Hoping for Something Better for our Nation On Thanksgiving?
Me, too.
_________
".....Changing all this is what this war of ideas is all about, and I am so pleased you are so bad at it. As long as you let one of your top generals and your pals on the Christian right spew hate against the Prophet Muhammad, you only strengthen the will of my young people against you. And your "moderate" Arab allies are good at the police tactics to repress our angry, humiliated youth, but they have no serious strategy to give them new jobs, new ideas and new beliefs..."
Saddam to Bush in a mock-memo by Thomas Friedman
~ ~ ~
Reading today's Thomas Friedman column titled "A Letter From Tikrit", which is a mock-memo to Bush with Saddam Hussein's name attached, I got to thinking about this one point:
Bush took this nation to an unprecedented and virtually unilateral pre-emptive war without any form of electoral mandate. The social divisions in this nation could not be any more divisive..I would wager to say they are wider than pre-Civil War America. Whether we wish to admit it or not, this nation is in sorry shape as we stand today.
9-11 was not enough to unite us.
I do not fault the American people entirely.
I blame the political atmosphere which heavily influences the national media.
I particularly blame our polarizing President.
As a Democrat and a decent American citizen, I sit here today and tell you that I firmly believe, through Bush's actions, that he is no less than hostile to people of my political ilk.
Yes...not just firm in his beliefs...
Hostile to the loyal opposition.
Hostile.
This can never be a good thing..to alienate half your own nation.
If GW Bush cannot convince one solid half of his own people that this NeoCon wet-dream "War of Ideas" is:
1. --worthy of active fighting to begin with..
I'll be back..."
2. --worthy of re-activating the draft and risking more troops..
3.-- not just a Christian vs. Islam fundamentalist war (So often, Bush-lips spout it is not so,
and then the Gen. Boykins and Franklin Grahams and State Department-haters like Pat Robertsons proudly state otherwise)...
Osama's Neo-Con come-on for which Bush fell
4. --not just a war for which we have fallen into Osama Bin Laden's greatest wish..to destroy
America's international influence. (It almost seems, through Bush's easy compliance to enter war without great contemplation, has become nothing more than Osama's patsy)..
5. --not just an organized force-effort to take ultmate advantage of the natural resources of the nations we're atacking...
Gets longer every day
6. --not just a war based on lies and morbid exaggerations...
7. --going to make us any safer in a world where we lose respect, support, and influence with each passing day..
Look up...black helicopter at ten o'clock...
8. --a war about which any of us Americans can express civil dissent without fearing FBI surveillance and being labeled something less than patriotic in political attack-ads...
9. --a war which will not do irreparable damage to our precious civil liberties and our Constitution..
Dad, Pat, and the grease
10. --of tangible benefit to anyone other than the Christian Right, Halliburton and other corporate cronies of the Bush administration..
..then we'd best work on backing off in a safe way for the Iraqi people and our troops and actually getting the President for whom we VOTE next time (because this current nation-dividing President is clearly not going to change his stripes).
Once we have a humble, non-hostile, and stable President in place, we need to get the world to see us as something far less than the arrogant and greedy imperialists we're appearing to be.
A warning:
Unless we Americans (and our Representatives) can heal some of these cultural and social divisions that divide us,
I assure you that America will be weakened to a point of failure not only in Iraq, but right here at home.
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.
Jude
Oh, come on...
you know I'm only joking.....
right?
Ousting Bush: One Person Makes a Difference
I enjoyed reading n todd's article about his experiences as a volunteer for the Dean campaign.
The League of Liberals also mentioned n todd's piece today at their website.
As I write this, I'm putting on my boots and heading out the door to collect signatures for Dean in New York.
The Des Moines Register has put Gov. Dean on top of the heap after the debate on Monday night...Wes Clark coming in second.
"....Clark's performance will likely renew talk that he would make a good running mate with Dean. He could provide national-security credentials to a ticket headed by the Vermonter..."
This is the "dream team", my friends.
It's what I've been saying for quite a long time.
Howard Dean and Wesley Clark are the faces of the Democratic party as we stand here in 2003 looking out to the
horizon. The future of our America will rest safely in their patriotic hands. They understand what our forefathers understood. America is only as good as the strength and good determination of its people.
