lrvelvel's Podcast

Hypocrisy Holds High Carnival, Ferraro, Spitzer And Other Recent Travesties Of The Political/Media Complex

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:34:00 GMT

...This is a country which perpetrates, condones, and/or ignores the most awful conduct. We are fighting wars and killing people by the gross, but nobody with power gives enough of a damn to put an end to it... it is sometimes claimed the public cares less and less, and even left wingers profess that we cannot leave Iraq lest matters get worse ... The Republican candidate, McCain, would continue fighting for a hundred years -- of him it was recently said he never saw a country he did not want to bomb or invade, and that (being third generation Navy) he thinks war the natural state of affairs -- as, evilly, do so many of my generation. Nor do many stop to realize that war, about which people care so little because it is not them that go to it, contributes mightily to the horrendous economic situation that it is said they do care about...

Alexander Pekelis, Arthur S. Miller, And Todayâs Supreme Court

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:23:00 GMT

...what we have here is a Supreme Court decision that once again screws over the small man; does so without any basis in Congressional history or purpose, but, rather, contrary to that history and purpose; and screws him over on the basis of unsupported assumptions of what juries might do and with no regard for the recognized fact that the federal agency that is supposed to protect the small guy is incompetent and, apparently, is in the hip pocket of the big drug and device makers...

The Needed Mental Attributes Of A President

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:29:00 GMT

...this is the story of Bush. His amiable, good old boy persona reflects a certain kind of interpersonal intelligence, sometimes in high degree. But he is totally lacking in the kind of analytical, logical, thoughtful intelligence needed by a leader, much less a President. Americans, often being fools who vote for the more personally attractive guy, elected Bush twice. They have learned to rue the day they did so...

The Names Of The Washington Professional Sports Teams

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 18:05:00 GMT

Calling all the Washington sports teams âThe Moronsâ would be superbly representative of the major âindustriesâ of the city. Itâs just so perfect, isnât it...

The New York Times, Cable TV, And McCain

Sat, 1 Mar 2008 16:38:00 GMT

as for the McCain campaignâs high-flown-language response about serving the country, never violating the public trust and never doing favors for special interests or lobbyists ..this response is just more ... of the political style obnoxiousness of using fancy talk to evade, secrete, hide or lie.

Clarence Thomas, His Autobiography, And Related Matters Pertaining To America And The Supreme Court.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:32:00 GMT

...This is the angriest book -- by far the angriest book -- that one has ever read. If Thomas were not a Justice, his book would be called a polemic, or a screed. To have written such a book sixteen years into the continuing honor of being a Justice of the Supreme Court is more than the word âamazingâ can signify. There are, roughly speaking, about one million lawyers in this country. Nine of them, or one in about every 111,000 are on the Supreme Court. Thatâs less than one one-thousandth of one percent of them, if my arithmetic is right. There are 300 million people in this country, and only the same nine of them are Supreme Court Justices. Thatâs less than one three hundred thousandths of one percent, if my arithmetic is right. With an accomplishment like this, Thomas is angry? One thinks there must be something fundamentally wrong with this guy....

The Great Louis Terkel. You know him as Studs.

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:06:00 GMT

...We live in a time when millions upon millions of us think we donât count. Only the big money on Wall Street and in big business counts: Only the people who lie, cheat and steal unbelievable sums from scores of millions of small fry count. They, and only they, get what they want....

Two Matters: The Environmental Crisis As An Economic Opportunity, And John Edwards As An Angry Populist

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:59:00 GMT

Programs to clean up the environment are often resisted because they would be an expense, a very large one. But wouldnât they simultaneously be a fantastic investment opportunity that would work wonders for employment, incomes, return on capital, the economy in general?

Richard Levin: President of Yale And King Of Comedy

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:15:00 GMT

...Now, with an endowment of 22.5 billion dollars, Yale can spend 80 million dollars per year on student aid though it couldnât afford this with a puny endowment of 10, or 12 or 14 or 17 billion. Now that is funny.

