his statements: “I hope it’s your family members that die when terrorists strike.”

(NOTE: in the clip provided, Rohrabacher specifically said “suffer the consequences,” not die.)

So a US Representative wished for death on his fellow Americans because they disagree with him that the best way to fight terror is to hook people’s genitals up to electrodes so they can give us false information.

This is of course nothing new for Rohrabacher.  During the election he told the father of an Iraq soldier that “you’re the one calling your son a war criminal.” (go about 5:15 into the clip)

But this is pretty low on the scale of human discourse.  Hoping that your critics are killed by terrorists.  And don’t forget, after the fact he’d exploit those dead to justify permanent and endless war.

(cross-posted from Courage Campaign)

Blackwater, the private contracting firm that sent its employees into the warzone of Iraq unprepared and unprotected, the very one that is currently under investigation by the Government Oversight Committee, is looking at California and seeing dollar signs. Robert Salladay had an excellent post the other day that connects the comments of Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, who said the following on Fresh Air recently:

"[Blackwater] has applied for operating licenses in all of the coastal states of the United States and…they're opening military and law enforcement training facilities in Illinois and California."

…and the Nov. 2005 hiring of Chris Bertelli as deputy director of the CA Office of Homeland Security (you can watch him HERE appearing to take glee in the prospect of CA's coming disasters.)

His qualifications? Salladay puts it this way:

[Chris Bertelli] once did consulting work for Blackwater

Scahill put it quite another on yesterday's Democracy Now:

Bertelli was Blackwater's leading lobbyist, working for the Alexander Strategy Group, the powerful K Street Republican firm staffed and founded by former senior staffers of Tom DeLay. Bertelli was one of the people steering Erik Prince and other Blackwater executives around Capitol Hill after the Fallujah ambush in 2004. 

More…

One example of Bertelli's work for Blackwater can be found here in reporting on a statement he wrote responding to a civil lawsuit brought by the survivors of the slain contractors.

In a statement, Blackwater spokesman Chris Bertelli said…"It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the specifics of the complaint at this time."

[snip]

"Blackwater hopes that the honor and dignity of our fallen comrades are not diminished by the use of the legal process," Bertelli said in the statement.

The fact that Schwarzenegger hired an ex-Blackwater lobbyist may not in and of itself be problematic except for the fact that, as I aluded to above, these days Blackwater has quite a bit riding on the approval of California's powers that be.

First, there's the disaster relief operating licenses. According to an extensive investigation by The Virginia Pilot, (h/t Salladay): 

On the home front, Hurricane Katrina's $73 million purse has persuaded Blackwater officials to position themselves as the go-to guys for natural disasters. Operating licenses are being applied for in every coastal state of the country. Governors are being given the pitch, including California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom a Blackwater official recently visited to discuss earthquake response.

So, wait, they actually met with the governor? Salladay dug into this and reports:

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the administration today triple-checked its records and could not find any evidence that the governor met with Blackwater USA.

The assurance that such a meeting did take place originated from Seamus Flatley, deputy director of Blackwater's new domestic operations division. So, who's right? Perhaps someone should ask if there's been a recent meeting between Bertelli and his previous employers.

But perhaps of more concern than Blackwater's getting contracts to perform their own unique brand of disaster relief right here in California is their desire to build a mercenary training camp outside San Diego.

Amy Goodman has the goods:

About 150 miles south of [Los Angeles], near the US-Mexico border, the private security firm Blackwater is planning to build a new military training center known simply as Blackwater West. Plans for the new site include multiple firing ranges, training towers, an armory, a helipad, an urban simulation training area and a driving track.

  Blackwater plans to build the facility on an 800-acre chicken and cattle ranch near Potrero, a tiny rural town about forty-five miles east of San Diego.

In December, the project won unanimous approval by the Potrero Planning Board but since then a majority of Potrero's registered voters have signed a petition opposing the proposed site, Rep. Bob Filner, whose district contains the area in question, is doing what he can to fight it as are a plethora of environmental and anti-war activists. The ultimate decision lies with the San Diego County Board of Supervisors once an environmental impact report is done, which may not be for a couple years.

More on Blackwater West on Monday. The story just gets stranger and stranger. 

“It’s too early to decide… I dare not express any opinions until after I see the environmental impact report on that project.”

(From OC Register)

So what is newly appointed Garden Grove City Council Member Steven Jones talking about, and why is everyone paying such close attention to it? And why is everyone looking at Garden Grove as if what happens in this town may change everything for working people in Orange County? Follow me after the flip for the answers, and much, much more…

So what’s the big news? Wal-Mart’s coming to town… And they want it “Super-sized”!
Here’s what was said in The LA Times about Wal-Mart’s proposed Supercenter back in December (via Topix):

While other Southern California cities pass laws to prevent Wal-Mart Supercenters from opening, Garden Grove appears to be all but holding open the front door for the big-box retailer.

Pressed for money and looking for a way to revive a tired commercial district in central Garden Grove, city officials see a Supercenter as a potential savior. ‘This is going to enhance the quality of life of our residents, and it will be an anchor to a blighted area,’ said Councilwoman Janet Nguyen. Twenty-one Supercenters, which combine a regular Wal-Mart with a discount supermarket, have opened in the state, most in north Los Angeles County and outlying areas of the Inland Empire.

However, this proposed project would mean the very first Wal-Mart Supercenter in Orange County. Now, many local officials and business people are quite excited about this. They are excited about the prospect of increased tax revenue from Wal-Mart. They are thrilled about all the new customers flooding into Garden Grove to do business. Basically, they can hardly wait to see Wal-Mart revive this under served and largely ignored part of town.

But wait! Is everyone all that excited about the new Wal-Mart Supercenter? And does everyone really think that Wal-Mart will be a great boon for Garden Grove?

Wal-Mart critics argue that the retail giant would depress wages, especially compared to the pay of unionized workers at grocery stores that would be the Supercenter’s main competition. Ismail Majoo, who owns a discount variety store in neighboring Santa Ana, is a member of the Main Street Coalition, a small group of clergy, labor leaders and small-business owners concerned about a Supercenter’s impact on small business. ‘The Supercenter will wipe out the small-business owner because of the store’s aggressive pricing policy,’ Majoo said. ‘I’m not really worried about my business, but I do worry about the whole neighborhood.’ The Rev. Wilfredo Benitez, rector at St. Anselm Episcopal Church in Garden Grove, has been the religious leader most outspoken against the Supercenter, attending two anti Wal-Mart rallies and raising the issue three times in recent Sunday sermons. ‘It’s a bit frustrating,’ Benitez said. ‘It’s territory a lot of pastors won’t go into on Sunday morning. But we all have the moral imperative to stand on the side of the poor and those who would be exploited.’ ‘We don’t want that Supercenter here,’ he added.

Actually now that they mention it, Wal-Mart does have a nasty record of hurting the community that it comes into. They’ve been known to rely upon taxpayer-funded corporate welfare to artificially “lower prices” and cut down their honest playing competition. They don’t exactly have the best record of keeping bigotry and discrimination out of their business. Well basically, Wal-Mart isn’t the type of company that cares about the diverse, working-class community in Garden Grove.

So what can you do about it now? Well, why not sign the Courage Campaign’s petition asking Garden Grove City Council Member Steven Jones not to allow Wal-Mart to hurt the small businesses in Central Orange County. He may be the key deciding vote in determining whether or not Wal-Mart is allowed to come in and change the entire dynamics of doing business in Garden Grove and Central Orange County. The future of our small businesses and our working-class communities is on the line, so we need to let Council Member Jones know how we really feel about what may potentially be a VERY RAW DEAL for the people of Garden Grove.