The shame of the Bush administration is their clear determination to take government from the hands of individual people like you and me...instead to place our government in the hands of corporations, the special interests, the wealthiest 1%, and the Richard Perles and Douglas Feiths who make the plans that will tragically result in your son (or daughter) going off to a foreign land to die or to be maimed for their friends' greed.
I'm just one little voice.
Howard Dean has convinced me that I am going to make a difference.
I know I must try.
There is a real and present danger here, my brothers and sisters.
Four more years with the Bush administration could mean grave danger for the security of not only
our own nation, but the entire world.
We must stop pushing an agenda of arrogance and disinterest toward the opinion of the civil world.
The Universe is fair and the Universe is balanced by an unseen God. I believe this to be true.
The Universe does not care what Brit Hume or Judy Woodruff thinks. In the grand scheme, the Universe
does not care about Tawana Brawley, about whom Tom Brokaw and MSNBC seem to fret so much.
It's time to get real...to ask the questions that cut to the heart of matters that matter.
As for me, it's simply time to go to work for Howard Dean.
It starts with a simple knock on my neighbor's door.....
I hope you will do what you can do today for the candidate of your choice.
The son-of-a-Bush is destroying American democracy as he makes democracy his personal whore in foreign lands.
A new light shines in the halls of the League
A warm and hearty "Welcome!" to Anonymoses, the newest member of the League of Liberals.
BRING ON THE CULTURE WAR
We Just Can't Wait
Hard-core Conservatives won't vote for Howard Dean in 2004 (should Dean be nominated) because of his supportive stand on the issue of gay/lesbian civil unions.
That is not "news" in any way, shape, or form.
These Conservatives, however, do wish to demonize Howard Dean for his stand on the issue.
I really don't see this as a threat to Dean in 2004.
This nation is divided straight down the middle in an ideological sense.
With this Conservative group, we are talking about the people who are going to vote for Bush no matter what he does.
It has become virtually pointless to try to appease them.
Now is the time for bold civil reform.
Conservatives say Bush is a leader, a creator, that he is making history, that he works tirelessly, that he is reponsible...
He has already led the Liars Club by lying straight-faced about WMDs in Iraq, he has created a budget deficit to rival the depths of a bottomless pit, he has made history by losing so many of our jobs, he has worked tirelessly to break down pro-environmental standards, and he has been responsible for the destruction of U.S. support and credibility amongst the world community.
Obviously, nothing will change the minds of these
gullible people who allow the Liar-In-Chief's pandering to them flatter them into voting for more Constitutional abuse, fewer job opportunities, and further weakening of our nation's international stature.
I think the best thing they could possibly do is to make civil unions for gays a central issue in 2004.
Then perhaps we can make some meaningful history together by voting for a new leader who will
tirelessly and responsibly re-create the wonderful thing called "hope"...the hope that so many Americans (and their would-be supporters around the world) have lost because of Dubya Bush.
The most important facet of leadership involves the innate ability to instill hope in your constituency.
If the only hope Bush will be instilling in the 2004 campaign involves a weakening of States' Rights and the exclusion and discrimination of a certain group of Americans, (along with the disasters he has wrought since stealing the office of the Presidency), then I say: BRING IT ON.
He's sure to be flushed down the annals of history straight back to being the anus of Crawford.
Have a great liberal day!
Jude
Bill Clinton's 21 Favorite Books
According to the AP, Clinton's list, in alphabetical order by author, is:
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou.
"Meditations," Marcus Aurelius.
"The Denial of Death," Ernest Becker.
"Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963," Taylor Branch.
"Living History," Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"Lincoln," David Herbert Donald.
"The Four Quartets," T.S. Eliot.
"Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison.
"The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century," David Fromkin.
"One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
"The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes," Seamus Heaney.
"King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa," Adam Hochschild.
"The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis.
"Homage to Catalonia," George Orwell.
"The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis," Carroll Quigley.
"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.
"The Confessions of Nat Turner," William Styron.
"Politics as a Vocation," Max Weber.
"You Can't Go Home Again," Thomas Wolfe.
"Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny," Robert Wright.