Horse Race Rot, Cosmetic Crapola, And The Possible Need For Bloomberg

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:15:00 GMT

Our entire method of campaigning is insane, and has zero to do with showing the ability or wisdom to govern wisely...we are in need of a third party devoted to doing the right thing in the right way. It seems at least possible that Michael Bloomberg might be the person to lead that charge...

Halberstam and History: Part 2

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:09:00 GMT

...The constant, sometimes even continuous, failure of moral courage ...is a hallmark of American life.... There was a continuous failure of moral courage regarding civil rights during the 1940s, 1950s and up until the mid 1960s. A failure of moral courage caused us to get deeper and deeper into the disaster of Viet Nam, as the Democrats refused to act against âtheirâ President, Lyndon Johnson, even though so many of them knew that we were in fact neck deep in disaster... A failure of moral courage has rendered the Democratic Party a nullity from the beginning in regard to Gulf II. It causes legislators, executive officials and judges to let big business get away with... the destruction of democracy as we once thought we knew it...

Halberstam and History: Part 1

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:22:00 GMT

...The ignoring of intelligence, the doctoring of truth, the lies, were one of those things weâve seen repeatedly from 1950 onwards: the Gulf of Tonkin in Viet Nam, body counts there, denials of escalation there, hiding of secret wars in Southeast Asia, WMDs in Iraq, denials of torture - - you name it, weâve had it. (General) MacArthur set the stage, if not the pattern....

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.mslaw.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.mslaw.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Robert Novaks Prince of Darkness

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:44:00 GMT

...A few nights ago, I heard Lou Dobbs say on TV... that Americans do not want to vote for any of the people who currently are running for president. One thinks Dobbs right, and when you read Novakâs book you might also think that, in a system which is comprised so extensively, even almost exclusively, of the kinds of despicables whom Novak finds everywhere in Washington and the state capitols, such a horrible choice as we now have is only to be expected...

Arthur Sulzberger And Bill Keller On Bended Knee, Serf-Like

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:48:00 GMT

...The Times contributed greatly to getting us into the Iraq disaster in the first place by its credulous reporting on WMDs...and it then helped keep us in that disaster via contributing to Bushâs 2004 victory by kowtowing to Administration claims and withholding the story of the NSA spying...

Read 'Em And Weep For Harvard

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:38:00 GMT

Weep for Harvard. Weep for the academic world. Weep for an America where immoral fraudulence is so de rigueur that reports of it donât even raise an eyebrow among the powerful, but are instead regarded by them as simply the way everyday business is done.

Jacob Hale Russell's article A Million Little Authors, written for the November/December 2007 issue of Harvard's alumni magazine, 02138, is appended.

Gee, Gordon, That's Great

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:00:00 GMT

The Chronicle of Higher Education's annual Executive Compensation issue is out and boy do those president's make a lot of jack...though not compared to those invaluable football coaches don't you know...

The Longitudinal Lesson Of Paul Krugmanâs The Conscience Of A Liberal

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 22:35:00 GMT

...one has seen the transition from a society whose culture favored equality to a society whose culture favors truly vast inequality -- a country where it is regarded as appropriate for CEOs to make 300 and 400 times what the average workers in their companies make and for hedge fund managers to make 1.7 billion dollars a year and pay tax at only a 15 percent rate, a country where the salary of the average guy hasnât improved much, if at all, in constant dollars for 30 years, a country where all our politicians are owned by the rich as in the first Gilded Age and where the mass media is in thrall to the rich and powerful...

Jack Goldsmith Stands Convicted, part 3

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:58:00 GMT

There are.. some problems with Goldsmithâs little mea non culpa. What the CIA had been doing is torture pure and simple, and nothing that Levin said, or George Bush says, can change that fact. You can call the sky a floor if you want, but that wonât make it one, and you can call waterboarding a friendly gesture if you want, but that wonât make it something other than torture.

Jack Goldsmith Stands Convicted, part 2

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:53:00 GMT

... to not know that prisoners were being transferred for torture, Goldsmith would have had to be living under a rock during his time at DOD and must have completely failed to read pertinent OLC torture memos ...None of this seemed plausible and now, thanks to Goldsmithâs own book, we know he read and was horrified by torture memos after he was put in charge of OLC and long before he wrote the transfer memo.

Jack Goldsmith Stands Convicted, part 1

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:02:00 GMT

any lawyer in private practice who tortured law or ignored fact to give support and cover to a clientâs gravely illegal conduct would be subject to disbarment, subject to criminal prosecution, and disqualified from being on any respectable law school faculty. How or why it should be different for lawyers who did such things to facilitate the gravest governmental misconduct, conduct which involved torture and sometimes murder, is something that escapes me.

More Garbage About Iraq From The Pols And The Media, Plus Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 22:53:00 GMT

It is also obvious that Bush is going to leave to his successor the awful question of what to do with terrorists whom weâve tortured, held incommunicado, detained indefinitely. These people canât be convicted in civilian courts...Then too it is again obvious that the Democrats arenât going to force Bush to bring home the troops by cutting off funds for the war. They have neither the brains nor the guts to cut our losses (the way a smart business cuts its losses).

With Its Defeat By Appalachian State, Michigan Finally Realizes Its Many, Many Decades Old Desire To Be The Harvard Of The West

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 21:05:00 GMT

Michigan has joined Harvard as the victims of what likely are the two greatest upsets in college football history. And now Michigan, as a fellow victim, has finally achieved its many, many decadesâ old desire to be the Harvard of the West.

Tell Me About Michael Bloomberg

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:47:00 GMT

Yesterday a posting here said we need a new kind of candidate instead of the typical amicable mediocrities who go from door to door or state to state for months or years on end in order to be elected...Today, by freak fortuity, I turned on CSpan II for a few minutes, and saw Bloomberg making a speech at Brookings on efforts to reduce poverty. To my personal amazement, he seemed to be the kind of person who met the vision offered in yesterdayâs posting.

We Desperately Need A New Electoral System, New Methods Of Campaigning, And New Types Of People Running For Office

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 20:24:00 GMT

It does not seem likely to me that one can comfortably rely on either of the current two major parties to overthrow the ultimately-disaster-producing national security state. ...Only a new party dedicated to fundamentally different ideas about America and the world will, in reality, be able to end the national security state. (Or do you really expect the Democrats to do it, if elected?)

The Federal Courts Bow Down, Abjectly, To The Secrecy Demands Of The National Security State

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:41:00 GMT

...secrecy, and the dishonesty it spawns, do little but create disaster...virtually every societal and economic disaster has gestated in secrecy. The Bay of Pigs, Viet Nam, the bombing of Cambodia, and Laos, the savings and loan debacle, the Enron debacle and the associated economic disaster -- all of these were hatched in secrecy and associated lies. For practical purposes, so was the current war in Iraq.

The Federal Judiciary, Aping The German Judges, Allows The Government To Force You To Die When You Are Sick.

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:11:00 GMT

Can the government stop someone who has no other options from trying to save his or her own life? According to a recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the answer is no.

The Speech and Debate Clause and Honesty

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:53:00 GMT

...our entire government runs on bribery and dishonesty (and everyone in politics and the media knows it). This bribery and dishonesty are called campaign contributions....

The Access To Experimental Drugs Case.

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:28:00 GMT

Abigail Burroughs was only nineteen years old when she learned that she had head and neck cancer. Eighteen months of painful chemotherapy and radiation did nothing to stop its growth. Though there were drugs that could save her life, the Food and Drug Administration told Abigail she couldnât have them.