"The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats," William Butler Yeats
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Troops Savaged by Iraqi Teenagers
"....Three U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq
2 hours, 9 minutes ago
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
MOSUL, Iraq - Iraqi teenagers dragged the bloody bodies of two American soldiers from a wrecked vehicle and pummeled them with concrete blocks Sunday, witnesses said, describing a burst of savagery in a city once safe for Americans. Another soldier was killed by a bomb and a U.S.-allied police chief was assassinated. "
This is entirely too much....
too much..
entirely.
A result of the hatred we've fed...there's no denying we've played our part.
The ugly memory of Mogadishu arises.
God save us all.
Bush Administration is Leeching Power off the Fear They Generate
It's a veritable petri dish for growth of fascist power.
Thomas Friedman makes a great point here, speaking about Colin Powell's recent no-show as keynote speaker and recipient of one of the first Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission medals:
"....Bin Laden is supposed to be on the run — not us. What good is driving bin Laden into a cave if our secretary of state has to live in a bubble? When Mr. Powell can't deliver a speech in London — London — then why travel anywhere? And if diplomats can't travel or circulate, then diplomacy becomes virtual. And virtual diplomacy leads to virtual allies and virtual allies lead to no allies at all. If communities of shared values can't share their values, where are we?"
Why is this Administration acting in such a seemingly fearful manner (with this overbundance security people around them)? Is it that they are truly all that gutless..or do they wish to keep up an appearance of over-concern so Americans will be frightened into submission?
Regarding Bin Laden being "driven into a cave", the beast known as Bin Laden isn't so important (as individuals go) anymore, and capturing Bin Laden is no longer "essential" according to a senior U.S. General. He tells us Osama has taken himself "out of the picture". That's funny..I saw him mountain-goating up a rocky hillside just about a month ago
on a tape which was sent to Al-Jazeera.
What's up with this "out of the picture" mumbo-jumbo?
The FBI is treating American Anti-War protestors as if they are terrorists. Notice the use of "training camps" in their memo:
"......protesters have sometimes used "training camps''to rehearse, the Internet to raise funds and gas masks to defend against police use of tear gas...."
**GASP---being prepared for the expected gassing by overzealous police? Dear Gawd, Nooooooo!**
I knew it wouldn't be long before they'd start categorizing non-violent American dissenters as terrorists.
Freedom of speech is ours as long as we use it to agree with the President's policies.
"Are you with us or against us?" That question is running through our minds...all faux-tough Texan slur and Patriot-act fascist swagger.
I suppose it's easier for the Bush administration to come after peacefully-protesting you than it is to care anymore about catching Bin Laden.
When the Bush administration decides it wants to attack Syria, will you be afraid to speak out?
If so, be prepared to lose your civil liberties and all the Founding Fathers wished for you.
I hate to say this, but in all your fear, you will deserve it.
Our Shredded Constitution- We Need to be Worried
Here is the saddest question I think I've ever had to pose.
The question is: Which do we need to fear more? A rogue WMD attack or OUR OWN GOVERNMENT?
~~~~~~~~
"..The defenders of the status quo therefore tend to begin by treating the revolutionary power as if its protestations were merely tactical; as if it really accepted the existing legitimacy but overstated its case for bargining purposes; as if were motivated by specific grievences to be assauged by limited consessions. Those who warn against the danger in time are considered alarmists; those who consel adaption to circumstances are considered balanced and sane.... but it is the essence of a revolutionary power that it possesses the courage of its convictions, that it is willing, indeed eager, to push its principles to their ultimate conclusion."
Henry Kissinger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Village Voice:
Yesterday Newsmax.com, the big right-wing website, published an interview with Tommy Franks, the former chief of the Central Command who led the war against Iraq, under the headline, "Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack." In an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, the general, now living in Tampa, argues that in the event of a WMD hit on the U.S., our form of government would go out the window. "The Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy."
The general drove his point home: "It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world—it may be in the United States of America—that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important."
_______________
It would be easy for a radical administration to use fear to obtain the power necessary to destroy the United States
Constitution.
They've already begun.
Moral Clarity With No Moral Authority
What happens when you think you have moral clarity, but you have no moral authority?
~~~~~~~~~
In a recent column about Iraq titled "You Gotta Have Friends", Thomas Friedman says he thinks a Bush administration policy lobotomy would be in order.