Jean Edward Smith And Joe Biden

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:07:00 GMT

Maybe electing Joe Biden would be a very good thing.... A third party could support Biden as its candidate too if he were to win the Democratic nomination.

and... a follow up observation about Jean Edward Smith and stacking the court...

Increasing The Size Of The Supreme Court

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 22:18:00 GMT

Should there not have been an increase in the size of the Court if absence of an increase would have resulted in pro slavery or anti union decisions in the midst of the Civil War? Should there not have been an increase if a lack of increase would have resulted in the continued vitality of a then recent decision outlawing paper money -- the kind of money we use today? Should Roosevelt not have attempted his court packing plan if the price of lack of attempt would have been, as so many think, continued evisceration of the New Deal by the Supreme Court?

Are We Rome? We Are Rome.

Sat, 4 Aug 2007 21:15:00 GMT

The Romans were arrogant. They considered themselves the center of the universe. They considered others to be inferior, didnât have good information on what others thought -- sometimes had exactly wrong information -- and seemed to believe the world existed for the benefit of Rome and that all should do as Rome did....
Velvel discourses on Cullen Murphy's new book Are We Rome? The Fall of Rome And The Fate Of America...

The High Price of Gasoline

Sat, 7 Jul 2007 16:38:00 GMT

..some think the futures markets have added 20 to 25 dollars to the price of a barrel of oil... this estimated additional amount would account for roughly 30 to 40 percent of the price per barrel...

New Installment of My Radio Show "What the Media Doesn't Tell You"

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 14:49:00 GMT

Salon blogger and author of "A Tragic Legacy", Glenn Greenwald,on the disaster of George Bushss presidency and on how George Bush became the Republican candidate in 2000. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
Velvel's radio show can be heard at www.velvelonmedia.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.mslaw.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Times' News Judgement in its Obits of June 7th

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:23:00 GMT

Jim Clark beat the living shit out of civil rights demonstrators. He viciously abused them physically in other ways. His actions were so terrible that they were instrumental in securing enactment of the Voting Rights Act....This is the fine individual who, the Times believed, deserved an obit twice the size of the highly accomplished Martin Meyersonâs and placement at the top of the page.

Central Points And The Frivolous News Judgments Of The News Media

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:06:00 GMT

...what is the effect on the rule of law, and on the entire question of honesty, if a member of the elite like Libby can deliberately lie to a grand jury and then, via pardon, get off scot free. The question is only the more acute because of the other criminals from elite walks of life who have been pardoned by Presidents....

The Current Intersection

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:02:00 GMT

If the right-wing wins permanent dominance, the country is for practical purposes finished....

The New Big Lie

Tue, 5 Jun 2007 18:23:00 GMT

...And as our men continue to die in Iraq A war by which Bush has managed our sworn enemiesâ number to vastly inflate, The lying, cowardly members of Congress we can be sure Will continue to do nothing effective, but will continue only to verbally masturbate...

Dr. Demento in the Oval Office

Fri, 25 May 2007 23:33:00 GMT

...more people get killed in Iraq every day, while the top cowardly lion who fled from service in Viet Nam pretends he is a brave Lincoln faced with the destruction of this country and refuses therefore to disengage from disaster while denying that disaster is occurring...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Article by Ray McGovern Regarding George Tenent

Tue, 22 May 2007 14:04:00 GMT

"Tenet should not be behind a microphone; he should be behind bars."
Velvel appends a "fantastically good article about George Tenet by Ray McGovern, a 27 year veteran of the CIA who for a period wrote the Presidentâs daily brief."
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Let's Hear It For Hillary

Sun, 20 May 2007 15:19:00 GMT

...But seeking cover Hillary does pretend
That we should support a phony bill to end
The war. It enables her to circumvent the important question,
One the media collusively will not mention
Of a bill immediately cutting off all funds for the war
Except money needed to protect troops withdrawing from the blood effusing sore...
- a poem by Lawrence R. Velvel

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Rupert Murdochâs Purchase Of The Wall Street Journal Would Be Another Large Wall Street Nail In The Coffin Of Competent America

Wed, 16 May 2007 14:38:00 GMT

...the sale of the Journal to Murdoch would be another, and very large, nail in the ever expanding Wall Streetization, and the consequently increasing incompetence, of American journalism. The concern, more specifically, is that the high quality straight journalism that often appears in the Journal will disappear as the paper becomes Murdochized -- as a desire for a high quality journalism gives way to the Wall Streetish desire for ever greater profits...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

More Moral Meltdown In America.

Sat, 12 May 2007 18:26:00 GMT

The mania in this country for elite credentials makes a joke of the claim of social mobility that has always been so much a part of purported America. It is itself a form of moral meltdown.
On MIT, Wolfowitz, Iraq, the candidates...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

On Being "Off The Air" Of The Internet For A Period, On Imus, On Blacksburg, And On Bill Moyer's Show About Mass Media

Wed, 9 May 2007 17:25:00 GMT

With regard to Imus, one does not bleed for him....Blacksburg? -- what can one say? People who have said some of what there is to say have been crucified... For they pointed out the societally inadmissible relationship between what happened at Blacksburg...on the one hand, and the violence which is approved by and endemic to American society and the American government on the other hand. ...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

We Fight And Lose Wars In Which We Cannot, Dare Not, Use Our Major Advantages.

Tue, 1 May 2007 14:26:00 GMT

...In Korea the Chinese came in by the hundreds of thousands and,
though most Americans donât know it, Russian pilots were piloting the Mig.
There was no telling just how big
The war could have become
Had we insisted on putting in more men until we won,
If we indeed did win. There was a fear that we might easily
Have triggered World War III.
And in Viet Nam had we put in a million or a million and a half men,
We would have risked World War III again...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Remarks On Torture And Secrecy By The Redoubtable Scott Horton

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:06:00 GMT

"The practice of secret courts. The use of torture to secure confessions. The receipt of secret evidence. The exclusion of the public from proceedings. The offering of evidence in the form of summaries delivered to the judges, without the defendant being able to confront the evidence or conduct a cross-examination. These practices were the definition of tyrannical injustice to the Puritan fathers and the Founding Fathers. We thought them long banished, indeed, a hundred years and more before our own revolution. And now suddenly here they are again."
-from remarks' made by Scott Horton at the NYU Law School.

Reactionary Federal Appellate Judges, And What Can Be Done About Them.

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:16:00 GMT

...From the media one may receive this explanation
For why names of judges it does not mention:
A court of appeals is a unitary body,
So it matters not who speaks, or whether her logic is brilliant or shoddy,
Her words are not hers but of the court anent
(Unless, I guess, spoken in concurrence or dissent).
And this though the judges usually are but three
Of a court of seven or twelve or even twenty.
Need one say the idea is preposterous
And serves only to insure ignorance among us
Of who is liberal and who reactionary,
Of who uses life tenure to push views of the nineteenth century?...
a poem by Lawrence R Velvel

The Presidency Has Become A Great Business Opportunity

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:03:00 GMT

Itâs no longer just the desire to be first,
Or to live forever in a great sunburst
Of historical fame.
No. Now its for gain,
For riches, for wealth, for dollars by the million
That the greedy dance at the presidential cotillion,
Since it has now become clear for all to see
That to be President is a business opportunity
Of terrific dimension....
- a poem

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Birmingham And Baghdad; The South In 1963 And The United States in 2007

Wed, 4 Apr 2007 16:45:00 GMT

In 1963, Gene Patterson wrote a now famous column in The Atlanta Constitution in response to the Birmingham Church bombing.
...If you substitute the words"United States" for the word "South", the word "American" for the word "Southerner", the name "Iraq" for the name "Birmingham", and make some other necessary verbal substitutions...then what Patterson wrote is in many unfortunate respects as applicable to the entire United States today as it was to the South in 1963.