I'm thinking perhaps a total Bush administration lobotomy might have to happen first.
I just don't think we're going to be able to change the hearts and minds of the Neoconservatives in this
all-too-proud and twisted administration.
In the article, a question is asked:
"How good is a beautifully carved table..with one leg?"
I say that, when the one existing leg is ugly, the craftsmen are not inspired to complete the other three for fear they
will turn out just as badly.
Virtually without a friend in any foreign nation's public (and missing crucial friends in at least half of their own citzenry),
the Bush-led U.S. will have to bear the consequences of their government's humility-challenged actions alone.
We are not safe and we are not secure.
Tom DeLay is a Beast
Tom DeLay would just as soon cut out Special Education for our special-needs children
than he would allow for overtime pay to remain an option for many white-collar middle classers
here in this country. Millions of dollars will leave the pockets of these middle-classers if DeLay gets his evil way.
A shut-down of government is hanging over the heads of our Congress.
Read this article for proof.
Tom DeLay prides himself on being Christian and wanting U.S. government to be as close to Biblical as it can get.
Don't be fooled..he has a heart of steel.
He'd rather rob from the middle class to give to the poor than to DARE ask the bloody-rich
top 1% of Americans to pay their fair share...a share they would barely miss.
Tom DeLay is a bloody-eyed demon-beast from the bowels of Hades, as are his political ilk.
From the article:
"[Sen. Arlen] Specter said GOP leaders were talking about amending the spending bill by removing its entire section that deals with labor, health and education - including the language that would block the overtime rules.
That portion of the bill would be replaced with language to finance labor, health and education programs at last year's levels. Specter said that change would mean $4.7 billion less for special education, global AIDS prevention and other programs supported by many members of both parties.
"That's pretty serious stuff, isn't it," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, asked about the threat. "It might build a little bit of pressure" to finish the spending bill..."
League of Liberals Sat. 22 Nov
Best line of the day from the League of Liberals
blog co-op:
"..It's almost as if having a two-party system, in which Democratic candidates vie for a position in the general election, is an attack in itself."
So sayeth Happy Furry Puppy
* Re the new GOP campaign assertion:
"Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists."
~~~~~~
Welcome to Anarchy Xero.
"....The time-honored Bush family strategy to avoid this problem has been as follows: when choosing a far-right-winger, avoid a white male."
So sayeth Anarchy Xero
Re Federal Court Nominations
Don't miss Anarchy Xero's Obligatory Friday Cat Blog!
Anarchy Xero: Winding the Iraq Deathwatch
~~~~~~~~~~
Paul Krugman Speaks at Syracuse University
Paul Krugman spoke at Syracuse University this evening.
I am not able to give you Prof Krugman's words verbatim, but I want to share what I took away from the speech.
He graciously agreed to speak in place of Molly Ivins, who was originally scheduled but could not attend due to illness.
The speech was held at Hendricks Chapel,
a lovely chapel on the S.U. Campus.
imagine Paul Krugman at the podium center-stage
He had nearly a full house.
He began by looking around the massive chapel and up to the choir loft and commented that although he suspected he'd be "preaching to the choir"....this was surely the right place to do it!
He also jokingly called himself a writer on the "upset liberal authors circuit".
Even though Ivins has a markedly different writing stye, he said he found himself speaking about many similar issues...and had similar thoughts on many of those issues.
He has been an educator first, taking on writing as a moonlight-career. He began writing about international financial matters, mostly about global issues...usually
about economic trouble in foreign nations. It wasn't a subject in which a large audience was particulary interested.
One day he realized something in our very own nation was "off". Something just wasn't adding up. It started with the Bush administration's proposal for Social Security reform.
Krugman, a seasoned and experienced economist, sensed a dishonesty and irresponsibility within Bush's plans for Social Security (more than simple ignorance, as many claim about Bush). Frightening to me, Mr Krugman claimed the media never gave a straight accounting of the story surrounding Social Security Reform. The public was never given the straight facts..only shades of political talk on either side of the political aisle. (He would speak more about this media problem later in the speech).
He said that savage cuts in social spending must come as a result of these budget deficits..it is inevitable.
The political behavior of the Bush administration points to
a third-world-type political activity in America. If the world still trusts that America will be able to recover from this, we may not lose the trust of investors. But..as things stand...right now there's no sign that we will have a restoring of our once-thriving market economy..it's all hypothetical...and it's frightening.
Krugman jokingly (in light of the very serious subject matter) explained that eventually, if confidence in the market does not come back, our government may have a Wile E Coyote moment...the kind where ol' Wile E looks down midst the fervor of chasing the Road Runner and realizes he's been running his legs across thin air, for he's already well off the edge of the cliff .. ;)
the Wile E Coyote moment
He said he believes, if things continue as they are now, that an economic crisis will come at an undetermined
date..within the next ten years.
Krugman said Bush uses Orwellian rhetoric on environmental issues. Professor Krugman says that he misses what he believes was an honesty in economics. Even though he did not agree with the Reagan administration, he said he believed there was honesty in Reagan's own plans. Krugman did not agree with Nixon on very much, but he misses the responsibility Nixon showed to the EPA on environmental issues.
The Bush agenda, in contrast, seems to have been pre-planned..blind to contingency. The ANWR drilling, tax-cuts,
war...all planned before Bush was awarded the office of President.
Men like Grover Norquist are radical in their politics. Prof Krugman implored us to really listen to what Norquist is saying..because he is powerful and serious..and he wants to starve our federal government to a point where social spending is no longer an option. He mentioned Henry Kissinger's line from his doctoral dissertation in which Kissinger used the French revolution as study, but also, Krugman believes, implicitly addressing the rise of fascism in the 1930s.
"Lulled by a period of stability which had seemed permanent," Kissinger wrote, "they find it nearly impossible to take at face value the assertion of the revolutionary power that it means to smash the existing framework."
--I looked up the passage..the rest goes like this:
"..The defenders of the status quo therefore tend to begin by treating the revolutionary power as if its protestations were merely tactical; as if it really accepted the existing legitimacy but overstated its case for bargining purposes; as if were motivated by specific grievences to be assauged by limited consessions. Those who warn against the danger in time are considered alarmists; those who consel adaption to circumstances are considered balanced and sane.... but it is the essence of a revolutionary power that it possesses the courage of its convictions, that it is willing, indeed eager, to push its principles to their ultimate conclusion."
Krugman thinks this is a very important and relevant statement today. He had previously discussed this in a September, 2003 Guardian article about him titled "I Do Get Rattled"
He mentioned Tom DeLay and how some refer to him as just a "crazy guy in Congress" when they hear him talk about conforming government to a Biblical world view...
but he's NOT just some crazy guy..he's the powerful House majority leader. Beware.
There are some forms of media that get the point across better through satire...such as the Onion (Krugman liked the fake Bush speech) an the Ironic Times (he appreciated "Bush: Iraq a Lesson to U.S. Foes
If you attack us, we will strike back at somebody else with overwhelming force."). He also positively cited the Simpsons episode with the fake FOX news ticker saying: "92 percent of Democrats are gay".
He mentioned that the mainstream media suffers from what he called "the curse of even-handedness". Giving equal weight to both political sides makes it nearly impossible to help the viewer (or reader) to know the basic facts which would enable them to reasonably decide for themselves. In so many words, it's all about 'the GOP said/theDems said'.
Krugman's words were: "You just get these awful, evenhanded stories that never gave you a sense that there is a core of truth there."
There is also low-grade intimidation...especially through highly-organized hate-mail (he didn't say Freepers..but I will)...and attacks of hostility (from the same folks who spent eight years attacking Clinton and are now Bush protectionists).
He mentioned Christiane Amanpour's poor treatment when she spoke out honestly about the intimidation she strongly felt from the Bush administration regarding Iraq war coverage (see my 9-14 blog entry)
Krugman also spoke of the disturbing story about FOX's infamous "Daily MEMO" which revealed their
daily agenda. (News should never have agenda...and it is doubly disturbing to know they promote, organize, and formalize their agenda daily).
Not to be totally negative in his outlook, Krugman assured us we are a nation which has the capability of coming through this, yet he fears there is a lack of political consensus about the things that need to be done to insure that strength.