Comment on "If You Want To Know Why We Keep Fighting Wars, Look No Further Than The South"

Sun, 1 Apr 2007 18:51:00 GMT

For all its professed Christianity, the South today still has not adopted the philosophy of the Sermon on The Mount in its world outlook.... Sherwood Ross responds to Velvel's previous post...

If You Want To Know Why We Keep Fighting Wars, Look No Further Than The South.

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:35:00 GMT

The most famous Southern writer, Faulkner, said the past is not dead, it is not even past. This would seem true of the Southern attitude towards war. War has regularly been a Southern policy of choice...The South wanted the War of 1812, it wanted war with Mexico, it wanted the Civil War, it wanted to invade and take over Cuba and parts of Central America. Woodrow Wilson, a Southerner, got us into World War I after saying he kept us out of war. Even Harry Truman, who took us into Korea without Congressional authorization and thereby set the stage for a militarized nation and Viet Nam, was in effect a southerner -- Missouri was a rebel leaning border state with lots of Southern feeling (and guerrillas) where Truman grew up not long after the Civil War... Lyndon Johnson was a Southerner, and so was Dean Rusk. So is the current George Bush.

Why There Was No Indictment On The Underlying Crime Of Outing Valerie Plame

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:26:00 GMT

...The press prates of freedom and liberty
But doesnât grasp that to continue free
It cannot allow the President to be
A king...
Why There Was No Indictment On The Underlying Crime Of Outing Valerie Plame- a poem by Lawrence R. Velvel

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Article by A Lieutenant Colonel who served time in Iraq

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:46:00 GMT

It is not the insurgency, with its roadside bombs, or criminals engaging in mass kidnappings that are defeating the U.S. mission. It is the fact that our civilian leadership has cast victory in Iraq as a stable, democratic government. Building the parameters for mission success upon values and goals that the Iraqis themselves do not care for is potentially leading us toward a political defeat, despite our strength of arms...writes the Lieutenant Colonel...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Long Line- a poem

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:25:00 GMT

Is a huge misdeed,
Yet not momentous
Nor portentous.
For itÃïïs only the latest in the line
Of serial crime
That has victimized men
When theyÃïïre home again
From the wars....

Let Us Now Praise Honest Men- a poem

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:57:00 GMT

It is often said that truth is dead
When the guns begin to shoot....

...Who must shoot and wound and maybe kill
Arabs -- who pay the butchers bill;
Or bomb a village --
Which we would never, never pillage;
And may lose an arm, a leg, or more,
Or leave bits of brain on an Iraqi floor. ...

The Couch: Bush is on it and Congress Should be

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:31:00 GMT

That Bush is utterly devoid of empathy seems plainly true to me. Unlike Lincoln or even Lying Lyndon Johnson, who sent people to their deaths but agonized over it, Bush is thought by the shrinks, and appears to the lay eye, to give not one damn about how many Americans he kills, let along Iraqis...It seems to me that people in todayâs America who seek and reach office are different from you and me and other decent people in this society. They are willing to say and do things that would make a lot of the decent people gag...Psychiatry should investigate, should analyze, what kind of people these are who will say and do these things, and why they are like they are. Why investigate and analyze this? For the obvious reasons. So that we can know what we are faced with, and can start looking for and electing a better kind of person.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Preternaturally Prolific Posner on Plagiarism- Part 1

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:58:00 GMT

... should it be expected that there would not be outrage if it were to become public property that kids write opinions that judges then try to fool us into thinking are their own? - - opinions which send people to jail or for lethal injection, which take their property, which take their kids, and so forth. - Lawrence R. Velvel on Richard Posner's new book "The Little Book of Plagiarism"
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Preternaturally Prolific Posner on Plagiarism- Part 2