Asserting that he occupies what used to be the center in American politics, he pointed out the disparaging fact that there is no center in Congress anymore. The Democrats are pretty much where they've politically always been, and the GOP has taken to the far right.
When asked what he thought the key issues would be in 2004 for the strength of Democrats, he stated he believed it would come down to foreign policy. The economy would be a fairly neutral issue because people generally believe what they choose to believe about economic news and the deficit is "hard to explain" to people. He mentioned that the environment might be another issue of strength for the Democrats in 2004.
He fully believes the all the stops will be pulled out for this upcoming election.
Fasten your seat belts.
Toward the end, Prof Krugman said he'd like to mention something positive about a particular Republican...
Michael Bloomberg. He praised him for nearly all he's done so far because he believes that Mayor Bloomberg is practicing
honest and responsible politics..even though it has brought him a (whopping) 30% approval rating.
These final thoughts are mine as I come away from Professor Krugman's speech:
Perhaps responsible governing is not going to win you popularity..or elections. Would we want our progressive politicians to sell our souls for votes and poll ratings? That's a tough question. Who will save our political souls if they must be sold in order for the political saviors to win?
What's wrong with politics in America?
FOX was excited over the CASE CLOSED story like a teenager finding Dad's Hidden Playboy Mags
^
^
"OOO-Tommy, Bobby, Joey..look what I found...I found it first! Look-ee look-ee! Woot! Let's call all our friends!"
o
o
How the public is duped:
Bush Administration cherry-picked leaks from cherry-picked intelligence ----> RightWing Rumor Mills (the ones who used to pick Clinton apart..you know who they are)----> FOX News (the worst network
for impartial reliability)---->People who Eat the Poisoned Pablum and vote Republican.
Too bad it's cheap rumor and easy innuendo.
Perversion for right-wing poll-strokers.
Look how FOX ran like nasty whores with the fake story last Saturday night and presented it nearly as gospel.
The worst is this: FOX shouted it all over their cable news network headlines and NEVER retracted the story when the Pentagon refuted it.
Stroke, stroke...look at the bad stuff NeoCons leak when they try to stroke the polls....
Who the heck do these lying cads at the Weekly Standard and FOX think they're fooling with their "case-closed"?
Fred Barnes spoke like a giddy (lying) schoolboy about the "certainty" of the link from 9-11 to Saddam last Sunday
on the FOX Sunday news show.
Damned irresponsible!
A pathetic partisan wretch on another blog commented about "Case Closed":
" ...can't wait for the squirming to begin (Rockefeller et al ... .....)
Fox had better not drop the ball on this one...."
*I can just imagine the slurpy froth at the corners of the mouth*
Even the Pentagon says it's not true. And you know how they love to lie! If they could get away
with concurring with this right-wing garbage, I'll bet they'd find a way.
Josh Marshall's Hill article on the subject is fantastic.
Left dangling like stray Korean dogs too slow to escape, the Weekly Standard is trying to save face.
This quote from an Intelligence expert says it all:
''This [Case Closed article] is made to dazzle the eyes of the not terribly educated. It begs the question, 'Is this the best they can do?' If you're going to expose this stuff, you'd better have something more than this...My inclination is to interpret this as probably a very good example of cherry-picking and the selective use of intelligence that was so obvious in the lead-up to the war.''
Greg Thielmann, a veteran of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) who retired in 2002
CASE DECIDELY NOT CLOSED!
Open THIS case...an intense investigation into the professional(?) affairs of Douglas Feith while acting as under secretary of defense and chief lying architect of the Iraq war.
Let's see if FOX will get all giddy if and when we find out about more desperate Bush administration cherry-picked cherry-pickin' leaks!
Wesley Clark Gives FOX Their Due
This is a must-see. Presidential candidate Wesley Clark looks very Presidential in this interview
with FOX's slick and apt truth-twister David Asman.
All I can say is: GET HIM,LENNY!
and
GET HIM, LENNY!
~~~~~~
More on "Balanced" News: Take a look at this conversation
It's about "balance" and what it means when it comes to news journalism today.
Is "balance" being used to be a deceitful word?
You bet your Asman it is!