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:54:00 GMT

The last six minutes of Velvel's post...
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Lessons From The Philippines Insurrection And Our Overthrow Of Mossadegh, Part II.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007 17:11:00 GMT

In Iran, in 1953, we manufactured the overthrow of an Iranian patriot and nationalist manned Mohammed Mossadegh. We had him replaced by a cruel tyrant, the Shah, Mohammed Reza Palevi -- who, among other repressive actions, created the notorious and ultra cruel secret police force called Savak. The Iranians, who generally liked America before we orchestrated the overthrow of Mossadegh, have largely hated us ever since. Our 1953 action paved the way for the rise to power of the mullahs, led to the Shahâs overthrow and the one year seizure of our embassy personnel in 1979, and, as said, led to enduring hatred of the United States.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Lessons From The Philippines Insurrection And Our Overthrow Of Mossadegh, Part I.

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:57:00 GMT

In overthrowing governments from 1898 ...until today, using overt military force where necessary or secretly sponsored.. coups where desirable, our leaders have always given false reasons for, told lies about, our motivations. We were going to bring freedom and civilization to our "little brown brothers" or to the "gooks" or to others we referred to by racist appellations, or we were going to bring them the benefits of a market economy, or we were shouldering "the white mans burden" of improving the world... But at bottom, the most important reasons for doing what we did were selfish economic ones.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Urgent Need For Information On The Results Of Medical Care

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 02:30:00 GMT

The most crucial necessity in medical care is to begin making the needed information available to patients, referring doctors, medical advisers, the general public... Just as in every other walk of life -- let me repeat that -- just as in every other walk of life, a lack of publicly available information, sometimes because of deliberate secrecy, leads to bad results.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes
List Of Institutions That, According To Redefining Health Care, Create Analyses Of Medical Results (Outcomes) To One Degree Or Another
Consumers Medical Resource Toll-Free: 1-888-426-7435 Best Time to Reach between hours 8:30 a.m. â 5 p.m. EST, M-F
Best Doctors, Inc. One Boston Place, 32nd Floor Boston, MA 02108 617-426-3666 Toll-Free: 1-800-223-5003 Email: info@bestdoctors.com
Preferred Global Health 133 Federal Street Boston, MA 02110 617-369-7900
National Quality Forum 601 13th Street, NW, Suite 500 North Washington, DC 20005 202-783-1300 Email: info@nqfexecutiveinstitute.org
Pinnacle Care International 250 West Pratt Street, Suite 1100 Baltimore, MD 21201 1-866-752-1712
The Leapfrog Group c/o Academy Health 1801 K Street, NW, Suite 701-L Washington, DC 20006 202-292-6713 Email: info@leapfroggroup.org
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality P.O. Box 258100 Madison, WI 53725-8100 608-250-1223 Email: info@wchq.org
The National Committee For Quality Assurance 2000 L Street, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 202-955-3500
Institute For Healthcare Improvement 20 University Road, 7th Floor Cambridge, MA 02138 617-301-4800 Toll-Free: 1-866-787-0831
Pacific Business Group On Health 221 Main Street, Suite 1500 San Francisco, CA 94105 415-281-8660 Email: info@pbgh.org
United Resource Networks MN010-E169 6300 Olson Memorial Highway Golden Valley, MN 55427 Toll-Free: 1-800-847-2050
Alpha-1 Foundation 2937 SW 27th Avenue, Suite 302 Miami, FL 33133 305-567-9888 Toll-Free: 1-877-2-CURE-A1

We May Need A Huge March On Washington To Force Democrats To Put An End To The War ...