Romney Proposes Constitutionalizing Discrimination
--Massachussetts Governor denies that fairness and equality under the law are the bedrocks of our constitution and must apply to everyone--
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney says he'll push for a constitutional amendment to block gay couples from getting married in response to a ruling by the state's highest court that could otherwise let gay couples wed.
He said, "I agree with 3,000 years of recorded history. Marriage is an institution between a man and a woman ... and our constitution and laws should reflect that."
This is not an appropriate issue for Constitutional amendment.
Limiting civil freedoms for religious reasons (which is what this is all about) is antithetical to the idea of individual liberty.
The freedom of religion already exists. No one is suggesting that it be taken away.
When all people see that love, in reality, rules the teachings of religion, they may come to
reconciliatory terms with the gay community.
But I don't see that happening very soon.
Do you?
Regardless of where we stand on the religious issue, none of us should stand by and watch our
Constitution being abused as a rag for the culture wars.
If anyone reading this does not sit down and write a letter to their Congressional representatives to end the madness of the idea of a Constitutional amendment, you'll only have yourself to blame when these monsters destroy the Constitution.
I especially appeal to the women of this nation.
We know (or should know) how hard the struggle was to secure the 19th amendment.
We still cannot get an Equal Rights Amendment.
Yet, these beasts want to take us backwards and cut civil rights with a new amendment to place
limits upon our liberties as women......
women who will not be free to enter civil union with whom we please should they succeed.
In the words of Matilda Joslyn Gage:
"the world has seemingly awaited the advent of heroic souls who once again should dare all things for the truth. The woman who possesses love for her sex, for the world, for truth, justice and right, will not hesitate to place herself upon record as opposed to falsehood, no matter under what guise of age or holiness it appears."
Act today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
SEE today's "Cup o' Joe" for interesting commentary on the issue.
Related Washington Post article
Cheney gets less than 1% support from non-paying public in Syracuse area
Cheney fundraising visit to Syracuse nets
200 protestors against Cheney-
2 supporters of Cheney.
So as not to deceive you, understand that Cheney also netted big bucks from 200 supporters who did not brave
the cold and the rain from 8am yesterday morning standing on their cold feet with umbrellas and heavy raincoats, but instead donned black and navy blue suits and shelled out $1000 apiece for a luckluster speech and lacklaster eggs and bacon.
Standing in front of a balloon of a huge rat with fangs sporting a DickCheney-nametag ( a balloon which would rival a Macys-Day parade float), the 200 cold people were amused and spirited.
Sitting in front of the speaker's podium at a barely-decorated hotel hall, the others...the comfortably-seated 200 paying Cheney-supporters, half-asleep,
failed to even laugh at the sad attempts at jokes.
If any Democrat in Representative Jim Walsh's N.Y. (redistricted) district has been giving him bipartisan support
(as many of us have), just take a LOOK at what he's saying about you...
...according to columnist Dick Case, "Jim claims only 32 percent of Americans admit to being members of the
Democratic Party. They make up for their slim ranks, he said, by being more liberal, more pessimistic, more angry..."
Well, well, fellow Democrats...if you weren't "more angry" at Walsh before, I'll wager you might be now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peaceful protesters greet vice president
Salina's town supervisor is among those demonstrating against the administration.
November 18, 2003
By Pam Greene
Staff Writer
Despite rain and mud, about 200 people protested outside the Holiday Inn in Salina Monday morning while Vice President Dick Cheney met with supporters who paid $1,000 to have breakfast with him.
"It's obscene to raise that kind of money when there are so many needs in this country that are not being addressed," said Joan Coop, a protester. "That's not a government of the people; it's a government by wealth."
The protest began at 7:30 a.m. when about 50 people gathered outside the Hess gas station at Electronics Parkway and 7th North Street. As the crowd grew to about 100 people, sheriff's deputies warned protesters not to stand in the street.
As the crowd grew to about 200, protesters crossed 7th North Street to a field off the Thruway exit, where they stood waving signs and chanting slogans.
Deputies on the scene said the protest was peaceful.
"Everything's going well," said a deputy who declined to give his name. "People have a right to protest, and they're being ladies and gentlemen about it. I appreciate that."
Virtually everyone standing along Electronics Parkway had a gripe with the Bush administration, be it the war in Iraq, job losses or the control money has over government.
Only two people stood with the protesters to support the vice president.
"We can't let these people speak for us," said Jon Alvarez, one of the two Cheney supporters. "They don't represent the mainstream. . . . We're in a world war on terrorism, and these people don't care."
Members of unions, veterans groups, the Syracuse Peace Council and the National Organization for Women protested. "Hey, ho, Bush and Cheney got to go," was the cheer led by Salina Supervisor and Democrat Mary Ann Schadt.
Brian Dominick, a member of the Syracuse Peace Council, said "Greed is (Cheney's) religion, and he's gone in there to pass the bucket around his congregation."
2003 The Post-Standard
Bush must go; Blair must go-
Guardian Editorial Shows Intelligent Support for the Sane in America
Excerpts:
"...The difference between how Bush and his administration perceive the world and almost everybody else experiences it would be comic if the consequences were not so tragic."
"...We did not elect Bush (it is a moot point whether anybody did) and can do little about him but hope that the Democrats get it together to beat him next year."
"....We have shown that we can get mad; we have yet to show that we can get even. This is a global problem, not a local one. The vast majority of humanity did not want this war to happen, and it happened anyway. Even in those countries that are prosecuting it, including America, opinion polls showed that most were opposed to military action without UN approval."
"....If that were not bad enough we now know that in order to gain even minority support they had to lie about weapons that do not exist, using intelligence that could not be trusted. So we have a war we did not want, led by people we can no longer believe. And yet it remains to be seen whether anyone will be held accountable or forced to pay an electoral price."
"...there is little confusion in the American anti-war movement about whom the enemy is and what needs to be done about him. Their protests are having real consequences in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, where anti-war candidates are making all the running and lifted the level of debate to a far higher level than we are currently seeing in the Labour party.
"....This is what makes the charges that the demonstrations are anti-American as ridiculous as they are predictable.
Americans are not the problem: Bush is."
"....Bush is not synonymous with America any more than Blair is synonymous with Britain. We can make Bush uncomfortable; it is only Blair we can make unemployed."
~~~~~~~~~~
More than 100 join rally for jailed doctor
November 15, 2003
By Ngoc Huynh
Contributing writer/Syracuse Post Standard
Supporters of a Manlius doctor jailed on charges he illegally sent money to Iraq marched Friday in front of the Onondaga County Justice Center with a banner that read: "The U.S. attorney has ruined our Ramadan by refusing bail for our brother Rafil."
Dr. Rafil Dhafir, accused of violating sanctions against Iraq by sending money there through his DeWitt-based charity, Help the Needy, has been denied bail three times since his arrest in February. A judge ruled that Dhafir was a risk to flee the country.
More than a 100 Muslims and non-Muslims arrived at the justice center's State Street entrance at 2 p.m. to show their support for Dhafir.
Mohammad Al Wahaidy, 12, of Fayetteville, was the first in the crowd to shout, "Free Dr. Dhafir!" He is the son of Osameh Al Wahaidy, 41, one of four men originally charged in the Help the Needy case. The elder Al Wahaidy pleaded guilty in April to one count of violating the sanctions.
As others joined in his chant, another voice sang, "We miss him. He's a good man."
Several cars passed by and motorists honked and waved.
Imam Ahmed Kobeisy, who heads the Islamic Society of Central New York, said Dhafir has strong ties with the community and is not a flight risk.
"We would like to have him reunited with the community in the month of Ramadan," Kobeisy said. "We would like to celebrate with him, fasting and praying with fellow Muslims."
Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, ends Nov. 25. During this time, Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, pray, meditate and do acts of charity.
U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue rejected Dhafir's last bail request in July. Dhafir, an oncologist, is considered a flight risk because of his financial assets and overseas contacts, judges have said.
In addition to the charges that he violated sanctions against Iraq, Dhafir is accused of evading $400,000 in federal income tax payments by falsely writing off donations to Help the Needy, and of defrauding Medicare out of more than $274,000.
Haikal Abughoush, rally organizer, has known Dhafir for 20 years. He said the government is looking for reasons to keep his friend in jail.
"They had egg on their face," he said, "so they needed to find something. What they found was further charges."
........
2003 The Post-Standard.
FREE DHAFIR