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:00:00 GMT

..Nothing could be further from the truth than the claim that, because he is Commander-in-Chief, Bush has the legal right to ignore a bill cutting off funds. In fact, the claim is viciously ironic. Ever since the earliest days of Viet Nam, we have been hearing that the way Congress can control Presidential warmaking, if it does not like what the President is doing, is to cut off funds. But now we hear, completely to the contrary, that such a cut off is of no legal consequence? And we hear it, yet, from legislators who claim they want to put an end to the war? Oh, boy.... This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Comment on Blog

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:54:00 GMT

Robert S. Dotson, M.D. writes to Velvel to say that his writings have "a tendency to belittle the intellectual capacities of those who live South of the Mason-Dixon line and to paint the entire region with a broad brush which clearly displays a lack of first-hand knowledge of the region and a good bit of historical inaccuracy"...and Velvel responds!
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

What The Media Have Not Said Upon Ford's Passing.

Fri, 5 Jan 2007 17:18:00 GMT

Fordâs precedent setting pardon of Nixon showed that if you hold a high enough office, and if what youâve done is bad enough, you can expect to get off scot free in this country.
That the truly big time miscreants inevitably get off scot free here is one of the reasons many Americans have little or no faith in our government. It is also one of the main reasons our leaders all-too-blithely take us into wars, uselessly bomb large sections of other countries to smithereens, order up torture, mess over and suppress civil rights, and so forth. There is nothing holding them back, you see. There will be no trial, no punishment, and, for that matter, not even an impeachment.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The DeFacto Closing Of The Flagships And Possible Replacements For Them

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 19:01:00 GMT

Desiring to join the "educational eliteâ, state universities are raising tuition and lessening the amount of aid available to those who canât afford their new and higher prices- an ever growing percentage of our population which now includes not only minorities and the poor, but often the lower middle class and middle class as well.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit Against the Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

1898 Redux

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 01:56:00 GMT

"There is no terrorist group or groups and no nation or nations that can overcome us if we do not destroy ourselves by endless adventuring around the globe sponsored by Bush and his successors. If we engage in those adventures our people will be ever more split."
On William Jennings Bryan and the dispute over American imperialism that began with the Spanish American War...
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Sanity, Competence, And The Latest Washington Crock About Iraq.

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:44:00 GMT

More on Bush's Sanity and the crock we refer to as The Iraq Study Group Report.......
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit Against the Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Comments Regarding Mary Sullivan, Brandeis, etc.

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:39:00 GMT

"...larger even than the age discrimination issue --is the question of whether institutional loyalty counts for anything in universities as they try to make themselves more âbusinesslike.â Two readers respond to the post, "Social Justice at Brandeis' This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com.
To learn more about The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu.
And to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against The Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes.

Pretending That November 7th Never Happened. Also, It Is Now Time to Quite Seriously Ask The Question Of Whether George Bush Is

Fri, 8 Dec 2006 18:11:00 GMT

The sensible thing to do in Iraq is to divide the country into three areas corresponding to religious preponderance, give people a few months to move if they want... and then get the hell out of the country. But only a few of the Washingtonites and pundits are for this course of action. For it too would enable a rapid departure from Iraq... a rapid change in accordance with the electoral dictate of November 7th. And change in accordance with November 7th... is not what is desired by the people who run this country and want to pretend that November 7th never happened. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com.
For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu.
and to hear (and see!) the amazing history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes.

Social Justice At Brandeis

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 01:49:00 GMT

Why was Mary Sullivan, the woman's softball coach for 32 years, fired a year before she could begin receiving retirement benefits, and with no medical insurance? Wasn't Brandeis s founded by a people who have long claimed social justice to be their special provenance, and partly because these people were themselves being denied social justice at other universities?
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against The Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

What Schembechler Accomplished

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 21:23:00 GMT

When Schembechler became Michiganâs coach in 1969, its glory years under Fielding Yost and Fritz Crisler were long gone. The 107,501-seat Michigan Stadium had seldom been filled in recent seasons, and the Michigan band was finding fewer occasions to hail the maize and blue with the marching song âThe Victors.â ... But on November 22, 1969, Schembechler put his stamp on a new day for Michigan with a 24-12 victory against top-ranked and undefeated Ohio State and Coach Woody Hayes, his former mentor. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against The Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes